High maintainance or low maintainance?

[jera]

Was your hair blessed by the hair gods at birth so that you could live a low maintainance existence and still have awesome hair? :rolleyes:

I wasn't. My hair requires mega attention and nurturing. My bathroom is full of conditoners, Indian herbs, hair masques and mister bottles filled with various hair magic potions inside.

Our closets are crammed with the heat care appliances I'll no longer touch because they might damage my hair. :(

Sometimes if I wake with particularly bad bed head, :eyebrows: it may take me ten or fifteen minutes to gently comb my way through all the snarls.

The kitchen breakfast table is littered with vitamins and supplements of every kind for my hair, :o ( my family is very supportive of my hair goals, TG. )

And the cupboards and refrigerator are stuffed with foods and herbs that will help either by eating or applying. ( A win / win situation.)

I'm definitely a high maintainance woman, but hey, my ponytail circumference has almost doubled since I joined and quit all my bad habits and adopted some good ones. So, IMHO, the extra work is definitely worth it and I can't wait til my ponytail circumference is as thick as my hand. :D

I still envy you low maintainance peeps though. :p

[Bene]

I think I'm low maintenance, no one will ever criticize me for being vain :D I don't really spend more than a few minutes on my appearance and hair. I keep my brush and comb in a drawer in my room, with my oil, all of my hair sticks have their own home. My bathroom does contain my current conditioner, a bottle of ACV and a measuring cup. These aren't daily things, so on non-wash days, I'll spend maybe 2 minutes on my hair and then it's up.

BUT, I have commandeered a shelf in the linen closet for extra conditioners and stuff I picked up to experiment with. Every time I see V05 on sale, I can't help myself. :o

[Periwinkle]

To wear up, it's low-maintenance. I wash every couple of days, comb in the mornings, braid at night and that's it. No hassle.

If I wanted to wear it down, I'd be the flat-iron queen and it would take a LOT of work.

[teela1978]

Pretty low. My hair looks pretty alright if I wash and condition it every couple of days. Sometimes I comb it. Sometimes I don't. I'll usually wear it down after it's just washed until it annoys me and it goes up.

Sometimes I'll do a deep oil. I think it looks better after that... I'm lucky if I remember to do it once a month though. When it was dyed it was a lot more work, virgin hair is definitely easier to work with.

[Shiva]

Right now I am pretty low maintainance, however in the 80's and early 90's I was super high maintainance.

[TheEndlessOcean]

Pretty low really, I wash it twice a week, spend a few minutes putting in gel and stuff after a shower, and it's good to go until the next wash. If I don't like how it looks or need it out of the way I just put it in a ponytail, which takes 5 seconds.

[Aunteater]

Both. I grew it out because having short hair was freakishly high-maintenance. Getting a haircut every few weeks was more expensive than I liked, and no way was I going to use a curling iron, rollers, hair spray, gel, or any other fussiness.

Now that it's long again... it's not as low-maintenance as I'd hoped, but it's still lower than short hair. So I'm happy. If I wear it down, it's high maintenance. The ends get ugly and I'm constantly combing it. But as long as I can twist it into a knot bun and put a stick in it, it's low maintenance.

[ChloeDharma]

Since i started using JASON henna hi-lights 'poo and conditioner my hair has become much lower maintenance. Conditioner only washing was quite simple too mostly. Herb washing gave the best growth and thickening results but was quite time consuming for me. I say "was" i've not given up on it, i'm just being lazy.
Unfortunately my minimum effort routine isn't really paying off and my hair is thinner than it was.
Day to day though i find long hair MUCH easier, when it was shorter i was colouring it regularly, had to style it every day, keep getting it cut etc.....now i just detangle, bun and go and maybe trim once a year, often less....just depends how i feel.

[rhubarbarin]

It's low maintenance, unless you factor in the time spent reading LHC.

[Amara]

My hair is pretty low-maintenance. It likes an occassional SMT, but on a day to day basis it likes to be up and left alone. I wash a couple times a week and comb it daily to prevent tangles, and oil it a bit. That's it!

[deko]

I have a pretty low maintenace hair. I wash it whan it's dirty and condition it when it needs to. I color it when my roots say so and deep condition it once a weak (with SMT).

[KarpatiiSiv]

Very low maintenance, I wash it every 7-10 days no conditioner no oils only catnip. I sleep with it down and get very few tangles. I comb it in the morning and put it up. http://yoursmiles.org/msmile/girls/m04134.gif (http://yoursmiles.org/m-girls.php)

[eadwine]

Another low here. Shampoo rinse condition rinse, air dry, done. And it's soft and shines like crazy. I love easy hair *grin*

[Arctic]

I consider my hair high maintainance compared to what it was before.

[AnaGeorgette]

super high maintenance sadly =(

[Wicked Princess]

I wish I had high maintenance hair. I am the kind of person who would want to pamper her hair to no end and buy it many things to appease its anger. Fortunately for my time, my hair does worse when I'm fussing over it! So strict, low-maintenance regime it is. :D

[pradabacon]

Very low here. I S&C every two or three days and that's it. It's lucky if it even gets a braid. I usually stick it in a ponytail under a baseball cap.

But I still have way too much hair junk, 99% of which I bought, tried once, and stored.

Which reminds me...I should be cleaning out my overflowing toiletries cabinet instead of fooling around in here. :p

[jera]

I consider my hair high maintainance compared to what it was before.

Me too Artic. Compared to my hair routine before, blowdrying and curling ironed curls and wavies, my hair is much more high maintainance now. :p It takes time to air dry, research all the right vitamins to take, make my own hair preparations - mists, masques, and EO scalp oils.

Worth the extra effort though. :)

[longhairedfairy]

Pretty low-maintenance. I wash and condition most days and do a little light oiling. Very easy.:)

[embee]

Short was high maintainance for me.... stick straight thin hair needs frequent trims to be kept in shape and I really resented that investment of time and money. Long has its moments of high maintainance - when I wash/dry it that takes time that cannot be shortened - but day to day routine is a snap. I've not been to a salon in ... oh ... almost 20 years? Maybe more? Hee! :)

Sleeping with my hair in a topknot bun took care of the morning bedhead tangles. Wearing my hair in a bun during the day eliminated the stringy look my hair is prone to.

If I spend 5 minutes per day fussing with my hair I'll be surprised. And I'm a product minimalist.

[julliams]

Very low maintenance. I'm lucky I guess. If I spend too much time on it, it starts looking bad.

[Kris Dove]

High maintenence!

I have that very fine, thin hair in a mousy shade of blonde that becomes very oily quickly and looks awful if it isn't washed daily. I tried going every other day for over a month but it did nothing for my self esteem on day 2 so I'm back to washing every day unless it's the weekend and I'm having a lazy day.

And while the roots are oily, the ends are dry, and need a lot of TLC and intensive conditioning.

Luckily it's long enough now that I can just dry it and it's done- until it was long enough to pony it was super-high maintence when it was short and needed loads of faffing with gels to look somewhat presentable.

[lovelylaura]

It's low maintenance, unless you factor in the time spent reading LHC.

HAHAHA but this is time well spent, learning, growing, and communicating with friends. Time spent angrily fussing over hair is not!

[lovelylaura]

Was your hair blessed by the hair gods at birth so that you could live a low maintainance existence and still have awesome hair? :rolleyes:

I wasn't. My hair requires mega attention and nurturing. My bathroom is full of conditoners, Indian herbs, hair masques and mister bottles filled with various hair magic potions inside.

Our closets are crammed with the heat care appliances I'll no longer touch because they might damage my hair. :(

Sometimes if I wake with particularly bad bed head, :eyebrows: it may take me ten or fifteen minutes to gently comb my way through all the snarls.

The kitchen breakfast table is littered with vitamins and supplements of every kind for my hair, :o ( my family is very supportive of my hair goals, TG. )

And the cupboards and refrigerator are stuffed with foods and herbs that will help either by eating or applying. ( A win / win situation.)

I'm definitely a high maintainance woman, but hey, my ponytail circumference has almost doubled since I joined and quit all my bad habits and adopted some good ones. So, IMHO, the extra work is definitely worth it and I can't wait til my ponytail circumference is as thick as my hand. :D

I still envy you low maintainance peeps though. :p

Looks like we have the same hair type! How on EARTH did you get your hair circumfrence to increase that much... wow!

[Melisande]

It's up to my mood. When I have the time, I pamper my hair, face and body. But when I don't have the time, I practice benign neglect and it's okay, too.

My hair always looks the same, I find ;-)

[RavennaNight]

I don't think I can say I sit with henna & indigo on my head for upwards of 12 hours every month and say I'm low maintenence :lol:. I don't spend much time doing my hair, it just comb and go or bun and go. But I spend a lot of time here pondering my hair, and I do look at it a lot in the mirror. I admit it. I am a vain creature.

[Ashley]

Mine is rather high-maintenance, I think.

- I have to wash it every other day. By the end of the first day it already looks dirty-greasy at the roots, and it will lay flat and unpretty.
- If I don't cut my hair every 3 months, it will get very thin at the ends. This is the reason I had to do a major cut two months ago. I hadn't cut regularly, and when I did it was only minimal. This doesn't work on my hair, it's too prone for damage.
- It is very split-prone, no matter how gentle I am, I have hundreds of split ends that are mostly on the hairs that are shorter than the rest, the new growth etc
- When I wear it down, it will tangle within minutes and needs continuous combing to look good.
- I can't just use any shampoo, the selection that will keep my hair moisturized at the ends and fresh at the roots is limited
- Conditioners are an even bigger problem, most of them make the hair over-conditioned and flat, other don't do much at all

So yes, quite high-maintenance I do think. I have to be careful.

[marikamt]

Overall, I think my hair would be okay being low- maintenance. I could easily wash/ condish and go. Even when I was "mistreating it" (heat styling, lots of styling products, dye) it was in decent shape.
*but* I think it is high maintenance because I make it so... playing with different washing methods. henna, treatments, trying to get it to grow faster, playing w/ updos and toys and of course LHC.
So I guess I am my own enabler........ :p

[jasper]

Well, I was treating my hair to nearly no maintenance for a couple of years. I mean, never cutting it, washing it 2-3 times a week, skipping the conditioner, and brushing it enough to get it into a pony tail or bun a couple of times a day. I grew a lot of length in that time, but it was looking scraggly and un-cared for. That wasn't so great.

I do need to do some maintenance, like trims, conditioning treatments, careful combing, oiling the ends sometimes and such. I am a low maintenance type person, but hopefully my hair will look better with a stepped up maintenance.

[Gingevere]

My hair has been low maintenance since I figured out what it does and doesn't like. Actually, it was more my scalp that I was having problems with. It's all good now, though. Wash 2-3 times per week, light oil every day, and a deep oil session maybe once a week.

[Sissy]

I CO wash and conditioner most days. Shampoo once or twice per week. I try to SMT every couple of weeks. I try to overnight oil every couple of weeks. I don't dye my hair and I rarely heatstyle anymore so I consider it pretty low maintenance. I sleep with it loose and wear it down all the time... still need to learn updos but too lazy!

[Eden Iris]

My hair is low maintenance by default because I am lazy, although honestly, given my hair's texture and general fragility, I don't see how it could look much better even if I had my own personal stylist following me around with products and tools all day.

I wear it up every day, shampoo, condition, and vinegar rinse every nine days or so, and occasionally when I remember give it some oil or deep conditioning. The only remotely high maintenance thing I do is henna, and that's only four times a year.

[JamieLeigh]

I used to think I was high-maintenance, but I've realized I'm actually a benign neglect kind of gal. And I think it looks pretty darn good. :D

[Vianka]

I've never considered my hair to be low maintenance. As a person with short and wavy hair I cannot live without:

1. A blow dryer
2. A flat iron
3. A squirt bottle
4. Hairspray, spray gel, and other leave-in products
5. A multitude of different shampoos and conditioners
6. 3 different kinds of brushes and 1 comb.
7. Haircuts every 5 weeks

One of my motivations to growing my hair is that I want a simpler, lower stress life with less clutter and I think long hair will be less hassle and require fewer products. That and I think long hair is beautiful.

[2peasinapod]

I used to think I was high-maintenance. I kept my hair short for years because I couldn't deal with it after it got past a certain length (around my ears or so). No matter what I did I couldn't get it to look or feel good.

After I discovered LHC, I realized that my longer hair is actually very low-maintenance. Nobody ever told me that what I thought were cowlick were just waves trying to grow in (I would get them cut before they had a chance to take shape). Now that I've discovered clarifying and gone cone-free, my hair no longer feels like straw. It's so much less work now!

Thanks LHC! :)

[Juanita]

Low maintainance, Shampoo and condition with a vegan product one or twice a week. oil the ends. Put up for the day and braid for sleep.

[Fractalsofhair]

My hair is somewhat low maintainance. It grows quickly, and as long as I don't touch dye or peroxide to it, it's fairly damage resistant. Or heat... My hair LOATHES blowdriers. Now, I'd have to get it cut every 2 weeks if I wanted it short, and I can't dye it at all. If I use a wide toothed comb, it's very sturdy, and it doesn't seem to mind teasing even!

[vindo]

Actually many peoples hair is low maintenance. People can do too much or unnecessary/ wrong things to their hair.

I believe in the basics - leave it alone, wash less and sulfate/cone free, oil, trim...

[Wanderer09]

Low-maintenance on most days. I've learned to waste less time in the shower, so now when I wash it I can get away with spending just 5 minutes, if I'm in a real rush. And when my hair it's dry, it's normally either braided or up.

Detangling is what takes up the most time. On the days when I do it, it's been known to take between 15 & 20 minutes.

[mizk5110]

I've always thought of my hair as fairly low-maintanence. I have to wash every day, partly because my hair get too greasy by the next day and partly because of working in the hospital - MRSA, swine flu, and pneumonia, OH MY! shudder: Light oil before washing, condish 2-3x a week (my hair doesn't like more than that), and it's always up. :cool:

[Alexannee10]

My family thinks that I'm a high maintenance, but compared to you, I'm definitivly a low maintenance haha!

[Friesiangirl]

It's so-so. The last 3-6'' are dyed, and therefore, a bit more work than the rest.

I need to remember ot to abuse it, so other than that... it's pretty low maintenance. Besides, I enjoy taking care of it, and that's all that matters.

[mira-chan]

While my cabinets are full of stuff, my hair is low maintenance. The stuff is for my own need to mix stuff up and have fun with that.:D

[JCFantasy23]

Pretty low. I don't have to straighten as mine is straight already, but it has body (I guess since it's 1b) so it doesn't just lay limp. I also don't get frizz or anything. Really I don't mess with my hair too much except for deep conditioning (choice to get it to grow and thicken) and experimenting with updos, which to me is just fun.

[Narly]

I used to have high maintenance hair, or thought I did, but I was fighting my curls. Ever since embracing them about a month ago and forgoing shampoos and cones and using my simple home-made gel, I'm way more low key. And my hair is starting to look better for it!

[Armelle]

Low...I'm lucky if I know where my shampoo is. However, I probably should take a wee bit more care with it to make it look nicer.

[Monsterkitti]

Low. Wash weekly, oil before bunning at night and then throw it up in a different bun in the morning.

Occasionally I'll henna the ends or do an SMT but Ive been really lazy for the last few months, really need to get back to DT's and a little more effort :)

[Elvi]

My hair is certainly in the low maintainance group especially when I keep my hair long and let the color and slight waves be as nature made them. My hair is somehat coarser than the typical Nordic hair is, so it does not get badly messy either.

[Angela_Rose]

Loooow! I scrub my scalp with a Lush bar once a week, slap some oil on, let it air dry, and run a comb through twice a day before twisting the length up into a pinless bun that'll stay all week.

[Liat]

..........

[ericthegreat]

I can fall into both the high maintainance category and the low maintainance category. It really depends on what I want to do with my hair specifically and what style I want to wear it that particular day.

My hair is naturally pin straight and very thick. The natural color is jet black, but as you all know I've recently highlighted my hair. The thing with my hair is, even though its technically so easy to manage, its also very boring. I envy those of you with natural curls, because you guys have both options. You can wear your hair naturally curly, but you can also go pin straight with a professional blowout.

If its a low maintainance day, I will simply leave my straight hair alone and down and parted in the middle like always. I'll also wear it up into a neat high ponytail many times.

If I'm going high maintainance, this is when I will use heat. Usually for me, this involves curling my hair with a curling iron. I will first wash my hair to make it clean and give it the most potential volume, apply some mousse to my roots, then I will blow it out first straight with a round brush but I will lift my hair up at the roots with the round brush to give it that volume. I will then take around half inch sections of my hair and then curl them around the barrel of my curling iron, and I will finish it off by emptying literally half a can of hairspray onto the curls so that they will stay.

[Chanterelle]

I'm very low maintenance, basically I just wash, condition and blowdry. At the moment I'm not particularly happy with my hair because of layers but it's not something increased maintenance can fix.

[Rahenna]

I don't do too much. Weekends are lazy time and I leave it down or throw it in a ponytail for bumming around the house. And work days are also lazy time because my girlfriend does my hair for me. :D I'd be sunk without her!

[RoseRedDead]

Initially, during my learning period (for about 2 years, my first two years at LHC), I was high maintenance, because I was trying to find what worked for me, and I was experimenting with so many things.

Now, though, I'm low maintenance. I CO, I oil, I occasionally clarify (like... 2-3 times a year?), I comb, I wear my hair up. Low maintenance.

[ChrissieM]

low-maintenance...always have been. I wash/condition twice a week, comb, use a boar bristle brush to get sebum to the ends. If I want wavy hair for a night out I'll damp bun. My hair takes 5 minutes to get in place in the morning.

[GlassEyes]

Depends on your point of view.

My hair is extremely high maintenance and costly, but I'm used to it. :shrug: So it seems low maintenance to me.

I would really like it it it could magically be extremely low maintenance though. I'd really like hair I could just wash and condition and leave the house with. :(

[Laululintu]

It's up to my mood. When I have the time, I pamper my hair, face and body. But when I don't have the time, I practice benign neglect and it's okay, too.

My hair always looks the same, I find ;-)

My hair's the same. It does well when I feel like maintaining it a bit more, but doesn't put up a fuss when I practice benign neglect either :)

[Stephichan]

I would say medium, maybe? I wash about 3 times a week (usually CO), use oil maybe 2 times a week, and henna (my roots now) every 2 months or so. I rarely use gels, I don't deep condition or use SMTs... I'm just kinda lazy. But my hair doesn't seem to mind. I was kinda hair-intensive this weekend. I dusted the ends, hennaed, then after the henna, because I'n so worried about the dryness that others have reported, I oiled the ends (slightly over-oiled, but I'm okay with that).

[Keildra]

I'm probably in the middle somewhere, I still have to do a lot of work but not as much as some people.....yet, I'm still in testing phases

[Katurday]

Well...Both.At once.
I wash my hair every day, but that feels nice and not like a chore. I let it airdry while I sleep. I wake up in the morning and it is silky, tangle free, and shiny. Good enough for me.
I usually put it up, but sometimes I leave it down. It does need a quick combing every few hours to look presentable, but otherwise, its fine.
I henna once a month (or whenever I get to it), but its not a hassle for me. I slap it on, wrap my hair, sleep, rinse, and go. Henna also straightens my hair, and makes it coarser, so its easier to deal with.
Once every two months I do a clarify and egg+EVOO mask weekend. It keeps it in check.

As for trims? My first one in a year will be at the end of the month. =)

[harley mama]

I was blessed with pretty good hair. The sad thing is I hated it for years and abused it badly. Then, I found LHC and mended my ways. My routine is fairly simple. I stopped using shampoo, blow dryers and flat irons. I am cone free and use coconut or jojoba to tame my curls now instead of silicone laden products. I take a daily muti vitamin and biotin if I remember. My hair is much thinner these days due to the chemo last year but, overall it is much healthier and pretty easy to care for.

[dearladydisdain]

My hair is very low maintenance. I have tried SO many things: deep treatments, SMTs, oiling (many kinds), aloe vera, spritzers, CO, cone-free, many different shampoos/conditioners, straightening, serums, blow drying...AGGGHHH! In the end, it pretty much just likes shampoo, conditioner, and air drying. :o I'm not trying to grow anymore but it grew to classic that way so I'm done messing with it.

[JaneinMarch]

Kinda high maintenance because of the herbal experiments and detangling sessions. Also plaiting and twisting. Hopefully when it's longer I can throw it into a bun daily.

[Vrushali]

I think my hair is pretty low maintenance now than it was when it was shorter. I wash it once a week with a shampoo bar/dairy whip and oil it when it feels dry. Thats it! When it was shorter I used to spend on serums and leave-ins and what not :rollseyes:

[rapunzhell13]

I'd say my hair is fairly low maintenance. I wash every couple days, air dry, put it up or leave it down... nothing special really. I tend to play around with washing methods just to keep things fun, but I don't have to. Pretty much any washing method will do. :shrug: Having a pixie cut, now THAT was high maintenance. Going in for a trim once a month? Yeah, not gonna happen.

[CaityBear]

Pretty low. I just wash my hair every couple days, use coconut oil or my leave-in conditioner afterwards. I comb it, let it dry then put it up. My hair is naturally really straight so leaving it down is pretty low maintenance as well. I just can't leave it down too long or it gets major tangles.

I try to treat it special with deep oilings every week or every second week (completely failing right now haha). I do henna every now and then. But my hair does fairly good without needing that.

[SeaShell]

Mine is definitely high maintenance...it tangles or frizzes or does other unpredictable stuff if left to its own devices!! I would give anything to be low maintenance :rolleyes: you guys are very lucky!

[RecklessCharlie]

Extremely low maintainance. I just can't be bothered to spend much time (or money!) using loads of products on myself or my hair.
I'm a wash and go sort of person. Why stand infront of a mirror when you can be out in the day, doing things!

And I suppose having this attitude, I am lucky to have hair that agrees with my viewpoint and doesn't need a lot of care.
Otherwise I would probably look like a bum. :p