6 years - 72 months - 312 weeks - 2192 days at LHC! Any questions?

[gossamer]

Hello community!

I've been at LHC six years (as of tomorrow). While its nowhere near as long as some amazing gurus :bowtome:, it's been a great part of my life for what seems like a long time to me! I never would have grown my hair out this long without the support, camaraderie, and fun of a place like this. :inlove:

In my time here, my hair has traveled through the uncertain territory of "is it knee?," the interminable abyss of calf, the rarely seen terrain of ankle, and now that it's beyond floor who even knows what's going on down there? :p

I've also met a number of delightful members, some still active, some no longer around much: GRU, Tea_Lady, Nae, LisaMonster, islandboo, young&reckless, piffyanne, Beatnik Guy, flip-flop, DaveDecker, spidermom, & lunalocks. :blossom:

Do you have questions about my hair/styles/care/etc? Videos to suggest I make? I'll try to answer as best I can.

----
Oh, and of course I have some pictures too:
https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=22024&d=1458053282

and

https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=21606&d=1455901566

and

https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=22186&d=1459015303

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Links to my earlier anniversary threads:
5th (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=130821)
4th (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=121835)
3rd (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=111748)
----

P.S. Those of you with good memories may remember me saying last year on my anniversary that I'd be cutting back to somewhere in thigh length before the next year. Yeah, clearly that didn't happen. Hair inertia is a powerful force in the universe! Where's that hair-science thread when we need it? :rollin:

[gossamer]

312 weeks. Geez, where did that other number come from?!

[AZDesertRose]

Congrats on the anniversary, gossamer! You have beautiful hair!

[Llama]

I love the photography! And your hair is sooo long and pretty :)
What is your washing/conditioning routine like? What products do you use?

[gossamer]

Thanks AZDesertRose!


I love the photography! And your hair is sooo long and pretty :)
What is your washing/conditioning routine like? What products do you use?

Also, thank you, Llama!

I wash probably once every 5-6 days. For example, this week I washed on Monday and will probably wash again tomorrow (Saturday).

I have a video about my wash routine here (Handling super long hair - pt 1 - wash routine chat (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPUnBy9Ntus)), but the tl;dw version is as follows:

Detangle before shower.
Fully dampen.
Use Suave Ocean Breeze conditioner from nape down to mid back as protection from shampoo
Shampoo (scalp only!) with full strength (but not a lot) of whatever shampoo my partner's been using lately (and they default to getting HE brand shampoos)
Rinse clean.
Condition from nape on down with a coney conditioner (Garnier Fructis varieties lately) using a bowl to help me distribute the conditioner throughout.
Rinse clean.
Rinse out bowl, fill with clean water and add a dash of vinegar, maybe ~1tbsp.
Rinse scalp with vinegar water.
Rinse.
Squeeze water out of hair, wrap in towel (another video, wrapping after washing (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpICzVIff1I)).
Use Suave Ocean Breeze as leave in on final ~2ft of hair before tucking up into towel.

:)

Okay... um, typing it all out like that makes its clear that my "low maintenance" hair is actually kind of high maintenance. :bigeyes:

[Pearly~91]

Congratulations on another year! I remember seeing your posts about cutting back, but it's such a unique thing, floor length hair, that it seems a shame. It's your hair, your decision, of course, and I'm sure it's a lot of bother.

Coincidentally, looking at your previous aniversary thread, do you think you are approaching terminal finally? Is your growth slowing down?

Also, I think your avatar is great. I remember seeing it when I first joined the forum, or shortly there after and thinking wow.

[gthlvrmx]

Congratulations! I just noticed, you didn't cut your hair! I thought you were going to cut it to thigh length or something.

[gossamer]

Congratulations on another year! I remember seeing your posts about cutting back, but it's such a unique thing, floor length hair, that it seems a shame. It's your hair, your decision, of course, and I'm sure it's a lot of bother.

Coincidentally, looking at your previous aniversary thread, do you think you are approaching terminal finally? Is your growth slowing down?

Also, I think your avatar is great. I remember seeing it when I first joined the forum, or shortly there after and thinking wow.

I'm really not kidding about having little idea about what's going on down there now that I'm past floor. :lol: It's tough to measure, so I've probably measured it only twice in the past year. Once it was 75", another time it was 77". Not sure what it is now. :shrug:

It's funny, I took that avatar about a year before joining. I went back there a year or two after joining, attempting to take a new picture, and it wasn't better. If anything, the longer hair pooling on the ground made it look sloppier. I guess the lesson in that is that mid-thigh length hair can be a great photo prop too?

[gossamer]

Congratulations! I just noticed, you didn't cut your hair! I thought you were going to cut it to thigh length or something.

Haha, so did I! :p It's been a very full year from ~August until now and the fancy photos I want and the cut still haven't happened. No promises this year, but it's true I will eventually get back into thigh territory.

[Quasiquixotic]

I just love it. So inspiring. You forgot to mention hair idol to 6 year olds.

[Llama]

Thanks for the reply! That's interesting your first condition is only to midback instead of down to the ends as shampoo protection. I will have to give your videos a watch!

[gossamer]

Thanks for the reply! That's interesting your first condition is only to midback instead of down to the ends as shampoo protection. I will have to give your videos a watch!

I really don't think the shampoo makes it that far as I'm rinsing due to the angle, but if it did, I'm fairly certain that the conditioner would make it there first.

Heh, even after that 10 part wash routine, I think I can still say I practice pretty benign neglect when it comes to my hair, given its length. Often benign neglect bordering on the neglectful side, as I told spidermom last week. :)

[Sarahlabyrinth]

Wow!!! Congratulations! Your are certainly one of THE hair idols here on LHC, and it's always such a massive treat to see your hair in all it's flowing loveliness ;)

I have a couple of questions for you.

What was your original length goal when you first joined here?

What is your washing routine and methods/ general products/ oils etc used?

What is your most usual updo?

Are you still planning on cutting it shorter or are you happy with it the way it is? (As far as I'm concerned, the more, the better.... plus I'm really curious to know if it will ever decide to stop growing, lol)

Well, that's more than a couple of questions..... ;)

And oopsie, most of them have been asked already - sorry.

[Llama]

I really don't think the shampoo makes it that far as I'm rinsing due to the angle, but if it did, I'm fairly certain that the conditioner would make it there first.

Heh, even after that 10 part wash routine, I think I can still say I practice pretty benign neglect when it comes to my hair, given its length. Often benign neglect bordering on the neglectful side, as I told spidermom last week. :)

Ah, well that makes sense if you aren't squeezing the shampoo down to the ends.
I think describing actions in detail always sounds like a lot more than it really is. It sounds like you have a really simple routine :)
I recently switched to herbal essences shampoo/conditioner and I must say I'm getting better results with that than I did with my expensive/salon brands. Yay for cheap stuff!

[Remi]

Very inspiring, gossamer. ;)

[gossamer]

Wow!!! Congratulations! Your are certainly one of THE hair idols here on LHC, and it's always such a massive treat to see your hair in all it's flowing loveliness ;)

I have a couple of questions for you.

What was your original length goal when you first joined here?

What is your washing routine and methods/ general products/ oils etc used?

What is your most usual updo?

Are you still planning on cutting it shorter or are you happy with it the way it is? (As far as I'm concerned, the more, the better.... plus I'm really curious to know if it will ever decide to stop growing, lol)

Well, that's more than a couple of questions..... ;)

And oopsie, most of them have been asked already - sorry.

No worries, I'll happily answer the ones that aren't repeats, Sarahlabyrinth!

My original goal length was terminal. Haha. I had no idea what that meant. I was growing out hair that even in photos from 10 years ago shows quite a taper, so I didn't imagine getting anywhere near my current length. I think I was convinced it would stop mid-calf. Clearly I was very wrong about that!

Products and routines I answered above but I didn't mention oils. I used argan oil for a while ~2 years ago after my MIL gave me a bottle. It was nice, but it's expensive so I didn't buy more. I used an oil blend about two months ago that included coconut oil, my hair was angry-tangly for a while thanks to the protein. Sigh. So sensitive! So for now I'm not oiling but I have in the past with mixed results.

My go-to updo is a cinnabun, held either with two sticks or a bunch of spin pins. Easy enough to add variation to with some twists at the front. The other day I tried a basic LWB bun again, my go-to at calf, and after a couple hours remembered why I abandoned it - too much pulling at the hair around the scalp.

[gossamer]

Also, thanks Remi!

And I totally agree with you, Llama. I don't use expensive stuff or fret too much over it. In my experience, the variation in formulations of drugstore & salon shampoos are not significant (I can't speak to artisanal products, shampoo bars, or natural methods aside from BS/WV) so why bother when I'm on a tight budget? I think I may have found one HE shampoo that really doesn't work for me (this stuff, it's really weird (https://www.makeupalley.com/product/showreview.asp/ItemId=114220/Herbal-Essences--Hydralicious-Reconditioning-shampoo/Clairol/Shampoo)) but it's easy enough to avoid given the plethora of options available from from HE already. :)

[EdG]

Congratulations on six years! :hifive:
Ed

[Ligeia Noire]

Wow that picture is so beautiful and sensual at the same time, congratulations on your length!

[lithostoic]

Congrats! You have come a long way! Always looking forward to your photos.

[gossamer]

Thanks EdG & Ligeia Noire!

[papayatree]

Congrats on 6 years on this site. What is your craziest real life encounter with anyone who has been curious about your hair?

[missmagoo]

So inspiring! I too would like to know if you get many comments on you hair, or is it up so most people don't realize how long it is?

[gossamer]

Oh, also thank you, lithostoic!


Congrats on 6 years on this site. What is your craziest real life encounter with anyone who has been curious about your hair?

Craziest?
Maybe oddest was having an American man catch up to me in an airport in Japan after noticing my messy, half-falling-out bun to ask me if I had long hair and how long it was. To be fair, he then apologized for asking what was kind of an oddly observant question, but he was polite and not too pushy about it.

Nicest encounter with a curious stranger is detailed here: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=130550

Funniest? When, ages ago, I walked past the playground of a local Catholic school with my hair down and some tiny kid yelled "DAAAAYYYUUUMMM THAT'S LONG HAIR" at me, which was hilarious. :p

[gossamer]

So inspiring! I too would like to know if you get many comments on you hair, or is it up so most people don't realize how long it is?

Very few people realize it's this long, I think. I'll rarely wear it braided but not bunned and I then get tons of surprised comments from people who see me regularly with it up.

[papayatree]

Funniest? When, ages ago, I walked past the playground of a local Catholic school with my hair down and some tiny kid yelled "DAAAAYYYUUUMMM THAT'S LONG HAIR" at me, which was hilarious. :p

That must have been a water cooler story at the office.

[Groovy Granny]

Just gorgeous ~ congrats :thud:

[spidermom]

When I see your beautiful hair, it makes me think I want to let mine grow until it stops on its own.

[pailin]

Congratulations on 6 years here, and a lot longer than that of growing your hair!
My question is, how much trimming have you done along the way?

[diddiedaisy]

Congratulations gossamer, you do indeed have beautiful hair, I'm always dumbstruck when I look at your pictures. :)

[Sparklylady82]

Congratulations! I admire your commitment! At what point did you feel like your length became harder to manage? Do you comb it out everyday or do you just wrap it up until wash day? Was there ever a certain length where you felt content? Lastly, how often do you trim and how much?

That's a lot of questions sorry

[butterflybutton]

Your hair is so beautiful, congrats on six years!

[parkmikii]

Congratulations! You are one of my major inspirations here, I would love to grow my hair to terminal length as well!
As for the question: what is your most worn updo? Lately I've been wearing braided buns lately and gotten along with them quite well but I have no idea of what else to wear lately ^^

[Pinni]

Congrats, your hair is stunning! :crush: What was the most difficult (if there was) point when growing your hair that long?

[catasa]

Congratulations! Your hair is stunning and I always love to see your gorgeous photos! Thanks for sharing your routine and answering questions (the ones I have have been asked already), it´s very interesting to hear! :blossom:

[Platzhalter]

Congrats on all those years of long hair.. not to mention how astonishing it is :)

[Yarrow]

impressive and pretty! I hope nobody steps on it accidentally though. does that ever happen?

[school of fish]

Happy 6 year LHC hairversary gossamer!!!

Your photos are really stunning - I love the creativity :) Thank you for sharing them so we can all admire in awe!

And thank you for growing your hair to ridiculous lengths so I don't have to... ;)

[Wusel]

THANK YOU FOR THIS THREAD! And the links :)
I'm your biggest Fan.
Also because you're a teacher too.
I'd like to know what your students think about your hair.
I've showed your picture to some of mine and asked them what they'll think if I had hair long like this and they were only :thud: :thud: :thud:

They didn't say much, only... "That can't be real hair... Is it real?"

[embee]

As usual, just lovely! :)

[lapushka]

Amazing hair, gossamer, congratulations on your anniversary here! :D :thumbsup:

[Anya15]

Your hair is just...too awesome for words :D Congrats!!!

How do you keep your hair from getting in the way? That is one thing I've always wondered about people with hair longer than classic.

[gossamer]

Thanks GroovyGranny, spidermom, diddiedaisy, butterfulbutton, catasa, Platzhalter, school of fish, & embee! :flower:


Congratulations on 6 years here, and a lot longer than that of growing your hair!
My question is, how much trimming have you done along the way?

Here's a hair timeline that I keep copy/pasting around LHC, but this time I'll actually update it beyond 2012:

In early 1998, I had my scraggly waist/hip length hair trimmed to a solid BSL.

By sometime in 2002, it was back to waist again even with the big trims my hairdresser liked to give me. (I love her, this is in no way a condemnation of her methods.)

Fall 2003, - TBL.

Late 2005/early 2006 - Classic. (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=20290&d=1449667630)

I got a huge trim in the summer of 2006 - Classic+ back up to hip (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=20289&d=1449666193) (the condition of those ends was terrible, I wasn't taking care of it at all.)

May 2007 - SO starts trimming my hair instead of my hairdresser.

Feb 2008 - back at Classic.

April 2010 - join LHC, realize that I'm at "can I call this knee?"

Feb 2011 - declare myself at knee.

Dec 2012 - At calf. (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=622&d=1354715548)

April 2013: last trim at mid-calf. (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2291&d=1360312903) (photo taken ~2 months before)

early/mid 2014 - Ankle

Dec 2014 - floor when wet (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=15304&d=1421513260)

February/March 2015 - floor when dry (see last year's anniversary photos)

April 2016 - longer. :p (see above, lol)


From when my partner started trimming in 2007 until when I stopped trimming in 2013, I generally had twice yearly trims with about 1-1.5" coming off each time. I got impatient in 2013 to find terminal/floor, but then since getting there last year and developing all the coping mechanisms I need for this extreme length, it's been easy to put up and forget again.


Congratulations! I admire your commitment! At what point did you feel like your length became harder to manage? Do you comb it out everyday or do you just wrap it up until wash day? Was there ever a certain length where you felt content? Lastly, how often do you trim and how much?

That's a lot of questions sorry

1) Length: Beyond fingertip length was one huge hurdle. The next was probably somewhere lower calf/ankle when the weight/size of buns started pulling at my scalp a lot more than it had before.

2) Daily habits: Oh goodness, if I just bunned/braided it once and then left it up for 5-6 days at a time, can you imagine how messy that would get by day 2?? And how many sheds I'd have to get out the next time I combed? :eek:
Let's see... I don't use combs or brushes, I just finger comb. I usually finger comb twice a day - once in the morning when I take out my sleep braid before bunning it for the day, once again at night if I need to braid it again before bed.

3) Contentment: Good question! Hard question! I guess I'm content now if I'm not hurrying to cut? Then again, I do miss wearing it down. For so many years now, my primary feeling about my hair has been curiosity - how long can it keep growing? That doesn't really leave room for being content with a particular length.

4) Trims: see above!


Congratulations! You are one of my major inspirations here, I would love to grow my hair to terminal length as well!
As for the question: what is your most worn updo? Lately I've been wearing braided buns lately and gotten along with them quite well but I have no idea of what else to wear lately ^^

In addition to the cinnabun, which I mentioned earlier, I also wear a braided nautilus bun almost as much. Sometimes I'll do a faux crown braid instead, maybe about 5-10% of the time. That's really about it! Maybe once every month or two I'll remember that the Elling woman bun exists and go wild trying that again. :D


Congrats, your hair is stunning! What was the most difficult (if there was) point when growing your hair that long?

Also a good question. I had a really tough time in early 2014 when suddenly my goto styles from 2013 (i was wearing a LWB held with my mini fork day after day) stopped working. I don't understand the sudden transition, but I was getting a lot of pulling around my scalp, so I had to figure out how to do either high cinnabuns or incorporate twists before low bunning. I was also struggling with a lot of tangling at that time, having tried to go back to non-coney conditioners to let my natural texture come back out again. No go. Back to coney conditioners that summer and now, although it's more weighted down than it used to be, it also doesn't form as many matted sections as before.


impressive and pretty! I hope nobody steps on it accidentally though. does that ever happen?

Aside from myself and my cats :p, no, no one steps on it. I don't wear it down except while it's drying or in the moments between my sleep braid and my style of the day.


THANK YOU FOR THIS THREAD! And the links :)
I'm your biggest Fan.
Also because you're a teacher too.
I'd like to know what your students think about your hair.
I've showed your picture to some of mine and asked them what they'll think if I had hair long like this and they were only :thud:

They didn't say much, only... "That can't be real hair... Is it real?"

Many years ago, probably right after I joined LHC, one of the anonymous comments I received on my end of term student evaluations mentioned how long my ponytail was. This really bothered me because those evaluations go on to future employers and I really didn't want to be judged on my appearance instead of my teaching.

Since then, I've always worn it up to teach.

Except on one occasion by total accident. Earlier this term, I was wearing an unsealed wooden stick to school when it started raining, so I put the stick in my bag and meant to put it back up when I got to class. Of course, rushing around once I got to school meant I forgot until I was halfway through the session (we were sitting down the whole time so it was easier to forget).

After I dismissed the class, one student said, "May I ask you kind of a weird question?" and then asked how long my hair was. I told them a little about being curious about terminal length and not finding it yet. Another student then asked, "Could you kill someone with it?" :rollin: :rollin:

[gossamer]

As always, thanks for your kind words lapushka!


Your hair is just...too awesome for words :D Congrats!!!

How do you keep your hair from getting in the way? That is one thing I've always wondered about people with hair longer than classic.

Thanks anou! :blossom:

How do I keep it from getting in the way? I never wear it down. 90% of the time it is in a bun. The other 10% of the time, I can wear it in a braid still sometimes but if I'm doing something like scrubbing the floor of course it has to go up in a bun.

It's true, after about classic I really stopped wearing it down except on special occasions, and after knee I probably haven't worn it down at all outside the house except maybe once or twice.

[Vanilla]

Congrats gossamer! Another random question for you:

Do you trim at all, or just S&D? If you did trim in the past, at what length did you stop trimming?

Eta: oops that question has already been asked!

[Wusel]

Would you please tell me something about the heaviness? I've posted a thread about my problem with sensitive scalp, the heaviness of my hair, headaches, neck and back pains when it was waist length... How do you deal with this? Any problems? You are as skinny as I am with a long, skinny neck too, so I wonder how it is in your case with the weight...

And... did you weigh your hair? I plan to. I want to put my braid on a scale and my son tell me the weight...

[gossamer]

@Vanilla: I probably don't S&D as often as I should!

@Wusel: I just washed my hair so it's not a good time to weigh it. I'll try to remember when dry. I don't think it weighs much more than 500g, however.
I'm not going to have good answers about "dealing with" headaches and neckaches from hair because I don't get them. Also, I didn't realize my neck was skinny. :confused:

You must have much more sensitive scalp and neck than I do. Aside from the first times I ever tried doing updos when I was a teenager and didn't know how to balance them, I haven't had a problem with real headaches cause by hair since. There are times now where I'll put my hair up with some sticks and then a couple minutes later start to feel it pulling in one spot - so I'll undo it and put it up in a more balanced bun. Even when I had problems a couple of years ago with low buns causing the hair around my hairline to pull uncomfortably, it did bother me but didn't give me full blown headaches. It was more like "oh, my scalp around my hairline is a bit sore, my bun must have been putting too much tension on it."

If I already have a headache due to tension or exhaustion, sometimes a usually comfortable bun will become uncomfortable. But the weight of my hair itself doesn't seem to cause headaches.

I've been told I have pretty good posture. Maybe that helps and maybe there are some exercises/stretches that you can do to strengthen your back and neck? I'm not sure what else I can say to help, sorry.

[Mimha]

Wow Gossamer !... :bigeyes: This is spectacular hair !!! :thudpile:

I am so pleased that you haven't cut your hair yet (even "just" to knee !^^) : you are getting closer than ever from your terminal length, so if you are still hoping to find it it some day, it would be too bad to cut now !! Actually, I'm as curious as you, lol. I guess being beyond floor length must be even more difficult because you can't wear your hair down anymore. At least not outside.

Congratulations on your 6 years of hair dedication, and thanks again for sharing this fascinating journey with us, and all your hair experience ! :flower:

[MsBubbles]

Your hair is a stunning rarity, indeed! Your ends at floor still look very good, and the length so far down still looks so thick (not that fairytale ends are somehow bad, for others). I enjoyed reading your hair care routine details! Putting it in a bowl to apply the conditioner really speaks to me as I'm still recovering from a broken wrist with limited mobility. Applying conditioner is still problematic. I had taken to crouching down in the shower (naturally greasy scalp, fine/flat hair, have to wash often, etc.) and pooling my ends onto my knees and dumping the conditioner (also Ocean Breeze!) onto it as fast as I can before it all slides off and down the drain. LOL. So yeah, a bowl would be the obvious answer! :rolleyes:

Even though my hair is nothing like yours and growing mine even to classic would not be good, I got so much out of your hair routine. I may focus on not detangling wet ends. Again, sounds like a no-brainer. But I can't even wash my hair at night then sleep on it and have it NOT be greasy in the morning (flat hair probs), so I need to do scalp washes in the mornings and try to get it all ready before stepping out the door, which involves some wet hair detangling. Your post is making me rethink all of that!

When your hair is at a length that you feel ok wearing it down, did you do anything with the front part of your hair to have it stay out of your face, or does it just stay neatly behind your shoulders? Mine flies all over the place and for that reason I hardly wear it down.

[ashke50]

Gossamer your hair continues to be an inspiration - and I love the photos you take (or have taken), they so often manage to be artistic AND show off your hair at the same time. :thudpile:

[neko_kawaii]

Ooo, I like the laying on the floor picture! Happy Hairiversary!

[SteelRose]

Gossamer I love your hair so much! You are definitely one of my hair icons. I don't do your whole wash routine, but your explanation of towel wrapping was extremely helpful for me. It seems obvious now, but I had never thought of it and the wet ends sticking out were so uncomfortable.
I came back in here just recently after a big hiatus looking for inspiration. I had just really gotten fully to Knee and was wanting to chop because I was so bored with it and missing wearing it down. Your hair is probably one of the biggest reasons I have not cut it yet. I still miss wearing it down, but seeing how pretty your hair (and many others) is makes me think I would miss it being this long if I did cut back. Anyway...thanks for being an inspiration!

[gossamer]

Thanks neko_kawaii!


you are getting closer than ever from your terminal length, so if you are still hoping to find it it some day, it would be too bad to cut now !! Actually, I'm as curious as you, lol. I guess being beyond floor length must be even more difficult because you can't wear your hair down anymore. At least not outside.


This is a really good point about my terminal length. Yes, I'm getting closer to it every day. But I think it's probably so well beyond floor that I'm not interested in another 2-4 years of growth.

But yes, I can't practically wear my hair down now outside at all! spidermom got to see it drag over muddy grass when we took pictures together last week. :p


Your hair is a stunning rarity, indeed! Your ends at floor still look very good, and the length so far down still looks so thick (not that fairytale ends are somehow bad, for others). I enjoyed reading your hair care routine details! Putting it in a bowl to apply the conditioner really speaks to me as I'm still recovering from a broken wrist with limited mobility. Applying conditioner is still problematic. I had taken to crouching down in the shower (naturally greasy scalp, fine/flat hair, have to wash often, etc.) and pooling my ends onto my knees and dumping the conditioner (also Ocean Breeze!) onto it as fast as I can before it all slides off and down the drain. LOL. So yeah, a bowl would be the obvious answer! :rolleyes:

Even though my hair is nothing like yours and growing mine even to classic would not be good, I got so much out of your hair routine. I may focus on not detangling wet ends. Again, sounds like a no-brainer. But I can't even wash my hair at night then sleep on it and have it NOT be greasy in the morning (flat hair probs), so I need to do scalp washes in the mornings and try to get it all ready before stepping out the door, which involves some wet hair detangling. Your post is making me rethink all of that!

When your hair is at a length that you feel ok wearing it down, did you do anything with the front part of your hair to have it stay out of your face, or does it just stay neatly behind your shoulders? Mine flies all over the place and for that reason I hardly wear it down.

I wonder if Ocean Breeze works for both of us because I have a lot of fine grabby hairs? When I saw it had lactic acid (or something like that) in it ~2 years ago, I thought it would be a good complement to my vinegar rinses. It's my favorite of the Suave conditioners by far! I used to use Waterfall Mist because of the scent but it didn't actively do much for me.

When my hair was short enough to wear down, I remember doing A LOT of half-up styles. I have enough shorter sections (APLish) around my face that it really don't like to stay put. One of my favorites was to start a french braid and stop once I'd gathered all the hair up to my ears.


Gossamer your hair continues to be an inspiration - and I love the photos you take (or have taken), they so often manage to be artistic AND show off your hair at the same time. :thudpile:

Thanks! Almost all the photos I share on LHC were taken by me, except for the two sets of waterfall pics taken by spidermom & my significant other in the past year. My selfie game, thanks to a tripod and a good self-timer, isn't bad!



Gossamer I love your hair so much! You are definitely one of my hair icons. I don't do your whole wash routine, but your explanation of towel wrapping was extremely helpful for me. It seems obvious now, but I had never thought of it and the wet ends sticking out were so uncomfortable.
I came back in here just recently after a big hiatus looking for inspiration. I had just really gotten fully to Knee and was wanting to chop because I was so bored with it and missing wearing it down. Your hair is probably one of the biggest reasons I have not cut it yet. I still miss wearing it down, but seeing how pretty your hair (and many others) is makes me think I would miss it being this long if I did cut back. Anyway...thanks for being an inspiration!
Oh, it's so nice to hear that the towel thing helped you! I've been wrapping my hair this way for ages and just stuffing the long sticking-out section into the towel ever since it started doing that.

I hear you about being bored at knee. I'm pretty friggen bored at floor+, but boring isn't bad when I have a lot of other stuff that's more important than my hair going on right now. My hair will be here to amuse me when I need it - as it clearly still does for the 15 minutes every few weeks where I play around taking pictures of it. :D

[Anje]

Congratulations on another anniversary. As always, your hair looks fantastic! Your comments about how your hair was tapered at thigh or knee give me hope that mine will grow farther than I anticipate. I'll have to try your towel wrapping method; my "fold hair at nape and bring forward" is exceeding what an ordinary towel can handle.

ETA: I should try Ocean Breeze, I guess. Have you tried Aloe and Waterlily? That's my usual staple.

[Beatnik Guy]

2192 days!!

Your hair is phenomenal. Hope to see you (and it) again one of these days. :D

[gossamer]

Congratulations on another anniversary. As always, your hair looks fantastic! Your comments about how your hair was tapered at thigh or knee give me hope that mine will grow farther than I anticipate. I'll have to try your towel wrapping method; my "fold hair at nape and bring forward" is exceeding what an ordinary towel can handle.

ETA: I should try Ocean Breeze, I guess. Have you tried Aloe and Waterlily? That's my usual staple.

You know, I don't think I've seen Waterlily or Aloe. The Walgreens and CVS near me don't stock many Suave conditioners, such that I often buy two bottles of Ocean Breeze when I see it come back in stock. I'll check next time I'm at Target. Thanks for the tip!


2192 days!!

Your hair is phenomenal. Hope to see you (and it) again one of these days. :D

It would be great if our travel paths cross again sometime!

[pailin]

I believe your videos were where I finally got the idea to NOT detangle wet hair. I couldn't quite accept it at first but when I finally tried it, wow. It's so much easier to detangle my grabby hair dry. And that means less manipulation overall as well since I cut out the wet detangling without replacing it.
Thank you for letting us all learn from your experience!

[meteor]

Yay! Congratulations and Happy Anniversary, gossamer! :joy: You are such an amazing hair icon! :thudpile: I love all your pictures and that awesome, no-nonsense routine! Your videos are super-helpful, too - especially those tips on drying and detangling fully dry and detangling while undoing the braid. :)

I have a question too: How do you make sure the product (especially shampoo) rinses out completely out of the super-long and thick hair within reasonable amount of time? Any rinsing tips? :)



1) Length: Beyond fingertip length was one huge hurdle.

O-oh, after FTL there were serious problems? Can you please share what they were? :flower: I'd love to know what to prepare for in the future, since I just got to FTL.



Let's see... I don't use combs or brushes, I just finger comb. I usually finger comb twice a day - once in the morning when I take out my sleep braid before bunning it for the day, once again at night if I need to braid it again before bed.

Very interesting! I'm curious, was this maybe texture- or length-related? If so, at what length did it start working with just finger-combing? :) Did combs/brushes kind of stop working well after a certain length (if you liked them in the past)?



@Wusel: I just washed my hair so it's not a good time to weigh it. I'll try to remember when dry. I don't think it weighs much more than 500g, however.

He-he, if you do weigh it (great idea btw ;) ), it would be so awesome to compare the weight of both dry and wet hair... you know, for science :eyebrows:, to see how much water such long hair can absorb and hold in weight.

By the way, how long does it take to dry? :) And are there any issues with the weight of wet hair in the shower pulling down?

(Sorry if it's too many questions!)

Happy Hairiversary, gossamer!!! :joy:

[hypersensitive]

That first picture is certainly jaw dropping! Congrats!

[Hailwidis]

Congratulations! The picture of you standing on a chair is so artistic and amazing :applause

[Mimha]

(...)
This is a really good point about my terminal length. Yes, I'm getting closer to it every day. But I think it's probably so well beyond floor that I'm not interested in another 2-4 years of growth.

But yes, I can't practically wear my hair down now outside at all! spidermom got to see it drag over muddy grass when we took pictures together last week. :p


Considering how much hair you have dragging on the floor, I would not be surprised if terminal for you is 40 to 50 cm further down (or further away, I should say^^), even if there are only a few heroic survivors over there ! And indeed it would mean several more bunned years. ^^

Lol, I was imagining a funny conversation between you and a new friend who would not know how long your hair is. Something like :
- Friend : Hey Gossamer, what about a walk in the forest this afternoon ? The rain has stopped and it's all fresh and lovely !
- Gossamer : Oh ok, why not !
- Friend : By the way, I have never seen you with your hair down. I bet you have pretty long hair if I judge from your bun size :) Don't you ever let it loose ? I love to wear my hair loose when I walk in the nature and today is not windy.
- Gossamer : It's not windy but it's all wet.
- Friend : Oh come on, just a few drops from the trees will not stop you, will they ?
- Gossamer : Drops from the trees ? No, no ! I mean the ground : it's all muddy !
- Friend : You don't have plastic boots ?
- Gossamer : I do, but I don't know how to use them with hair^^
- Friend : :bigeyes:
- Gossamer : :laugh: :laugh:

[ladycaladium]

Congratulations on six years!

[gossamer]

Thanks hypersensitive, Hailwidis, and ladycaladium!

And Mimha, that scenario you imagine is too funny! :p


I believe your videos were where I finally got the idea to NOT detangle wet hair. I couldn't quite accept it at first but when I finally tried it, wow. It's so much easier to detangle my grabby hair dry. And that means less manipulation overall as well since I cut out the wet detangling without replacing it.
Thank you for letting us all learn from your experience!

You're most welcome! :blossom:



I have a question too: How do you make sure the product (especially shampoo) rinses out completely out of the super-long and thick hair within reasonable amount of time? Any rinsing tips?

Alas, I can't think of any advice in this regard. We have decent water pressure, which must help. I only wash my scalp so the amount of shampoo that gets elsewhere in my hair is minimal. I don't think I take more than a minute to rinse. I use my fingers to carefully lift the hair at my scalp so I can feel the water getting all the way through. Is any of that actually helpful? :confused:



O-oh, after FTL there were serious problems? Can you please share what they were? :flower: I'd love to know what to prepare for in the future, since I just got to FTL.


Maybe FTL is a bit premature, but definitely from knee on down, after my hair was longer than my arms, it became difficult. Detangling back braid, for example, when you can't reach the tangles unless you get props/knees or a third hand involved does require some new techniques!



Very interesting! I'm curious, was this maybe texture- or length-related? If so, at what length did it start working with just finger-combing? Did combs/brushes kind of stop working well after a certain length (if you liked them in the past)?


I think getting away from brushing was LHC mostly related, rather than length related in particular. I'd already switched from a plastic brush to BB brushes maybe 3 years before joining LHC. One of my brushes never really could get down to my scalp, which I didn't really like. The other brush was okay enough but unremarkable. I guess I find that when I brush, tangles can become matted sections before I even notice there's a problem. Also, of course, brushing at this length requires some gymnastics again because my arms don't go all the way to the floor. :lol: Thank goodness! :rollin: Reading that people use finger combing allowed me to try it more and really get in the habit. It's funny, the first few times I traveled without a brush in my suitcase it almost felt wrong, but I really don't need one!

No idea about combs, I never owned one or seriously considered buying one.

Part of my no-nonsense routine may come about because, as a child, my father always told me that before we bought anything new, I had to consider if what we had was adequate. So if finger combing is adequate, why buy a wooden comb? If my BB brushes (one appropriated from my parents after my dad thought it would be a good replacement for our 20+ year old plastic brushes, but neither parent liked it, the other BB brush left by some guest at my grandma's and given to me because I'm the one with the hair) don't really do much for me either, why try experimenting with others? In the TT rush around here a few years ago, I did buy one, but I feel like it pulled out more hairs than my gentler finger combing did and recently I noticed it's starting to fray on some of the tines. I really loved it on my scalp though! Felt great!



He-he, if you do weigh it (great idea btw ;) ), it would be so awesome to compare the weight of both dry and wet hair... you know, for science :eyebrows:, to see how much water such long hair can absorb and hold in weight.

By the way, how long does it take to dry? :) And are there any issues with the weight of wet hair in the shower pulling down?

How wet should I weigh it at? While it's still dripping after my shower? After it comes out of my towel when it's no longer dripping but still quite damp? :D

No problems with hair in the shower except with stepping on it. I really haven't had the weight issues that so many people seem to be concerned about. I think my hair is nowhere near as thick as yours, however. I've never broken a stick or anything like that either.

I left it down to dry yesterday since I didn't have to go anywhere in particular. I think I washed at about 9:30am and by 5pm when I had to get ready to go out, it was pretty much dry.

[meteor]

^ Thank you so very much for your detailed replies, gossamer! :flowers: You are so awesome!

It's so cool to hear how you detangle without even needing any tools other than fingers! :thud:

About the wet vs. dry weight thing... you are so right :agree:, the degree of wetness would probably influence the measurement so much, but so would even relative humidity and other factors for dry hair... :hmm: hmm, but I guess it would be equally interesting to compare, whether it's dripping wet or just relatively wet vs fully dry. :D Oh, and what about the length? :) It would be so cool to measure shrinkage on dry hair vs. wet at such amazing lengths. (I wonder if the percentage of shrinkage stays the same (%, no matter what length), so only the absolute (cm) measurement changes, or maybe this assumption is wrong? :hmm:) No pressure, of course, gossamer! :flower:

Happy Hairiversary! :joy: And thank you so very much again for all your awesome advice, photos and tutorials! :flowers:

[Salzdrache]

Congratulations ! Your hair is amazing and I love your fotos :)
:cake::gift::joy:

[Mimha]

(...)
About the wet vs. dry weight thing... you are so right :agree:, the degree of wetness would probably influence the measurement so much, but so would even relative humidity and other factors for dry hair... :hmm: hmm, but I guess it would be equally interesting to compare, whether it's dripping wet or just relatively wet vs fully dry. :D Oh, and what about the length? :) It would be so cool to measure shrinkage on dry hair vs. wet at such amazing lengths. (I wonder if the percentage of shrinkage stays the same (%, no matter what length), so only the absolute (cm) measurement changes, or maybe this assumption is wrong? :hmm:) No pressure, of course, gossamer! :flower:

(...)

These are such interesting questions !...^^ :eye:

I hope you don't mind us to ask : you know, scientists are so curious !! And we have found the most interesting guinea pig ever : a long haired one !! :D
Thank you so much for all your answers, Gossamer ! :flower:

[Vanilla]

Gossamer, one more question. How do you sleep with your hair? Braid, updo? I can't imagine a satin sleep cap would work well for your length.

[gossamer]

Thanks Salzdrache!


^ Thank you so very much for your detailed replies, gossamer! You are so awesome!

It's so cool to hear how you detangle without even needing any tools other than fingers!

About the wet vs. dry weight thing... you are so right :agree:, the degree of wetness would probably influence the measurement so much, but so would even relative humidity and other factors for dry hair...hmm, but I guess it would be equally interesting to compare, whether it's dripping wet or just relatively wet vs fully dry. :D Oh, and what about the length? :) It would be so cool to measure shrinkage on dry hair vs. wet at such amazing lengths. (I wonder if the percentage of shrinkage stays the same (%, no matter what length), so only the absolute (cm) measurement changes, or maybe this assumption is wrong? :hmm:) No pressure, of course, gossamer! :flower:

Happy Hairiversary! :joy: And thank you so very much again for all your awesome advice, photos and tutorials!

Dripping wet would be kind of silly to measure, don't you think? Once the measurement's taken and I remove my hair from the scale, there will probably still be many grams of water left behind. It seems really imprecise. The only way to get a measurement of how much my hair could hold onto while wet would be to stand around and wait for it to stop dripping (or at least the period between the drips go from seconds up to at least a minute) and then weigh. Hair damp from being in a towel for ~45 minutes would probably be rather lighter than that, I think, given that the towel is actively absorbing the water rather than the water responding to gravity and dripping out.

Anyway! My hair's dry today so I'll try to weigh my braid. :)


These are such interesting questions !...^^ :eye:

I hope you don't mind us to ask : you know, scientists are so curious !! And we have found the most interesting guinea pig ever : a long haired one !! :D
Thank you so much for all your answers, Gossamer !

I'm having fun with the answers! There's clearly quite a lot that I haven't actually thought about regarding my hair before.


Gossamer, one more question. How do you sleep with your hair? Braid, updo? I can't imagine a satin sleep cap would work well for your length.

Haha, yeah, I never have worn a sleep cap and probably won't try it.

This is where my benign neglect hair care probably tends towards the neglectful side again. 90% of the time, I sleep with my hair in a braid. The other 10% of the time it's in a loose, high cinnabun held with spin pins. The latter happens usually on nights I'm too tired to undo my hair and braid it again from the bun it's been in all day.

I don't have a satin/silk pillowcase because one of my cats shares my pillow with me. Pretty sure his claws would accidentally destroy anything nice like that and I might even be woken up by him disastrously slipping off it in the middle of the night. :lol:

[gossamer]

For anyone reading this later, i want to be clear about something:

Throughout this thread, I've been detailing a hair routine that doesn't make use of many LHC standards: BB brushes, sleep caps, silk pillowcases, diluted shampoo, oiling, cone-free, frequent S&D etc.

I'm not saying that such habits aren't good for your hair, however. Those are best practices for many people.

I remember something a former member, Igor, said once about hair advice/types/practices. I paraphrase based on faulty memory (and she was always better with succinct, pithy, meaningful statements : "Someone could come around saying Hey, I use battery acid on my hair and it never seems to have done me any harm! Why are you all being so uptight? If battery acid is damaging your hair, you must be doing it wrong! and that would be disrespectful and irresponsible. So what if one person has limited success with battery acid? That's their hair type, maybe, or their ignorance of better hair care. It doesn't work for the majority of people in the short term, let alone the long term. Their habits aren't going to work for anyone else."

My "no-nonsense" hair routines also have another descriptor: benign neglect. And, quite honestly, given how little time I spend on my hair and how casually I'll do something like snip out a stubborn knot instead of painstakingly detangling it for 10 minutes, I probably tend more towards neglect sometimes.

It should be considered amazing that my hair has grown this long, healthfully enough (just :scared: at the bottom 18", don't look too closely, so many splits!), despite what I do/don't do to it, rather than that my whole routine is one to copy hoping for similar results.

I'm so glad that my towel wrapping, minimal detangling of wet hair, and gradual detangling on braids has helped people! But you can improve upon my habits and grow even healthier hair, I'm sure of it!

[SteelRose]

For anyone reading this later, i want to be clear about something:

Throughout this thread, I've been detailing a hair routine that doesn't make use of many LHC standards: BB brushes, sleep caps, silk pillowcases, diluted shampoo, oiling, cone-free, frequent S&D etc.

I'm not saying that such habits aren't good for your hair, however. Those are best practices for many people.

I remember something a former member, Igor, said once about hair advice/types/practices. I paraphrase based on faulty memory (and she was always better with succinct, pithy, meaningful statements : "Someone could come around saying Hey, I use battery acid on my hair and it never seems to have done me any harm! Why are you all being so uptight? If battery acid is damaging your hair, you must be doing it wrong! and that would be disrespectful and irresponsible. So what if one person has limited success with battery acid? That's their hair type, maybe, or their ignorance of better hair care. It doesn't work for the majority of people in the short term, let alone the long term. Their habits aren't going to work for anyone else."

My "no-nonsense" hair routines also have another descriptor: benign neglect. And, quite honestly, given how little time I spend on my hair and how casually I'll do something like snip out a stubborn knot instead of painstakingly detangling it for 10 minutes, I probably tend more towards neglect sometimes.

It should be considered amazing that my hair has grown this long, healthfully enough (just :scared: at the bottom 18", don't look too closely, so many splits!), despite what I do/don't do to it, rather than that my whole routine is one to copy hoping for similar results.

I'm so glad that my towel wrapping, minimal detangling of wet hair, and gradual detangling on braids has helped people! But you can improve upon my habits and grow even healthier hair, I'm sure of it!

And this is exactly why I always have a hard time when people ask me for advice. My hair has mostly gotten to Knee length due to ignoring it while dealing with 3 small children. I also believe in finger combing. I cannot possibly remember the last time I used a brush on my hair, though I do use a comb to smooth the canopy hairs for updos. I believe that what is absolutely best for each head of hair is individual to each person. If nothing else, being on LHC has taught me that. Practically nothing works 100% of the time. For some growing hair is easy, for others it's extremely difficult. You have amazing hair regardless of orthodoxy and I would just like to thank you for sharing it, and your lovely personality with all of us.

[gossamer]

Thanks for chiming in with your experience, SteelRose! I agree with everything you said about hair care habits, and appreciate your compliments.

Dear hair-science friends, check this out: https://youtu.be/YW7yZrmLWdg (it's still uploading but should be live in ~10 minutes)

My braid weighs in at ~350g, ~12oz, ~.77lbs. Not much at all.

[Wusel]

Thanks for chiming in with your experience, SteelRose! I agree with everything you said about hair care habits, and appreciate your compliments.

Dear hair-science friends, check this out: https://youtu.be/YW7yZrmLWdg (it's still uploading but should be live in ~10 minutes)

My braid weighs in at ~350g, ~12oz, ~.77lbs. Not much at all.

THANK YOU!!! I've just watched it!!!! :joy: :joy: :joy: Awesome!

I've weighed my braid yesterday. About 70 grams.

[meteor]

Thanks for chiming in with your experience, SteelRose! I agree with everything you said about hair care habits, and appreciate your compliments.

Dear hair-science friends, check this out: https://youtu.be/YW7yZrmLWdg (it's still uploading but should be live in ~10 minutes)

My braid weighs in at ~350g, ~12oz, ~.77lbs. Not much at all.

YAY! That's pure awesomeness! :joy: That's a lot of weight for hair! :bigeyes: Thank you so very much for sharing this cool experiment with us, gossamer!!! :flowers: :love:


THANK YOU!!! I've just watched it!!!! :joy: :joy: :joy: Awesome!

I've weighed my braid yesterday. About 70 grams.

^ Yay! Great stuff, Wusel! :D By the way, if you are interested, I've just found another interesting hair weight experiment, by Lucy's Corsetry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XduqBu1s44Y&nohtml5=False
She got these results: Dry braid (48'' of hair) ~ 225 gr (0.5 lbs), and Wet braid (not dripping wet) ~ 350 gr (0.75 lbs), so the hair absorbed about 55% of its dry weight in water!
Interestingly, it's a lot more than I've seen reported (30% - 40%, depending on condition, according to L'Oreal Hair Science (http://www.hair-science.com/_int/_en/topic/topic_sousrub.aspx?tc=ROOT-HAIR-SCIENCE^SO-STURDY-SO-FRAGILE^PROPERTIES-OF-HAIR&cur=PROPERTIES-OF-HAIR)) - so I wonder if the longer the hair gets, the more it can actually absorb not only in absolute terms but as a percentage, too... Hmm, I don't know, but I do feel bad about not having a scale now!

SteelRose, that's so great to hear about your experience with finger-combing, too! :flowers: I only recently started doing this again (out of necessity) and I noticed it's a lot easier to comb hair after finger-combing it first. Last time I tried finger-combing I was probably only at mid-back, and it didn't work, even caused some tangling and felt a bit like a waste of time back then, but it's been getting *very* useful and easy since CL+ - so I wonder if it's a length-related thing? It seems a bit counter-intuitive, but at the same time, I notice that detangling at growing lengths is more about just separating strands and de-knotting rather than smoothing down or polishing hair, so using fingers seems more natural and practical for this process.


Such a cool thread, gossamer!! :flowers: I really enjoy reading all the questions and answers and discussion!

[fiðrildi]

Stunning, gossamer :thudpile:
That first picture is outstanding. You should definitely try and make some underwater captions sometime :wink:

Happy 6 years anniversary!! :cake:

[gossamer]

Very interesting about the data you found, meteor! I won't make any conclusions yet but after my next wash I'll do my usual damp braid and let you all know. :)


Stunning, gossamer :thudpile:
That first picture is outstanding. You should definitely try and make some underwater captions sometime :wink:

Happy 6 years anniversary!! :cake:

Thanks! Underwater? That would be such a difficult thing to photograph.... unless I went to an aquarium and swam with the penguins or something. :rollin:

[fiðrildi]

Thanks! Underwater? That would be such a difficult thing to photograph.... unless I went to an aquarium and swam with the penguins or something. :rollin:

LOL! That would be EPIC! :spitting:

What about a swimming pool? You could get a cheap, disposable underwater camera (and a volunteer to take your pictures). Or you could simply stand in front of a shark aquarium, pretend that you're swimming, and have a huge fan blowing your wind from the side :laugh:

I think you could get very interesting and powerful photos, and would be so much fun to make. You had mentioned before about wanting to get some artistic pictures done for yourself, before you get a shorter cut. I think underwater would be a very, very cool possibility :thumbsup:

[Carolyn]

Congratulations on your LHC anniversary! Your hair is so gorgeous!

[Beborani]

Besides having beautiful hair you make everything seem effortless. Congratulations!