How do you care for your above shoulder length hair?

[Ophidian]

I'm around lip/chin with a lot of layers from growing out a pixie. Conventional wisdom seems to be that conditioner is only really necessary on lengths, but I seem to have a lot of poof and everything further than 2 inches from my scalp seems to feel dry with shampoo only (I do use some coconut oil, sometimes mixed with shampoo, sometimes pre-poo, and I also do a final rinse with herbal tea and honey which seems to help with moisture). I am trying to grow with no trims so I am invested in keeping my ends as healthy as possible, but am concerned about over-moisturizing or just generally getting carried away with unnecessary experimenting :)

So for any current or once-upon-a-time shorties, how do you care for your hair? I know that results for anything vary from one head to the next, but I'm curious what has kept your ends happy as you grew out (especially interested in hearing from those who grew out/are growing out with no :scissors:!).

Shampoo only? S&C? COwash? Something entirely different?

[neko_kawaii]

When my hair was that length I had never heard of applying condish on the length only, so I applied it to all of my hair. *shrug*

My son has shoulder length hair and hates the smell of both shampoo and conditioner (and generally refuses to let me put anything in it) so he is pretty much water only. Not a great combination with his wavy hair that, like mine, tangles if you look at it and forms mats over night. His ends are starting to feel very rough to me, which can't be helping with the tangling situation.

My take on the situation is that something is needed to add slip at shoulder length.

[Nesoi]

I conditioned right from buzz length! I only stopped conditioning the roots once I hit shoulder. I found shorter hair suffered a lot more manipulation and day to day me messing with it than it did once I could properly put it up, so for me conditioner was important :) I also used a little aloe gel to help with poof before my hair had enough weight to pull it down a little!

[Upside Down]

I conditioned from the roots. I didn't rub it into my scalp :)

Twists are nice to keep it kind of contained. Edwardian twists or something similar... And finishing with bobby pins.

[Ophidian]

This is very helpful, thank you all for responding! It's also very inspiring hearing people with gorgeous long hair talk about what they did when they had a buzz cut :D

[Arctic]

I have always used conditioner, even on pixie length.

I'm also a trimmer, always have been, but in general my hair doesn't take any real efforts at that length. Wash, condition, comb when wet, let air dry, style, repeat.

[Nique1202]

After reading this and thinking back to when I had a pixie, I have to admit that "don't condition above the shoulders" does a great disservice to shoulder-length and shorter haired folks. Really, we should be saying "focus your conditioner on the ends where it's needed, not at the roots where there's a better supply of the scalp-made stuff." It's easy for us to oversimplify that and we really shouldn't.

This goes double for those of us who can stretch washes further when our hair passes a certain length. When you wash your hair more often the sebum doesn't have the chance to move further down the hair shaft, so while now I might end up looking greasy right down to my earlobes since I'm going 4 days on average between washes, I have picture proof that I only looked greasy not even to the tops of my ears at shoulder length when I wasn't comfortable going more than 1 day without washing, and thus definitely needed conditioner on my ends at that point.

[Ophidian]

Nique1202 (aka Urban Myth Buster:))

That makes sense to me. I do find that I am less able to stretch washes lately, both because my scalp has been acting up if I go more than 3-4 days, and also because it's not long enough for me to just put it up and deal with it for another day or so when it starts to look stringy. Like Nesoi said, I almost feel like I need it more sometimes than when it's longer to weight it down a bit and because I can't really do any protective styles that will hold yet. But I've just been using coconut oil and some honey in my final rinse lately because I was concerned about over conditioning if it didn't need it.

This conversation is starting to remind me of the thread that was going a few weeks ago about sleeping on wet hair. OP asked why we don't/aren't supposed to do it and about half of all responders said they did anyway, "conventional wisdom" or no. I guess do it if it works, don't if it doesn't huh :)?

[lapushka]

Because I have oily hair, I never conditioned until I reached about APL length, and then only from ear down.

[meteor]

I agree with Nique1202's points. :agree:

I also wanted to mention another aspect of conditioning and why it may be sometimes useful applied pretty high up on shorter hair: styling. Basically, the same head of hair can look very different (hair lays differently) depending on length alone when it's short vs. long, layers vs. blunt cuts. On shorter hair, you may want to sometimes weigh down on the ends to make it easier to style and shape (depending on the look you are going for), whereas when hair is long and heavy, it's pulled downward by the weight alone. The same principle applies to overnight pillow "setting", i.e. bedhead effect (it's much less pronounced the heavier and longer the hair gets, but can sometimes be a challenge for shorter hair). For smoothing down, conditioning can be a good trick. To give a personal example, the longer my hair grows, the further down I apply conditioner (nowadays, only from mid-back down) and primarily for moisture and slip, not styling, but when it was shorter than mid-back, my hair could be seriously hard to control and poofy and conditioning it heavily from roots down really helped me control and style it.
I think some curlier textures can also do pretty well with thorough conditioning throughout the length (e.g. for clumping, curl definition, or methods like the Tightly Curly method by Teri LaFlesh) vs. conditioning ends only.

[Sarahlabyrinth]

I just used to shampoo and condition the hair, apart from that I just left it alone. :)

[DoomKitty]

When I had chin length hair I shampooed the roots and condtioned both the roots and the length, I just didn't work the condtioner into my roots too much as my scalp is a bit oily. Knowing what I do now from being on here the last 6 months or so I probably would have done CWC at that length to help stretch trims.

[Ophidian]

You all are the best :flowers:

I'm going to start conditioning even though I don't have any proper length to speak of yet. I think it just really needs something to weight it down a bit. I've always thought I have oily hair, but I'm starting to think that what's oily is my face and that my hair itself may be rather on the dry side. It's wavy, and has a lot of different textured strands, and tends to be very fly away unless I oil it and dry it in a braid/bun (or currently claw-clip twists).

I really appreciate all the feedback. Definitely since I am trying to grow out no-trim for a while, I want to keep my ends as healthy as I can and make it look somewhat styled in the mean time if at all possible.

[Ophidian]

And meteor, what is this "clumping" you speak of? I've always wanted to figure out how to get my waves to kind of "stick together" into defined tendrils (which is what I am going to assume "clumping" is :)).

[Horrorpops]

I always conditioned my hair, regardless of length! I've also (and still) apply conditioner to my roots haha, it just feels right for my hair. If I don't it feels all dry and frizzes a lot more.

I've done this from a buzz cut to waist and it's never caused an issue :o

[pailin]

I used conditioner even at pixie, and usually a leave in too. My roots get greasy FAST, but my hair is very fine and fly away. It needed the weight.

[Nesoi]

Ophidian for me clumping is the natural tendency of my hair to form tendril-y waves, which, if I touch my hair too much during the drying process, get broken up and result in frizz. The biggest and most important lesson I ever learned here at LHC was that I didn't have straight, frizzy hair - I had wavy hair which was frizzing because I was breaking up the wave pattern by brushing it!

From about chin length I started squeezing excess water out with a microfibre towel, then doing a couple of 'headbangs' back and forth to break my hair up into clumps. I then wrap it back in the towel while I do my post-shower toilette, then take it out and scrunch in a small amount of panacea (getting larger as my hair gets longer). Then I DO NOT TOUCH IT while it dries, as much as humanly possible. This preserves the clumps and therefore the wave pattern. It worked for me at chin and it works for me at waist - although the headbanging is now somewhat more dramatic! :rockerdud

[meteor]

And meteor, what is this "clumping" you speak of? I've always wanted to figure out how to get my waves to kind of "stick together" into defined tendrils (which is what I am going to assume "clumping" is :)).

^ Yep, I definitely agree with you and Nesoi :agree: (post right above) on clumping. I couldn't have explained it better. :)

[Ophidian]

Haha Nesoi the head banging must be a sight to see :D. The closest I've come to getting anything like clumping is when I sleep on it wet (I guess this is because I'm not messing with it as it dries). But then it's usually awesome on one side and flat on the other and kind of frizzy anyway because I'm not currently using any leave ins. Will have to try what you describe and see if I can figure out a better way to work with these waves!

[meteor]

^ If you can't stop touching you hair as it's drying, maybe experimenting with plopping can work? :) It can help because it keeps all the hair out of the way and lets it wet-set while keeping it hidden away from hands. ;) But a real problem with plopping is that it may not dry fully if it's so compacted in a t-shirt or microfiber towel... :hmm:
And yes, I'd add leave-ins. In fact, I'd try the whole LOC routine (liquid/leave-in + oil + cream/gel). ;)

[siamesedream]

My longest layers are at the back and they're shoulder length but the majority of my hair is mid-neck. I henna mine, and try not to use heat on it as much as possible but sometimes I have to straighten it as it flicks out madly if I sleep on it funny! Right now I use Fairly Traded Honey shampoo and Veganese conditioner, both from Lush, plus I use shea butter on the ends and coconut oil etc.

I'm going to start CO washing soon though! I've been stretching my washes out to every 4-5 days recently, since I did a clarifying rinse with bicarbonate of soda my hair has been much less oily. I have some splits from heat damage but only a few that I can see. I haven't cut my hair since November. Here's a length comparison: https://www.instagram.com/p/BE4i9ZvsGxYbjgtT83nIsW0J_bY4vM6fYgx7iw0/?taken-by=neutralmalikhotel

None of my tips are anything new as they are all things I've leanred from the forum here! But I thought I'd share as they have really worked for me.

[Ophidian]

Thanks for the info meteor! I'd been thinking about trying LOC, seems like a lot of people with my hair texture have had good results with styling techniques that generally work for curlies. I see that your hair is about the type/thickness that I'm pretty sure mine is (though I need a bit more length to type properly). Have you had luck with LOC? I was thinking about starting with fresh aloe as the liquid, followed to coconut oil to seal, followed by... Not sure yet :).

[Ophidian]

And siamesedream thanks for sharing what has worked for you! I've though about trying cowashing too but I'm trying to keep my experiments to one at a time so I can actually tell what's working and what's not :). Let me know how it goes!

[meteor]

Thanks for the info meteor! I'd been thinking about trying LOC, seems like a lot of people with my hair texture have had good results with styling techniques that generally work for curlies. I see that your hair is about the type/thickness that I'm pretty sure mine is (though I need a bit more length to type properly). Have you had luck with LOC? I was thinking about starting with fresh aloe as the liquid, followed to coconut oil to seal, followed by... Not sure yet :).

Yes, it works great for me. :) The only downside is that it can make my hair catch a bit more dust/lint over the days (it becomes a problem when hair is very long and is worn down: it turns into a lint magnet) and doesn't allow me to stretch washes longer. But I like it for wearing hair down (though I almost never wear it down anymore :doh:).

My hair was much wavier when it was shorter, but it hangs almost straight, like 1c hair now, probably due to all this weight of ~53'' hair.

If you want to try fresh aloe juice as the L (liquid stage), I'd dilute it quite a lot, so it's light and non-sticky. And also, aloe vera gel can work for some people as straight up gel for hold (as in, last step). I love mineral oil or a bit of grapeseed oil in LOC, but of course, it's all very YMMV. Cream can be any leave-in/rinse-out conditioner you like, to be honest, or maybe a setting lotion/cream/mousse or even gel (any commercial product or something like AVG or flaxseed gel) for hold. This stuff is very, very YMMV, since it's all about styling and your personal aesthetic preferences and time & products for layering and how your individual hair likes different products...

Here is an ongoing thread on this topic btw ;) : http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=118167

[Ophidian]

Thanks meteor! :flower:

[Ophidian]

SMT (Burt's Bees Super Shiny, honey, fresh aloe, coconut oil)+headbanging (thanks Nesoi!)+t-shirt plopping to get it mostly dry+not touching until fully dry and then only to smooth on a little coconut oil=sproing!
http://s20.postimg.org/m9u1in5ax/IMG_2244.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/m9u1in5ax/)

This is awesome! Thanks you guys!

[meteor]

^ WOW, that looks awesome! :applause Gorgeous shiny curls, Ophidian! :crush:

[Ophidian]

:happydance:

[papayatree]

Benign Neglect is my best friend when it comes to my hair above my shoulders. It really works.

[Nesoi]

Yeah!! :cheese:

[Horrorpops]

SMT (Burt's Bees Super Shiny, honey, fresh aloe, coconut oil)+headbanging (thanks Nesoi!)+t-shirt plopping to get it mostly dry+not touching until fully dry and then only to smooth on a little coconut oil=sproing!
http://s20.postimg.org/m9u1in5ax/IMG_2244.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/m9u1in5ax/)

This is awesome! Thanks you guys!

Looks fabulous, great job!! :)