MissManda
June 21st, 2011, 08:31 PM
Hi there!
After ten months' worth of self-trimming to even up my hemline and get rid of my old layers/bangs meant for a SL-APL haircut, my journey to better ends is finally coming to a close!
When my hair had managed to survive long enough to reach waist length around the beginning of last summer, I decided that it was time to start getting rid of the icky layers (not that the layers themselves were bad, they were just very damaged), thinning, and chemical damage. My ends were unmeasurably thin, made my braid taper horribly, and made my hair look thinner than it actually is. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with fairytale ends because I think they look beautiful, but they do not suit my hair type. I was just feeling very depressed that my hair was not at its full potential, is all.
This (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=3936&pictureid=73198) was taken last May. I don't have a lot of really good pictures that show how my ends fairytaled into nothing, but you can see them fade out near the end. The longest part of my hair actually reached the middle of my blouse's waistband (near the bottom of the photo just above my elbow), but they were so thin that even my DF's really nice camera couldn't show them. You can also see the grown out layering pretty well, too.
You can't even see my spaghetti ends in this photo (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=3936&pictureid=74402). :(
By the time August 2010 came around, my hair was about halfway to hip length or so, but the dry weather was taking its toll on my already damaged hair and it was just plain nasty. I got fed up with how awful my ends looked and bought my first pair of hair scissors. After lots of procrastinating and mustering up a lot of courage, I followed Feye's self-trim instructions for the soft U-shaped hemline. I trimmed off as much of the fairytale ends as I could all the way back to waist length.
Here are the results (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=3936&pictureid=80993) of my very first self-trim. Sorry for the bad quality; my cell phone is horrible with detail. You can kinda see that I still have quite a few shorter layers left, though.
I was so amazed that I had actually trimmed my hair by myself! It was a very empowering experience that encouraged me to keep trimming to reach my goal. There were times when I got very frustrated with my layers and did a couple of big 1.5-2" trims (one in February and another in April/May) between smaller 0.25-0.5" microtrims, but even though I could have been at hip length by now, getting my ends to thicken was totally worth the sacrifices.
My hair has been yo-yoing between waist and almost hip length (the longest it got was about 29.5-30") for about a year now and I thought it was high-time for a visual. I can measure and look in the mirror all I like, but it's useful to have some photographic evidence. ;)
Are you ready?
I now present to you my hemline as of yesterday! I trimmed from ~28" to ~27.75". A good amount of the layers and thinning are gone and I won't need many more trims before they're gone entirely. When I put an elastic at ~2" from the very ends of my hair and measure, I get 2.6"/2 5/8" measured snugly.
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=3936&pictureid=105880
And no, my hemline isn't actually that uneven IRL. I wear my hair parted on my left, so I have more hair on the right side. I've already gone back and evened out the stray hairs, so they aren't there anymore, either.
I can't get any full-length shots as of right now, unfortunately, but I promise I will have some by the time my LHC Anniversary comes around in August. :D
Now it is time for braid comparison pictures! I have this obsession to one day have a Tailbone-length braid that has no taper so I take way more progress shots of braids than I do length.
Here is my braid from July 2010 before I started self-trimming. Again, sorry about the blurriness. :o Stupid cell phone camera...
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=3936&pictureid=78656
And here is my braid as of June 2011 (yesterday).
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=3936&pictureid=105895
Keep in mind that my hair is the approximately the same length, no more than an inch's difference in length when loose.
Now that my hair seems to be in a much happier state, I'm going to reduce my trim frequency to every other month or more. Even though I still have some layering left, I think that I am satisfied with my hemline's thickness and want to actually gain some length sometime this year!
This photo shows how far my hair is from Hip, AKA the very bottom of my shirt. How much further do I have to grow to get there, do you all think?
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=3936&pictureid=105879
So as you can see, my patience and to some extent my lack thereof, has really paid off. :D I think I'm going to get my DF to take some nice new length photos when I reach Hip length, which will be pretty soon because I'm lucky enough to have the growth rate of a weed. I couldn't be more satisfied with my hair right now!
Just thought I'd share. ^_^
After ten months' worth of self-trimming to even up my hemline and get rid of my old layers/bangs meant for a SL-APL haircut, my journey to better ends is finally coming to a close!
When my hair had managed to survive long enough to reach waist length around the beginning of last summer, I decided that it was time to start getting rid of the icky layers (not that the layers themselves were bad, they were just very damaged), thinning, and chemical damage. My ends were unmeasurably thin, made my braid taper horribly, and made my hair look thinner than it actually is. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with fairytale ends because I think they look beautiful, but they do not suit my hair type. I was just feeling very depressed that my hair was not at its full potential, is all.
This (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=3936&pictureid=73198) was taken last May. I don't have a lot of really good pictures that show how my ends fairytaled into nothing, but you can see them fade out near the end. The longest part of my hair actually reached the middle of my blouse's waistband (near the bottom of the photo just above my elbow), but they were so thin that even my DF's really nice camera couldn't show them. You can also see the grown out layering pretty well, too.
You can't even see my spaghetti ends in this photo (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=3936&pictureid=74402). :(
By the time August 2010 came around, my hair was about halfway to hip length or so, but the dry weather was taking its toll on my already damaged hair and it was just plain nasty. I got fed up with how awful my ends looked and bought my first pair of hair scissors. After lots of procrastinating and mustering up a lot of courage, I followed Feye's self-trim instructions for the soft U-shaped hemline. I trimmed off as much of the fairytale ends as I could all the way back to waist length.
Here are the results (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=3936&pictureid=80993) of my very first self-trim. Sorry for the bad quality; my cell phone is horrible with detail. You can kinda see that I still have quite a few shorter layers left, though.
I was so amazed that I had actually trimmed my hair by myself! It was a very empowering experience that encouraged me to keep trimming to reach my goal. There were times when I got very frustrated with my layers and did a couple of big 1.5-2" trims (one in February and another in April/May) between smaller 0.25-0.5" microtrims, but even though I could have been at hip length by now, getting my ends to thicken was totally worth the sacrifices.
My hair has been yo-yoing between waist and almost hip length (the longest it got was about 29.5-30") for about a year now and I thought it was high-time for a visual. I can measure and look in the mirror all I like, but it's useful to have some photographic evidence. ;)
Are you ready?
I now present to you my hemline as of yesterday! I trimmed from ~28" to ~27.75". A good amount of the layers and thinning are gone and I won't need many more trims before they're gone entirely. When I put an elastic at ~2" from the very ends of my hair and measure, I get 2.6"/2 5/8" measured snugly.
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=3936&pictureid=105880
And no, my hemline isn't actually that uneven IRL. I wear my hair parted on my left, so I have more hair on the right side. I've already gone back and evened out the stray hairs, so they aren't there anymore, either.
I can't get any full-length shots as of right now, unfortunately, but I promise I will have some by the time my LHC Anniversary comes around in August. :D
Now it is time for braid comparison pictures! I have this obsession to one day have a Tailbone-length braid that has no taper so I take way more progress shots of braids than I do length.
Here is my braid from July 2010 before I started self-trimming. Again, sorry about the blurriness. :o Stupid cell phone camera...
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=3936&pictureid=78656
And here is my braid as of June 2011 (yesterday).
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=3936&pictureid=105895
Keep in mind that my hair is the approximately the same length, no more than an inch's difference in length when loose.
Now that my hair seems to be in a much happier state, I'm going to reduce my trim frequency to every other month or more. Even though I still have some layering left, I think that I am satisfied with my hemline's thickness and want to actually gain some length sometime this year!
This photo shows how far my hair is from Hip, AKA the very bottom of my shirt. How much further do I have to grow to get there, do you all think?
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=3936&pictureid=105879
So as you can see, my patience and to some extent my lack thereof, has really paid off. :D I think I'm going to get my DF to take some nice new length photos when I reach Hip length, which will be pretty soon because I'm lucky enough to have the growth rate of a weed. I couldn't be more satisfied with my hair right now!
Just thought I'd share. ^_^