This Seems A Drastic Change (A pic)

[FennFire911]

So, most of y'all here remember me learning that I don't have 1a hair now, as I'd had all my life.
Well now it seems to be more pronounced, and it was a sudden change instead of gradual. It looks as though 2-3 years ago, something happened to me. I would have been 35-36 when these waves started so I highly doubt that this is menopause. No colour or texture change.
This is what I was talking about in a previous post where I said I would have to cut all the way back up to BSL for my hair to have a good hemline. I guess it's not just the layers that were cut in, but also this mysterious change and texture which leaves lots of body and fullness at the top, and then The last 8 to 10 inches is straight and almost even kind of spiky looking the way it lays there if I don't put it in rolls or something.
I do not want that drastic of a loss of length. It is very soothing to me when I wear a sleeveless shirt and allow my hair to be down to feel the way my hair draped over the backs of my arms and my elbows and sometimes brushes against the small of my back. But i'm afraid that it looks terribly unflattering. But the big mystery is just what caused the sudden change. It's my understanding that if hair texture changes over time, that it should be gradual. This looks like one day my hair just suddenly said, nope don't feel like being straight anymore.
This pic was yesterday, 3 days since wash day, no styling products. It rained multiple times and my hair got wet, which for me is a complete factory reset, LOL this is what happens if it gets wet, I leave it alone, and it air dries.
What do y'all think? What could have happened to me? I'll go ahead and rule out Chemo right now, I've never had it. Ideas? http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j188/foxfire_ga79/IMG_1211_zpslpvope9x.jpg (http://s80.photobucket.com/user/foxfire_ga79/media/IMG_1211_zpslpvope9x.jpg.html)

[Tosca]

Did you have a baby, or stop taking hormonal birth control?

[lapushka]

Still looks 1c to me, though. Maaaybe 1c/2a! :) Very pretty. I also wonder if something hormonal changed? Or did you take something / are you taking something that could have an influence on the hormones?

[FuzzyBlackWaves]

Did you use heat on your ends at all and how do you detangle? I have this a bit with my ends from old dye and heat damage (plus wavy/curly ends can look thinner when brushed out).

[Nique1202]

How odd, since that's something that normally happens only when someone has resolved a prior medical issue (like a nutritional deficiency) or given up particularly damaging habits (like heat styling). If there were no medical/health issues you got resolved around the time that the change started, and you didn't have a child or stop/start taking any medications, then it's probably just one of those weird things that bodies do.

As you age, you don't just go through puberty and then stay the same until menopause. There are constant small changes in gene expression and hormone levels (not just the sex hormones, but also all the other body-regulatory hormones like cortisol, insulin, thyroid hormone and all the myriad others) which is why a lot of people start to notice changes in their bodies in their late 20s and through the 30s.

When it comes to hair, some people start to lose theirs or notice a slowing in growth, and some people just get texture or colour changes. I know my mom always complained that in her mid-20s or so, all the red tone in her hair just stopped growing into new length, as if overnight, leaving her with a mid-to-ash dark brown to this day (except for the white hairs that are starting to creep in).

Unfortunately, if you don't want to cut it all at once, you may just have to maintain your length with small trims until the thickness travels down. Whether you choose microtrims or quarterly maintenance or something else is up to you. In the mean time, with the wavy texture up top, I bet that rag curls (they'd be easier to tie off midway, I think) on those thinner ends would look beautiful.

[school of fish]

This is exactly what I have going on in my hair - a discernable demarcation line between when my waves started suddenly coming in (now about 3 years ago, after having my 2nd child), and the pin-stick-spikey-straight ends that hang below. My own waves are coming in a little tighter - they look like tight braid waves - but it's the same effect.

Although I couldn't say for certain, my best guess would be a hormonal shift. As others have mentioned, the shifts that seem to affect hair texture tend to be clearly identifiable ones like puberty, pregnancy, post-partum, menopause, etc., but hormonal changes happen independently of those events too, perhaps just less perceptibly. Can you remember if your monthly cycle changed at all around that time? That could be an indicator. Or it could just be one of those little mysteries that never gets solved definitively, it just *is* ;)

In any case, it's pretty cool - enjoy your new texture! I'm enjoying the little bit of volume that has come with mine :D

[lapushka]

Mine did it differently. At age 13/14, I had a massive shed (hormonal the doc said) and even got bald spots. After that my hair grew back in wavy (from 1b'ish to 2b/c). So I had no line of demarcation, and I had a pixie at the time. Took 2 years to be "better" again.

[unheardletters]

My hair did this. In my case doctor said pre-menopause which can start in 30s can cause hair to change due to the hormone changes. I'm 34 and my hair changed suddenly from 1b to 2c/3a about 2.5 years ago. It was a dramatic change and it looked very strange. I cut my hair 2 years ago to a very short pixie for other reasons.

[FennFire911]

I guess pre-menopause is the most likely culprit? My mom didn't go through meno until her 50's but I guess it's not unheard of for things to slowly start around 35-36.
My youngest child is 7 1/2 and she was weened when she was 1, so I have not dealt with pregnancy or lactating hormones for just over 6 1/2 years. I had a histerectomy (sp?? Lol) but both ovaries are still in. So my own natural hormones are still in play, but I have no bleeding to give me any indication if I'm cycling heavy, light, irregular, etc. No hormonal birth control.
Other hormones---My thyroid has always been fine. I'm stressed a lot and 2-3 years ago I re-entered college in fast-track programmes, that's kinda stressy. So, cortisol is in play?
I do have insulin issues. My c peptides are too high, so I make too much insulin and have to fight blood sugar that likes to stay low. My 2 most recent HbA1C readings were each 4.7%, so I do trend low in sugar indicating high insulin. But that's not a recent change. Hyperinsulinemia was formally diagnosed in my mid 20's after years of symptoms.
I'm trying to pinpoint anything that happened when I was 35-36, and I'm not coming up with anything significant. My whole career (EMS) is stress since I started when I was 21. College to advance in it isn't severe enough to ring alarm bells for me.
I'm guessing it might be pre menopause. I'm sure as heck not going to complain about thicker looking hair with some nice waves! I'm liking the new look!

[embee]

You seem to have great hair for updo styles. Fairytale ends are the best, they tuck in so very well! Enjoy your waves, I'm envious. My hair looks rather like that lower 6 inches of yours, and always has.

[Anje]

Any chance you changed how you were handling your hair, maybe stopped heat styling or something? Wear and tear can also change texture sometimes, like maybe your lower hair simply needs more moisture and TLC than the rest of the hair in order to hold a wave. One of the reasons I'm considering this is that the change is right about at chair height, and depending on what you do with your hair day to day, that may be a consideration.

In any case, it certainly looks like your newer hair is healthy and happy. You're doing something right!

[FennFire911]

Well there was a point in time I blow-fried after every wash, but I used Tresseme heat protecting styling products. I thought that would make it all better lol I guess not. I suppose I quit doing that on a regular basis a few years ago. It's hard to remember timelines from that long ago. I've never bothered heat styling like curling or flat iron. Blow frying would be the only heat thing. I haven't always used the most gentle hair ties. When I was full time doing Jiu Jitsu and Judo, I had to use no-slip, and it was always in some messy pony tail and needing to be retightened without being undone and redone. No slip isn't really no slip when you start getting wildly active.
Then there was a long time that at work it was easiest to have what I call a biker pony tail. A low nape of the neck pony tail, then elastics at intervals down the length of the pony tail. And at the end of the day I would pull those out instead of unwinding them.
So yea, I have a history of not being so nice to my hair a few years ago. Is that damage permanent, or can I worship my hair back to good health? If it's repairable, what would repairing it involve? I don't intend at this point to chop, so I'm committed to investing time and money into recovery.
And on a side note, I used a different cleansing product night before last, and all day yesterday my hair was a silky sleek 1a. I'm about over it trying to categorize my hair type. It's moody, full stop. Lol

[mira-chan]

Mine grew in wavier, just like that, starting a few years ago. Went from 2a to 2b. I had the same wavier on top and straighter at the bottom thing. I think mine just changed with age and the final exit from puberty. Mine grew in coarser also. Mine I didn't handle that differently than now (other than wearing it up now more).

A handling change will show similar.