Childhood Hair Memories

[BlueKittyMeow]

What are some of your favorite (or most striking :P) memories of hair from when you were a child?

My grandmother used to tell me "go in my room and fetch my hair brush" and I would go to her dresser and pull the brush out of her special draw of scarves and perfumes. It was a pale pink acrylic brush with stiff white bristles and I can still remember how sharp and springy it would feel. I would sit in front of her on the floor and she would brush my hair for me. She loved long hair - she was old fashioned in a charming way and she loved that I wore skirts and that I kept it long. The feeling of her running the brush over my hair was so soothing and relaxing and such a special bonding moment. I was very very shy as a child and this was one of the times we were closest. I can still vividly recall the feeling...

Does anyone else have any memories, good or bad, that they can share?

[Wildcat Diva]

Great thread idea!

I remember my mom using a device called The Purr by
Gillette to detangle my hair. I did not like sitting there and being patient. I remember the Johnson and Johnson detangling spray.

[Katia_k]

I have mostly bad hair memories from my childhood, though there are a few good ones mixed in there:

-Dad brushing my tangled curly hair with dad fingers and pulling to the point where we still have "you want me to brush your hair?" as a joke threat in the family.
-Hating french braids until I was in college because I associated them with horrific scalp pain from all the pulling.
-The barney-themed hair detangler mom used, which was actually super effective and kinda smelled good...I kinda missed that stuff it really worked.
-Being 12 and learning how to braid pigtail braids in my best friend's bedroom (her mom actually had long hair so she knew how to do that kind of thing better than my mom).

There's the random collection...

[lithostoic]

My older cousin used to let me play with her hair when I was around 6. She was a teenager and had long 2c/3a curls. I would carefully brush her ringlets into soft waves and practice various hairstyles.

[school of fish]

When I was a child my mom kept my hair pixie'd until she felt I was old enough to care for it reasonably well myself (which meant around 11 years old or so), and I desperately wanted long hair... so when I was really young I simulated long hair by taking one of my 70s knitted ponchos and pulling the neckband over my head like a hairband, letting the rest of the poncho trail over my shoulders and down my back... I was a beautiful princess with long flowing hair so long as I wore that poncho on my head :p

[BlueKittyMeow]

when I was really young I simulated long hair by taking one of my 70s knitted ponchos and pulling the neckband over my head like a hairband, letting the rest of the poncho trail over my shoulders and down my back... I was a beautiful princess with long flowing hair so long as I wore that poncho on my head :p

This reminds me of Anne of Green Gables! I was just watching the newer adaptation, "Anne with an E" and when she is pretending to be "Princess Cordelia" she has this crocheted lace throw that she wears upon her head. Playing pretend was SO much fun as a child, and so hard to recapture! I love your story :)

[BlueKittyMeow]

-Hating french braids until I was in college because I associated them with horrific scalp pain from all the pulling.


Oh my goodness, YES. And I had no idea how to do them, and my mother didn't know either, so I only ever got them from other kids' moms... I would usually get really tight ones before soccer or softball games and oh my god, the scalp pain!
I think they're really neat now :P

[neko_kawaii]

Trying to braid pigtails tight enough they stuck straight out like Pippi.

High school sports teams french braiding each other's hair before a game. I don't think anyone could french braid their own hair.

[Jo Ann]

My Mom doing my hair in a ponytail--she'd pull it so tight, it felt my eyelids were slanted (think "Instant Face Lift).

Getting my hair cut in a pixie, whether I wanted it cut or not. To this day, Me + Pixie = Ain't Happening

Taking turns with my sister brushing each other's hair.

[spidermom]

I used to love to comb my grandmother's approximately classic length hair when I was very young. Then I got to be around 12 or 13 and started trying to talk her into getting her hair cut like all the other women her age at our church. She told me her daughters would be upset if she cut it. So I asked my mom and aunts and they said they didn't care. When I told my grandmother she should get her hair cut because her daughters didn't care, she told me "what people say and what they mean is often two different things.

[tlatzoteotl]

As a kid, my mom would put my hair in pigtail braids or a French braid. Eventually I learned how to do it myself and could do it with my eyes closed on myself or my best friend next door (it actually looked better when I closed my eyes). I've lost the knack, unfortunately. I'm sure with practice I could pick it up again, but I'm not motivated enough.

As a teenager I would have my friend put my hair in lots of tiny braids all over my head. When I took them out my hair would puff out like crazy and be really kinky...my hair being determined to be straight, though, it didn't last long.

[sumidha]

Getting my hair horribly tangled in my grandma's round brush thinking it was a giant curler like old ladies use to set their perms. :laugh:

That and my dad taking me to get a hair cut one day as 'something to do' on a weekend I was spending with him after my parents divorced. I was pretty young but I'm pretty sure there was no bad intent involved, he really did just think it would be something to take up some time on a saturday afternoon, but oh man was my mom ever pissed when I came back with almost tailbone length hair basically cut into a bob.

One time I was at school and our class was painting a mural on the ground and one of the kids accidentally got cement paint in my hair, and they had to do a pretty spectacularly bad hair cut to get all the paint out... I guess all the memories of hair that stick out to me from my childhood are the bad ones, lol.

[Eastbound&Down]

My mom doing my hair with what i called "the magic curling iron". She had thst thing for probably 20 years, and she would use it to tame my curls every now and again

[Groovy Granny]

My memories are not fond! :no:

But I love hearing all your wonderful memories :crush:

[leayellena]

akward stage forever and looking more like a boy than a girl...
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=28886&d=1509000609

[lucid]

I had blonde, almost mid back length hair at age 7, and had been wanting short hair for long. I told my parents, and they said that if I still wanted short hair in a while, we'd cut it. Some time passed, and I still wanted short hair, and we agreed on trying short "long" hair first. My mom took me to a hair dresser and my hair was cut to chin length. I remember wanting shorter hair all the time sitting in that chair... I wasn't happy with the cut, because, well I wanted short hair - buzz cut short and chin length was not short. So after a week when I still wasn't happy, my mom asked me if I wanted her to cut it for me. So she gave me a buzz cut at home, 9 mm. I was thrilled - loved it and felt super cool. I know my parents didn't want me to loose my long hair, but they respected my wishes and supported me all the way. It's a really great memory for me :)

[AZDesertRose]

One of my earliest memories is of my preschool teacher. She was Dine (Navajo), and she was very kind, calm, and soft-spoken (the soft-spoken part is something of a Dine cultural convention; talking loudly or shouting is generally acceptable only if one is warning someone else of imminent danger). She had the most gorgeous, perfectly straight and sleek, blue-black hair that must have been at least TBL and also smelled really nice. It smelled "warm," in some way. Comforting.

When my mom's brother (her only sibling) got married when I was almost four, I acquired a number of aunts and uncles, since my aunt (Mom's brother's wife) is the second of five children, and her older sister has always in my memory kept her lovely, probably about 1b, golden blonde hair at least waist-length. She also knows how to style it, and she has two daughters about my age (all three of us were born in about a thirteen-month span of time), so I spent more than a few nights at her house at birthday parties or other slumber parties with my cousins. My aunt would offer to braid our hair for us, usually after breakfast the morning after a slumber party, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever to have my hair in pigtail French braids (especially since my mother to this day does not know how to French braid).

Around that same time period, I remember encountering Crystal Gayle for the first time (possibly on the Mandrell sisters' TV show), and her hair just wowed me so much. I'm not sure I could handle hair quite that long, but it was certainly fun to see!

My mother used to read the Little House books to me, and there's an illustration in Little House in the Big Woods (in the section about the sugaring-off dance at Grandma's house) wherein Laura's aunts are styling their hair into braided flat cinnamon buns in the back with softer, looser bits of hair carefully styled around their faces (this would have been somewhere in the 1870's). That may have been what sparked my fascination with historical hairstyles, although as I've gotten older, my period of interest has moved backwards in time. :laugh:

For not-great childhood hair memories, my grandmother (who had once been a professional hairstylist) permed my hair when I was about five. After the manner of five-year-old children, I didn't want to sit still, which made the process longer and more of a hassle than it strictly speaking needed to be, and the perm solution smelled awful.

Then there was the time I decided to try to go blonde, except Twelve-Year-Old!Me didn't know how long one would have to leave peroxide on hair as dark as mine to get it blonde (and shudder: the damage!), so I ended up with an incredibly unflattering brassy orange. My mother helped me color it back dark brown with box dye.

[Salwety]

My memories are mostly bad ones. I remember getting pixie cuts over and over again because it was a hassle to maintain. And by maintaining I mean: having stinky home perms that caused scalp burns and straw like frizzy hair, straightening my hair using blow drier followed by iron straightener that again in many occasions caused skin burns in my scalp, ears, and once on my cheek.
Then in my teens I had chin length to bsl most of the time that I used to put in plastic roller sets at night everyday ... speaking about headache.
So I wish I could forget about all my hair memories. But it also makes me thankful that I found you with all your advice and support, and that I went natural.

[lapushka]

What are some of your favorite (or most striking :P) memories of hair from when you were a child?

My grandmother used to tell me "go in my room and fetch my hair brush" and I would go to her dresser and pull the brush out of her special draw of scarves and perfumes. It was a pale pink acrylic brush with stiff white bristles and I can still remember how sharp and springy it would feel. I would sit in front of her on the floor and she would brush my hair for me. She loved long hair - she was old fashioned in a charming way and she loved that I wore skirts and that I kept it long. The feeling of her running the brush over my hair was so soothing and relaxing and such a special bonding moment. I was very very shy as a child and this was one of the times we were closest. I can still vividly recall the feeling...

Does anyone else have any memories, good or bad, that they can share?

My grandpa jokingly being after me with scissors, because I needed a haircut (all in good fun) when I was younger than 5. They were also instrumental in keeping it short as they took me to their barber (well grandpa did). For the hair I had on my head! It was fine and a barber sufficed.

When I was 5 and went to primary school for the first time (and saw the other girls), I told my mom I wanted it long. She kept taking me to the hair dresser that year (at some point I got to go with my mom to the regular hair dresser) and it stayed quite short. I put my foot down (can you imagine LOL) and said I was no longer going to the hair dresser anymore. Then she realized I was serious about it all and I was allowed to grow my hair out. My First Communion had already past by that time, so the hair dresser was told I was growing it for my Holy Communion, and so she cut only my bangs each time.

Then when I was 11, I had it cut back to a pageboy hairstyle.

Kids!

I do remember when it was classic that my mom would have to get the knots out. It was the 70s then and conditioner was just something that wasn't on the market then.

[Hairkay]

Favourite memories;

Having my mother/grandmother/great-grandmother do my hair. It was so relaxing that sometimes I got sleepy. Our family aren't the touchy feely type so this was one of the times of comforting family touch/socialising. I'd also watch my sisters, brother and cousin having their hair done. There was the amusing time watching grandmother or even grandfather try to brush a part in my brother's short hair. They'd get the area around the part to lay flat in tiny waves but within minutes those curls would jump back up. I always wondered why they continued with something so pointless.

There's also the few times mother did all of our heads in cornrows/canerows, once she even tried beads on the ends and we got to pick the colours we wanted. We'd sometimes moan that our mother didn't know how to plait/braid tight because sometimes our hair would unravel. At the same time we saw our mother frown at other children whose scalps were buckling up because their hair was pulled so tight. Then we'd be grateful.

Bad memories;

Having the baby sitter comb our hair. She'd pull so hard that I once found myself in tears. I'd managed to not cry for getting a stone lodged in my elbow but this was my scalp so it was hard to ignore. She was a bad baby sitter who did questionable things that will be classed as child abuse. Maybe she hated her job plus she wasn't used to dealing with such thick heads of hair. Her own hair was always in a twa and her daughter's hair was slightly longer than hers. We'd been so relieved when she stopped coming to work.

[wo]

I remember pronouncing 'shampoo' as 'pamshoo' for years. It just wouldn't come out right. 😂

[MlleMC]

I loved when my mom French braided my hair, although it didn't happen very often because she rarely had the time. It was mostly Sundays for church or on special occasions. I thought French braids were the most beautiful hairstyle--in my mind it was a princess hairstyle.

I also remember when she did my hair in tiny braids. I loved that hairstyle, especially since I didn't have to detangle as long as I kept the braids. But I was jealous of my neighbour, because her mother had made 54 braids on her head while mine only made 36 (why do I remember those number?). My mother isn't very patient, and I'm not sure how well I could stay seated while she braided either. I'm pretty sure I still have a picture somewhere of my hair brushed out after we removed the braids, it was quite impressive.

[girlwithsixarms]

I remember my dad blow drying my hair after a bath as I stood over the heating vent in his apartment when I was very young (3-4) and I remember the time I was 6 or 7 and tried to cut my own bangs (things went badly). I also remember the first time I ever used detangler when I was 11 or 12 - we were running late for my aunt's wedding and my hair just wouldn't behave so my mom used my other mom's detangler to get rid of a big snarl (mom2 threw a fit and momprime had to reassure her that it was just this once and I wasn't going to be using her detangler regularly)

And I remember the updo for my dad's second wedding when I was 8 - it involved a flower wreath and the end product was roughly equal parts hair and hairspray/bobby pins.

[Guitargod]

I remember going to a barber as a child to get haircuts. He always gave us licorice pastils and I wanted my dad to buy the same as the ones he gave me, so I pointed to some boxes "World's Best" that the barber had on the counter, thinking they were the pastils. My dad acted kinda strange and it was only later when I asked my mom that I learned the boxes were condoms, and what they were for:)
My sister and I were boy scouts/girl scouts and one time we went to a camp for a week. She hadn't brushed her hair for the entire week and my parents ended up cutting off a big piece that had matted together.

[Cg]

My first haircut came at about age 5. It was nearly knee length, extremely thick, and in those days blow dryers had not been invented. It took 24 hours to dry after washing, and in the far north, that meant freezing for 24 hours -- every week including summers. My mother pixied my hair and kept it very short until I could manage it myself (even then blow dryers were far in the future).

It felt so good to be warm!

[Dark40]

I have some really good memories about my hair during my childhood. I always remember sitting on the floor, and my mom get's out the Boar Bristle Brush brushing my hair. It was so relaxing and soothing. She would always brush my hair back into a big ponytail, and put a big borette with big balls on the rubber part. I also remember meeting this girl at my church that had ankle length hair, and I've always admired her hair even til' this day. During my childhood I have always dreamed of having ankle length hair someday.

[Hairkay]

Oh I remember a bit of mischief. I was messing around with a pair of scissors and I wanted to cut hair. Cutting the dolls' hair was boring plus it wouldn't grow back. I didn't want to cut mine mainly because in our family they expected girls not to get hair cuts. That meant my brother who got hair cuts regularly was the perfect subject. I cut a little of the front. It got me in a lot of trouble, I'd thought no one would notice.

[Stub]

I don't remember anything about my own hair, but I remember when my dad took my little brother to the barber to get his first haircut (age 3 or 4?). He came home with a buzz cut, all proud to be like dad. Mom cried her eyes out!

I also remember that there was an older lady in our church with grey hair that she wore in a thick braid to her ankles. I was always amazed by how long her hair was.

[Krissycats]

When I was a teenager, I had long blonde hair and I tried to make it as frizzy and poufy as possible. We were at a nearly empty theater waiting for a movie to start and a little kid about ten rows back asked really loudly, "Is that a lion down there?"

[Alysia]

When I was about thirteen, I was playing hide n' seek and tripped backwards into a stand of burr bushes. My waist-length hair was matted solid with them by the time I fought my way out. My mom was going to cut it short, but my stepdad spent the whole night picking the burrs out one by one do I could keep my hair.

[girlwithsixarms]

When I was about thirteen, I was playing hide n' seek and tripped backwards into a stand of burr bushes. My waist-length hair was matted solid with them by the time I fought my way out. My mom was going to cut it short, but my stepdad spent the whole night picking the burrs out one by one do I could keep my hair.

Wow, I think that may be one of the sweetest things I've ever heard!

[AZDesertRose]

When I was about thirteen, I was playing hide n' seek and tripped backwards into a stand of burr bushes. My waist-length hair was matted solid with them by the time I fought my way out. My mom was going to cut it short, but my stepdad spent the whole night picking the burrs out one by one do I could keep my hair.


Wow, I think that may be one of the sweetest things I've ever heard!

Stepdads can be really awesome. Mine's always been a better father to me than my bio-father by far.

Once, when I was somewhere between eleven and thirteen, the wire on my braces on my bottom teeth broke, and it was Friday afternoon/evening, so there was no way to get in to my orthodontist until Monday at the earliest, so my stepdad took some fine fishing line, sterilized it with isopropyl alcohol, let it dry, and tied the broken wire back in place so it would at least not poke me in the cheek or gums all weekend.

I wish I'd had a camera to capture the expression on my orthodontist's face when I was worked in for an emergency appointment that Monday. The combination of "amused" and "impressed" on his face was something to behold! :laugh:

[Alysia]

Wow, I think that may be one of the sweetest things I've ever heard!

He’s a great guy, with long hair, so he understands. ;)


Stepdads can be really awesome. Mine's always been a better father to me than my bio-father by far.

Once, when I was somewhere between eleven and thirteen, the wire on my braces on my bottom teeth broke, and it was Friday afternoon/evening, so there was no way to get in to my orthodontist until Monday at the earliest, so my stepdad took some fine fishing line, sterilized it with isopropyl alcohol, let it dry, and tied the broken wire back in place so it would at least not poke me in the cheek or gums all weekend.

I wish I'd had a camera to capture the expression on my orthodontist's face when I was worked in for an emergency appointment that Monday. The combination of "amused" and "impressed" on his face was something to behold! :laugh:

That was an awesome feat of Macgyvering. :)

[AZDesertRose]

He’s a great guy, with long hair, so he understands. ;)

That was an awesome feat of Macgyvering. :)

My stepdad has half a degree in mechanical engineering (Life happened and he never got to finish it), but he's one hell of a field engineer, although he's retired now. But he can build or fix anything! It boggles my poor little English-major brain; spatial relations are not particularly my strong suit. :lol:

[PrincessAralin]

I've got really strong memories of when a friend gave me lice and for over a week I would sit on the porch steps every morning for hours while my mother painstakingly removed ever nit and egg with a comb and her nails.
On the positive side of things, I also remember how carefully she'd put my braids in and how excited I was when we did something a bit different for a change. The first time we made a crown of my braids, I felt like such a princess. It puts a smile on my face even now.

[Isobibbel]

I think i posted this somewhere else, but I love telling this one.

As children my twin and I would do ballet, for shows and exams our hair needed to be in very tight buns. Our mum always helped us with this, but she always struggled, she assumed it was because she had short hair for years and was out of practice.
One exam another student's mum wasn't able to be there so our mum helped her, she got it done in no time at all! XD Turns out twinnie and I have hair that's so thick it just gangs up on anyone trying to style it!
Another year our mum couldn't make it, two of the older girls were doing our buns. Twinnie saw the one doing my bun look up at the one doing hers, with a look of pure horror and say "there's just SO MUCH HAIR!"

[AZDesertRose]

I think i posted this somewhere else, but I love telling this one.

As children my twin and I would do ballet, for shows and exams our hair needed to be in very tight buns. Our mum always helped us with this, but she always struggled, she assumed it was because she had short hair for years and was out of practice.
One exam another student's mum wasn't able to be there so our mum helped her, she got it done in no time at all! XD Turns out twinnie and I have hair that's so thick it just gangs up on anyone trying to style it!
Another year our mum couldn't make it, two of the older girls were doing our buns. Twinnie saw the one doing my bun look up at the one doing hers, with a look of pure horror and say "there's just SO MUCH HAIR!"

I love that!

Everyone who's ever handled my hair (mostly people styling it, whether professionals or family/friends braiding it for me or whatever, but a couple of times in the last year, I've had injections in my scalp for migraine treatment, and the medical practitioners have all joked with me about how finding the skin under all that hair is more time-consuming than performing the injections!) comments on just how much of it there is.

[LizzyGrant]

I had white blonde hair as a child. I always wanted long hair but my mom kept it in a bob/shoulder length cut because it was "practical". She cut my hair by herself and often added some crazy bangs, that started somewhere around my ears. With my thick hair I looked like I was wearing a helmet. I remember I hated going to the hairdresser (when I was a little older and my mom didn't cut my hair anymore) and wanted to cut only 1 cm. I was devastated if the hairdresser cut more than that.
I also remember always wanting dark hair, like my mom and pretty much everyone in my family expect me and my brother. Sometimes I found some random course, black strands from my hair. I was excited because I thought my hair would turn black. I liked Princess Jasmine's hair from Disney's Aladdin and wanted my hair to look like hers. Unfortunately it never happened :rolleyes:

[AZDesertRose]

Then there was the time I decided to try to go blonde, except Twelve-Year-Old!Me didn't know how long one would have to leave peroxide on hair as dark as mine to get it blonde (and shudder: the damage!), so I ended up with an incredibly unflattering brassy orange. My mother helped me color it back dark brown with box dye.


I had white blonde hair as a child. I always wanted long hair but my mom kept it in a bob/shoulder length cut because it was "practical". She cut my hair by herself and often added some crazy bangs, that started somewhere around my ears. With my thick hair I looked like I was wearing a helmet. I remember I hated going to the hairdresser (when I was a little older and my mom didn't cut my hair anymore) and wanted to cut only 1 cm. I was devastated if the hairdresser cut more than that.
I also remember always wanting dark hair, like my mom and pretty much everyone in my family expect me and my brother. Sometimes I found some random course, black strands from my hair. I was excited because I thought my hair would turn black. I liked Princess Jasmine's hair from Disney's Aladdin and wanted my hair to look like hers. Unfortunately it never happened :rolleyes:

I wanted my dark hair blonde, and you wanted your blonde hair dark. Grass is always greener, no? :flower: :D

[AspenSong]

I don't have a ton of fantastic ones, mostly because my mother would chop my hair short, off and on a lot and I never really wanted it cut short. She just didn't want to deal with it, and sometimes I think she used it as punishment.
However, in my much younger years when she was a little more stable, she used to french braid my hair and I always loved that. I just really liked having my hair lightly touched and brushed and it felt special to get that "special" braid in my hair. Or the few times she made two braids and wrapped them in a faux crown braid like her grandmother used to wear, love that too.
Outside that, I think most of my childhood memories with my hair were just of frustration because it would get cut off when I didn't want it to. And bangs. My mother was constantly cutting my bangs. She said I needed them because I had such a big forehead. Hated them as a kid. Or I remember very vividly her detangling my hair and I remember crying because she was not gentle in those times and she would do it all with a rat-tail comb and by the time she'd finish, my whole scalp would throb. I'd occasionally just get some crazy rat snaggles in my hair while I was out playing.

[AZDesertRose]

I don't have a ton of fantastic ones, mostly because my mother would chop my hair short, off and on a lot and I never really wanted it cut short. She just didn't want to deal with it, and sometimes I think she used it as punishment.
However, in my much younger years when she was a little more stable, she used to french braid my hair and I always loved that. I just really liked having my hair lightly touched and brushed and it felt special to get that "special" braid in my hair. Or the few times she made two braids and wrapped them in a faux crown braid like her grandmother used to wear, love that too.
Outside that, I think most of my childhood memories with my hair were just of frustration because it would get cut off when I didn't want it to. And bangs. My mother was constantly cutting my bangs. She said I needed them because I had such a big forehead. Hated them as a kid. Or I remember very vividly her detangling my hair and I remember crying because she was not gentle in those times and she would do it all with a rat-tail comb and by the time she'd finish, my whole scalp would throb. I'd occasionally just get some crazy rat snaggles in my hair while I was out playing.

When I was a kid, my mother made me keep mine no longer than shoulder length, because she didn't and still doesn't know how to take care of hair longer than that. You should have seen her boggle at me doing a lace braid in the front of my hair for a special occasion a couple of years ago, LOL!

This do, actually: https://s6.postimg.org/sniknbkxt/Me_at_Equality_Florida_gala_crop.jpg It's sort of hard to tell that the front is lace-braided by the angle, but it was.

I don't think Mom's ever worn hers longer than APL, and that was before I was born and I don't think it lasted long. But once I got to be about twelve, she figured I was old enough to take care of my own hair, and she basically decided she wasn't dying on the hill of my hairstyle.

I know what you mean about having someone handle and style your hair gently. One of my aunts by marriage has long hair, and I used to sleep over at her house a lot because her daughters and I are close in age, and she would braid our hair for us (if we wanted, and we almost always did) in the morning after breakfast at those sleepovers.

I also had a high school chorus classmate who liked to French or Dutch braid people's hair, so on days when the chorus teacher let us sort of have a free day (maybe once a month), all you had to do was untangle it yourself with your own comb or brush and give her as many hair ties (of your own) as braids you wanted her to do in your hair, and she'd go to town.

Honestly, having someone else handle my hair is one of the few things I miss about not having my (fortunately very trustworthy) hairdresser cut my hair. Having it washed gently but with the right touch to get my scalp all clean, in pleasantly warm water. . .heavenly! :cloud9:

[marvel-lover]

I remember my dad trying to do my hair for the first time. My older sister only ever wanted her hair kept down, so he never practiced on her. Anyway, all I wanted was two English braids, but I ended up looking like a cross between pipi longstocking and a clown!

[Aredhel]

Until she chopped all of my hair off at around 10 years old, my mother used to brush my a hair and do multiple French and Dutch braids in my hair every morning before school. I was always known in the family as the one with the pretty hair. Since my mom is a complete hardass and because I hungered so often for her attention and affection when I was young, I really cherished this morning ritual of ours. Sadly though, she ended up cutting it all into a bowl cut when she grew tired of braiding my hair every morning. :rolleyes: :p

[renia22]

Prior to age 11 or so I was a tomboy and had short, awkward haircuts, courtesy of my mother (who had zero hair cutting skills, so my hair was usually lopsided). However, I do recall we had this is the house all the time, and it smelled incredible:








http://i63.tinypic.com/2ll0lcx.jpg

[Isobibbel]

To all the people with stories of their parents chopping their hair short: :shudder:
I can't believe that! My parents had no clue how to style my hair but once twinnie and I got into primary school we were allowed to grow it as long as we liked and it was our decision on how to wear it (mostly in a ponytail cause I was a lazy kid)
I can't fathom being a parent and deciding to chop a child's hair short against their wishes because it would save me work D:<

[fangirl]

I remember the first day of preschool I met this girl with dark black thick hair that went to her knees almost. I decided that I HAD to become best friends with her and that I wanted hair that long. I did become best friends with her but my hair has never reached that desired length. I think about her and her hair all the time. I missed that I kept contact with her.

My dad is amazing at braiding hair (he grew up braiding his family's horses). I remember siting on the floor in font of his chair at night while he would braid both my sister and I's hair. Then in the morning my mom would take them out and hair would be all wavy and cute.

[Robi-Bird]

I don't have much in the way of hair memories. Other than it being straw after several rounds of bleach when I decided to dye my dark hair blue. Having said that, it was also an inch long so the damage got cut off in a couple of months.

I have a memory of my sister's though. Mom had a rule, if she had to deal with it, our hair was short, but once we were old enough to start combing or brushing it, around 6 or 7 we could have it however we wanted. I kept mine short, my sister did not. One day she got a boar bristle round brush caught in her waist length hair, caught at her SCALP. Between them, Dad and Mom spend hours untangling it. Mom got to the point she just wanted to cut it, Dad didn't give up.

[yahirwaO.o]

He he he mine is another story and part of tragic-bad 90s bowl cut goofy club (CRINGE) :doh::doh::doh:

I also hapenned to be the chubby kid in school. So i was bullied till death for looking like a portobello mushroom all the way of elementary school.

I had all the 90s variations of the style (straight across bad bangs, curtain bad bangs, comb over bad bangs) with my super chubby little boy face. Even then i dindt think about it too much.

I was probably semi aware and happy with my hair till I hit my teens and decided to go for beatles style which eventually became emo style :p

[LizzyGrant]

I wanted my dark hair blonde, and you wanted your blonde hair dark. Grass is always greener, no? :flower: :D

That is so true.. Why do we so often want the opposite. I also loved curly hair (still wish my hair was curly :rolleyes:) and my best friend who had curly hair, hated hers.

[SallySue]

Similar to school_of_fish's story:

When I was 3 or 4 years old, I had a playdate with some of my little friends from preschool. When my mom came to pick me up, we were playing "Long Hair" where we put tights on our heads and tied on things like mardi gras beads and more pairs of tights end to end to see how long we could get it. The long hair fascination began early.

[EdG]

My childhood hair memories are best forgotten. My life effectively started when I was in my twenties. ;)
Ed

[truepeacenik]

My childhood hair memories are best forgotten. My life effectively started when I was in my twenties. ;)
Ed
:grouphug:
:hug:

[MlleMC]

The summer I was 5, I remember being very proud of my "very long" hair. I clearly remember noticing one day that it went down to my bellybutton... or so I thought, because when I look at pictures of that time now, I can see that it really wasn't any longer than BSL. Considering my age, I'm pretty sure I had just been looking down with my head bowed without realising that it made my hair reach lower!

And then later that summer, my mother took me to the hairdresser for the first time ever because she wanted me to have a very specific pixie style, and she didn't trust herself to do it (she usually cut my hair). But the hairdresser clearly didn't understand what we wanted, because I ended up with what looked like a boy's hairstyle. At least I dressed very girly (a LOT of pink and dresses), so I was never mistaken for a boy while it grew back. The same can't be said for my sister, who also got a pixie cut around that age. It looked really cute on her, but she wasn't girly at all, and she got quite insulted when people mistook her for a boy.

[Rehab350]

When I was a child, my mom keeps my hair long, not so long but longer than children my age. It was waist length while others never passed their shoulders. She love long hair but her hair isn't helping. It was fine, thin and weak while mine was thick, coarse strong and shiny. So she kept the oiling and henna. I wished for shorter hair but she never allowed it. My older sister knowing all this and trying to convince my mom so I can cut my hair. Till one day my sister brought scissors and cut my hair. I was happy even though it wasn't short cut. It was only armbit cut.
It's kind of sad memory. I kept cutting my hair every year after this. But now I want long hair again.

[Salwety]

My childhood hair memories are best forgotten. My life effectively started when I was in my twenties. ;)
Ed

I can say the same and the good stories started in my late twenties. And your hair looks beautiful Ed

[leayellena]

my hair now looks shiny. until just this year since 2 months ago my hair looked "shiny" when it was greasy. now it doesn't matter if I shampoo or co-wash, my hair looks shiny. silly me I thought I had either bildup, product overload, wet hair because of humidity or weighted down from products or because of the length. until I found this article: https://www.bustle.com/articles/136183-6-things-that-might-make-you-think-you-have-greasy-hair-when-you-dont hah! read pts. 2 and 3.
wow now I know how fine healthy long hair is supposed to be!

[EdG]

I can say the same and the good stories started in my late twenties. And your hair looks beautiful Ed
Thanks, Salwety, and :grouphug:.
Ed

[Twig]

Cutting the "cowllck" on my forehead down to the scalp. I was tired of my bangs growing in one direction (they still do). I was in fifth grade. Right before school picture day. Yeah...that didn't work well.

[EdG]

You guys and gals are so awesome that I had to post a real story in my blog. (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/entry.php?b=131124)
Ed

[vpatt]

I never realized until now how I mostly have bad hair memories.... I'm almost shocked that I don't have some real issues from this, lol.

Ok first memory was my mom's....she said when I was about 2 I cried when she wanted to trim my hair, I told her it would bleed.

I remember my grandmother catching rainwater in canning jars to wash her hair with. (This is a good memory)

By far my biggest memory is of my mother brushing my hair and me crying because it hurt so badly. I have a theory.....my dad didn't allow me to have a haircut until I was 9. I think my mom really wanted me to have a cute short cut and maybe she pulled more than necessary to prove how I "needed" a cut. And my hair was only about midback by that age, I think....so maybe she was doing secret trims, I don't remember. Or maybe she was pulling it out, lol.

SPOOLIES, another evil conspiracy of my mom's. I would probably have cut it myself to keep from having those hateful embarrassing things stuck in my hair.

Then the day of the big chop! It ended up instead of a cute pixie I got a longish bowl cut at the shop....my first shop encounter. And in the middle of it all the hairdresser had to point out the huge tear rolling down my face!

By about 13 I was ready for Cher hair.....except for my trying to trim my own hair and I cut it pretty short because I was trying to even it up. And just before that I wanted a strand of my hair bleached.....so I poured Clorox in a small cup and held a strand of hair in the pure bleach. Imagine my surprise when I did not get a nice blonde streak, I got nothing, no blonde because there was NO HAIR! Lol. My next experiment was with temporary red dye which took quite some time to grow out. I did eventually get my hair to my waist. For some reason none of these memories really upset me, but I still don't like other people messing with my hair. Tho I have had others cut my hair from time to time over the years I remain extremely tenderheaded.

[TheCurlyMermaid]

Wash days at my mom's, sitting on the floor between my mothers legs while she sat on the couch and cleared out my hair and then greased/oiled my scalp in sections and then protective styled my hair while we watched a movie/tv show.

School day mornings at my dad's house where he would patiently clear out my tightly curly tangled hair and use Just For Me detangler (I can still smell it!) and brush my hair neatly back into a low ponytail. He always detangled from the very bottom and worked his way up. Keep in mind the man has 1a, fine, blonde, buzzcut hair. He went out of his way to learn how to take care of my hair. :heartbeat

:blossom: :heartbeat Both really worked to teach me to love my hair. I always asked my mom to get my hair relaxed like hers and she always told me no (thank goodness), the Curly Girl Method book marked a big change for me. Not that it really helped my hair, but it helped the way I felt about my hair. Also when my mom went natural (she has 4a/b coils), I stopped wanting to look like the women on my dad's side of the family and started to like my hair the way it is!

[Olavi]

My mom used to micro braid my hair every summer, because making 5 year old sit for the duration of braiding was less work than taking care of the hair. I was "quite active" child (read: I was a duracell bunny) and we spent summers in the archipelago and in the middle of the forest, so my hair would have been matted after few hours, especially when we were by the sea. Neither mom or I was fond of detangling my hair, so microbraids it was.

I loved the braids and I would dip the tassels in the water and pretend they were mermaids xD

[TheCurlyMermaid]

I loved the braids and I would dip the tassels in the water and pretend they were mermaids xD

Awww that is so cute!

[enting]

My aunt would ask to brush my hair whenever she visited. I'd always let her because she was the only one who could brush my hair without pulling and hurting. She was very gentle. I think she was the one who taught me to always start brushing from the bottom.

The secretary at my childhood dentist's office knew how to french braid hair and taught my family members how to. On rare occasion it would be a slow enough day that she would braid my hair while we were sitting in the waiting room.

[RedStripe]

My hair was really light blonde when I was little. It's wavy, and was even curlier at that time, and my mom used to put it in pincurls (yes, actual 1940s pincurls -- my mom was from a different era!) to emphasize the curl. I don't really have a memory of how it looked (although I do remember sitting for the pinning process), but apparently it made a big fuzzy aura around my head. My sister says, "It was so beautiful -- it looked like you had a halo."

[Fairyxlights]

By far my favorite hair memory is dad french braiding my hair. He was the only one of my parents who knew how to French braid. I'd bring him my brush and sit in front of his big recliner and watch the original law and order (which I called lawn and order, I was like 5 XD) and he'd braid it for me.

I also remember watching my aunt, his sister, wash her hair in the sink since it was too long and heavy to wash in the shower (about knee length). I always thought it was so pretty and shiny and always wanted to brush it and play with it. I think she let me comb the ends with my fingers once or twice. I use to beg mom to let me wash my hair in the sink like her.