Ask your mom about hair

[moominhapa]

Since mother's day is coming up, I thought it would be great if we could all ask our mothers/grandmothers/etc. about how they used to take care of their hair. We can compile a kind of story history of hair that way. Fun, huh? :)

My mother (who grew up in Thailand) told me she used to wash her hair with leftover juice from magrut leaves (a kind of citrus plant), and that her grandmother used to collect ashes to make some kind of soap. Besides that, they all swam in the river all the time back when it wasn't polluted, so they got pretty clean that way. My grandmother (who is turning 92 this year!) on my father's side said she just used plain old soap until shampoo became popular.

What about you guys? Any stories?

[jeanniet]

Well, not my mom, but my dad was raised a Sikh and I've never asked him how he used to care for his hair. He did cut his hair a long time ago when he came to the US, but maybe he still remembers. His brothers who stayed in India kept their hair long up until they died--including his oldest brother who was in his nineties. I'm not sure how much hair they had left, though. You never see them with their hair down, and my dad hasn't had much hair for years. Thanks for bringing this up; I'll have to ask him about it!

[Meagan]

My mother had waist long hair up until the 80's. Her mother didnt have money to give her kids haircuts so she cutt it herself. My mother used shampoo and conditoner, no amazing story here. She's clueless about hair, I now take care of it for her.

[masa_inn]

Mom mom, who has extremely thick, coarse hair, has always used "conventional" products.

My grandma had THE most amazing hair: each of her 2 braids were the same thickness as my 1 braid. Her braids were up to her knees and jet-black. Well, guys, she used to use laundry soap on her hair. :eyebrows:

[Carolyn]

My mom and my grandmothers have all passed away so I can't ask them. How I wish I could. When I was little my mom would wash her hair and pin curl it. I remember the metal Goody clips and a stretchy thing that wrapped around the pin curls. She had a hand held dryer that didn't work well. A very early version of our blow dryers. She never liked how her hair looked so she started getting it done once a week at a salon. It was one of her few extravagances at that time. I remember she was much happier with a professional 'do than doing it herself. She said her hair was difficult to work with and maybe it was. I think she just didn't have the knack for it. She was never able to teach me much about styling and hair care. I had to learn from my friends and from magazines. When I was little she gave me home perms, washed my hair once a week and pin curled it. How I hated that. We battled over hair A LOT. And I mean A LOT. When I was in 9th grade she kind of gave up and let me take care of my hair and she stopped flipping out over make up and short skirts.

I recall my mom's mom got her hair done once a week too. She had silver curls. I have no idea if it was permed or not. I don't recall her ever mentioning her hair or saw her do anything to it but we only saw her twice a year. My dad's mom would sometimes have a few small rollers in her hair. I think she had perms. It was always short and softly curled.

[moominhapa]

Well, not my mom, but my dad was raised a Sikh and I've never asked him how he used to care for his hair. He did cut his hair a long time ago when he came to the US, but maybe he still remembers. His brothers who stayed in India kept their hair long up until they died--including his oldest brother who was in his nineties. I'm not sure how much hair they had left, though. You never see them with their hair down, and my dad hasn't had much hair for years. Thanks for bringing this up; I'll have to ask him about it!

That sounds really interesting--can't wait to hear more!



My grandma had THE most amazing hair: each of her 2 braids were the same thickness as my 1 braid. Her braids were up to her knees and jet-black. Well, guys, she used to use laundry soap on her hair. :eyebrows:

Ha! You all must have great hair genes! I get the impression that it used to be pretty normal to use detergent or soap on hair though. Modern shampoo and conditioner are relatively recent developments in the grand scheme of things, from what I understand.


We battled over hair A LOT. And I mean A LOT.

I can sympathize with you on that one. When my mom was young, she and all the other Thai school girls had the same ear length haircut, so she never understood why I'd want it any longer. I remember one particularly tearful trip to the hairdresser when I was about 8 or 9 to get my hair chopped off against my will... Sigh... But now I can do whatever I want!

[Lady Mary]

My mother had classic length brown straight fairly thick hair until she was in her late 20s. She said she stretched her washes and sometimes only COed but nothing else special. She told me she cut her hair shortly after she had me. I was disappointed, thinking I had caused it, but she said she had been wanting to cut it off for years at that point. Having a baby was just a good excuse to do it. I've only seen a few photos of her hair like that, it was gorgeous.

Now she has the white-blond frosted shortish bob thing that ladies in their 50s-60s seem to have these days. Oh well, at least she likes it and it's easy to care for, I know that makes her happy.

[Aleria]

Sadly I get my hair more from my dad's side - my mom has fine, thin, 1a hair that's between chin and shoulder length.
My grandma's is curly, but she keeps it very short.
Next time I go visit my native family, I will ask them - many of my aunts have the same thick, coarse wavy hair I do.

[linda g]

A few months ago, I told my mom about using a vinegar rinse on my hair, she said "oh yes, that's what we used to use before they made conditioner". They also used to save water in a rain barrel that they used for their last rinse. (They had well water, which was very hard).

[Twil]

No mom, but my dad told me some cool things. I had no idea it took that much effort to maintain a jheri curl and full goatee :surprise:

From what I remeber of my mom, it was dollar store sauve or white rain conditoner, shampoo, and hair spray. She'd curl it everyday with the curling iron, then backcomb it and spray with hairspray. Having almost a mullet. She was a tomboy and As I remember it she used to say "I learned one hairstyle in 1987 and I'm sticking to it"

I don't think I ever saw mom's natural texture, even in the hospital, she had her sister do her hair everyday.

[jeanniet]

It'll be a couple of weeks before I can ask because they're out of town, but I'll try to remember to post what I find out. I know somewhere there's a picture of my dad brushing his hair, and it was easily hip length.

Meant to say, I *love* the Moomin stories! They were my favorites when I was a kid.

[lilravendark]

I can sympathize with you on that one. When my mom was young, she and all the other Thai school girls had the same ear length haircut, so she never understood why I'd want it any longer. I remember one particularly tearful trip to the hairdresser when I was about 8 or 9 to get my hair chopped off against my will... Sigh... But now I can do whatever I want!

My mum recalls that too when she was a teenager going to school in Bangkok and she hated having her hair short for school she'd grow it long on the holidays then have to cut it again before school started.Mum was a bit of a rebel back then and refused to cut her hair the teachers relented and let her put it up instead. She then got kicked out of school at 17 for wagging all the time so after that she could do whatever she wanted with her hair. She bleached it and permed it and let it grow way past her waist, then when she was 18 my mum happened to be working in a bar where someone left a bomb on a barstool blowing up the bar killing one girl and another one losing her leg. Mum got severe burns on her arms and legs from working behind the bar counter and lost most of her hair to chin length in the explosion.
She said she was happy to be alive after because she had just had me but she said she remembered being pretty upset about losing her hair which was almost down to her knees.
Growing up I never seen her without shorter than bsl hair now its brushing past classic. She uses pantene lol she said shes been using it since she was a teenager and thinks its gross I WO shes always saying just wash it and use conditioner and you hair will be long and beautiful like mine :p lol.

[Masara]

My mum has coarse, curly hair. As a child and young teen it was around tailbone. She has memories of washing it once a week with soap (fairy snow) and rincing with rainwater.
The whole hair thing was pretty traumatic for her because her hair would take forever to dry, since there was no conditioner, it tangled pretty badly and it was very heavy. When she got to her mid teens, she cut short and has kept it like that since.
I don't know at what age she discovered coconut oil, but that is her favourite treatment

[Dreams_in_Pink]

My mom didn't used to care that much about hair. She kept her hair short (between pixie and SL). Her haircolor was very dark, so once greys started to show up, she started to dye her hair light blonde.

ETA: she had very fine somewhat curly hair. Now it's almost straight after all the box dyes :D

[naereid]

A couple of months ago I asked my grandmother what she used to do with her hair, thinking I'd score some sweet vintage tips and inspiration. :eyebrows:

She just said she always went to the salon to get a perm. Oh well. :o

[Purdy Bear]

My mother was totally hopeless, a teacher taught me how to brush my hair after feeling sorry for my knoted hair.

My grandmother was the one, she taught me so much about everything in the short time we saw each other (she lived at the other side of the Uk from me). She told me to use a satin pillow case, I forgot this later. She taught me how to do an English braid, and a pony tail. She was always presented well, even in her track suit, with pearl earrings and necklace.

She told me about how women of her era (she was born in 1901), would struggle with the Gibson Bun. They would use ragging, back combing etc and even sleep in the style once they got it right. She even told me that if you had a cowlick or parting it would be virtually impossible to do unless you crossed the hair over (devide the front area in two cross over then make the puff).

[Qadupae]

My mom and both my grandmothers are into salons, mostly because they all grew up taking care of many kids and so long hair was a luxury they couldn't afford. Both of my grandmothers perm their hair and my mom goes to the salon regularly to dye it a light brown. I think that is where I get my constant need to change my hair ^_^ I will have to ask them all if they ever had long hair as young ladies. I think I remember seeing my mother's wedding pictures with probably about shoulder length hair. Genetics was pretty striahgt forward for me too; we all have fine thin hair ^_^

[Sunny_side_up]

Hi there!
You're half Thai? My mum is Thai! I know the magrut leaves, yummy :yumm: I have noticed the extract in the Klorane shampoo and condit i think.
Mum had tail bone coarse hair which me and my sister used to play with in car journeys when she was sitting in the front passenger seat, little plaits, mistouches:p She too had a rural upbringing, swimming in clean water and i guess having oils used on her hair but will have to ask next time i see her! Dad went through a phase of vinegar rinses on his thick 3a hair.

My hair isn't thick like theirs:shrug: though i'd say it was when i was younger, then hormones come about and drastic slimming when i hit teenage years, now i have the least volume in the family. Sis said she's thinking about growing again, i saw her yesterday and we were looking through albums where she had fab 2b hair getting to mid back, she's got a heavily dyed pixie at the mo and is considering vibrant red again!

[Pallas]

My mom always dyes her hair and blow-dries it :( But now she has found that harsh chemicals hurt her sensitive scalp so she now uses muh gentler products (for her skin, but it helps her hair too, I think) She told me she used to henna her hair now and then back in the day.

My grandmother on her side (my family is Indonesian) oiled her hair with olive oil a lot. I don't know if she ever gort perms or something, but I doubt it, since she has old Indonesian kind of 'respect' for hair and treats it with care. Now that she's older (tbh I don't know how old XD 70+?) she has very very thin hair (which is a genetic condition among some woman in the family) but it hardly shows any gray and it's fairy long. She always wears it in a very cute 'flat' little bun.

Since I've been on LHC I've inspired my mom a little it to be nicer to her hair, though. 8D

Oh, and my dad said he never really did anything with his hair. He had the glorious black Jew-curls and in the 70's, it made for a great 'fro :lol: I kinda wish I had more of his hair... that stereortypical Jewish hair is so pretty, pitch-black and thick curls...
But he only thought it was annoying and just left it there on his head. Which is better than ripping through it, of course! And he couldn't be bothered too much as long as it was cool enough not to turn into an oven in hot Isreal.

My mom always brushed my hair really painfully. She's used to smooth, straight/wavy hair, and I had curls and so much tangles. But my dad was super-gentle to my hair and told me to brush down to top and very carefully... *cough* of course at that time I hated my curls and ripped through it as if it would save my life... :rolleyes:

[Finoriel]

My mom had shoulder length hair as a max when she was younger, most times she had it much shorter. Now it´s maybe jawlength. Dye, perm, shampoo :shrug: I have not seen her use conditioner ever and deep treatments just on rare occasions.
My grandma has old lady sheep hair :D in blue. And she wears a wig with a bob cut on special days. And her memory got quite bad so I can´t ask her what she did when she was young and had longer hair. Well technically I could ask her :wink: but she´d probably answer with a cookie recipe or the story about my granddad.
My great-grandma was the only long hair in my family. It was very thin and I know she used a rat under her bun to make it look bigger. But I don´t remember seeing her with her hair down, so I can just guesstimate but it was probably around classic length when she died. No idea what she had for routine though and I doubt anyone in my family knows. She was a lady and would have made anyone who dared to ask her for her personal grooming habits wash their mouth with soap :laugh:.

[Sarahmoon]

Ugh! I don't really want to know. My mom dyed her hair a lot (and still does now she's grey) and by the way she used to brush my hair when I was little, I can conclude she's not really that knowledgeable when it comes to hair care :shudder:

And my gran once told me she used to cut the hair of all her dolls short when she was young... and she was far in her 80s before she accepted her grey hair :?

[Lamb]

Oh, this is fun. :) My mother, as a child living at home, washed her hair either with lye soap and a vinegar rinse (she said it stunk to high heaven), or the only shampoo that was commercially available in the (Eastern-European) country at the time. It had to be very heavily diluted so it wouldn't take your scalp off. :scared:
She didn't have long hair as a child (in the '50s and '60s), perhaps APL max, fine and straight. For First Communion, her mother used a sugar-water concoction to put curls into her hair. :D

ETA: My dad and all his friends were usually given a buzz-cut for the summer, than their hair was allowed to grow for the winter, with maybe one or two trips to the barber mid-winter to keep the hair above collar length. My mother had to keep her hair in two braids until she was 14, school dress code. She hated it. At high school (age 14-18 ), she had it all cut off at some point, she was sporting a fashionable short style in her graduation photos, complete with formidable butterfly glasses.

[elliebean184]

In my Mom's graduation photo, she has gorgeous waist-length thick black hair. It's naturally curly, so she damp-wrapped it around her head to dry and brushed it through. She lived in poorer Central America and couldn't afford any hair products. She told me that when her richer friends would travel, they'd bring her back conditioner sometimes. I'll have to ask her what she used.... maybe herbal rinses?
Now she's a big fan of Pantene and Clairol, but she has much shorter hair. At least as long as I can remember.

[pineconejg]

My grandmothers have always had short hair.

My mom perms, cuts and dyes hers. When I was younger she told me she had washed it with beer and ironed it in the 70's. She was also the first (white) girl at her school to have an Afro, from sleeping in rollers.

JG

[Katrina]

My mother had BSL hair until she hit 40 something. It was dark brown, coarse, thick (at least ii/iii, I'm sure) and straight-ish (1c, I guess). She weared it always in the same bun and washed it once or twice a week. It was never loose in public, and there was that "big extra piece" inside the bun. I cannot remember what the piece is called in English...

Our neighbours were shocked when she had it cut. They never expected it. She just thought that short hair was much easier to manage and she still thinks so. No regrets. She is 63 now and her hair is 2-4". Sometimes she has it permed and she dyes it dark brown herself. She is uncomfortable with her gray hair. It is still thick and she has it thinned at least every 8 weeks.

She washes her hair with whatever shampoo ja conditioner (or sometimes ACV rinse). Not too much into haircare...

My grandmother and her sister had long braids (waist or hip length). Their hair never greyed, not even in their 70's. Both of them weared their braids in a low bun. I don't know anything about their haircare since my grandma died when I was 4 and her sister died when I was 16. Her sister lived far away in another town.

[In2wishin]

My mom always had short hair and tried to make me keep mine short too.

A few years ago she told me that "women my age with long hair look like witches" so I do not discuss it with her :confused:. I did get my thick hair from my Dad's side of the family so I am grate ful for that.

[countryhopper]

I'm loving ALL these stories!! Keep 'em coming!!

I don't have anything to contribute (yet!) I remember my great-grandmother having long (maybe waist?) length hair that was braided and coiled into a bun at the top of her head.

Who was it that had the grandmother that told her how to do a gibson bun? Sorry, I didn't write down your name! Could you maybe post her instructions to do the bun in the article section? How cool would it be to have a 100% authentic vintage style to replicate exactlly how they did it back in the day?!

[Lielananna]

My mom had gorgeous waist/hip length hair in college, I don't know what she used on it except that she would iron it all the time since that was the style when she was growing up (60s and 70s) and she had some major waves going on in the back. My mom's always telling me that she's envious of me knowing how to do my hair in all these styles, she only ever wore it down, and wishes that she had known how to at the very least braid her hair growing up - she just couldn't get it down. Now she's got shoulder length hair that she's had that length since my older sister was born.

[vindo]

My Mom used to get a perm in the past which she styled with various products. Before that she had it longer (midback) and just blow dried it.
These days she does not perm anymore but likes to blow dry it straight and volumnious ( I like it better natural 1c/2a ^^ and style her like that if I can)
She likes to use mousse or any product that makes her hair less soft and gives more grip. Her hair is mostly around shoulder length, she wants it shorter but the rest of the family tries to convince her to grow longer.
She is now 52 and has a very full, youthful head of hair and very few greys..

My grandmother had butt length hair as a girl and used to wear it in braids. She says it was very thick and took long brushing it.
She later got a bob cut against her fathers will.
My grandmother still has full hair at 82, but now short and permed.

My greatgrandmother had approximatly thigh length very heavy hair, she always wore it in a bun which gave her a headache.

Thats all I know..:)

[ibleedlipstick]

My mum has always been really supportive of my hair adventures, ever since I was very young, so asking this was easy. She said that she has done so much with her hair that she cannot remember all of it, except she spoke with great longing about a bar soap that she bought in Israel, apparently it was made from olive oil ad it was both cleansing for the body and the hair, and gave her hair glossiness and moisture without weighing it down. After listening to her describe it, I know envy in my heart.

[FrannyG]

My mother was born in the middle of the Depression here in Southern Ontario and was in her teens in the late 40's to the mid-50s.

As a child, she had her hair washed once a week with whatever shampoo was available. Her mother used to put her hair in double braids.

As a teen, she wore what was the then-fashionable shoulder length hair. She still washed it just once a week or so with shampoo (there was no conditioner in those days) and she set it with setting lotion and rollers. She has never had long hair since childhood.

Conditioner didn't come around in any form until she was about 35, and I was about 9 and I remember when they came out. The first conditioners were called Creme Rinse. You took a capful and mixed it with water and used it as a final rinse for detangling. Shampoos were still fairly harsh in those days.

It wasn't until the 70s that more gentle shampoos and what we know today as conditioner came out for use with the general public.

Interestingly, my mother never, ever braided my hair as a child. I think she associated braids with her own childhood during the Depression and Wartime. I never wore a braid in my hair until I was a grown woman.

[Henrietta]

I wish I could ask my mother about her hair. I know that her was always really short and she didn't care about it-"a hair is just a hair." I mean my step-mother (I hate this definition.)

My real mum was a chemist. You can imagine, I could have any conditioner I wanted:) She knew best what's good. And as far as I remember she used to change her haistyles often, from long to really short hair. I used to "help" her (mainly asking about everything she was doing and chattering as I was a child) when she was dying her hair. She used to do this often too. I remember one color- dark cherry. Awesome.

[Fiferstone]

My mother has always had short pixie style haircuts for as long as I can remember. She was a tomboy who was forced to wear braids, when she wasn't at all interested in hair care. She was born in 1934, grew up during the 40s, and graduated from college in 1956.

She told me that her father used to make a shampoo using his own recipe for them (he was the town pharmacist), but that he calculated he'd have to sell it for $3.00-$4.00 a bottle in order to recoup the cost of making it and earn something on it, so he only ever made it for the family, because he knew no one would pay that much for a hair preparation ;). She didn't know what his recipe was, only that it smelled like mint, and made her hair soft and shiny.

She is a fan of hair you can comb with a washcloth :eyebrows: but allowed me to have longish hair as a little girl because I wanted it, and my dad liked the look of pigtails and braids on his little daughter. Later on, until I was able and willing to take proper care of it, I had shag cuts and other variations on the boy cut or pixie.

We always had conventional shampoo, mostly Alberto VO5 (she hated Prell), or whatever was on sale. She was not picky about it.

She is also one of those lucky people who have lovely natural waves without having to "do" anything to them. She used to get her hair washed and styled when she would have it cut in the 1960s, and I remember her coming home with some horrible beehive hairdos that she hated, but she was afraid to tell the salon owner that she didn't want it styled for fear that she would offend the salon owner :), so she'd hop in the shower immediately after getting home to wash all the dippity-do, hairspray and other junk out of her hair. She only stopped doing that when she had to go to the grocery store for something on a day when she'd had her hair cut/styled, and ran into the beauty shop owner in the store. "Jane, what happened to your hair?" the woman asked. Rather than make up some lame story on the spot, my mom told her, "you know, I really don't like having it styled." "Why didn't you tell me that?" the woman asked, "I'll just give you a cut from now on, there's no reason for you to have to walk out with something you don't like." They used to joke about that afterward.

She's 75 now, gets very short haircuts, her hair is salt-and-pepper silver (it was dark brown when she was younger), I remember her doing the pin-curls at the side with with bobby pins crossed over each other to hold the pin curl, but that's it. No fascinating hair care secrets from her, but some funny stories.

[naereid]

Interestingly, my mother never, ever braided my hair as a child. I think she associated braids with her own childhood during the Depression and Wartime. I never wore a braid in my hair until I was a grown woman.
That's possible. I had a french braid done for my father's funeral as a child, and they remind me of it to this very day!

[spidermom]

My grandmother would only wash her hip-length hair with water from the rain barrel. If it had been dry weather and the rain barrel was empty, she didn't wash her hair. I remember smelling her at the dinner table and not wanting to eat - peeyew! Heads can stink; yes they can.

[VanillaTresses]

Well, my mom has said that they could barely afford shampoo when she was a girl and so they used little of it and sparingly, it sounds like they washed their hair around once per week.

My granddad has said that when he was young, they only took a bath once a week (on the weekend, before church) and that the bath was a big tub full of water. The order was that the women / girls would bathe in order from oldest to youngest and then the men / boys would bathe in order from oldest to youngest. Unfortunately for him, that meant that he was the last one to bathe and he said that the bathwater was always cold and dirty by the time that it was his turn! He said that they used homemade lye soap to wash their hair and that they had to use vinegar to rinse out the residue. He mentioned that he thought it was a pain in the pa-toot to wash hair that way (he even described how it left your hair feeling "bad") and that he was glad to have shampoo. I guess that we can tend to over-romanticize "the simpler times" and GD is always there to set me straight on just how much I should appreciate the modern conveniences! :D

[Dixie_Amazon]

My mom would roll in put a perm in mine sometimes but it doesn't do either very well and my l right side has never curled as well my right by any method. My mom always wanted me to cut my hair. She was thrilled when I did my senior year. I never cut it that short again.

Her hair was always short colored, permed and movie star perfect. She was 16th Native American (I am not since I am adopted) and mostly gray by thirty and dyed and permed her hair herself until her late sixties when Alzheimer's was starting to take it's horrible toll.

[MINAKO]

My moms hair was all natural until her mid-twenties, then she started to do all kinds of fashionable cits and colors. I dont think she ever used anything but shampoo and conditioner, maybe ocassionally a mask but thats it. She washes twice a week and the styles it with a blowdryer and a round brush. At least i could get her to try coconut oil a few times and also gave her a coney finishing serum that also contains some protein.

[lapushka]

I vividly remember my mom had flaming red hair past BSL in her early forties and throughout her forties. She wore it with bangs, in a bee-butt bun on top of her head. Gorgeous. And she got so much attention over it from her co-workers. It was *so* pretty!

My grandma on mom's side had short hair and at one point grew it out, she had such nice updos with just a few bobby pins. Her mom had short hair, but my mom's grandma on the other side had hair to her butt and way past it, I think, even. She would comb it out and roll it up into a bun in front of my mom. She vividly remembers that.

[swords & roses]

My mom would (and still!) wash & condition with a set of Suave, or a cheap 2-in-1, curl her bangs & her hem line, and use about half a can of White Rain hairspray to style the bangs and that 90s poof thing she'd have cut in. Thankfully, she finally gave up the poof around 2005 or so. :lol:

Mom's mom never dyed her hair & always kept it cut short, a little longer than pixie. Dad's mom always had her hair permed into a tight little 'fro and dyed pitch black. I think she started going more natural in her 60s before she passed.

[proo]

Mom had bsl frizzy hair that she blow dried straight,
put up in a smooth, glamorous french roll,
sprayed the heck outta it with final net
and finished it off with a bow made out of a stretchy headband.

[Arctic]

What a lovely idea for a thread!

[Eastbound&Down]

I try to avoid bringing up hair to my mom, it always ends with her trying to get me to chop back to a pixie and tell me triming monthly is a necessity. I love her very much but that is a subject we will never be on the same page about.

However, when she was younger she had beautiful, wild curls that she kept around apl-bsl. She used vinegar rinses on herself and all of us kids and made our hair so shiny and soft, and to tame the curls a little bit (especially on me). She wears a pixie now and blow dries/straightens daily.

[Nadine <3]

My mom had coarse curly hair that she shampoo'd and brushed through to create a bush on top of her head. She used to dye it a different color once a month at least and I still remember the time she tried dying it auburn, but it came out a shocking stop sign red so she went and dyed over that with a brown color...My moms hair never seemed to damage much, but she kept it pretty short. Now my mom has a shoulder length cut and she's grown out all the dye. Her hair is naturally completely grey. She has very pretty hair but she doesn't care for it very well...rips a brush though it several times a day, piles it on top of her head to shampoo...then she wonders why her hair grows slowly!

Oh well, I still lover her.

[calmyogi]

My mom has passed away now, but I do know when my sister was little my moms hair was at least BSL or a tad longer. Her hair was very fine and I think she had always washed and conditioned it daily. Since my mom is gone I can't really ask about my grandmother. Idk why I never thought to ask her while my mom was still Alive because I always asked a lot of questions about other things lol.

[missblueeyes]

A few months ago, I told my mom about using a vinegar rinse on my hair, she said "oh yes, that's what we used to use before they made conditioner". They also used to save water in a rain barrel that they used for their last rinse. (They had well water, which was very hard).

That reminds me of a former LHC'er that I admire very much. :) It really makes me want to try rinsing my hair with rainwater!

My mother used to be a hairdresser and has been very creative with her locks in the past. When she was my age, she wore the sides shaved and everything else bleached white. I saw pictures, it looked so cool! Then, she let her hair grow out. It was the longest + hennaed when I was born. It looked really cool but then she won a free makeover and had it cut to apl, which also looked really good on her.
I actually have no idea if she had any personal haircare techniques but she knew about the ACV rinse. I wonder how she cared for it when she lived in Greece for some months. I gotta ask her! :)
Now, she wears it really short. About 2cm all over with a fringe. :)

[Nadine <3]

I did some digging and found this. Was not even kidding when I said she brushed it into a bush. :whistle:

http://i1309.photobucket.com/albums/s637/nschommer22/34741_1358081508270_6519932_n_zpsxxo1nzzt.jpg

[Hairkay]

My mother said that when she was in her teens one of her teachers commented that if she had put as much time into her school work as she did in coming up with all those different hairstyles daily, she'd be at the top of the class.

Mother has thick coarse kinky hair. The longest I've seen it was when she was a child and it was collar length.I have no idea what it was stretched. Her mother would plait/braid it mostly in just two plaits mostly without any hair ties. Hair would be shampooed and vaseline was applied to damp hair. She had times when her hair was pressed. She also sneakily cut out chunks in her hair in attempt to make it look less thick. She had fun in the 70s with all the huge afros and the flaired trousers. My aunt did too. I think even grandmother succumbed and let her hair go in an Afro. It was my mother who told me that is was possible just to wash, roller set then style curly kinky hair without having it straightened in anyway beforehand. She said it usually produced good results. There were sometimes when she relaxed her hair then she'd just let it grow out, letting the straight ends break off without a proper cut then leave it to regrow. She wore it in two very loose cornrows a lot of the time, she does it so loose that by the end of the day her 4c hair unravels and she'd go to sleep with the hair out just like that. Sometimes she had it in smaller cornrows. She's had it in extensions a time or two as well. I've cornrowed her hair a few times too.

Mother was impressed by lil sis's waist long locked hair and since she's now retired with arthritis giving trouble in her hands as well she decided to get her hair locked for some years as a low maintenance, low manipulation style. She'd been dying the greys but also decided to stop. She'd got her locks retightened once or twice a year at the hair salon. She grew in some MBL grey locks. She returned from her annual winter Caribbean trip with her hair cut very short and black again. She said her hair had become too long and heavy so another change was due. It looks as she plans to keep it very short now.

Grandmother died over a year ago. I first met her when she had an afro that was going a little grey. She kept it that way for a while then relaxed it. Then she tinted it silver. Then it went white. The last time I saw her she'd cut it very short and we all touched her fluffy silky soft short 'fro. It was striking against her dark skin. Six months later when it'd grown out a bit she had it relaxed again with a roller set which disappointed me since I loved how it'd been short and fluffy.

Oh and mother passed on that two plait habit to us. We had the dreaded two plait/braid trade mark. I think I've got a permanent part in my hair because of that. I can just divide my hair with my hands and get looking neatly parted in two. Still my thick hair is forgiving because that part disappears when I put it in one.

[cat11]

My mom dyes, fries, straightens, and blowdries her hair and then washes it very often with SLS shampoo. And she rips when she brushes. I know this from the bad memories of childhood when she did it to mine. Unfortunately all i will get from her is bad advice :(

edit: feel like I have to say though, when she was younger and I was little she had lovely dark brown, almost black hair, which was straighter than mine, alothough slightly wavy. I always wished I had her natural color.

[allierat]

My mom taught me to backcomb and use rollers...I'm unsure that this is any kind of beauty secret but it did start off my obession with heatless curls and I used to get asked frequently who did my hair when I used to backcomb. She had beautiful brown thick bsl hair in her late teens, bleached blonde with volume in her early 20's. By the time I was born she'd cut to above shoulder and I remember in the 80's/early 90's she had a perm and had started to dye to cover greys. My mom always cut our hair at home and encouraged washing every 2-3 days, I guess those were good habbits but not really secrets! She always let me have my hair however I wanted, even though I'm sure she almost cried when at 13 I went from a bit below bsl to chin!

My mom's mom has only ever has short, curled hair from what I have seen myself and in pictures. My dad's mom I saw infrequently as she lived in another country but I remember how she always did the same bun, day in, day out and her hair was quite thin and shoulder length (which I think was mostly due to age, I always wonder if her hair was longer when she was younger but I can't tell as in pictures I've seen it's hidden by the bun). She used a hair rat that my mom once told me was made from her own hair.

[rina06]

My mum had straight dark brown BSL hair when she was young, that I've seen in photos. Now she has it cut to chin length, with it dyed a mahogany colour to cover greys and it seems to have gotten wavier with age.

[HintOfMint]

My mom believes in coconut oil scalp massages, neem oil, amla, and using henna to make hair stronger. She also encouraged me to not wash my hair daily. Oh and the importance of keeping hair off of one's face. That seems to be a mom thing. Fairly traditional Indian haircare except for the length part. She doesn't care one bit about long hair and she's had hers in a bob for about 35-40 years.

[cocoahair]

This is an adorable thread! I mostly take care of my mom's hair with my sister LadyLorien coloring wise and we have recently made her a henna convert as she has had red tinted hair definitely since before she gave birth to me and probably before. She has silky straight hair that she keeps chin length but she is completely supportive of my choice to grow my hair ever since I was old enough to have an opinion and told her I wanted it long :)

[maegalcarwen]

What a lovely thread! I really enjoyed reading all the stories, so precious. Here is mine:

My Mother always had this APL-BSL hair, thick (iii), dark brown. I remember pictures of her wedding, absolutely beautiful. She cut it to a pixie before I was born - that was just the thing to do back then. It got shorter and shorter, about 2-4 cm. I remember the smell of the Pantene shampoo she used, and the mousse to set it with. She was a firm believer in "shorter hair is easier", but after years of patient convincing with my little sister, we finally persuaded her to grow it out. Now it is around APL-BSL again, and she looks beautiful! She started dying it with her natural color when she started graying.

My maternal Grandmother has her hair in the long "grandma bob", as we call it. She dyes it to her natural color, but she is full grey. Her hair is very thick and straight, impressive for an old lady! Even though we talk a lot about back then, she doesn't talk much about her hair. I remember old photos of her with my grandpa, having BSL length hair, mostly up in those 60s buns (I think french twist?). She cut it when my Mom was born, and kept it a bob ever since.

I also remember my Aunt and my Mother from photos my Grandma showed me, and my Aunt was always copying my Mom's hairstyles, haha. Double braids, bangs, dutch braids. They were adorable. Up until this day, my Grandma has a braid from my Mom in a box.

[Princess_Anna]

My mum had a pixie cut at my age and used to wash it daily with shampoo and no conditioner :O. She takes better care with it now though, she even grew it out to waist but now it's shoulder length. Her hair is this gorgeous auburn colour though, I'm so jealous! I have my dad's neither-blonde-nor-brown-nor-red colour

[QMacrocarpa]

My Mom is a lifelong bob-fan, and doesn't seem to understand why any other hairstyle option is needed. Her hair started out as black, but she started going grey quite early (like before 20), and has never colored her hair. She had me pretty late, and I remember being in kindergarten or so and a classmate asking if she was my grandmother, presumably because of her grey hair. It's totally white now and getting a bit brassy; I should take her shopping for purple shampoo the next time I visit.

I don't think she's ever really used conditioner. Shampoo-wise, I remember Breck, and dark green Prell, and light green Pert with the odd smell that for some reason made me think of lettuce. Mostly Breck though. Creme rinse was quite a revelation when one of my sisters-in-law introduced me to it when I was a tween. I also have that sister-in-law to thank for teaching me to braid my hair, which was a huge help in reducing tangles.

As long as my hair was under my Mom's control, it was kept pretty short. She mostly cut my hair herself, which would have been fine, except her idea of "trimming" was to make it the exact length that she wanted (always a bob), which was usually not what I wanted. We had a big sort of ceremonial apron of hair-cutting that the person getting trimmed would wear-- it had a caricature of three or four barbershop-quartet-singers on it, all apparently singing away.

In recent years, I've gotten her a few barrettes (by request) to keep her side bangs out of the way when they get long between salon cuts. We don't discuss my hair-- she only comments on it when she can approvingly say that it's gotten shorter (hasn't happened in a while). My Mom is a ripping detangler, on herself, and also on me when I was young, which worked a lot less well, since my hair is much grabbier and curlier than her waves (and my pain threshhold is lower!). It's funny but also kind of distressing to see her mooch my Dad's fine-tooth comb (he always has one in his pocket; she never has a comb in her purse-- after 60-odd years of marriage this still seems to be a small bone of contention) and rip away at her hair, grimacing.

[Kiiruna]

My mom has thick, black hair (which is quite unusual for a Finn - and which I don't have: I have my dad's dark blonde hair color). When she was young her hair was about classic length: she told it took hours and hours to dry, and updos didn't hold for long because of weight of her hair. She made sea-buckthorn oil treatments to keep her hair shiny and healthy.
Then she cut it into a long bob, and now she have had pixie cut for over ten years or so.

[truepeacenik]

My mom, and I'm an adoptee so this is all nurture, believes long hair is a sign of laziness or being poor.
Her hair has always, always, been done to whatever degree she could manage.

I had long hair as a child, likley because I'm the only daughter.
I remember Tame in a spray bottle for tangles. Because I collected them avidly.
Wella Balsam shampoo, Lemon Up with a lemon on the top, tubes of VO5, and the shampoo of my memeory dreams,and probably why I'm the long haired lazy poor hippie I am today, the true, original and sadly never replicated Herbal Essence with the Forest green hue.
Sigggggghhhhhhh.

I also have nightmares about Toni home perms. And Little Orphan Annie.
But they worked for my mom splendidly.