Changing Hair Statistics/A Tiny Identity Crisis/Whine Session

[molljo]

Well, it seems like I've achieved the dream of growing thicker hair through zero effort. As of about a year ago, my circumference was solidly 3 1/2 inches, and I was very happy with my ii hair. It was like the Goldilocks fairy tale: not too thick, not too thin, just right. It made me feel very zen by being content with my average thickness. In the time after that, I had some face-framing layers grow out long enough to be included in the ponytail, so I wanted to see if it had increased a little: 4 1/8 inches???? I tried again after the next wash day and blew dry my hair as flat and straight as I possibly could get it so there wouldn't be any deceptive wavy poof giving me false numbers. Still 4 1/8 inches.

I didn't have *that many* layers! And I had only very recently started adding protein to my regimen, so in my mind it's way too soon to see any benefit of hairs that would have broken off staying on. None of this makes sense.

I realize that many, many people would kill for this increase in thickness without any scalp treatments or pills or super delicate handling. I *liked* my ii hair though. I liked being in the middle. I liked not having to deal with the problems iii people have to wrestle with. I don't want to wait even longer to be able to do simple buns. My hair's been so heavy and so hot this summer, and I thought it was just because it was longer, but now I see that clearly wasn't the whole story.

So now I feel like I have to adjust part of my hair identity. I'm not going to thin it out if only because thinning shears would probably shred my hair and give me unconquerable frizz. It's very difficult to reconcile how much this bothers me in relation to how I think of myself. It feels very silly and very ungrateful of me to be affected like this, like I'm a bratty teen upset because they wanted a Volvo and got a Mercedes instead. I just needed to get this off my chest, sorry.

[lapushka]

Comparing iii hair to a supposedly "better quality car" isn't very... you know? There's plenty of people on here with ii hair and even i hair that would love to compare themselves to a "Mercedes", and they would be right too! :)

With iii hair, I had to wait to waist/hip to do the simplest of buns, so... there's a way to go yet seeing as you're now just on your way to BSL.

Anyway, happy growing! :flower:

[molljo]

Comparing iii hair to a supposedly "better quality car" isn't very... you know? There's plenty of people on here with ii hair and even i hair that would love to compare themselves to a "Mercedes", and they would be right too! :)

With iii hair, I had to wait to waist/hip to do the simplest of buns, so... there's a way to go yet seeing as you're now just on your way to BSL.

Anyway, happy growing! :flower:

Oh, I totally agree about the car comparison. It made me feel weird and uncomfortable typing it, but I'm worried about people who wish for thicker hair getting angry at me for complaining in the first place. The last thing I want is to make anyone feel inadequate or lesser. I can edit it out if I've hurt anyone.

[Llama]

You could always cut your layers back in that you had...

[Horrorpops]

You could always cut your layers back in that you had...

Couldn't agree more. Part of the reason I keep my layers is that it helps keep my hair lighter and more manageable. If you don't like your newfound thickness then layers would be a better solution than thinning shears in terms of damage etc. :)

But I can sympathise, changes in hair type must be super inconvenient when you've already found what works for your thickness and pattern. :o I guess there is always more to learn!

[Decoy24601]

I agree that you could always get layers again.

I don't know, I've had my hair thinned out before with layers (5" ponytail circumference) and I hated it. I love how thick my hair is even though I couldn't do a bun until around TBL. Everyone's different though :).

[Kajzh]

I have super deep bangs because it cuts down on my thickness. I use thinning shears on my bangs too, and it's less horrifying to thin out my bangs than it is to confidently do it to the rest of my hair. I even do it myself!

Perhaps consider that?

Alternately, you can also maybe try to give iii hair a shot. You can get very creative and try to see if you can grow attached to some of the upsides of thickness!

[Anya15]

I think we have a whole thread or two dedicated to iii hair and the challenges we face :D

[lapushka]

A few even. Here's a few:

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=24724
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=137423

[lithostoic]

Not trying to hijack but I just within the past couple days realized I don't in fact have fine hair. I mean I have some, but that's what I considered "especially fine" which I now know is just ... Normal fine. So strange knowing I'm actually a medium, even hairdressers tell me my hair is fine.

[Anya15]

BTW I still can't do an LWB even though my hair is hip when stretched out! :p I can somewhat manage it but it's not very solid. It'll probably come undone if I start moving about.

[molljo]

Thanks for all the support, everyone! I do still have lots of layers; they're all just long enough to fit into a ponytail. I'm very close to BSL, so I think my issues with my new thickness just need a lot of time and length so I can do some more dramatic layering which would look bad at my current length.

There's also a big level of adjusting my expectations about what I can do at which length. I have a relatively short goal, but I thought that I'd be able to do certain styles when I got that long. Now I have to consider heavier layering than I initially wanted or I have to extend my goal, and even then that might not be long enough.


But I can sympathise, changes in hair type must be super inconvenient when you've already found what works for your thickness and pattern. :o I guess there is always more to learn!
This is exactly it. I think once I've fully accepted it I'll be fine, I'm just bristling at having to do so in the first place. I had everything figured out, but now all my plans have to be changed.

And thanks everyone for being so understanding. I was super anxious that in my effort to acknowledge that I'm probably being unreasonable about this I'd inadvertently insulted both i and iii haired people. Again, it wasn't my intention, but I sincerely apologize if I've done so.


Not trying to hijack but I just within the past couple days realized I don't in fact have fine hair. I mean I have some, but that's what I considered "especially fine" which I now know is just ... Normal fine. So strange knowing I'm actually a medium, even hairdressers tell me my hair is fine.

Hijack away!! It'd be great if this turned into a thread of people sharing "I thought my hair was X, but it's actually Y" stories. I'm so glad that I'm not alone in believing your hair is fundamentally one way but suddenly realizing that it simply isn't the case. It's very disconcerting!

[lithostoic]

You can get a v-shaped layered haircut c: I would love to do that but my ends would look too stringy.

[Robot Ninja]

There's also a big level of adjusting my expectations about what I can do at which length. I have a relatively short goal, but I thought that I'd be able to do certain styles when I got that long. Now I have to consider heavier layering than I initially wanted or I have to extend my goal, and even then that might not be long enough.


You might find that heavy layering makes doing buns harder, not easier. A lot of buns rely on wrapping hair around the base of the bun for stability, so if you have thin ends due to layering it might not be enough to support the rest of your hair. Plus you get little ends sticking out all over the place. However, you can always do sectioned versions of buns if you find you have too much thickness to do buns that people with ii hair can do at your length.

Also, keep in mind that iii thickness includes everything from "just over 4 inches" to "6 inches and more." You're on the low end of iii. You might not have some of the problems that people with super thick hair have. You probably have more in common with the ii/iiis than a lot of the iiis.

[Greenfire]

Funny, I'm sitting here with wet hair cause I think I need to retype it! As it's gotten longer, it just feels curlier too, I'm taking much better care of it, and thinking that it's maybe no longer 1c/2a! When it's dry, I'll put a pic up, maybe you're not the only one here whose hair is changing!

I also am still a ii, but I know it's also thicker, as it's now 3" and I'm CERTAIN I was just barely a ii when I could first type it, IIRC it was just over 2"!

[maborosi]

Greenfire- Same story here! I think when I came onto LHC, my hair was definitely at about 3.2" circumference with a lot of taper and dryness. But after taking care of it, my circumference is closer to 4" and it's in great shape!

[spidermom]

My hair has waxed and waned in thickness around the 4" mark since I joined 10+ years ago, but I have another problem. It used to be wavy and curly. When I first joined, I would have given anything to have straight and smooth hair. I learned how to make the most of my natural hair type and to love the wurliness. Over time, my hair type has changed to more of a 1C/2A. Some days I might have a ringlet or 2 when the humidity is just right, but just as many days my hair is probably as straight as 1B. There's nothing to account for it. I haven't moved. The climate around here is the same. So that's my identity crisis.

[lora410]

Other then hemline thickness I don't envy the iii thickies. It must be hard to get a brush through and the weight alone..whew..yall must have really....strong...necks. my kiddos friend has iii hair and ask me to put her hair up for her, her hair was slick to even grab hold of a medium ficcare wouldn't even hold her hair up for long :shake::shake: hats off to you guys and gals who have iii hair

[lapushka]

Other then hemline thickness I don't envy the iii thickies. It must be hard to get a brush through and the weight alone..whew..yall must have really....strong...necks. my kiddos friend has iii hair and ask me to put her hair up for her, her hair was slick to even grab hold of a medium ficcare wouldn't even hold her hair up for long :shake::shake: hats off to you guys and gals who have iii hair

Yeah, weight is why I have mine layered. It all got too much at waist length (blunt) for me, and then I started to add in layers. Classic with layers is OK, but without? I'd have given up at waist length! Which is a length where buns were juuust becoming real for me.

[enting]

You can still expect to do buns when you thought you would, you just might have to play around with doing sectioned buns or multiple buns rather than being able to wrap everything all at once into one bun. You may enjoy that more than keeping layers which might make some buns more difficult. I also agree with whoever it was who said that you're still on the low end of iii, you may not have all the issues thickies talk about. It really is a gradual spectrum, difficulty doesn't have to suddenly jump with the change from ii to iii.

My hair is slowly getting coarser over time and I recently changed my modifier from F/M to solidly M because I felt that fit better. When I was a kid it was definitely all over fine. It's disconcerting to have to retype! I also keep my hair in braids and buns a lot lately and every so often I think my hair is less curly, but I don't want to to do a typing wash and dry in case I have to change my curl type, too! That would just be too much for me. So I understand a bit about hair identity crises.

[StellaKatherine]

I wonder when it is the right time to measure your hair thickness ? I always measure before washing as that is when my hair is the most compacted. If I measure after I washed no matter how I comb it won't compact as much as when my hair is dirty or/and oily.

I hope you can still enjoy your iii hair, as those hemlines are divine on a longer lengths! I am personally considering cutting my hair shorter as my hemline just too thin at classic length, so maybe you will see some positives with time.

[meteor]

my kiddos friend has iii hair and ask me to put her hair up for her, her hair was slick to even grab hold of a medium ficcare wouldn't even hold her hair up for long :shake::shake: hats off to you guys and gals who have iii hair

Just an idea in case the kid needs iii hairstyling help again: when I was a kid, I survived on braids (especially "warrior braids", multiple braids braided together, were super-helpful). Half-ups were also useful for keeping hair away from face. :)
If you can braid sections of hair first, you can later bun them: either going into separate (double/multiple) buns or just wrapping section #2 over half-up bun from section #1. You can make as many sections as you want (or have time for). And the rule of thumb is: the thicker or shorter the hair is, the more sections you might need to break it down into in order to put all that hair up, if the hair is too short/thick for an unsectioned bun.



Personally, I often run into a bit of a hair statistics problem with my texture... It just changes *so much* depending on the products I use, how my hair is washed or dried, humidity, etc... but especially with different cuts and lengths - it goes from super wavy to completely straight pretty easily. I had to change my classifier on texture here a few times.
Does anybody else update their classifier on texture as the length grows and impacts the way the texture looks (e.g. weight stretching out curl pattern maybe)?

[Cg]

Just an idea in case the kid needs iii hairstyling help again: when I was a kid, I survived on braids (especially "warrior braids", multiple braids braided together, were super-helpful). Half-ups were also useful for keeping hair away from face. :)
If you can braid sections of hair first, you can later bun them: either going into separate (double/multiple) buns or just wrapping section #2 over half-up bun from section #1. You can make as many sections as you want (or have time for). And the rule of thumb is: the thicker or shorter the hair is, the more sections you might need to break it down into in order to put all that hair up, if the hair is too short/thick for an unsectioned bun.



Personally, I often run into a bit of a hair statistics problem with my texture... It just changes *so much* depending on the products I use, how my hair is washed or dried, humidity, etc... but especially with different cuts and lengths - it goes from super wavy to completely straight pretty easily. I had to change my classifier on texture here a few times.
Does anybody else update their classifier on texture as the length grows and impacts the way the texture looks (e.g. weight stretching out curl pattern maybe)?

My hair has tried to become a bit wavier lately. I attributed it to an exceptionally humid summer but others have noted that with length sometimes comes texture change. Today I'm a 1c, but it is sauna-ish today so until autumn dryness kicks in I won't know better the cause.