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View Full Version : Hello from Virginia :)



tlatzoteotl
November 10th, 2017, 02:30 PM
Hello! My name is Lisa, and I've had long hair pretty much all of my life. I will often get comments from strangers when I go out in public, so I guess I’ve done a good job of taking care of it.

I found this group while attempting to find another way to put my hair up in a bun now that it's a good bit shorter, and it really made my day to find a group dedicated to long hair. My hair is BSL length right now, after cutting off a ton of hair this year. I had been getting a U-shaped cut the last 2-3 years, but I decided I was ready to have it all be one length again. So, in July of this year I started with the first 3 inches. I thought it would be way too short if I took it all off at once. By October, though, I felt like it had grown out enough to take off the rest of the ends to get it all up to the shortest length, and that was another 3 or 4 inches. For me, this is short. I have on occasion over the past few years gotten that U-shape where the shortest pieces were shoulder length, and I always love it at first. It gives my hair a lot of volume and I love the way it swings around my shoulders. Unfortunately, that only lasts for about a month, and I decided that it's not worth it anymore. It's funny...whenever I cut my hair (usually about once a year) no one at work notices, even though I always take off 3-4 inches at a time. It’s not a big deal, but you know how usually people will bring it up any time someone gets a haircut. One time I had a lady ask me a few months after my last hair cut if I’d just had it cut. LOL Last month I did have one coworker that noticed, but apparently it was only because she noticed the ends looked trimmed. So, people are just used to me having long hair, and I guess anything longer than shoulder length is "long" to most people.

So, I bought some hair sticks (http://a.co/87TXDf1) and forks (http://a.co/ctoBkrD) off of Amazon when it started getting warm this year in an attempt to stop using elastic ties to put my hair up (my usual style has always been a half-up ponytail if I don’t just part it in the middle and leave it down…but then it gets in my face while I’m trying to work and gets on my nerves), with the goal being less breakage. I have never in my life been able to put my hair up in a bun, so I thought I'd give these things a whirl. I also found a beautiful Celtic knot barrette (http://a.co/74eG6hN) that was big enough for my hair in the half-up style.

Anyway…when I did a search on YouTube to try to find someone with very thick hair who used these sticks or forks to put their hair in a bun, I came up with almost nothing. The people with supposedly "thick hair" looked to me like people with normal hair or even thin hair. I suppose it wasn't completely in vain, since I did learn some techniques, but I haven’t found anything that works perfectly the first time. Sometimes I can manage the cinnabun style with all of my hair at once, but it depends on the day. It usually looks the best when I put it up without looking in the mirror to get work done around the house. If I'm planning to leave the house, I can never seem to get it to look as pretty. I have also discovered that if I braid it with an elastic tie at the end and then just sort of loop and tuck, it will hold well enough with one of the forks. I did that just now when I took some pictures for my avatar – it actually looks kind of nice, and I didn’t even secure the end.

My hair history....there were a few missteps along the way when I was a kid...an awful perm...a misguided attempt at full-length layering...but eventually I discovered that the only way I was happy with my hair, and the only thing that really works, was to do nothing to it except trim the ends about once a year. I'm extremely lazy when it comes to vanity stuff, so it works for my personality. I wake up, brush my hair and my teeth and head out the door (I have also never been one to wear make-up).

tlatzoteotl
November 10th, 2017, 02:37 PM
testing profile pic

lapushka
November 10th, 2017, 02:39 PM
I'm iii thickness, like yourself, and I had to wait to hip length to be able to bun it comfortably. If you're attempting this with a much shorter length, chances are you will be pulling it too tightly.

I have layered hair myself. I found that I could go to waist blunt, but past that it really needed layers and so because of the layers I was able to grow to classic.

It is TBL right now because last November I cut back to hip. It is awkward when you can barely do a bun!

We probably all have a hair history (I certainly do), and perms have been a part of it too. For me curly perms were so easy to take care of.

Anyway, welcome to the forum, and happy growing! :D

Corvana
November 10th, 2017, 03:00 PM
Hello and welcome!

I'm just gonna repeat what lapushka said about buns lol. From everything I've been able to gather, successful buns are a product of length+thickness being in a good balance, and that's outside of the extra annoyance of very slippery hair (like I have). I don't have iii hair, but I'm currently feeling the thick-hair pain with my thick-side-of-ii and under APL hair. Since I don't have the length to wrap around the width of my ponytail, I can't do a whole heck of a lot!

But do try a disc bun! While it may not work, I personally think it's the most likely to do so since you effectively split your hair in half so the length you're wrapping isn't as thick (and can therefore get more wrap out of it).


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iViNkltTb9Y

And I specifically went to Torrin's video because, while her hair is like classic, she's got very thick hair and I figure that's likely useful for you!

tlatzoteotl
November 10th, 2017, 06:23 PM
Thanks for the welcome! I'll definitely try out that disc bun.

I'm looking forward to my hair growing long again. I'm sure it will be WL again by spring, but I'm eager to experiment. I doubt I'll layer the ends again, though. I had that done along with the U-shape, and the pieces sticking out of my braid irritated me to no end. Which is the main reason I cut so much off this year.

tlatzoteotl
November 10th, 2017, 06:55 PM
OK, so I just gave it a go...it took a while to figure out how to wrap around the first side with it being so short, but I did it! It's holding, although it looks loose on one side. It should look awesome after some practice (and a couple more inches of length).

tlatzoteotl
November 10th, 2017, 07:46 PM
I had to find a new hosting site...ugh, Photobucket sucks. Bear with me while I figure out picture sharing on this forum.

http://imgbox.com/gL9IxL4x

tlatzoteotl
November 10th, 2017, 07:48 PM
So that didn't work....trying again.

https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/2e/49/gL9IxL4x_t.jpg (http://imgbox.com/gL9IxL4x)

tlatzoteotl
November 10th, 2017, 07:52 PM
So weird...I swear the picture wasn't uploaded in that orientation.

Sarahlabyrinth
November 11th, 2017, 02:17 AM
Welcome here, you with the beautiful hair :) From what I see of your photograph, you will master the disc bun in no time :)

tlatzoteotl
November 11th, 2017, 06:26 AM
Thanks :) Your hair is beautiful!

I tried again before bed and did a better job, but I didn't bother trying to take a picture since I'm not sure of the best way to post pictures here. I can't attach directly from my phone like the forum my mommy group used to have (we've been exclusively on FB for awhile, which makes picture sharing a lot easier).

Anyone have any advice? I seem to be severely limited. I also can't seem to get into the blogs.

Corvana
November 11th, 2017, 11:44 AM
Thanks :) Your hair is beautiful!

I tried again before bed and did a better job, but I didn't bother trying to take a picture since I'm not sure of the best way to post pictures here. I can't attach directly from my phone like the forum my mommy group used to have (we've been exclusively on FB for awhile, which makes picture sharing a lot easier).

Anyone have any advice? I seem to be severely limited. I also can't seem to get into the blogs.

I used imgur until I could access the albums here. I still do use it for other stuff, and hair photos that are more of a one-off.

As for the blogs, I think that's another profile lock thing. At 25+ posts, an admin will manually update your profile status (I mention this because many people, myself included, think it's automatic). Then you can look at other peoples' profiles, read and make a blog, and use the photo albums.

Dark40
November 11th, 2017, 12:09 PM
Hello and welcome to the forum! :)

tlatzoteotl
November 11th, 2017, 01:06 PM
Thanks! :) I poked around a little and found out about the 25 posts thing this morning.

Groovy Granny
November 11th, 2017, 06:40 PM
Welcome ~ enjoy the forum :cheer:

TatsuOni
November 12th, 2017, 05:51 AM
Welcome! :)

tlatzoteotl
November 13th, 2017, 07:45 AM
Thank you for the welcomes! :)

And I have to say a big THANK YOU to those who recommended the disc bun. I've got it down pat now and I love it. I also figure out the lazy wrap, but I think for my hair length right now the disc bun is perfect. When I did my hair yesterday it stayed in place from mid-morning to 3 AM, and this morning it turned out great as well, with the ends just barely sticking out at the top and bottom.

Corvana
November 13th, 2017, 02:41 PM
Thank you for the welcomes! :)

And I have to say a big THANK YOU to those who recommended the disc bun. I've got it down pat now and I love it. I also figure out the lazy wrap, but I think for my hair length right now the disc bun is perfect. When I did my hair yesterday it stayed in place from mid-morning to 3 AM, and this morning it turned out great as well, with the ends just barely sticking out at the top and bottom.

That's great!! You're very welcome! It's the first bun I thought I'd be able to do (wrong-o, still need more length LOL), but then I also tested it on my best friend's waist length hair and it was so easy. But te whole splitting-the-length bit is what keeps it in my mind as one of the earlier buns one can do and hold with a stick or fork.

tlatzoteotl
November 20th, 2017, 09:13 AM
So, here it is...my disc bun.

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=29106&d=1511193733

Sarahlabyrinth
November 20th, 2017, 09:34 AM
And what a lovely bun on you it is! :) Hair growing is so much easier when you can get it up and out of the way.

tlatzoteotl
November 20th, 2017, 09:40 AM
Thank you! And yes - I totally agree. I can't believe it took me 38 years to finally try hair sticks/forks to put my hair up. I was always jealous of the girls who could do it with a simple hairtie or even nothing at all. It's amazing my hair is fairly undamaged considering how long I've been using hairties to do the half-up ponytail.

Corvana
November 20th, 2017, 01:57 PM
Lovely!! I'm SO SO glad that it's working for you! Being able to keep your hair up is really helpful.