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View Full Version : Is it time for a change?



tigereye
September 10th, 2011, 05:12 PM
First a little history: Ok. So I have had long hair all my life, always hovering somewhere between mid-back and hip as far back as I can remember. My hair is, and always has been totally virgin, with the exception of a couple of now faded henna glosses. I have never blow-dried my own hair, and only used straighteners and curlers a couple of times. I have always washed my hair only once a week, and normally trim between once and twice a year. It is ultra-healthy, with the exception of a dry scalp and dry ends if I dont DT reasonably often. My hair is naturally straight, but flicks at the ends, and has a couple of inches of waves after a real deep SMT or henna gloss. (prob from the extra moisture)

Now, although I have always thought of myself as a long-hair-forever type person, I now want a change. I have always been the same, but I think I would like a change. I want a chop, layers and a little dye job. By the chop, I mean maybe going to about midback length. No more. Not completely sure about this, so dm giving it time to think about it. I'm worried I'll miss the length
As for the layers, I have wondered for a while now about them, and many other people I trust have said they would look good. But I am too scared. Having grown out a fringe before, i am worried about not liking the layers and having to grow them back out, but thick (4 1/2" ponytail circumference), blunt, one length hair does nothing for my face, and I miss my eyes being noticed more so than my hair.
As for the little dye job, I want some reddish highlights on top of my natural hair. I have thought really long and hard, and have even considered henna, but I don't want to cover the majority of my natural hair, and henna is just too messy for thin highlights. But I'm worried about damage.

I am also worried with a chop or layers about not being able to do dome styles I like, but then, I could probably also do dome hairstyles I cannot do now.

I also have some YouTube long hair stuff going on at the mo and I don't know what will happen to that.

Basically, ive been stuck in a rut, and I'm too worried about doing my own thing (story of my life). Anything I get done will be getting done by my very trustworthy regular stylist.

So. Anyone willing to talk me either into, or out of, this, or any part of this? Need some opinions.

Madora
September 10th, 2011, 05:16 PM
If at all possible, avoid layers. Chop if you'll be happy with the results, but layers take forever to even up again.

Foxy_Booker
September 10th, 2011, 05:35 PM
Its a good thought. I mean layers can look extrememly flattering for some people and you have plenty of hair to spare so I wouldn't worry about it! And staying pretty long is definately a good idea so you don't go into shock.
About the highlights, if your getting red then its such a small amount of your hair thats actually being coloured that the damage will be almost non existant. Its when your getting into the bleach where damage really happens. I used to dye my hair with chemical dye all over and never saw any damage from it except for when I used bleach(for obvious reasons) so I would really go and have fun with it.

A caution with adding layers, depending on what kind of long haired "style" you are looking for, adding layers may not get you the desired look alone. A lot of times for many styles you need to use the blow dryer and product to make the layers actually look a certain style, depending on what you want and I'm not sure whether you are ready for heat styling more often. Some layers look good on their own though, depending on hair type and everything else. If you braid your hair a lot though you may be disappointed if it tapers badly.

The best person you can talk to is your stylist though because they know your hair best and you can figure it out but don't feel pressured to chop. I think everyone here knows how devastating a big chop is if you end up not liking it.

But if you dont like it then you can always grow it out and it will give you a goal to work towards.

I know my answer was kind of all over the place.. but I hope it helped but overall, I think you should do it, or at least trying something different.

wooliswonderful
September 10th, 2011, 05:40 PM
If at all possible, avoid layers. Chop if you'll be happy with the results, but layers take forever to even up again.
I agree. I wanted a change last spring and had layers put in. I failed to realize at the time that with layers braids & updos wouldn't work as well. I'm growing out my layers now & it will be a year before my shortest layer will be long enough for me to consider an even chop.

Rocket22
September 10th, 2011, 05:49 PM
I think change is good!!! I wouldn't want to be committed to one style my whole life. I say go for it and if you don't love it grow it back out. How will you ever know what you love if you don't try. I am not a fan of layers with thin hair but you have lots of hair and I love layers on thick hair I think it makes the hair move so pretty.

spidermom
September 10th, 2011, 06:07 PM
If you want a change, go for it. People often regret things they didn't do even more than they regret the things they did do.

Maybe start with long layers, the longest about waist length, then if you don't like the layers, you will be at mid-back to even them up.

Or get just a bit of face framing fringe but don't layer everything.

There are many options, and although I'm happy with my extra-long hair now, I've done it all - bleached, dyed, hennaed, short, long, in-between, layers, no layers. No big deal; if you don't like something - grow it out. Yes, it takes awhile, but life goes on.

julierockhead
September 10th, 2011, 06:47 PM
Try layers! New can be good.

Maybe with layers, getting possibly damaging highlights might be a bit much, causing a look you want to cut off...and you end up cutting more and more...it's a slippery slope.

Do you think your stylist could figure out a way to use the usual highlighting technique , but with a henna mix that your brought in? You would have to go home with a BIG hat on your head though. :D

luxepiggy
September 10th, 2011, 07:11 PM
Regarding the highlights - what's your natural colour? Perhaps you can experiment with a temporary deposit-only dye to see how the highlights would look before committing to a more permanent change.

Also, I would suggest looking into "slices" instead of highlights - it gives a very similar look but requires processing much less hair overall and is a bit more fashion-forward (^(oo)^)v

jaine
September 10th, 2011, 08:08 PM
Maybe start with long layers, the longest about waist length, then if you don't like the layers, you will be at mid-back to even them up.


I was about to suggest this too! It is quite logical...

McFearless
September 10th, 2011, 08:19 PM
I was about to suggest this too! It is quite logical...

I was thinking the same thing.

If you want a new cut, layers and colour it might be best to do it one at a time. First the layers, if they don't work then cut to midback. For colour, if you want red highlights what about a henna gloss diluted with cassia? You'd get a very subtle red glow with no damage.

clarinette
September 11th, 2011, 01:55 AM
I wouldn't want to talk you into or out of anything! it's your head :p what i can maybe suggest is taking the time to picture the cut and style you want, put yourself in front of the mirror and visualize it, arrange your hair and hold it up to see what you will look like with your new style, imagine living with it and pay attention to your feelings about it. Do you feel excited? scared? unsure or are you in danger of grabbing the scissors yourself if your appointment with the stylist is not made yet?
Another thing about your long hair things (videos i assume) : you don't owe anyone anything! Do what makes you feel good, don't live your life for other's pleasure. Please yourself first once in a while, noone else is asking YOUR approval about what they do to their hair are they? (maybe they are but.....) you need to try pleasing yourself before you please others.
ETA: Luxepiggy, i just tried doing those "slices" with henna and indigo, i put the mx on top of my head, at the tips, and the under part. left the middle of the lenght dry (it was hendigoed (lightly) before) and clipped the tips to the top of my head. Result is hardly noticeable but i can see it :p im sure a secon application will show stronger contrast. I recommend it, it's actually very pretty!

AJoifulNoise
September 11th, 2011, 02:08 AM
Speaking as someone who went from almost tailbone to 1/4", I'd say if it is something you've given considerable thought and you really want to try it then go for it! Is there a chance you will regret it? Sure. But, trying new things is the spice of life. Your hair will grow back in time if that is what you wish.

tigereye
September 11th, 2011, 09:17 AM
Its a good thought. I mean layers can look extrememly flattering for some people and you have plenty of hair to spare so I wouldn't worry about it! And staying pretty long is definately a good idea so you don't go into shock.
About the highlights, if your getting red then its such a small amount of your hair thats actually being coloured that the damage will be almost non existant. Its when your getting into the bleach where damage really happens. I used to dye my hair with chemical dye all over and never saw any damage from it except for when I used bleach(for obvious reasons) so I would really go and have fun with it.

A caution with adding layers, depending on what kind of long haired "style" you are looking for, adding layers may not get you the desired look alone. A lot of times for many styles you need to use the blow dryer and product to make the layers actually look a certain style, depending on what you want and I'm not sure whether you are ready for heat styling more often. Some layers look good on their own though, depending on hair type and everything else. If you braid your hair a lot though you may be disappointed if it tapers badly.

The best person you can talk to is your stylist though because they know your hair best and you can figure it out but don't feel pressured to chop. I think everyone here knows how devastating a big chop is if you end up not liking it.

But if you dont like it then you can always grow it out and it will give you a goal to work towards.

I know my answer was kind of all over the place.. but I hope it helped but overall, I think you should do it, or at least trying something different. yes very helpful. I do braid my hair, but more of the time the braids get bunned, and currently some of my buns can end up rather too massive. I don't think my hair would take much heat styling due to it's natural straightness, but then, maybe it will change when sections are shorter. I won't know unless I try.


I agree. I wanted a change last spring and had layers put in. I failed to realize at the time that with layers braids & updos wouldn't work as well. I'm growing out my layers now & it will be a year before my shortest layer will be long enough for me to consider an even chop. I realise that layers will make buns and braids more difficult, but I still seem to want them in. I can wait a year or two if it doesn't go well, and I'm fine with that.


I think change is good!!! I wouldn't want to be committed to one style my whole life. I say go for it and if you don't love it grow it back out. How will you ever know what you love if you don't try. I am not a fan of layers with thin hair but you have lots of hair and I love layers on thick hair I think it makes the hair move so pretty. thank you. I definitely think it's time to change, and with going off to uni, I feel it's a good time for a new start.


If you want a change, go for it. People often regret things they didn't do even more than they regret the things they did do.

Maybe start with long layers, the longest about waist length, then if you don't like the layers, you will be at mid-back to even them up.

Or get just a bit of face framing fringe but don't layer everything.

There are many options, and although I'm happy with my extra-long hair now, I've done it all - bleached, dyed, hennaed, short, long, in-between, layers, no layers. No big deal; if you don't like something - grow it out. Yes, it takes awhile, but life goes on.that's a very good point actually. I feel if I don't get it done, then it will keep nibbling away at me, wondering if I would have liked it better.


Try layers! New can be good.

Maybe with layers, getting possibly damaging highlights might be a bit much, causing a look you want to cut off...and you end up cutting more and more...it's a slippery slope.

Do you think your stylist could figure out a way to use the usual highlighting technique , but with a henna mix that your brought in? You would have to go home with a BIG hat on your head though. :D believe me I would love to, but henna is one of the few things I haven't yet educated my stylist on. She's real nice and all, but still has the opinion that henna is evil. I'll maybe ask anyway. Henna gives me a nie colour, but it still looks more orange on me than the natural reddishness I have in my hair. I like the reds, and it might take a couple of applications to head the colour more towards a red and less of a dark coppery brown


I wouldn't want to talk you into or out of anything! it's your head :p what i can maybe suggest is taking the time to picture the cut and style you want, put yourself in front of the mirror and visualize it, arrange your hair and hold it up to see what you will look like with your new style, imagine living with it and pay attention to your feelings about it. Do you feel excited? scared? unsure or are you in danger of grabbing the scissors yourself if your appointment with the stylist is not made yet?
Another thing about your long hair things (videos i assume) : you don't owe anyone anything! Do what makes you feel good, don't live your life for other's pleasure. Please yourself first once in a while, noone else is asking YOUR approval about what they do to their hair are they? (maybe they are but.....) you need to try pleasing yourself before you please others.
ETA: Luxepiggy, i just tried doing those "slices" with henna and indigo, i put the mx on top of my head, at the tips, and the under part. left the middle of the lenght dry (it was hendigoed (lightly) before) and clipped the tips to the top of my head. Result is hardly noticeable but i can see it :p im sure a secon application will show stronger contrast. I recommend it, it's actually very pretty! I spend far too much time looking after others, (real bad force of habit) and as one of my very good friends pointed out, I'm moving out into the world, and it's time to find myself and do things I want to instead of holding back all the time. (we had a good long chat last night. She likes the layers and highlights idea too) These "slices" sound interesting. I'm having trouble understanding what you and luxepiggy mean though. Do you have any pictures to show what you mean? Am I right in that I think it is real thin sections of hair, but quite long vertically? Is it easy enough to do yourself? Do you do it just on say the top section, or all through? And how do you put it on just the hair you want? This could be my answer to damage free highlights. It might take a couple of applications, but I could build up to a colour I love.

My natural colour is a mid-dark brown, with some lighter strands, some darker, and some red-brown, but all mixed up together, so different lights make it look different, eg. It looks redder in the sun. I like my natural colour, which is why I don't want to go for glosses, or full hennas, but I want thin highlights in red, so slicing may be the answer if I can figure it out myself.

clarinette
September 11th, 2011, 11:07 AM
http://tvlineshow.com/2011/08/the-secret-life-of-the-american-teenager-season-4-episode-9-flip-flop/
that girl has some....it's normally really subtle but on this picture you can see it quite clearly.

Charybdis
September 11th, 2011, 11:22 AM
My natural colour is a mid-dark brown, with some lighter strands, some darker, and some red-brown, but all mixed up together, so different lights make it look different, eg. It looks redder in the sun. I like my natural colour, which is why I don't want to go for glosses, or full hennas, but I want thin highlights in red, so slicing may be the answer if I can figure it out myself.

One good thing about highlights is that they are much easier to grow out than a whole-head application of dye, because you don't end up with a clearly demarcated root line. I'm growing out red highlights now after 3 or 4 highlighting treatments over the past year or so, but the red has faded entirely after about 6 months and now they look more like blonde highlights.

A word of caution, though: if your highlights involve bleaching the hair slightly (mine did, since my natural color is dark), repeated highlighting treatments may leave you a bit more susceptible to split ends. I don't get splits on untreated hair, but I've had to S&D a few in the layers around my face recently, and my hair is only shoulder-length. Split ends are more of an issue the longer your hair is, so I'd just suggest taking into account whether you're prone to splits in general before you decide to do anything that lightens your hair. If your hair is light enough to get red highlights from a deposit-only dye or a semi-permanent dye with no bleach, it might be an idea to try those first and see what you think.

tigereye
September 11th, 2011, 12:29 PM
One good thing about highlights is that they are much easier to grow out than a whole-head application of dye, because you don't end up with a clearly demarcated root line. I'm growing out red highlights now after 3 or 4 highlighting treatments over the past year or so, but the red has faded entirely after about 6 months and now they look more like blonde highlights.

A word of caution, though: if your highlights involve bleaching the hair slightly (mine did, since my natural color is dark), repeated highlighting treatments may leave you a bit more susceptible to split ends. I don't get splits on untreated hair, but I've had to S&D a few in the layers around my face recently, and my hair is only shoulder-length. Split ends are more of an issue the longer your hair is, so I'd just suggest taking into account whether you're prone to splits in general before you decide to do anything that lightens your hair. If your hair is light enough to get red highlights from a deposit-only dye or a semi-permanent dye with no bleach, it might be an idea to try those first and see what you think. I don't want to use bleach at all. I'd rather not have highlights than have to bleach.
As for splits, the top is fine, the bottom is good enough to last 6 months to a year without trims, but I have a section, now about APL/BSL, that I'm battling splits in thanks to a while of ignorance before discovering metal-free hair elastics, and always ponytailing in the same place. It's growing down now that I know better, but I'm still battling the damaged section.
My hair sucks up dye like nothing else though, a temporary, one wash out dye, took about 3 months to fade from my hair, and even a 30 min henna gloss showed quite a difference in colour, and yet, my hair is still somewhat dark. Like I said, it would take a few applications to get a dark enough red for me to love, and as henna pretty much only either keeps it the same level of darkness, or makes it darker, so finding a deposit only red to show up shouldn't be as much of a problem.

ravenreed
September 11th, 2011, 01:18 PM
I have layers and I agree about the braids being more tricky but my updos are fine. I occasionally get a bit of hair that refuses to cooperate with all the others but over all, I don't see a big problem with them. When my hair was shorter, my layers stuck out all over the place.

BeccaAngel
September 11th, 2011, 01:31 PM
DO IT! Do it all! Take that big step to something different! Would be great! and it could boost your confidence... kind of like giving yourself a make over. And it would be fun!

yukinohana
September 11th, 2011, 02:37 PM
If you feel like you should do it, then do it! I, at least, vastly prefer trying something and finding that it's not for me to never trying. As for what I did, with an almost identical hair history? I cut my hair into long layers in January, and absolutely loved it. Then I temporarily dyed my hair Crayola-crayon red....I'm still loving both :)

tigereye
September 11th, 2011, 03:34 PM
I wouldn't want to talk you into or out of anything! it's your head :p what i can maybe suggest is taking the time to picture the cut and style you want, put yourself in front of the mirror and visualize it, arrange your hair and hold it up to see what you will look like with your new style, imagine living with it and pay attention to your feelings about it. Do you feel excited? scared? unsure or are you in danger of grabbing the scissors yourself if your appointment with the stylist is not made yet?

Erm.. I just tried this. I hid the hair I want to cut off away so that in the mirror, I only saw the length I wanted. Me LIKE. And, visualising layers, I love it. Like "in danger of grabbing the scissors yourself because the appointment with the stylist is not made yet" kind of love it.:D
Erm. Problem being, I just checked and the whole salon is booked full for ages, and, with heading away to uni, I'm not going to be around so often. So seriously in danger of grabbing the scissors myself.
I might just cut the length myself, and stick my name on my stylists next available appointment for the layers.:p Because I don't want to mess them up.

jojo
September 12th, 2011, 12:45 PM
Id go for the layers but as a few others have said no shorter than waist length ones, however with your hair being pin straight they may just hang there. Like ive had layers in the past but my hair is wavy so they create body and curl for me, i don't know if this will be the deal with you. How about low lights just streaks of colous through the hair, this would give depth and also be interesting near the layers.

tigereye
September 12th, 2011, 01:01 PM
Id go for the layers but as a few others have said no shorter than waist length ones, however with your hair being pin straight they may just hang there. Like ive had layers in the past but my hair is wavy so they create body and curl for me, i don't know if this will be the deal with you. How about low lights just streaks of colous through the hair, this would give depth and also be interesting near the layers.

I guess what I'm wanting could be considered lowlights, because there is no lightening involved, just red colour.

invisiblebabe
September 12th, 2011, 01:13 PM
Sounds like you really want to try the cut and color, so I say go for it!

I should tell you though that red hair dye (not henna, but salon dye or box dye) fades very quickly. So, don't expect it to last for a long time without needing it redone.