New to TLHC

[Liverbird]

Hello! I am a total newbie, and since I don't like to lurk, I will just jump straight in and introduce myself!

I'm Malin, I am from Sweden, and I have just decided that I can't torture my hair like this anymore, not if I want it to grow! So now I would like to ask for help. I posted my haircare routine on my profile (Do not kill me...) and I am now ready to start afresh and help up my hair.

I am still trying to figure out how to decide the level of waves and thickness of my hair, how do I do that?

Also, english is not my first language, so bear with me if I don't understand everything.

So, I managed to measure my hair, and I am quite surre its BSL, (had to look up that abbreviation...) My target is tailbone.

Any advice on how to achieve this is most welcome!

Cheers from Sweden!

[Carina]

Welcome to LHC:waving:!!!!I love this place and spend way to much time here according to some familymembers:D.

[Liverbird]

Thanks a lot! I am browsing through it all now, trying to soak it all up. I like it much. :) I spend a LOT of time on the internet, so I am sure this will be one of my havens as well!

These signatures most of you have, do you choose them yourself or you get one assigned to you?

[*Rose Red*]

Welcome!!! Greetings from Germany :)

[Fractalsofhair]

Welcome! What is your current hair routine? (So that we can give you advice about it!)
Edit!
Oh wait, you say it's on your profile! I'll go look at it!

[thankyousir74]

Thanks a lot! I am browsing through it all now, trying to soak it all up. I like it much. :) I spend a LOT of time on the internet, so I am sure this will be one of my havens as well!

These signatures most of you have, do you choose them yourself or you get one assigned to you?

You can construct your own signature! I'm not sure if this is a privilege after you reach a certain number of posts, but it maybe an immediate right, I'm sure someone will come along and clear tahat up.

Meanwhile, Welcome!! :bunny: :bounce:

[Laurel32]

Welcome! I hope that the LHC helps you as much as it has helped me!

To determine thickness: gather hair into a pony tail and then measure the circumference of your ponytail with measuring tape.

http://archive.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=8954
Hair Classification System

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=7804
Very Important Threads (may be helpful)?

[Liverbird]

I really really like this place so far, but my head is spinning trying to keep up with all the talk!

Oh, and I am going out tonight, perfect opportunity to wear an updo instead of curling and damage it. :D

[Liverbird]

Welcome! I hope that the LHC helps you as much as it has helped me!

To determine thickness: gather hair into a pony tail and then measure the circumference of your ponytail with measuring tape.

http://archive.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=8954
Hair Classification System

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=7804
Very Important Threads (may be helpful)?

Thanks a lot Laurel! I tried to find it but I did not succeed on my own! I will fill that into my profile...

[DavidN]

Welcome to the LHC, Liverbird, and be sure to make yourself at home! We have many wonderful people who will be here to support you in your hair grwoing journey.

[Amara]

Welcome! You'll have a great time growing from BSL to tailbone with all the great advice here. I started here at BSL and in a month or two I'll be at tailbone: and if I can do it you can! :)

[Liverbird]

Thanks for all the welcoming! Its nice to feel welcome!

I just read the list of cone free conditioners, and was pleased to see that TiGis Moisture Maniac was on the list, I will switch over to that pronto, since my favorite swedish online store always have great offers on HUGE bottles from them. :D Good for the wallet!

Extra virgine olive oil to prevent frizz, that was recommended, yes? I have super fine strands, since my hair is very scandinavian, but I have a true truckload of hair, so its gets really big if I dont do anything about it. I had no clue that silicone was bad for it, so I need something else, and read about olive oil.

[ZadenWillowfyre]

Why hello and welcome to the forums! Happy growing!

[TheKnight'sLady]

Hello and welcome! I have learned so much from this site, and I hope it is very useful for you too. :)

[FallenAngel]

Hello and välkommen! I'm a swede, as you might have guessed. :D

[Cherry_Sprinkle]

Welcome to LHC! :flower:

[coolbreeze212]

Hello and welcome!! :waving:

You will learn so much here! And your English seems great, btw!! :)

[Nyghtingale]

Welcome to the family! :cheer:
Look forward to seeing more of you.

[nowxisxforever]

Welcome! I think you mentioned our signatures-- some of us have ____ in the order of the long haired knights... that's from a thread in the Friendship board, I don't know if you have access to that right off the bat?

[desertgirl]

Welcome Liverbird!

I believe it was after 25 posts that I was able to write my own signature.

Happy learning (and growing)!

[Fractalsofhair]

Ok, to start off, stop the heat styling(Curling and straightening)! (If your color natural? Bleach can be harmful. It looks to be a lovely shiny blonde, but, it can still cause damage for longer hair!). I have tons of fine hair as well. What I've found helps is using a heavy conditioner and oils to weigh it down, and ponytails. I like Alaffia brand, I'm not sure if it's available in your country though! Silicones do weigh my hair down in the short term, but they do dry my fine hair out in the long run, thus making it MORE poofy/big. Olive oil is great for hair, along with coconut oil, and sweet almond oil. Also, in the short term, asking your stylist to "thin" your hair may help. It never helped with my hair, but it reduces the amount of hair, which, when I did so thru damaging my hair, it made my hair a lot easier to work with. If you don't have curly hair, I suggest brushing oils into it to prevent it from getting too poofy.

[zen_oven]

Welcome, Liverbird! There's actually a great article with good newbie advice if you go to the Articles section and look under the Hair Care section. It's called Ursula's Standard Newbie Advice. I found it very helpful when I started out last year.

Have fun and happy growing!

[Bunnyhare]

Hi Liverbird! You have a wonderful head of hair! There is SO mcuh information here! start at the beginning! There is a lot of "newbie" info at the top of this thread and then read all the articles and have fun! ANd everyone is really helpful, and we are glad you are here!

[lorig713]

Welcome to LHC and Happy Growing! :flower:

[Coriander]

Hi Liverbird, it's great to have you here :) Welcome!

[Addy]

Welcome to LHC! Updos are way better than curling irons and such! :D

[may1em]

Welcome!

I was at BSL when I joined, too. Now I'm past waist!

Updos for going out are great - and they take less time than curling, too!

[Liverbird]

Wahey, lots of great advice! I will definitely go to that newbie thread and look for advice.

I did not heat style my hair at all last night, I went out with a bun! Good start. I usually curl it to get this real curls, but I have natural wavy hair so I should be able to define them naturally. Advice on that?

Oh, and I just noticed I can't access my own profile. Do I need to post more to do that?

[JamieLeigh]

Welcome to LHC! :flower: It looks like you've already gotten a lot of good advice.

I'd just like to say that as another fairly new person around here (I've only been here since October of last year), that it's natural to want to try everything out at once, and that you shouldn't worry if some things work well for you and others really don't. There are many things that don't work for me, and I'm still really trying to find a good routine.

Mostly, I'd recommend benign neglect, if you don't have a lot of damage already - just put it up and forget about it. Teazel's mane pops to my mind as a good example of benign neglect. And if you do have damage, just cut it off a little at a time. Nightshade's locks are a great example of that. :)

[slynn41202]

Welcome!

You've got lots of great advice already, so I won't add any more!

[juliaxena]

Hi everyone, I have just seen this post. I've posted in another thread before but I still feel kind of lost. I'm Julia and I dye my hair lol. I hope to learn from your advice but if I don't completely follow it, it's because I don't want my hair any longer than down to my bra but I do however want to keep what I have very shiny and pretty. I wonder if there are any other not so good girls here because I feel a bit lonely and naughty for dying my hair. But quitting is just not an option because I'm a natural grey :(. I think my hair is not as damaged as I thought...why I came here is because I have done way too many protein treatments...thinking that my hair needs it. Silly me. So I'm trying to get protein "damage" out.

[MoonCreature]

Welcome neighbour ;) You've gotten some good advice already so I won't but in, but I hope you like it here!

[Liverbird]

Thanks everyone for all the great advice and the nice welcomign words! I am now starting a new routine, first, no heat styling, and I read Ursulas newbie guide, so what I will do now is to try the CWC for a month, since my lenghts tend to get a bit dry, and then practise benign neglect and put it up and out of the way. I will report on my proceedings here!

[Liverbird]

Hair status update: After about 2 weeks of CWC, I find my hair getting greasy ridiculously fast. It takes a lot of self control to prevent myself from washing it again. I refuse. I will wait two more weeks and see what happens before I try anything else though.

The benign neglect works fine! Got a lot of praise for my dutch lace braid, and I have also used french braids, regular 3 strand braids, cinnamon buns, and a sock bun with the ends tucked inside the bun. I was bad ans wore it in a ponytail some day to.

I put Evoo on my ends one night, and i thought it worked wonders! The ends got really soft.

Also, No heat stylign whatsoever! I managed to create smooth waves by letting it dry to about 60%, put it up in a tight bun, leave it for a few hours, put it down to let it dry some more, and then a few more hours in the tight bun. Took time, but worked!

Will return with more updates!

[Maddy25]

Welcome <3

[redneckprincess]

Welcome to our little hairy corner of the (internet) world. ♥ You'll love it here!! at least your hair will