FINALLY! Past the awkward stage!! Progress pics

[Bellalalala]

I've been growing out my virgin colour for a bit over 2 years now.

I hate the dye-line, so I hacked off my bsl blond hair to chin length and dyed it brown. I just kept trimming until it was all virgin and then started growing.

My hair is *extremely* awkward at medium lengths. The canopy is ringlet curly, but very fine, so the curl kind of "collapses." The underside is thicker, darker, and straighter.

As a result, until it all hits a certain length, the canopy looks like a kinky-frizzy-puffy mess, and the underlength gives a real mullet appearance. At a magical length (approx mid-back) the weight of the canopy pulls the curl into a wave, and it all just *hangs* nicely.

This week, I can FINALLY air dry my hair and have it not look like a complete disaster. I've been wearing my hair up for 2 years because the only way to look good is heat styling or full velcro rollers, which just take too long.

I still need to roller my bangs, but otherwise this is air-dried hair:cheese::
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=3607&pictureid=66977
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=3607&pictureid=66976

please ignore my dirty mirror, lol

[Hana]

looks lovely! you must be proud, haha! :D

[La Luna]

Your hair does look really nice, you have gorgeous colour! ;) Well done! :cheese:

[Bethie]

you hair looks lovely

[Pagancat]

Your hair looks great! I just joined the foum. I did the same thing you did to get rid of my color, i.e. shopping off my red hair and then dying it back to my natural brown and letting it grow. It sound like I have hair similar to yours with curls that kind of fall out and get flattened, so I just wanted to say that it's great to see someone with hair kind of like mine (except for the gray) that is successfully growing it out so beautifully..

[Crazycatlady]

I can only dream of hair like yours!!! It's so pretty. Thanks for posting the pictures. MAYBE I'll be there in a few years! :)

[myotislucifugus]

I love your whirly waves!:)

[DaniiL]

Looking really good! :) You can be proud of your hair!

[Rennire]

Well your waves look lovely now! Congrats!

[chaoticwaves]

Very pretty! My hair is the opposite LOL. Mine is less curly on the canopy and some pieces almost straight, but the underside is way curly! You have given me some inspiration. I keep mine up almost all the time now, and I am just waiting for the day that it will just "hang" right!!

[myrrhmaiden]

Gorgeous. You have beautiful curls.

[chopandchange]

It looks nice. :)

[Pixna]

Yay!!! I'm still in that "awkward phase," so I envy you. I love your soft, feminine curls and waves. :heart:

[Merkaba]

I'm going throught the same process that you are right now. Good for you for sticking with it, looks great!

[Beansidhe]

It looks really beautiful, you've done a great job! :)

[Bellalalala]

Omigosh!

Thank you for all the compliments!

It's nice to have confirmation that I'm not crazy and it actually looks nice! My fiance keeps telling me it looks nice, but he's not the most reliable when it comes to these things.
He tells me I look pretty when I'm sick: sweet, but crazy.

I love wearing my hair down, and don't really like the way it looks up, so it took a lot of discipline to not heat style it all the time to make it wearable during the past two years.

I'm so happy I found this place!
If it weren't for LHC, I would still be heat styling and getting regular cuts to deal with the heat damage and chopping off dry ends that I didn't realize could be salvaged with a little TLC.

I also would have dyed it red/blond/black/purple/whatever by now if you guys hadn't taught me the 2 week rule.

I am so happy to finally feel like myself again, and I really owe you guys a lot for that. This is the one place where I know that people will understand that this isn't just about feeling like I have pretty hair, it's about feeling like *myself*

THANK YOU!