Calling all of you "i"s or "i/ii"s out there!

[linnepinne]

Hi everyone!

My hair an ii on the thin side(6 cm/2.4 inches circumference), that's why I decided to put in "i/ii" on my profile.
I get the feeling that the LHC is full of all these wonderful thick luscious locks of hair, and that we "thinnies" are a bit underrepresented :) Why do you think that is? Is is more unusual for people with thinner hair to wear it relly long?

Because I've been discouraged so many times during my childhood (and adult life aswell), with all these messages that thin hair looks so much better short etc., it feels to me like kind of a big and brave step to grow my hair long. And I still have doubts from time to time if my hair will look good in an updo, or if it will just become a stringy, lank, horrible mess! (Though I've never liked it so far, and I've been a"shortie" all my life).

I could really use a boost of confidence in my hair growing journey! So please share your story, and tell me about yor relationship with your hair. Pics are most welcome too of course :D

Many thanks!/ linnepinne

[ChatNoir]

I know how you feel. I am a thinny as well! I am now growing it from shoulder length, but I have been at BSL, and it looked great!

The reason I decided to cut it was because I want my hair to be all natural. So I decided on The Big Chop as my option. Heading towards APL now :D

I think that if you take good care of your hair, and just try to relax and let your hair do it's thing, it is going to look great!

Good luck! :D

[Sooze]

I was a thickie, but now definitely a thinnie. I also allowed people to steer me into making decisions about my hair that I regret, largely due to damage admittedly which needed to be dealt with, but I do regret having cut so short thinking it was the only way to get rid.

And I also resented the fact that as I got older, people would think nothing of remarking that "older" people shouldn't have long hair (I'm under 50 by the way). I think of people like Kim Cattrall, Jane Seymour, Goldie Hawn and plenty of other older ladies with lovely healthy long/long-ish hair, and I get quite miffed that folk can be so judgmental.

The rest of me just laughs and thinks "never again will I let anyone dictate what I do to my hair." It's quite a liberating feeling!

[torrilin]

You may feel like your hair is terribly thin but... a 2.4" ponytail is a solid ii. I'm a whole 0.1" thicker than you. It's actually fairly nice, since it means a lot of styles are doable with fairly short hair. Thin circumference means all the intricate looping and wrapping can fit!

[Bonkers57]

My hair is fine and very straight. I too have been told that I can't wear long hair because it will look too 'thin and stringy'. For most of my childhood I wore a pixie - my mom would just chop it at home.

When I look at some old pics of when I did let it grow, it didn't look so bad, really. Not when I took good care of it.

Two pics are in my Progress album of my mini-goals. One pic was taken at a baby shower for my son in 1996. The other (at around APL) was taken by a friend who is a professional photographer in '98 or '99 - here it looked particularly healthy, and at the time I was trimming it myself and not doing anything outside of washing, conditioning, and turning the ends under with an iron when I wanted it to look really nice.

My ultimate goal is BSL or a little longer. So, we can encourage each other. I think I've cut mine out of force of habit more than anything else. The last time was to get rid of all the color and start with virgin hair. It's now in a blunt bob and in the perfect position to let it grow, just straight and level all the way down. Except for shorter bangs - I just look better with them.

Hang in there!

[Katurday]

You may feel like your hair is terribly thin but... a 2.4" ponytail is a solid ii. I'm a whole 0.1" thicker than you. It's actually fairly nice, since it means a lot of styles are doable with fairly short hair. Thin circumference means all the intricate looping and wrapping can fit!
Thick and thin are believe it or not largely objective - my 4.5 inch circ. hair is well within the iii range, but behaves and looks very ii. The OP's hair may clump together such as mine, emphasizing thinness that is not even that measurable. I've seen blunt i's look like iii's simply because of volume/waviness/curliness etc.

I love i hair, because to me it doesn't look "thinning", it looks petite and delicate, almost elven. As long as hair is well taken care of and the owner is not ill/deficient in vitamins, everything should look wonderful imo!

[podo]

I have solid i hair (under 2") - 1aFi thankyouverymuch - and for me personally it looks horrid when I wear it short! I had it cut to my shoulders once and the only way to make it look good would be daily product & blowfrying, neither of which I have ever been willing to do. I refuse to spend 20 minutes on my hair in the mornings. Period. (Remember that coarser hair is thicker as well.)

My hair is now TBL and I love it. Down it looks good, and yes, it occasionally does look kind of straggly, but I think that happens for a lot of Fi's. When I was at BSL it was a whole lot worse, but as I've improved my hair care it gets better and better and I firmly believe when I reach my goal (whenever that may be) and get rid of all of the leftover damage (about 12") I won't have that issue.

You want to see gorgeous i (ii?) hair? Go look at CinnamonGirl's website: BeyondClassicLength.com (http://beyondclassiclength.com/hairphotos.html). I won't hotlink her pics, but that link goes directly to her pics page. She has such beautiful hair (and my color too!) and I can't wait til I'm her!

As for updos, the cool thing about i/ii hair is that we can do updos long before the thicker ones can manage it. I've never had this problem personally (sigh), but I've seen others unable to do any kind of twisted bun until waist or below because of thickness - styles that I could do at BSL! I recently managed a "crochet bun" or "chain bun" (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=57810) and no one with thicker hair will be able to do that until below TBL I don't think.

All hair types have their own benefits and flaws - and all can look beautiful long if taken care of. While a lot of people (like me) originally grow their hair because they want it pretty hanging down their backs, they become so entranced with updos that they start wanting it to grow because they want to be able to do cool updos! I can help out with some updo styles if you'd like, just PM me.

More importantly, if it's important to you, don't let anyone (including us!) tell you how you should or should not wear it. It's YOUR hair. ;)

[rags]

My hair is a solid i (1.75" pony). I have had it at tailbone most of my adult life and I'm headed back there again. My hair is also baby, baby fine and so it compacts up to this teeny little bun when I do updos. Regardless, I'm still on day 295 of wear your hair up challenge! :D I wear my hair up because I like it up!

What bothers me is braids. I think my hair looks terribly thin in braids, but I wear them anyways! I will rarely wear two though, because I don't like how thin they look.

The good things about thinner hair are that it dries much more quickly, and you can do updos soooo much sooner than people with thicker hair!

Here is a pic of i hair at BSL in a messy (sorry) :o Lazy Wrap Bun. I tend to do a lot of lazy wraps because they give you a larger looking bun! :D

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=5757&pictureid=77914

[angelfell]

My hair is thin as well. Each individual strand is thick/heavy, but I guess I have very few strands. The result? Straight hair that holds NO volume/curl because it's too heavy, but then it looks all thin and flat straight. Poo. Anyways, I'm definitely in this boat so I'm joining in :p.

[Messy Cook]

Linnepinne, I would love to have your circumference!
My hair is thin and I haven't worked up the guts yet to measure my circumference because I am afraid of how small it is..sigh.
With every pregnancy I have lost hair, it did come back more or less but not as much as I lost.
The past years of my life have been quite stressful and I think that that is the main reason for having, at the most, half the amount of hair that I used to have.
It does seem, after taking Biotin for a couple of months, that I have a lot of new growth but that does not all reach to the position where I can measure my circumference.
It is not yet bsl and I always wear it up.
It is healthy, shiny and I do not have any split ends or so. I try to tell myself that when I feel hopeless about how thin my hair is.

Regardless of how thin it is now, just for me, for myself, I am trying to grow it to, hopefully, unto waist-length.
Hope to reach the blessed age that most of my family reaches and will be proud to live well into my nineties with grey/white long hair! :)

[FoxRain]

I have very thin hair and I've been told all my life to cut it short and fill it with layers. Otherwise it'd look like I had no hair.
So I had to not have any hair, for it not to look like I didn't have any hair :shrug: hairdressers have a very special logic.

[littlenvy]

*puts hand up*

Yeah, I'm one of the thin ones. Used to be about 2" (when I first joined LHC) and now I'm half that. :(
But it is healthy and looks like its getting better. *crosses fingers*

And YES, I know what you mean about thin hair not looking all that great long. Mine is just between APL and BSL now and I still keep on getting the "Why don't you cut your hair? You look so cute in shoulder bob cut" :confused:
I have to admit that I have cut my BSL long hair before because it just LOOKED bad and unhealty. Which it was since I wasn't part of LHC then LOL.
But now I'm hoping that I will be able to keep it longer and looking good.

[Rocket22]

Oh I'm in this group too... the only thing that saves me some is I have wave in my hair that adds volume and I have very very fine hair as well :( but I think fine hair can look beautiful with little work.. very fluffy and soft. when I wore extensions there were many many times when I felt my hair was too thick and it didn't look as soft and pretty just heavy. which is weird for me because I would have never thought in a million years I would have thought that being the hair freak that I am... I finally understood why people with really thick hair would curse it sometimes :)

[selenechiba]

I know how you feel. Depending on the day, or what products I've used, it can range from a mid-ii to a solid i. Just after washing, it will look it's thickest... and that's when I do most of my picture-taking. On those awesome days, I'm able to leave it down without worrying that someone might look at it and think something unkind. Especially if the wind is blowing. The other days, it's up in a pony or bun.

My grandmother hates my hair with a passion. She's never had hair longer than shoulder-length and thinks all women look healthier and more professional with short hair. I'm quite sure everyone has been around someone like that who gives opinions without consideration. Other than her distaste, I'm pretty lucky to be surrounded with supportive people. My husband gets the most credit. I do get picked on by some members of the family due to the colour, but I suppose that's only natural. :shrug:

You should try to please yourself - you're the one that has to live with the choices. Don't get discouraged!

[Centaur]

*Raising my hand up too.*

Linnepinnie,

I have been through what you are going through and know where you are coming from.

Growing up, my parents were always telling me my hair was too thin to wear long, and my mom tried to get me to blow dry my hair, puts lots of product in it and curl it to give it "some body." Look at my avatar - that is my hair in its natural state without any of the styling my mom wanted me to do. Does it look like it has no body? LOL.

Several months ago, my ponytail circumference measured out at about 2". I went through a long and bad shed period, so I am sure it is less than that now. I would love to have thicker hair, but I never will. I don't have the genetics for it. I just try to manage my health issues the best I can to minimize hair loss, and I try to care for my hair the best I can to improve its appearance.

Like what Rags said about her hair, my braids look thin and so do my buns, but I wear them anyway because it is comfortable and gets my hair out of my way. My friend actually complimented me the other day on my braid. She said I looked pretty with my braid and she thought it was cute the way it curled up on the end. She told me she wished she looked that way with her hair braided. Really? My friend with the thick, blond hair. Awwww. That was a sweet, unexpected, suprise compliment on my hair.

I think we i/ii's should post pics of our buns and braids and wear them loud and proud. Not always easy to do, but I am working on it. I'll work on getting some pics tonight.

[breezefaerie]

I have thin and fine hair. I have to be careful with my updos so that I don't get scalp show-through or scalp cleavage. It's a pain and can be discouraging.
My hair has gotten healthier since finding LHC but has not getten thicker. I am still growing it because I like my hair long regardless of how thin it is.

[soopahgrover]

I agree, my hair would look really thin if it weren't for the waves I can put it in by braiding it at night (especially when it's damp!)

Look at the benefits though! It weighs less. I can clip it up on the back of my head in a French twist and be comfortable for hours at a time before my scalp starts to hurt. And even though it's past my belt now, I can wrap it up in a relatively small twist. When people meet me for the first time and I have it up, they're always amazed when I excuse myself and pull the clip out.
Plus, I'm able to get it all stuffed under a knit cap. BIG necessity in winter time. I don't think I could do that if it were any thicker, because it barely fits as is. ^_^

[podo]

All you i/ii ladies (and gents?) - why oh why does everyone tell us to put layers in our thin hair?! Wouldn't that just make it even THINNER?! Someone please explain this to me. When I was in college I let someone put layers in my APL hair, and all of a sudden my ends were so fairytale they were invisible!

[pinkbunny]

What bothers me is braids. I think my hair looks terribly thin in braids, but I wear them anyways! I will rarely wear two though, because I don't like how thin they look.

This. But I will wear two braids often because I love them so! I have lots of pics in my albums proving that thin hair can be put up in many many different ways. I also give myself volume with braidwaves, which helps it not look so thin when it's down.

I beg to differ the "shorter is better" arguement. If I were to cut mine short, it would just *lay* there, plastered to my head (bo-o-o-oring!). Or, I could try to tease/curl/crimp/blowfry my shorter hair to give it some style, but it would just have the texture of see-through cotton candy (not to mention the damage) - NOT sexy! lol

[Xi]

:waving: Fellow thinnish hair checking in. I'd like my hair to be thicker, of course, but I think I'm mostly reconciled to the hair my genes have given me.:rolleyes: Sometimes I kind of like the stealth effect of having my near-classic hair tucked away in an innocuous little bun. I'm really only bothered when people around me point out that my hair is thin -- which most people don't do, as it is kind of rude. :pinktongue:

I've been told on occasion that my braided bun looks pretty, and once when I had my hair down in braidwaves an elderly man told me it was "a treasure". So on the basis of these extensive compliments, I say long thin hair can look lovely!;) Really the bottom line for me is that long hair delights me, and if the whole world got together to tell me I shouldn't have it, I'd ignore 'em.

[Shellby]

ME! ME! ME! *raising hand in air and waving all around*

I must concur with all the wonderful thin haired people who have posted before me. Why did I perm and perm and perm my hair? Because my mother told me I needed it for volume because my hair is so fine and thin. Why did I cut it and keep it cut? Because I was told it made it look thicker? I was told it was too thin for length. Since coming here I am so much more comfortable with my hair growing long. Growing it was not a conscious decision, just came about due to benign neglect. Busy and stressed so just braid it or bun it and go. My braids and bun may be smaller but I am happy with how it looks and that is the important thing, right? Right!

[sunshineTX]

I'm so glad to see this thread. I am also an F/i and have had this type since I was a little girl (although I do believe it was somewhat thicker back then). I always wanted my hair to be super long, but the longest it's ever been was BSL. I, too, was always told my hair was too thin to wear long; my ex-hairdresser used to tell me I needed to layer it so that it would look thicker. What???!!! And, of course, I used to buy into that.

Right now I'm at APL and have been getting periodic trims due to dryness/damage from henna. I know, henna is good for most people's hair, and I thought it was good for mine (it did make it seem thicker), but I didn't realize how dry my hair was until I stopped using the henna.

Co-workers are constantly saying "Wow, you're hair is getting long", but not in a complimentary way. Sometimes I get frustrated with it and just want to chop if off, but I truly believe long hair suits me better.

What do y'all recommend for up-dos? That is my biggest problem. I try not to use elastic bands, but I have trouble with claw clips. They hurt my head (I guess because there's not much between the clip and my scalp. I have a wooden fork, but I have a hard time getting it to stay in. Recommendations?

[girlcat36]

I'm here and I'm thin!!!! :D

And I'm so glad the OP shouted out to i or i/ii. Usually on the thin hair threads we get LHCer's with fine but thicker hair posting.
So I'm glad to be in the company of all these 'thinnies'.
My hair was about 2" when I joined, and I got it up to a thickness of 3.25, only to see it drop to 2.5 due to medical problems.
I figure I cut have hair that is thin and short, or I can have hair that is thin and long. I MUCH prefer long.
My hair is babyfine, too, so when it is cut short it is still pretty lifeless and flyaway. I need length to weigh it down.
And I full well know that when I wear my hair down, people are thinking that it looks a little ratty. I don't care. I'm on a mission---TBL.
I really need to practice some cool updo's, but I'm updo-challenged. :(
My 'go-to' updo is a half pulled through ponytail that is mostly full of air, but looks very impressive to the innocent bystander.

[sunshineTX]

I'm here and I'm thin!!!! :D

And I'm so glad the OP shouted out to i or i/ii. Usually on the thin hair threads we get LHCer's with fine but thicker hair posting.
So I'm glad to be in the company of all these 'thinnies'.
My hair was about 2" when I joined, and I got it up to a thickness of 3.25, only to see it drop to 2.5 due to medical problems.
I figure I cut have hair that is thin and short, or I can have hair that is thin and long. I MUCH prefer long.
My hair is babyfine, too, so when it is cut short it is still pretty lifeless and flyaway. I need length to weigh it down.
And I full well know that when I wear my hair down, people are thinking that it looks a little ratty. I don't care. I'm on a mission---TBL.
I really need to practice some cool updo's, but I'm updo-challenged. :(
My 'go-to' updo is a half pulled through ponytail that is mostly full of air, but looks very impressive to the innocent bystander.
girlcat, what do you hold your pony's with? Do you get any breakage? Your hair looks great, BTW. It doesn't look thin to me.

[girlcat36]

girlcat, what do you hold your pony's with? Do you get any breakage? Your hair looks great, BTW. It doesn't look thin to me.

I use a regular black scrunchie for my pulled through ponies. The thickness of the scrunchie adds fullness, and the black color sort of blends with my hair color. Also, the curly ends of my hair hide the scrunchie a little bit.
I get the scrunchies at CVS, and actually I think they only sell black now.
But we know scrunchies are horribly dated looking!!! :rolleyes:
No breakage, and amazingly, I rarely get splits.

Thank you for the compliment, my curls disguise the actual thinness of my hair.
That being said, I think that none of the siggy pics in this thread scream 'thin'!

ETA: If you check out my hair progress album, there are pics in there that plainly show my hair's thinness.

[girlcat36]

Hey Thinnies!! I just bought these barettes:
http://www.amazon.com/Goody-Oval-Contour-Clips-80622/dp/B000LLYKD6/ref=lh_ni_t_

I am very excited about them! They are all plastic--no metal parts.They seem perfect for fine wispy hair, and I like that they are not 'baby girl' colored even though a baby could use them!

Sometimes I just need a tiny flat clip to hold a small peice of hair back, and these are perfect.

[Angeletti]

The perfect thread for me : ) It's nice to know there are others who have to deal with thin hair!

The top portion of my hair is 2.5 inches around or a little more while near the bottom it's barely 1 inch around. It's become something that I've been upset about lately and sometimes I don't even want to wear my hair down because it just tangles making it look even more thin at the ends. On the plus side I have become happy with the size of buns I make now that my hair is almost at classic length, they are starting to resemble normal sized buns not wimpy little excuses for them lol.

[MsBubbles]

All you i/ii ladies (and gents?) - why oh why does everyone tell us to put layers in our thin hair?! Wouldn't that just make it even THINNER?! Someone please explain this to me. When I was in college I let someone put layers in my APL hair, and all of a sudden my ends were so fairytale they were invisible!

I can understand some light layering helping out a fine-haired wavy, but not on my dead-straight hair! Layers in my hair just make it stick to my head like glue in a body-less staticky way.

[MissManda]

I would like to let everyone here know that the most memorable, thud-worthy braid that I have ever seen belonged to someone with i or i/ii hair. When I was in high school, there was this male substitute teacher who had the longest braid that I've seen in real life. His hair was a deep, shiny black and the braid was between tailbone and classic length and it looked so incredibly intricate. I never saw his hair down, but I remember his braid catching my eye every time he'd sub for one of my classes. I don't think his braid was any thicker than my index finger (I have very small hands), but the lack of taper was very impressive. Every time I think of very long braids, his braid always comes to mind.

I hope you all don't mind me chiming in. I just thought this was something worth sharing. :)

[Aria]

I shed insanely, and I have some combing damage from somewhat abusive combing AND an abusive seamed comb, and probably some damage from living in a black-elastic-bound ponytail. My sister, who otherwise has very similar--but healthier--hair, seems to have twice the amount I do. I think that aside from being told that less hair looks skimpier and pathetic long (I've been told that, not that I listened), the damage really is a major factor. It's a similar concept of how hair length is tied to natural terminal length? If it's artificially shortened more or less evenly, the effect is about the same.

I haven't measured since I can't find my tape, but I'm definitely less than 2.4" and have been wearing my hair at BSL and longer ever since I was first able to. All flaws inclusive, it's still my favorite physical aspect of myself, and intend to learn how to make it happier and healthier during my time here. Most people won't care if it's a i or a iii if it's silky and shiny, let alone whether it's a ii or a iii. Don't be the least afraid to grow.

[Indigo Girl]

I'm a thinny too! I don't like how thin my hair is, and so many of my friends/family tell me I should cut it to give it more "body". I've done that, and it makes no difference - I'm a thinny now matter how long or short.

I like the way my hair tickles my wrists, so if it's going to be thin anyways, I'd rather have it thin and long, so I can enjoy it personally. Really, I don't care what others say. ;)

[baaaad_kitty]

Huh. I always just assumed my hair is i/ii. But then I measured and I have a circumference of 3.15" haha. I guess I just feel that my hair is quite thin, compared to some I've seen with way thick hair.

[Ylesque]

Another thinny here!
My pony at its thickest spot is 2.75, but I have a lot of taper thanks to years of overly layered salon cuts. :neutral:

[luxepiggy]

I'm right at 5cm - I think it's the perfect amount! Like having a sheet of luxurious silk for hair (^(oo)^)v


My hair is thin as well. Each individual strand is thick/heavy, but I guess I have very few strands. The result? Straight hair that holds NO volume/curl because it's too heavy, but then it looks all thin and flat straight. Poo. Anyways, I'm definitely in this boat so I'm joining in :p.

See now, you've got it all mixed up! The result is that it looks all sleek & shiny & flawlessly straight, no flatironing required (^(oo)~)

[RachieBaby]

Im going to jump in on this thread :D Thinny also :)

[PJ-Sander]

oooo, me! I'm a thinnie, too!!
I had a hysterectomy in 2003 (ovarian cancer) and am not on
any type of HRT. With my body not producing any estrogen, my
hair started thinning, but only in two spots; at the front and at
the crown. As someone mentioned earlier, I have to be vigilant
about hair "cleavage" (love that term!). I had just reached
waist length about 2 years ago when I noticed the thinning.
So of course I listened to bad advice and cut off all of my length.
But the way I part my hair pretty much disguises the thin spots,
so I thought, why can't I do the same with longer hair?! I'm
currently regrowing to at least BSL and perhaps longer. I use
the Pantene line of products for fine hair and they seem to help.
I've also ordered my first batch of cassia and am hoping it will
help, too.

[Starflower]

I'm a thinnie and have fine hair too. I have a bit of curl/wave so when I wear my hair down it looks thicker but those updos make reality hit hard lol!
Up until I was 18 I had hair so thick that I could barely get an elastic around it twice. I had a traumatic incident that pulled a ton of my hair out by the roots and it's never grown back in fully. I have a couple of bald/thin spots around my crown and on the right side above my ear.
The worst part is my scalp still thinks I have thick hair so I am an oily mess 24 hours after washing! Thank goodness for dry shampoo.
I've always had long hair though and thin or thick I'll wear it long because I love it. I'm sure as I get older my hair will thin out more so I'm very nervous about that.
Love reading about all the other thin haired people, thank you for starting this thread!

[Anje]

Not sure if I'm still in this camp or not. My hair has recently been creeping over the 2.5" circumference mark some days when I measure it. Which isn't very often. Honestly, I have a lot of hair. It's just that it doesn't make a big ponytail or braid! It's compactible!

I'm not really a fan of two braids either. Though I once had a little girl comment on how cool and snake-like they were; she liked how they got narrower as they went down.

[Babyfine]

Here, Here!:waving:
My hair has some wave in it so It can look thicker than it actually is-but when I wear a braid the thinness really shows. I don't ever wear two braids at all out of the house but sometimes I will wear a single braid folded up. Two braids on me look like two pencils hanging down from my head. One braid is thin- looking enough.
My favorite styles are a french twist(I can still easily fit all my BSL hair into a french twist) half ups and sock buns, trying to learn a lazy wrap bun.
I also rely on scrunchies, not only are they gentle on the hair but they make my wimpy ponys look like more. (I also usually do a partially pulled through pony)I have lots of scrunchies yet from years gone by.
I recently had face framing layers cut in which I regret because it just reduces the body of my hair in volume. why did I do that? I needed a change didn't follow the two week rule.
I'm trying to get to waist length all one length-but I keep trimming and cutting.

[rags]

MissManda thank you for sharing that! It's so nice to hear someone with thicker hair state that they think our hair type can be beautiful!!

Whoever asked about updos - I have had my hair up every day since January. I use sticks, forks and Ficcares the most. I almost never use elastics for an updo, as they are pretty much guarenteed to cause breakage on me. I do wear the out of style scrunchies though! :p I have extremely slippery hair, and forks and Ficcares are my workhorses.

Oh, and I'm another one whose hair looks horrid short. It's going to be thin and flat - it might as well be long! It actually looks better in a nice updo or Dutch braid than when it was short and all I could do was try and blowfry it into some sort of volume! (didn't work! )

[Yamainu]

Another thinnie checking in! Although my hair's always been at least twice as thick as my mothers, so I haven't been too miserable about it (as a little girl, your mother is seen as the norm, so I thought my hair was quite thick and lovely).

The biggest annoyance I have about it are my fairytale ends that never seem to go away - even with a short, blunt cut, they crop up after just a few months of growth.

The small buns can be sad, but my hair actually looks thick in a braid - I don't know why, but my braids always come out really flat and wide, so that looking strait at them they look thick - it's only when you see them from the side you can see how thin they are.

[girlcat36]

The biggest annoyance I have about it are my fairytale ends that never seem to go away - even with a short, blunt cut, they crop up after just a few months of growth.



Me too!!!
I finally realized that cutting my hair shorter to thicken the ends just does not work. My hair wants to fairytale, no matter how long or short it is.
It took me years to figure this out. Now I just let it grow and do it's thing.

[girlcat36]

I love i hair, because to me it doesn't look "thinning", it looks petite and delicate, almost elven. As long as hair is well taken care of and the owner is not ill/deficient in vitamins, everything should look wonderful imo!

Thank you for this, Katurday!

Other LHCer's have said the same thing and I try to keep it in mind when I am feeling bad about my hair!

[sunshineTX]

OK, I finallly have a picture in my signature so that I can show my very thin ends. :( Keep in mind this is my hair after I slept on it, so it doesn't looks its best, but I think you can get a pretty good idea of how thin my hair is. Baby fine and fly away with lots of grays showing since I stopped using henna last December. I think the thin ends are what kept me from growing it long most of my adult life, so I'm so glad someone mentioned having fairy tale ends no matter how short it is. Actually, with me, I don't have fairy tale ends if I keep in at shoulder length or above, but I'm just not going to do that, so I will just have to have fairy tale ends at BSL (when I get there that is).

[Neecola]

Me too-- super fine and super thin. I have naturally curly hair which can disguise how thin it is. I also suffer from hair "cleavage" (it really is a great term!)

I'd love to grow my hair long (currently it's just past my chin). But everytime I have, I end up cutting it because it doesn't look right to me. When it's long, my hair gets flat, straight and stuck to my head from my scalp until just past my ears and then the curl poofs it out at the ends.
It looks triangular, not unlike this dude:cheese:

Since I've made a commitment to taking better care of my hair (and body), I've really learned to like my hair and it's quirks.

All the hair pics I've seen on this thread are lovely. As Katurday aptly described, it looks delicate and elven. I am inspired by you to maybe try growing it out again...

Great thread~ thinnies unite!

[Delila]

Hi everyone! I'm past classic, headed toward fingertip length, but at this point, I"m not really worried about gaining more length, since I'm still kind of surprised that I've gotten this far. Whee!

After all those decades believing all the stylists who told me I couldn't grow my hair long (and who insisted on cutting in layers all the way to my scalp), I don't quite believe it sometimes.

I do like the fact that I can use a medium Maximas to hold an updo, no problem. Makes 'investing' in Ficcare clips seem a bit less ridiculous since I've continued to get so much use out of them. :)

[Bonkers57]

Sorry, duplicate post

[Bonkers57]

I've never understood the logic of that one, either. There has never never ever been a time where I got a layered cut where I didn't regret it soon afterwards!


All you i/ii ladies (and gents?) - why oh why does everyone tell us to put layers in our thin hair?! Wouldn't that just make it even THINNER?! Someone please explain this to me. When I was in college I let someone put layers in my APL hair, and all of a sudden my ends were so fairytale they were invisible!

Thanks to you, rags and Indigo Girl!

I bolded what y'all said here because that's really inspirational to me. All these years I've kept my hair short, I think at the back of my mind I believed that my hair would look thicker and more luxurious. The catch is I'd have to blow dry and use tons of product every single day (and even then, it wouldn't last all day). So, I'm not going to fight it anymore. If it's going to be thin and flat anyway, might as well be long! :cheese: :D :disco::disco:


Oh, and I'm another one whose hair looks horrid short. It's going to be thin and flat - it might as well be long! It actually looks better in a nice updo or Dutch braid than when it was short and all I could do was try and blowfry it into some sort of volume! (didn't work! )


I'm a thinny too! I don't like how thin my hair is, and so many of my friends/family tell me I should cut it to give it more "body". I've done that, and it makes no difference - I'm a thinny now matter how long or short.

I like the way my hair tickles my wrists, so if it's going to be thin anyways, I'd rather have it thin and long, so I can enjoy it personally. Really, I don't care what others say. ;)

[Delila]

Oh, another thought: My hair has almost nothing in the way of natural body. A certain flatness is just part of its' nature and no amount of styling product can change that, believe me, I tried for decades.

Also, knowing that my hair is wavy has made a huge difference in my attitude towards my hair. I always thought it was just bad hair, always swooping in some odd direction just to be contrary. Blowing it dry removed whatever body my hair has, and made it even more limp and lifeless.

[Fairlight63]

A thinny checking in. My hair is about 2.5 thick but I have been shedding so bad it may not be that now. I also have a "cleavage" that I try to hide by wearing it in a half-up. What are some other ways to cover it up? then I put the bottom part in a bun. Sort of like Janeway bun.
I have always had thin hair. I remember that when I was 12 yrs. old I had long hair (about APL) & I was shedding so bad that I thought that I was going to go bald, so I had it cut short - wish that I had never done that! how silly was that? I wasn't going bald, just a hormonal thing.

[Denebi]

Hi there!

I had about 2.5" circumference, but then I was shedding and now I'm 2" and a little bit. I'm still shedding, but also growing new hair and it keeps the balance. Which means that I'm probably not shrinking any more but also not growing :(

However, I'm not going to cut my hair! I like it, the way it is. Of course, a bit more of this gorgeous hair would be appreciated, but at the moment, I have to cope with what I have. And besides, my maximum circumference seems to be 2.5" which isn't that far away from what I have right now. I never will have iii hair or be near to it. So what?

My boyfriend says: "Never cut this beautiful hair! I love it" :D

Of course I wont cut it! I look ridiculous with short hair! And it costs me so much time, to get short hair looking neat, whereas long hair is put in a nice updo in a few seconds....

I will keep my long hair and even grow it longer, no matter how thin it is! :)

[Starflower]

Okay, I'm stumped. What's hair cleavage???

[littlenvy]

Okay, I'm stumped. What's hair cleavage???
LOL .. its when your hair parts by itself so that you can see your scalp.

[aksown]

Me too!!:waving: I used to be a solid ii but have shed down to an i. I'm pretty curly so you can't really tell I've thinned significantly in my everyday 'do.
I was tempted to get a long layer "to make it look thicker" but since I'm curly it wouldn't look the way I wanted anyway. :rolleyes:
I'm almost at waist and I LOVE my hair! My first goal is classic, but if I can go longer than that then I might just do it.
I say grow, grow, grow and don't let anyone discourage you!!

[christine1989]

My hair is on the border of ii and iii currently but when I first began growing it out it was eaisly an i bob. At that thickness I did like it short just because less fell out but biotin really helped thicken it over about a 7 month period so it is definatly possible to change thickness. Nonetheless, when I see SUPER THICK haired LHCers I am quite envious since my hair still seems thin in comparison.

[maria_asa]

Another thinnie checking in. My pony is just under 2" at the nape and then tapers to nothing. I've always been told that my hair is too thin, especially by my mom, not just to be long but also just in general. (Yeah, my mom is not really the supportive kind :rolleyes:). Most days I just accept the fact that although my hair now is classified as "freakishly long" by many (irl, not here of course) very few know this since my buns are tiny still.


*snip*

The small buns can be sad, but my hair actually looks thick in a braid - I don't know why, but my braids always come out really flat and wide, so that looking strait at them they look thick - it's only when you see them from the side you can see how thin they are.

I wish I knew how you do that with your braids. I've tried and tried but my braids always become very thin and compact.

[Bonkers57]

I know I can count on similar encouragement from my husband. He's wanted me to let mine grow for years and is tickled pink that I'm doing it. Sometimes he's afraid (and rightfully so, considering my past patterns) I'll cut it again, but lately I've been reading a lot here at LHC, not just the forums, but people's pages and blogs. I now have insight I didn't have in the past, so I have a much better chance of sticking with it now.

I love the fuzzy scrunchies in your sig pic, BTW!



Hi there!

I had about 2.5" circumference, but then I was shedding and now I'm 2" and a little bit. I'm still shedding, but also growing new hair and it keeps the balance. Which means that I'm probably not shrinking any more but also not growing :(

However, I'm not going to cut my hair! I like it, the way it is. Of course, a bit more of this gorgeous hair would be appreciated, but at the moment, I have to cope with what I have. And besides, my maximum circumference seems to be 2.5" which isn't that far away from what I have right now. I never will have iii hair or be near to it. So what?

My boyfriend says: "Never cut this beautiful hair! I love it" :D

Of course I wont cut it! I look ridiculous with short hair! And it costs me so much time, to get short hair looking neat, whereas long hair is put in a nice updo in a few seconds....

I will keep my long hair and even grow it longer, no matter how thin it is! :)

[girlcat36]

A 'true' picture of my thinnie-thin hair:

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd63/girlcat36/LHC%20pictures/033.jpg

I tend to take siggy pics when I am wearing a dark top, and this successfully hides how thin my hair is.
But this is the truth in a white shirt! :o

[sunshineTX]

Your curls are gorgeous, girlcat!

[girlcat36]

Thank you, sunshineTX! :) Keep growing! Your hair is similar to mine, but a little less curly.

It's hard to see my hair this thin when most curlies seem to be blessed with an abundance of thick curls. I think it looks like baby hair.
I really love the look of thin, fine straight hair over my thin curls that clump up and divide into about 6 locks.

I am posting this picture even though I don't think it is ideal because the thinnies need to be represented.
It's good to see other thin heads of hair, or else we think that we are the only ones with this hair type. And let's face it----thinnies aren't usually the ones posting tons of hair pics.
I tend to only use pics that show my hair to it's best advantage, but in reality this is what I got.
So I'm 'outing' my thinness, I guess. :D

I am really excited about this thread!

[linnepinne]

Wow! There really seems to be a few of us out there (or IN HERE, to be exact).

Hahaha, and I just love the term "hair cleavage"! I absolutely have that problem. But only on the left side of my head funnily enough.. Might have somesting to do with my outgrowing bangs that I keep side swept at the moment (from left to right). Or maybe it's just that my hair is much thinner on my left side, but is that really normal?

I must thank all of you for all of your great incouragement and hairspiration! You ALL have TRULY LOVELY heads of hair! i and i/ii hair can be gourgeous!:cheer: This gives me new hope for my skinny strands :p

[Delila]

girlcat, I seriously envy your lovely curls! Thanks for sharing.

I think it's a good idea for us to share, because I think most people have unrealistic expectations about what thickness is normal/healthy, and don't understand that for many people, fine and thin hair is totally normal and perfectly healthy.

On the braid thing: Last night when I did my bedtime braid, I paid more attention as I formed the braid, and realized that if I kind of flatten each section as I worked along, with each one more flat, like a blade, than round like a rope, the whole braid seemed a bit wider. I still have taper, but I think the braid looked nicer.

I'd been noticing that the top of my braid seemed lots thicker than the midsection, but I think that some of it had to do with the way I was forming my braid.

[Bonkers57]

I have hair cleavage on the top back left of my head. It's a cowlick that behaves for a little while, but then ends up doing what it wants to.

And I love your curls too, girlcat!


Wow! There really seems to be a few of us out there (or IN HERE, to be exact).

Hahaha, and I just love the term "hair cleavage"! I absolutely have that problem. But only on the left side of my head funnily enough.. Might have somesting to do with my outgrowing bangs that I keep side swept at the moment (from left to right). Or maybe it's just that my hair is much thinner on my left side, but is that really normal?

I must thank all of you for all of your great incouragement and hairspiration! You ALL have TRULY LOVELY heads of hair! i and i/ii hair can be gourgeous!:cheer: This gives me new hope for my skinny strands :p

[rags]

Girlcat your curls are absolutely lovely! I need to take a 'true" pic also. I do the same dark shirt thing!

I have the dreaded "hair cleavage" too. I've found that if I take my hair back and dry it in a claw clip where the cowlick is it doesn't part as badly there. Of course, I can still get it elsewhere on my head! ;p

[pinkbunny]

Or maybe it's just that my hair is much thinner on my left side, but is that really normal?

I've wondered about this! Anyone feel their hair is thinner one one side than the other? When I do two braids, it seems like my left side is *slightly* thinner than the right - even if I have a razor straight part down the middle. I don't think it's noticeable to other people, but it's just enough that I can see it and feel it when I hold them in my hands...

[girlcat36]

Delila, Bonkers, Rags,---thank you!

My hair was much thinner 18 months ago, you can see that the picture on the left is almost half as thin:


http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd63/girlcat36/P1010817-2.jpghttp://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd63/girlcat36/LHC%20pictures/033.jpg

Here is how I wear my hair to work----in an air-filled pulled through pony tail:
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd63/girlcat36/LHC%20pictures/028.jpg
I think it looks like I have a lot more hair.

Today at work I saw a young women that I have waited on quite a bit over the last 6 years. I never thought that she had thin hair, but today her hair was in twin braids. I thought she looked so cute, and then I realized that her braids were about the same thinness as mine. So she's a thinnie, but I never really thought twice about it before. I always thought she was just a cute girl with pretty hair!

[luxepiggy]

The small buns can be sad, but my hair actually looks thick in a braid - I don't know why, but my braids always come out really flat and wide, so that looking strait at them they look thick - it's only when you see them from the side you can see how thin they are.

My braids come out flat & wide too! I'm quite amused by the comments on my French braid picture in my album, because someone actually complimented the thickness of it - not that I'm complaining :D


I've wondered about this! Anyone feel their hair is thinner one one side than the other? When I do two braids, it seems like my left side is *slightly* thinner than the right - even if I have a razor straight part down the middle. I don't think it's noticeable to other people, but it's just enough that I can see it and feel it when I hold them in my hands...

Yup. My left side is thinner also - I have to be careful how I gather up my hair for updos to avoid an awkward empty spot on that side. That's also why my part is ever-so-slightly off center (^(oo)^)v

[CarpeDM]

I'm a thinny with hair cleavage and uncontrollable thick hair envy.

[girlcat36]

I'm a thinny with hair cleavage and uncontrollable thick hair envy.

You need to spend more time with 'thinnies' to balance out all those gorgeous thick hemlines we see here at LHC!

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=60817

[CarpeDM]

You are so right ;)

[dropinthebucket]

Another super-fine and thin. My hair is thinner than my cat's! (I measured!). My circumference was 1.5. Have recently pushed it up to a 1.75 with supplements (silica, biotin, MSM). They've definitely helped with thickness, as well as growth. I know it doesn't sound like a lot more, but I'll take any increase I can get! Yep, I always kept it shoulder length or shorter, too, because I had to mousse and use rollers to get any volume. I was always told I could never grow it long.

I'm just past APL now, the longest it's ever been. I don't think it looks any thinner now that it's longer -- of course, I have made a lot of changes to my hair care since joining LHC, and that's probably made a big difference. Without LHC, I might not have grown it this far!

[dropinthebucket]

I wish I knew how you do that with your braids. I've tried and tried but my braids always become very thin and compact.[/quote]

I've been using a barrette instead of an elastic or tie -- somehow, it flattens the braid out and makes the end look the same thickness as the top, so it doesn't thin out so much. It kind of fans out and flattens the bottom of the braid. How do the rest of you make your braids look thicker?

[above_rubies]

I have not read the whole thread but I went and looked at your pictures, linnepinne and I think your hair is beautiful! It looks a lot like my son's girlfriend's hair. I have always admired it. It is shiny, silken and soft. Keep growing, I believe you will be glad you did. :flower:

[joiekimochi]

I'm a thinny too!

When I part my hart down the centre and bring the two sections forward, I can see that my right side is shorted but thicker, and my left side is longer but thinner! So weird!

[PraiseCheeses]

I belong here too. I have the classic Scandie hair - fine and thin. I've always envied thick hair and the problems that come with it - I want to break plastic clips and get headaches too!

The most annoying thing for me is that my buns, especially at this length, are nonexistent. Trying to enlarge them with a sock bun doesn't work as well as I'd like because my hair won't cover the entire sock. My braids look puny (and elastics fall right out). The only time I have any volume is when I wear it down (naughty naughty!) because my hair isn't naturally straight.

Gradually, I'm starting to come to terms with some of the advantages of fine and thin hair. It dries fast. It's light and silky to the touch. And because it behaves like solid i hair, I imagine I'll be able to do some of the updos sooner.

(Like so I try to console myself, even though I still think a good thick infinity bun would be worth the extra wait... :p)

[Nenwing]

My hair I think leans more towards the thin side than the thick side, and probably behaves more like on the thin side too due to the fine-ness. Last I measured I was 2.5" thick.

Anyone else here have major static issues? Lol, I sure do.

I have pretty much figured I can grow it longer to do neat up-dos! I just don't feel confident with it down as it just gets stringy and static and looks thin so I shall do my best to concentrate on it looking nice up!

[linnepinne]

Wow, thank you above_rubies! Thats the nicest compliment i've ever recieved. You made me blush! :flower:

[Vorvolaka]

My hair looks thicker down than when up. I seem to have lots of individual strands but little over all thickness.

*shrugs*

I'll see how it looks long and then decide what to do with it.

[CarpeDM]

Dropinthebucket - I make my braids look thicker by making them looser and I keep the elastic higher up instead of at the very end, it sort of gives an illusion of thicker hair ;)

[CarpeDM]

That's interesting Vorvolaka, I find when I do half updos I can achieve some pretty amazing thin hair camouflaging. But when it is down, there is nowhere to hide!

[rags]

Mine is super baby fine and thin. I've had it to tailbone before, and it was at BSL right before I chopped it a month ago to get rid of old damage and start again. It never starts looking substantial in updos, even at TB. BUT I can start making some updos at above shoulder (if it's all one length). So that is one advantage. I'm another that it still looks thicker down than up, though, due to the slight wave.

[rags]

Dropinthebucket - I make my braids look thicker by making them looser and I keep the elastic higher up instead of at the very end, it sort of gives an illusion of thicker hair ;)

I wonder if there's a difference in the baby fines and fines here? I can't make a braid loose to save my life! It escapes! Or maybe just slippery/non slippery? But I've never yet met a baby fine who wasn't curly whose hair wasn't very slippery!

[heidihug]

I can't make a braid loose to save my life! It escapes! Or maybe just slippery/non slippery?
I think hair escaping out of braids has much more to do with having lots of hair at different lengths, such as non-grown out layers, than with being fine. Slipperiness does affect it, too, though. My hair is not slippery unless I super-coat it in cones, so I rarely have that problem.

I don't care for the way my fine and thin hair looks down, so I always wear it up, and occasionally braided.

[CarpeDM]

Rags, love your avatar :) I'm sure you are right, I am not a baby fine and I've got combination hair, which makes my hair a unique beast to deal with. I have about 70% fine straight hair coupled with about 30% coarse wavy (what I call wires) hair. It's an odd pairing :confused:

[dropinthebucket]

Funny forum ... it quoted me as saying something another member said! :) Sounded like a good tip, though.

Mine was making the braid look thicker by using a barrette at the end. I haven't used elastics, I'm too paranoid of damage! The barrette I use is just one of those bendy metal clips, no teeth. I find it holds the hair securely enough so the hair doesn't escape - but yeah, if I try to use an elastic further up (away from the poor ends!!!) it just slides back down. I can never get them tight enough, so I just don't use them. ;)

[CarpeDM]

Have you tried the el cheapo cloth type goody elastics (you can find them at Walmart)? They are a little thicker than the skinny ones and they hold really well without damaging your hair. I used to have the same problem with the skinny elastics because my hair is slippery and there isn't much of it so they would just slide off, but when I used the thicker ones, the elastic stays in place. I will have to find a picture and try to post.

[Delila]

Another braid-ender trick that's helped me is to us a cloth baby scrunchie and to use it as a braid ender by looping it around and around the braid end, but spreading it out over some of the length of the braid. The scrunchie itself winds up looking kinda like this when you finish: (XXXXXX)==

[the == at the end is the tail end of the braid sticking out, the scrunchie itself winds up being spread out over about an inch and a half's worth of braid. In my hair if it isn't spread out, the whole thing winds up in some oddly distorted shape, with the tail end of the braid sticking out at the end at a weird angle. Makes for majorly distorted braid waves at the end of my hair.]

[rags]

I think hair escaping out of braids has much more to do with having lots of hair at different lengths, such as non-grown out layers, than with being fine. Slipperiness does affect it, too, though. My hair is not slippery unless I super-coat it in cones, so I rarely have that problem.

.

I don't know - my hair was always one length, never any layers, and it escaped like Houdini!! But it is super duper slippery. The only time I could get a braid to hold for certain was to go an extra day without washing, or to oil it.


Rags, love your avatar :) I'm sure you are right, I am not a baby fine and I've got combination hair, which makes my hair a unique beast to deal with. I have about 70% fine straight hair coupled with about 30% coarse wavy (what I call wires) hair. It's an odd pairing :confused:

That would be odd! I feel your pain though - I have quite a bit silver and it needs different care than the brown hair. It's quite a balancing act! Thank you for the compliment on my avatar! :flower:


Another braid-ender trick that's helped me is to us a cloth baby scrunchie and to use it as a braid ender by looping it around and around the braid end, but spreading it out over some of the length of the braid. The scrunchie itself winds up looking kinda like this when you finish: (XXXXXX)==

[the == at the end is the tail end of the braid sticking out, the scrunchie itself winds up being spread out over about an inch and a half's worth of braid. In my hair if it isn't spread out, the whole thing winds up in some oddly distorted shape, with the tail end of the braid sticking out at the end at a weird angle. Makes for majorly distorted braid waves at the end of my hair.]

I do my braids like this. It's one of the few ways it will hold. I also sometimes used TWO bands on it. (They still slid off the ends occasionally though).

[Miss Misha]

The most annoying thing for me is that my buns, especially at this length, are nonexistent. Trying to enlarge them with a sock bun doesn't work as well as I'd like because my hair won't cover the entire sock.

Thanks, PraiseCheeses, for outing this. I thought I was an complete ijit for not being able to do a sock bun.

As a super fine, my go-to hairstyles are french twists and braids. If I braid without an elastic, I can bun or loop the braid, and because the braid is so long, it creates the illusion of having more hair than I actually do.

[Spike]

Most people won't care if it's a i or a iii if it's silky and shiny, let alone whether it's a ii or a iii. Don't be the least afraid to grow.

True, dat. The braids and buns may be skimpier, but you can get there sooner than someone with thicker locks.

[Delila]

Well, in my world, I see my relatively puny updos as a blessing, since I don't really NEED to buy bigger hairtoys. Splurging on the good stuff when I was still a newbie at all this doesn't seem quite so wasteful now. :)

[OhioLisa]

I am a solid ii at 2.5" circumference, but I suppose chiming in here won't hurt. I had long hair all through my childhood, so I never really knew that fineys got a lot of flack for trying to grow long. People always complimented me on my silky baby-fine hair. I cut my hair as a teen, kept it short for a while (at various lengths) but I am a long-hair at heart, so have been growing for years now. There is no reason fine and/or thin hair cannot be just as beautiful as thick hair. Don't let others discourage your attempts. Given the chance to change my hair, I wouldn't change a thing.

For those having issues with sock buns, by the way, a good tip is to try children's socks. They are thinner when rolled, yet give you a bit more volume. ;)

[rena]

Let me tell you something...Though I don't have particularly thick or thin hair, many days I would much rather prefer thinner hair because I think it would look better on me, and that I would fair better with it. I spent my whole life feeling jealous of my mum's wonderfully soft, silky, thin tresses, and how utterly beautiful they looked down, especially when long.

So go ahead and grow that hair girl! Don't ever feel discouraged ;) I bet it will look sooo nice :)

[dropinthebucket]

Thanks, PraiseCheeses, for outing this. I thought I was an complete ijit for not being able to do a sock bun.

As a super fine, my go-to hairstyles are french twists and braids. If I braid without an elastic, I can bun or loop the braid, and because the braid is so long, it creates the illusion of having more hair than I actually do.

LOL, me too! My first try at a sock bun was pathetically laughable, I used a red sock (silly me) and my hair only covered, as spread out as I could possibly make it without showing sock, maybe a third of the sock at most. :( And when I tried to take it out, oh, the tangles! :eek:

[LaurelSpring]

Me too!!!
I finally realized that cutting my hair shorter to thicken the ends just does not work. My hair wants to fairytale, no matter how long or short it is.
It took me years to figure this out. Now I just let it grow and do it's thing.

I'm glad to see this post because I was just wondering about this myself. I keep telling myself that Im growing out old layers and I have been steadily dusting every 3 months. I am still fairytaling like crazy. The last time I dusted it didnt last hardly any time at all. I came to the same conclusion that it just is going to do that.

I love to get encouragement from the pics here that have similar hair to mine. I absolutely love Cinnamonhair also. Whenever I need encouragement I go there.

I have bumped up some thickness with henna, no cones and braid waves or uisng Spidermoms method of setting on sponge rollers before bed. My buns are tiny also. Sometimes I cheat and add in some fake hair to plump out my updos.

[Babyfine]

I belong here too. I have the classic Scandie hair - fine and thin. I've always envied thick hair and the problems that come with it - I want to break plastic clips and get headaches too!

The most annoying thing for me is that my buns, especially at this length, are nonexistent. Trying to enlarge them with a sock bun doesn't work as well as I'd like because my hair won't cover the entire sock. My braids look puny (and elastics fall right out). The only time I have any volume is when I wear it down (naughty naughty!) because my hair isn't naturally straight.

Gradually, I'm starting to come to terms with some of the advantages of fine and thin hair. It dries fast. It's light and silky to the touch. And because it behaves like solid i hair, I imagine I'll be able to do some of the updos sooner.

(Like so I try to console myself, even though I still think a good thick infinity bun would be worth the extra wait... :p)

I have a small bun rat that is dark brown and my hair doesn't cover all of it, either, and I'm below BSL! But because it's so close to the color of my hair it's not noticable so I still wear it. I'm going to try the children's sock idea. My buns, and braids compress down to nothing-my waves are the only thing that make my hair look like it's got any volume. Also, for some reason, my hair looks better in photo's-maybe the 2 dimensional aspect of the photo's flatten it out and make it look-wider?

[GlennaGirl]

2" exactly here. :) I used to be 2.5". I'm not sure what happened over the past couple of years, but I have a feeling it has to do with my thyroid (I'm medicated for this now) in combination with having a few layers.

Even unlayered, though, as I said, I was never able to achieve more than 2.5", and that was kinda-sorta loosely measured around the pony.

[GlennaGirl]

All you i/ii ladies (and gents?) - why oh why does everyone tell us to put layers in our thin hair?! Wouldn't that just make it even THINNER?! Someone please explain this to me. When I was in college I let someone put layers in my APL hair, and all of a sudden my ends were so fairytale they were invisible!

Well, to tell you the truth, I've discovered something, which I'll relay here.

When I'm layered in the "current" style (well, this can take various forms, but you know what I mean), my hair really does disappear. I have NO volume on the ends. None. It feels like there's a cobweb hanging down from the back of my head -- when it feels like anything is there at all. That's with the *standard* either razoring or scissoring method where the hairdresser takes a swatch of hair and begins razoring or not-quite-cutting-through all the way down the length, so that the swatch of hair is getting thinner and thinner on the way down until finally it comes to a point -- does everyone get that visual? And then the hairdresser just keeps taking more pieces of hair, farther and farther back, until what you have is those graduating lengths all around your head, and it gives sort of a "top-heavy" hair look...more or less. Which is trendy and which I really wish I *could* do with my hair -- I think it's adorable. But I digress....

So...with THAT cut, which looks adorable, I must say, on thickies, I end up feeling like it's three months post-nuclear apocalypse and this is all I'm left with on my head, or something.

But with *very light* layering, I get the look of much more hair. The way I do it is: I have longish bangs, NOT too thick at all, graduating downward (my best length for these is a starting height of the top of my cheekbones and an ending height of about mid to lower jaw). And then I have just a few random VERY THIN (meaning maybe 1/4" each) strands at the *top* of my hair going around the sides and to the back. I cut perhaps six or eight of these, making them more or less match on either side.

They blend in to almost not be noticed, except for the occasional stickie-outie bit which looks trendy, sort of ( :p or I pretend it does), but I can put an eensy bit of alcohol-free mousse in my palms and squoosh it up a bit and it just looks like I have SO MUCH MORE HAIR.

I mean it's really amazing. When I grow all this out and don't have it at all, and *all* my hair is the same length (I've done this several times), despite actually having more hairs total at their full length it all just squishes together into the same circumference ponytail anyway, more or less. That's just the quality of my hair...the way it lies. I mean, look at my avatar at the left. The way you can see my shirt all throughout the bottom of my hair is exactly the same when I have all my hair at that same length, and when I have my light layering. It does not appear any thicker when I'm layer-less. Basically, it appears identical.

Actually, for a comparison, my avatar was all-one-length hair, and my current siggie is recent and with my layering technique (but a bit shorter at the hemline, obviously). Look how much "fatter" the top of my head looks from the ears on up. :p (My hair fans out less simply because I have my arms up so it all fell together at the center.)

But with *less* hair because I've cut these very very light layers, it *looks* like more hair.

I think where some well-meaning friends or family members go wrong is that they figure a bunch of layering must make things even better for thinnies -- the more the better -- because on *their own* thicker hair (I think this is also true of thinner but coarse hair), it does look thicker yet with the top so much shorter than the bottom. Not so for us thinnies.

But personally, I love having just these few floaty pieces that create the illusion that I don't just have my hair painted on or plastered to my forehead. :D

[anemix1005]

What you said is interesting, I have really thick hair and my family always told me the same, that I should have short hair (as my mother) and I had a cut when I was 14 because of that. Now that I'm growing my hair and not thinning it, my mother keeps telling me that I can't have hair like this because it's too much and looks awful. So I'm really confused now xD hahahah I think it depends on the people around you.

[girlcat36]

I had my hair in a plain English braid at work today, and my coworker, who has stunning super-thick 3b curls, asked if I did my own hair style.
I told her yes, and she said it looked really nice but that she couldn't do that to her hair.
She told me her hair was so thick that she couldn't braid it by herself!!!
So sometimes having less hair is easier styling....less hair products...less hot in the summer....
Have to keep looking on the bright side!:)