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Fractalsofhair
July 9th, 2009, 07:46 PM
My damaged hair has become worse! While still looking shiny and feeling nice...(Yay for hot oil treatments in terms of feel. :( for breakage!)

I was planning on simply getting bangs to get rid of the most damaged hair, but I went to Indiana for a week(Soft water, softened more by a water softener! Apparently my hair likes MA water! XD) and well... My hair is beyond the point of helping(A couple of deep treatments made the remaining hair feel nice and heal right up, but... So much is gone! :( And my virgin hair is breaking, which is unusual!).

So much broke off during that week, it's starting to look a little odd and mullety, and thin in the back(Where I had managed to save my hair.). I'll be measuring my ponytail soon, but it's not a ii/iii anymore(more like a feble i! Or a -i, or an 1(for those math nerds out there.))As a result, I will be getting a pixie likely this weekend. I'm not joyous about it, but there's a point when my hair starts breaking off 1 inch from the top that I think it's needed to get a hair cut. I'm not sure if to get a long pixie(3ish inches), or a shorter pixie(1/2-1 inch).

Which would be easiest to grow out from? What would look best with an angular face with a widow's peak? With the longer pixie, there is a lot of damage in the 1 inch range, but I really don't want to go super short. I will also be going off BC in all likelyhood soon, so I may experiance more shedding. I do like pixies on hair, so this will be a fun last short hair thing for quite a while. My hair grows fairly fast, and I have a very hard time finding talented stylists in my area, so it needs to be a style that grows out fairly well and that isn't too hard to do.

Suggestions? I'd rather the style not look too "guyish"/"butch"(Not meant as an insult to those of the "butch" style, my grandmum was heavily involved in gay rights in the 1950s, since she played sports as a female, and although she's straight, she got a lot of flack for wanting to be a scientest and such.) since my town gets a little homophobic at times, and well, I'm straight and am a strong supporter of gay rights and quite a bit of a femminist for my town, leading to confusion from some people at times.(Which is fine, but I hate to stir the flames more than I already do! And then my boyfriend likes long hair on women... He's chill/okish with the haircut though after I told him how damaged it was, and well, he's not a big fan of damaged hair! XD (Obvi, he's ok with whatever I do, but it's just a thing he thinks is pretty.))

Oh and my hair parts in the center. There's no stopping that part!

So LHC, this is your chance! Live vicariously thru me, have a short pixie for one time! XD

Addy
July 9th, 2009, 08:27 PM
Is there any way you can just have it cut to shoulder length and save the top half? I'm just wondering and know you said it's broken off but pixie is really short and I wouldn't want you to go too far if you don't have too. I know, this must be frustrating. :(

I wish you well either way and hope your hair can recover. I'm just sad that all your length has to go. I'm kinda trying to see if you could save some of it, that's all. :)

Please do post pics when you decide.

florenonite
July 9th, 2009, 08:43 PM
I have no advice for the pixie, but I'm saying enjoy it while you can. I toyed with the idea back in grade 12 when my hair was just above SL but didn't have the guts to do it, and I kind of wish I had then, because now it's long enough that I'm not chopping it.

So, yeah, if you chop, enjoy it at that length because if you're going for long hair it's probably your last chance to have it :)

feralnature
July 9th, 2009, 09:42 PM
There are lots of very feminine short cuts. You can get a pixie with soft face framing edges and look girly.

I had this haircut in the past and loved it:

http://www.glamour.com/beauty/2008/12/happy-new-hair#slide=1

Here's some more:

http://emersonsalon.com/2009/03/hairstyle-ideas-messy-sexy-pixie-look.html

http://j.bdbphotos.com/fashion/pictures/6L/90/9690_large.jpg

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/beauty/hair/best-haircuts

Jemoiselle
July 9th, 2009, 09:58 PM
Two years ago I wanted to improve my length's damage but didn't want to chop, so I had it heavily heavily layered but kept my length. The shortest layer was chin length! It cut my hair volume in half but took off almost all of the outer hair damage and allowed me to get to where I am now, almost all one length 38.5,slightly below tailbone on me. If you are excited about going to pixie route, why not? BUT if you are hesitant and there is even a tiny part of you that might miss those long locks, perhaps consider what I did? It was very radical and trendy looking with the side bangs and everything, though those are all grown out into the length now!

Wait two weeks, and proceed with caution. Just make sure whatever you do, it is true to yourself and not because you feel pressured or somehow like your hair is inferior. I know it is hard to not feel inferior around here with all these ladies with tree trunk ankle length hair hehe. I looked at your photos, I think your hair looks lovely!! Shiny and healthy, in my opinion. Just do what makes your heart happy. I hope this helps.

RancheroTheBee
July 9th, 2009, 10:46 PM
I would also suggest that maybe you just cut to shoulder first and see how things go. If your hair continues to break, go for the pixie.

free_hug
July 9th, 2009, 11:40 PM
There's definitely a bunch of very cute & feminine pixies, but at the base they are jus very short haircuts and most of them takes quite some effort to style (otherwise you just get out of bed in the morning and it looks like a funny mess of short hair. Really.) Chances are you might really like it after all, at least for a while. A pixie looks really cool and cute on many people. Drawbacks are well known: 1. every morning it takes time and substances to style, and 2. a hell to grow out.

So if you never had really short hair before, you might not really like the feeling, and maybe you should just try and get away with a shorter bob. At least those are easy to grow out, while the pixies inevitably go through a very awkward and mullety phase.

And, seen your blond locks, i'd also be sad if you just got rid of all your length at once, why not try it more gradually and see if one of the moderate cuts works?

free_hug
July 9th, 2009, 11:48 PM
Suggestions too:

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t189/ggsong/lhy200703092356070.jpg (not necessarily with the bangs though)

http://knol.google.com/k/-/-/oorouafi5k5t/qkyknj/bob-cut-hairstyle-2008.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_30PRmkOl4ro/SWjGCxHtT5I/AAAAAAAAHyM/R78iGZ4xFyM/s400/bob-hair-520x352.jpg

Especially that your problem seems to be the very fragile ends/hair, and its a lot easier to take care of your ends when you don't have to do tons of styling every morning.

And, of course, the two weeks :) so good luck with your hair.

Wicked Princess
July 10th, 2009, 12:46 AM
Like some of the other ladies here, I vote that you try a less dramatic cut first, allowing you to keep some of your length! You may find that your hair is healthier than it seems, and it's much easier to cut it shorter again later than it is to cut it shorter than it needs to be, then grow it out again.

Then again, growing it out is fun, as I'm sure most people here can attest to! Either way, I hope you show us all the end result :)

Toadstool
July 10th, 2009, 06:13 AM
I just looked at your album and you have such a great shaped face I think you would look lovely with a pixie :-)
And remember hair does grow back.

Ranee
July 10th, 2009, 10:27 AM
You said your virgin hair is breaking off too. That is unusual. Maybe you have a lack of vitamins or something similar...? If I were you i'd see a doctor. If it's breaking of I'd want to know why before cutting it all of.

Fractalsofhair
July 10th, 2009, 05:31 PM
Addy, it really is breaking off and crumbling at about 1 inch from the top. And well, when my hair gets like this, it just continues to get worse. This reminds me of a horrid experiment I had when I used Paul Mitchel products. My hair went from mid thigh(I was about 4'9 or so, so classic on me now) to shoulderish. Within couple of weeks. I was able to save that hair, but it was hard. And that's due to using cones! XD

florenonite- Thanks for the support, I'm a bit nervous, I have had horrid short haircuts, but hopefully I'll get a proper pixie as opposed to a bowl!(Which I had when I was very little)

feralnature- Thanks a ton for the pictures, I'll be able to better explain to the stylist what I want!

Jemoiselle Thanks a ton for the advice. I would like long hair, but my hair went from 75% broken off with a 3.5 inch circumference to a .25 circumference. I was fine with 75% of it gone, but now it's looking a bit ratty. My biggest concern about layers on me is that local stylists don't have a clue how to cut outward flipping layers, and well, that's how my hair flips naturally. It's also breaking off an inch from the top overall, and crumbling by the day. I would wait 2 weeks, but I'm scared I'll be bald by then, given by how badly it's breaking off. My hair does look better than most girls in my town, but... It's really bad for myself, and even my family is noticing. Due to babying my hair, it gets nice and shiny and healthy feeling. Then I skip that bit for a week or so, and the damage goes RAWR!! I'M GOING TO DESTROY YOUR HAIR, and chunks break off. Then I baby it again, the breakage stops. But now my hair is thin! XD The stylist I met with today who I have an appointment with tomorrow said I have wonderfully thick hair, and it's a lovely color, but he can see a bit of damage. Much less than most women,(He does work at a place that heavily advertises perms and such) but a clear line of breakage,though not hugely noticeable. He did actually agree with me that blow drying is damaging for fine hair, unlike the other stylist there that kept on saying "No Don, blowdrying is good for the hair"(In all seriousness, as she was blowdrying another woman's hair), so he's better with the knowledge about damage than a lot of stylists are in my town!

RancheroTheBee- My biggest concern with SL is that my front hair is at chin and breaking rapidly up. The back is almost APL, but the front is much shorter and the back had a huge amount of breakage as well. My hair does grow fast, so by the start of school it should be a bob length at least, which I have grown out from in recent memory. (Last year in fact... I had a short bob. The blowdrying was a pain, caused all the damage. Little did I know that I could use oil, ON A BRUSH, dry, in the morning.)

free_hug Thanks for the suggestions and complements on my color. I'm sad to see it go, but hey, my hair does grow quickly. Thanks for the warning about styling. My grandmum has a short pixie that she just brushes,(We have similar hair, though hers is a bit thicker.) but I might need to use some gel. Since I can dress a little "punky", I think the fauxhawk might work for a while at least... XD At least I'll be able to test out tons of shampoo bars in the meantime, and figure out what works for my hair and scalp. I have had very short hair when I was toddler, and have had bobs in the past. I've also had really long hair. (The result of having faster than average growing hair, and every 3 months having my mother say, take 1.5 inches off, the stylist removing 2, and thus I went from a bowl cut to mid thigh. Then I used cones as opposed to soap, and... My hair got angry.)

Wicked Princess- Yes, I will post pictures of the end result! I do wish I could keep the length, but I was trying to do that, and I was able to save the back before traveling. However... It's still breaking a bit, though it has gotten better since I did baby it a lot(Though I got nailpolish remover on it today(medical test), which did destroy some more chunks.). It does look nice, the remaining hair, nice and shiny. Just... So thin, and so breaky! XD I am only getting rid of about 3/4 of a year of growth, so it's not going to be too harsh on me.

Toadstool- Thanks! I was worried it might look awkward, but hopefully the stylist will be able to give me a great look. As long as it's not the bowl cut I had as a toddler, I think that my face should look fine! :)

Ranee- I have spoken to my doctor, and she thinks it's the fact I have freakishly fine hair that I made the silly choice of bleaching and blow drying. She's really holistic, and looks at my diet and is pretty sure that I'm not deficient in anything, though I am basically making her run tests, since I am a little worried since I was really sick this year in general. I'm feeling a lot better now, so it seems odd the breakage would happen with a healthy body. My virgin hair has broken off severely in the past, simply due to the use of cones of all things. I went from what would be classic on me now(mid thigh in 4th grade) to shoulderlength ish/mid back fairly quickly. It's very fine, and I got tons of splits/breakage from blowdrying once every 3 months. My hair has thickened up a little bit, but still, occasional flat ironing+blowdrying+very low volume peroxide apparently does not make my hair happy and makes it want to "break up" with my scalp! XD I've also had so many medical tests since my first seizure, if I was severely deficient in something, it would have shown up.

Addy
July 10th, 2009, 06:08 PM
I wish you the best and hope you can find something simple and easy as you try to grow out after the cut. I'm just sorry that it all has to be cut and I understand why. It's just sad, if it were my hair, I'd certainly cry. :( My long hair means a lot to me and to just have it snap and break, it would be difficult to say the least.

Good luck and please do post pics. :)

Fractalsofhair
July 10th, 2009, 08:16 PM
Thanks Addy! I don't mind short hair one bit on me, but I like really long hair as well(Though I loath the stage right before I can fully pull my hair back.. XD). It's just finding a stylist who can do something decent looking on virgin/close to virgin/not strawlike hair, other than a blunt cut across the back, is tricky if I don't want to start talking several hundred dollars or a trip into the city near me.

It's also hard to convince a stylist that I don't want or need "free/complementary" high lights, with short hair in particular(Or for them to convince my mum my hair is brown and needs a touch of color! She's a wonderful mother, but I'm the first person to stay blonde into their teens in generations, so... She's like "OMG Noes, there's no way she's going brunette, ok, I'll pay for highlights if A... doesn't say no", and before I know it I have 3 foils in my hair!). I'm quite used to having my hair break, though my virgin hair isn't easily damaged by mechanical things, there's always a bit of breakage and tons of shedding. I try to minimize damage, and I'm getting better since joining LHC(Don't put my hair in the same style each day, etc) I'm a little sad, but it's only a years worth of growth with several hacks at it. If I had slower growing hair, or thinner hair, I'd be a lot more regretful about cutting it. If my hair looked damaged, I'd try to save it, but I've gotten it to look nice and pretty and healthy again, just well... So much broke off and is breaking off, I don't want to deal with chunks of hair breaking off. I also accept I've been sick this year, and well, medical tests I've had very often aren't the best thing for my hair. Why must they use nailpolish remover to take off electrodes for some medical tests! WHY!!!!

Luckily, after this summer, I'll be done with the tests except for yearly ones, and I'll be able to grow out my hair long without fear of nailpolish remover. (Seriously, don't ever put it in your hair!!! XD Considering the glue is oil soluble, and the guy who I had do the test the first time sorta described CO washing and said, "well then use shampoo after, since most people use it regularly", why can't they just use an oil or tell us to CO wash it!! XD) Also, my hair isn't too long right now, in the front it's only chin, due to breakage, and in the back, it was almost APL... The protein treatments I was doing were helping the damaged hair, so I do know what to do if my hair starts to get damaged in the future.

I really should have done WO/SO where I was traveling... XD I did cry when my hair broke off from what I remember as being waist, but photos and my mother say was mid thigh, to shoulderish from using Paul Mitchel(I'm sure it works well for many people. I was just using castile soap... Apparently my hair LOATHES cones. Took me about 4-5 years to realized why my hair would act up with silicone serums etc!), so I've had chops like this before. And I did cry a lot as a toddler having a bowl cut, but I think a pixie is quite different than a bowl cut! XD To be totally honest, I think my boyfriend is more likely to break out into tears at my shorter haircut than I am. Hopefully he won't do this in front of my friends that don't know him too well. He has been warned, but... XD He is a guy and well, very emotional. He does have long hair, mid back with his curls, and he loves my hair color, texture, etc. My mother is most likely to cry since she loves my hair color(but hey, it grows back! XD), but she's the one that suggested the pixie to get rid of damage.

And yes, I will post pictures as soon as I can! I'll be getting it done tomorrow afternoon, and although I was planning on doing the 2 week rule, my hair is just too damaged to do so.

Once I'm done with this cut, I'll have nice healthy hair to grow out from, and that... That should be quite fun!!! :) The only awkward phase will come when my hair hits shoulder and before BSL. The last time I had virgin, though damaged hair, that long, my hair went POOF due to all the volume in it. Hopefully I'll be able to weigh it down this time! :) I'll be asking all of you here for tips on that sometime this winter and next spring!

Fractalsofhair
July 11th, 2009, 01:01 PM
Yay! I got the haircut! The stylist was shocked that my hair was breaking off. I went to a different one than the one I met with yesterday, and she did a great job. She was shocked that an apparently less than 10 volume peroxide( Apparently what I used is less than 10 volume... ) and blowdrying caused breakage. However, she gave me a great short style that will grow out well. The stylist actually had APL length hair herself, and was quite helpful. She was a little nervous to give me a short haircut, since she commented "Oh you have such long healthy hair"(Compared to her other clients, with fried hair...), but she did see a clear line of damage and cut it a little longer than the top of it. She left it somewhat long in the back, compared to the front, which made me happy! Overall, she got 90% of the damage out, and my hair feels like my hair again! She's going to have a baby, and she said she'll be able to cut my hair again in Dec, which if I'm careful with my hair, she thinks I can wait that long for a cut since my hair is healthy feeling compared to a lot of people's.
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=3149&pictureid=44210

florenonite
July 11th, 2009, 01:19 PM
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=3149&pictureid=44210

It looks nice! And it looks like it shouldn't be too painful to grow out, because there's not a lot of layers ^.^

Fractalsofhair
July 11th, 2009, 01:57 PM
Yep! There are a lot of layers in the back, but still, not a ton. (And I don't see the back of my hair, so it won't be a problem!) Now, since it's all healthy now, to protect it! It's very low style, that's just it airdrying, which is great!