Problematic hair thread

[Katze]

Dear LHCers, are you like me with hair that, no matter what you do, will not behave, grow long, look healthy, or generally act like LHC hair is 'supposed to'?

Then join me!

I think - and it is no fault of those blessed with good hair genes - many times people come here and think, 'if I just treat my hair nicely, stop doing x, y and z to it, it will end up looking like other LHCers hair' (that is, long, thick, and healthy). But what about those of us who just can't get hair like that?

I have been on LHC for over five years. At first, the better care (leave-ins, SMTs, CO and WO washing) made my hair shinier and wavier, and my scalp in better shape than it has ever been in my life. That's the good news.

But it has not grown long. I first was trimming a layered 'shag cut' and bleach, then just trying to even up my thin ends. After my daughter was born, and I lost over half my hair, I trimmed the thin ends again, going back to shoulder this past fall. Now my hair is at APL again - quick growth, the ends are still reasonably thick for my hair, though never as thick as the roots, and it is generally in good condition.

Having mixed hair types and textures on one head seems to be my biggest problem - my canopy hair grows, but underneath it is a stubborn coarser and curlier layer that grows either much more slowly or not at all (it is at shoulder now, the longest it's ever been). My hair frizzes and has lots of baby hairs, and looks radically different from day to day. I was talking to my sister - one of the 'blessed' - and realized that this 'mixed' hair is the biggest hurdle I have to long and pretty hair.

The other problem is natural taper. I have very thick hair at my roots - it is the thickest and healthiest it has ever been - but it quickly disappears to 'nothing.' Braids worn down are an embarassment, though they are better since I cut in November.

I realize that I could spend *even more* time trying to order rare oils and products from the internet, experimenting with herbs and such even more, or subject myself to hairdos that make me unhappy or satin pillowcases that don't match my sheets. I understand that for many LHCers this might be 'normal' - spending more time on my hair than on my daughter, or on my exercise regimen, or on my paid job - but it just would not work given my lifestyle. I really don't have the time or desire to spend even more energy on my hair than I do!

So - a question for you other 'non-blessed' people - do you think if you managed to do 'more' than you are doing your hair would be 'fixed'? Or have you tried 'everything'?

What do you think keeps your hair from looking like the hair idols here? Genes, as in my case? Or something else?

Stand up and be counted! :D

[Laylah]

I used to have the same problem as you, with the multiple textured hair. I know my profile thingy on the left says I have 2c hair, but the bottom part, around the nape of my neck and behind my ears is more like 3b. It's tight spiral curls about an inch apart. It tends to very dry and easy to snap and from years of abuse it's about 2 or 3 inches shorter than the rest of hair, although it's catching up. How I solved the problem is very simple. When I comb my hair, but separate them by pulling the curly part to the front and leaving the wavy part behind my back. I'm not that interested in keeping the curls defined since they are always covered by my other hair, so I comb it. I always put more oil on this part and comb it separately. The key is not mixing the hair types when combing because you tend to go faster on the wavy part and end up breaking the curly part. No satin pillows, fancy oils or uncomfortable updos necessary :) Hope this helps.

[MsBubbles]

I think - and it is no fault of those blessed with good hair genes - many times people come here and think, 'if I just treat my hair nicely, stop doing x, y and z to it, it will end up looking like other LHCers hair' (that is, long, thick, and healthy). But what about those of us who just can't get hair like that?

(...)

The other problem is natural taper.

(...)


So - a question for you other 'non-blessed' people - do you think if you managed to do 'more' than you are doing your hair would be 'fixed'? Or have you tried 'everything'?

What do you think keeps your hair from looking like the hair idols here? Genes, as in my case? Or something else

Nice idea for a thread, Katze. Although I'm afraid there is going to be quite the spectrum of members posting here who believe they are among the non-genetically blessed, since so much of this is in the eye of the beholder.

Your natural taper. Did you happen to see the hairstyles Ultrabella (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=89988&page=13) picked out for potential new styles? Not a straight, even hemline in sight. And speaking for myself, I would have gone to the ends of the earth in the 80s to get a natural taper with body like you have. I'm serious. I thought of you immediately when I saw the Eva Longoria pic (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showpost.php?p=2038482&postcount=128) (the style, that is, not the color or the tan :-)). One person's straggly ends, another person's dream style.

I will never have a curtain of hair for a hemline due to my fine, thin, straight hair genes. Even if I trim it back to APL. It still is not thick enough to hang right and be all swingy like a 1a/f/iii, or a 1a/m/ii. But the hairtyping method is great because now I don't even let myself idolize anybody's 'm' hair. Mine will never look like that so it's a complete waste of my time.

I could probably achieve an effective male-anime character style though, if I wanted to, but of course I don't want to. I just want a thick curtain of hair for a hemline, which I will never, ever have.

I do have enough hair to be able to fake a pretty decent back-of-the-head shot, though ;).

[Amber_Maiden]

I like natural tapers. I don't have an even hemline AT ALL, and I don't mind it.

I don't consider myself hair blessed- it does take work. I don't mind pillow cases not matching my sheets, or finding products that work with my hair. If I use something that doesn't work with my hair- I put it on the Swap Board or give it to my husband. ;)

I think even people blessed with "nice hair" have to work with it to make it that way. Also, it's a matter of perspective. Learn to love your hair the way it is- not how someone else's hair is. Took me a while to understand that. Something someone else does for their hair might not be right for your hair type- also make sure to classify your hair correctly.Also- patience. It took me about 6 months to find things that worked for my hair, and another while to see a difference in my hair at all! And I still went through rough patch where my ends looked horrible!!! Time and patience works.

My hair though... still won't do certain things. My hair is ALWAYS dry. It also can't do certain buns styles, which it should be able to do, just because its so freaking thick!!! Makes me sad a lot.... Also, it never stops shedding... Even while I've been pregnant- I haven't stopped shedding. :(

[stew]

I have awful problem hair.. I live next to the ocean so it's very humid here and my hair dries into a giant fluffball. I've tried EVERYTHING to make it less frizzy but nothing works. I know how you feel..

[Hollyfire3]

I feel not blessed and punished right now, my used to be fluffy full thick curly hair has been fried and is striaght unless i correctly perfectly balance my S and C JUST right, it hates me, i swear my hair hates me! Its not sleek and shiny, its not curly enough to be back to my normal hair and it has no volume some days from simple too much protein, stupid hair! The new growth is thick and wavy (not long enough to curl in 2b/2c fashion maybe more once i get all this fixed) but it drives me CRAZY to know that ONE little Tiny teensie off blance product with too much moisture or too much protein could make (no WILL make) my hair straight and flat and dull...just, ugh! So, i think i WAS blessed before i fried my hair, sure, my hair was wurly and frizzy, and volumeized and looked thicker (all the hair is still there, but it looks straight so i have unaturaly striaght hair somedays) but i also believe everyone is blessed with beautiful hair, they just might not know it. I have excepted that my hair, when grown out with the damage being trimmed away slowwwlllyyyy, will be thick and poofy and wurly, it will never be flat and silky (in a good, non fried way) like some i have seen, but hey, even if i NEVER will touch a flat iron again, that blow dryer makes some nice straight, full hair every once and a while....just think, Holly Marie Combs' hair could be what mine looks like when i get all this fixed....sorry, just fantisizing, but really, i think all are blessed, even if we don't realize it at the time.

[spidermom]

Give it a try when you're finished with pregnancy and nursing, Katze. Your hair was looking very pretty before you got pregnant the first time. (I know little kitty was totally worth it.)

I couldn't do long hair and babies at the same time, either. My hair has changed a lot since then.

[Melisande]

One tip for preserving ends and fighting frizz (which I have in abundance, but it disturbs me less than other weird things my hair does): nursing cream intended for the nipples, made from natural ingredients and based on lanolin.

This stuff is a new discovery for me, it's an idea from the German hair boards, and it's really totally fantastic. I used in damp hair yesterday and I'm amazed at the difference it makes in the texture of my fine, tapering, straight-but-frizzy hair. Longterm users on the German boards report that they saved their frazzled ends with the cream and saw a decrease in split ends.

Since it's really cheap and you can get it at Budni, and it's the most wonderful healing cream for lips, cuticles, elbows and life's little scratches, I thought I might mention it here, for Katze. It's called babylove Mama Brustwarzensalbe. Half a pea sized amount is enough - rub between palms and apply where needed.

My hair frustrates me, too, although my wurl-envy has become much better since I learn here that even wurly people have problems. I have an uneven distribution of hair - quite a lot at the sides but thinner at the back of the head. Together with my flat head shape and the hair cleavage at the back, that makes for a weird look, and there is no way to change it. My hair never seems to fall right. It always looks like zero volume because of the way it grows, very close to my head.

I get a wonky hemline almost immediately after cutting. That's why I returned to a layered hemline, I thought maybe it will be less noticeable, but I regret that experiment. I'll have to get trimming again, it was the best solution.

After a certain length, my hair looks shabby, and I have not yet succeeded in getting past it without having it cut off again because of the shabbiness. It seems to be a cycle. Let's see whether I can get through spring this year without hacking it off...

Cassia helps in so far as it gives lot of shine and makes the hair look better. I always feel my hair looks best after a cassia application. Catnip did the same to my hair, but with shorter lasting results. Maybe I should get out the catnip again?

[Phalaenopsis]

Katze

My philosophy with hair is "less is more". So I don't think you need to do all those things to get long hair. If you had hairloss and whatnot, it will take years to regrow the thickness (suffered hair loss myself twice and so I live with thinner hair at the moment...) It is VERY frustrating, but you'll just have to let your hair be and also try to not stress about it so much.
As you said yourself, you have other things in your life beside taking care of your hair. I would focus on that then.

[Mesmerise]

Katze, you are the closest person to a hair twin I have found on LHC :D. Seriously, there are others whose hair may seem to match in description but in reality... it doesn't. Reading your hair struggles reminds me of mine!

I also have weird mixed hair. I call it 2a...but it's really anywhere from 1b/1c to 2b/2c...I sorta just "average" it out to 2a!! Some bits on top are almost straight... and underneath I get curls. What is with that?? I also get lots of taper... and when my hair did get to almost waist it was sooo ridiculous at the ends because there was literally nothing there to trim it was so thin. I'd do a self cut and have just the smallest amount to snip off because there was no hair volume!!

In the past, I've grown my hair and cut it back hoping that somehow "magically" my hair would improve the next time around, and I'd have "normal" hair... lol. Now my hair is probably around APL again after cutting off many inches last year in an attempt to thicken the ends (I had one bad shed mid 2010, which caused a lot of volume loss, and then towards the end of last year I had another shed!! I have no idea why... I am just trying to look after myself, eat well etc. etc. and hope that I don't have another...).

I think, though, I will just stop "giving up" on my hair and see what happens when I just let it grow. I'm wearing it up all the time in an attempt to "forget" about it. I still live in hope that I CAN achieve reasonable looking long hair if I just persist in leaving it the heck alone.

I have also reached the conclusion that there's no "magic" formula which will fix my hair. I have tried a lot of different stuff over the past year... and now I'm getting into benign neglect mode... just S&C every couple of days, and wearing it up 99% of the time.

I'll let you know how it goes in 5 years or so ;).

[krisbb]

Some hair issues are directly related to health, my daughter has always had fine wispy hair (once she grew some at about 4 years old) she was recently (about a year ago) diagnosed with a thyroid condition (shes 24 now) and has followed a natural health path for over a year to correct it. I oiled her hair for her last week and am amazed at the difference in the thickness and health of her hair now:). I wish i had realized 20 something years ago that her sparse eyebrows and lack of hair growth was more than a sign of "genetics on her dads side" :cry:

[Firefly]

Yes, I hear you! I have a similar type to yours and Mesmerise, and it is a challenge. I have good days and bad with my hair, but I think that it will never look like I want it to when I wear it down. Sigh.. I'm learning to love it, but it's not easy at times! It does help to find people with similar hair types-- I feel I have a more realistic expectation of what my hair can be at its best. But even then, there's no guarantee. After many years of experimenting with both conventional and herbal/home made products, I have settled into a basic S&C (from a "natural" line) routine and benign neglect. I do a little post shower oiling, occasional DT, but mostly I just leave it alone. Less is definitely more, I think, with our hair type. :flower:

[heidi w.]

A couple of thoughts in reply to the OP's post.

1. All hair tapers.
2. Hair growth is a matter of genetics and hormones, and what you inherited. Some people do not inherit great hair growing genes, athough it's unlikely you fall into this category.
3. Recovery from the days of bleaching can take up to 2 years, since one assumes you bleached ALL of your hair. So, essentially, you have to wait for all new growth to grow in. And that can take a while.

Meanwhile you can experiment with this and that, but you won't have a routine until you are at the place where you're dealing with the hair you intend to work with, which in your case is all natural hair. Meanwhile, your hair is going to act out. You are not the only one who has some mixed hair on your head. It turns out that I found out that a fair amount of people have this problem.

And FYI, even my hair tapers. Everyone's hair tapers. That is ENTIRELY normal.


You mention you had a huge hair shed in the wake of having your baby. You claim you lost half your hair. That is not normal. I'd get a thyroid or hormonal balance checkup as these type of problems can really mess with hair growth in addition to potentially causing other problems systemically. Has your mood changed a lot? That could also be an indicator that something is up.

heidi w.

[Katze]

Wow, thanks for all the responses. As I suspected, many people who say 'me too' are also fine haired wavies /mixed types...!



Your natural taper. Did you happen to see the hairstyles Ultrabella (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=89988&page=13) picked out for potential new styles? Not a straight, even hemline in sight. And speaking for myself, I would have gone to the ends of the earth in the 80s to get a natural taper with body like you have. I'm serious. I thought of you immediately when I saw the Eva Longoria pic (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showpost.php?p=2038482&postcount=128) .

Me too! The last pics I posted were the best my hair had looked in at least a year - SMTd, hanging right.

My hair would do that Eva Longoria thing without even trying if I had it cut that way (I did, in the 80s) In fact, DH teases me when I wake up in the morning, telling me I look like 'an 80s hair band' (I respond with 'Buffalo Soldier, Dreads Like Rasta').


I like natural tapers. I don't have an even hemline AT ALL, and I don't mind it.

I think even people blessed with "nice hair" have to work with it to make it that way. Also, it's a matter of perspective. Learn to love your hair the way it is- not how someone else's hair is. ...
My hair though... still won't do certain things. My hair is ALWAYS dry. It also can't do certain buns styles, which it should be able to do, just because its so freaking thick!!! Makes me sad a lot.... Also, it never stops shedding... Even while I've been pregnant- I haven't stopped shedding. :(

Well, at least that means you won't lose it all after you have your baby! Really! I would give up 'beautiful amazing thick pregnancy hair' in exchange for NOT having a shed.

My sister and a long haired friend of mine, both about 1b/f, do not have to work at their hair. They treat it gently, and it grows like a weed. I always THOUGHT I had hair like that...but I don't. Hence the liberating aspect of hairtyping! I really believed that trial and error would help my hair, that at some point I would find the magic bullet, but it does not seem to exist!

When I was living in NYC I had a roommate who became my friend, and she was the first black friend I had been close enough to to really study her hair care routine. She taught me that the majority of hair care products, styles, and advice did not work on her very curly, coarse hair, and I started to realize that a similar thing was true for me.


Give it a try when you're finished with pregnancy and nursing, Katze. Your hair was looking very pretty before you got pregnant the first time.

Really? I can't remember my hair really looking pretty. :) Maybe it's still recovering from DD, and since I am pregnant again, I can just ignore it


One tip for preserving ends and fighting frizz (which I have in abundance, but it disturbs me less than other weird things my hair does): nursing cream intended for the nipples, made from natural ingredients and based on lanolin.

This stuff is a new discovery for me, it's an idea from the German hair boards, and it's really totally fantastic. I used in damp hair yesterday and I'm amazed at the difference it makes in the texture of my fine, tapering, straight-but-frizzy hair. Longterm users on the German boards report that they saved their frazzled ends with the cream and saw a decrease in split ends.

My hair frustrates me, too, although my wurl-envy has become much better since I learn here that even wurly people have problems. I have an uneven distribution of hair - quite a lot at the sides but thinner at the back of the head. Together with my flat head shape and the hair cleavage at the back, that makes for a weird look, and there is no way to change it. My hair never seems to fall right. It always looks like zero volume because of the way it grows, very close to my head.
...
After a certain length, my hair looks shabby, and I have not yet succeeded in getting past it without having it cut off again because of the shabbiness. It seems to be a cycle. Let's see whether I can get through spring this year without hacking it off...



The lanolin salve is a great idea! My old roommate (see above) did something similar with beeswax, but I bet lanolin would work better for my hair. I even have some at home still!

I might just have to try catnip since everyone swears by it. I wonder if I can get it at an apotheke?

If your hair lies flat on your head that's a *good* thing! :) Some of us would trade in a heartbeat! ;)

And I have bad hair cleavage too. And a huge round ball-shaped head.


Katze, you are the closest person to a hair twin I have found on LHC :D. Seriously, there are others whose hair may seem to match in description but in reality... it doesn't. Reading your hair struggles reminds me of mine!

I also have weird mixed hair. I call it 2a...but it's really anywhere from 1b/1c to 2b/2c...I sorta just "average" it out to 2a!! Some bits on top are almost straight... and underneath I get curls. What is with that??

In the past, I've grown my hair and cut it back hoping that somehow "magically" my hair would improve the next time around, and I'd have "normal" hair... lol. Now my hair is probably around APL again after cutting off many inches last year in an attempt to thicken the ends (I had one bad shed mid 2010, which caused a lot of volume loss, and then towards the end of last year I had another shed!! I have no idea why... I am just trying to look after myself, eat well etc. etc. and hope that I don't have another...).

I think, though, I will just stop "giving up" on my hair and see what happens when I just let it grow. I'm wearing it up all the time in an attempt to "forget" about it. I still live in hope that I CAN achieve reasonable looking long hair if I just persist in leaving it the heck alone.

I have also reached the conclusion that there's no "magic" formula which will fix my hair. I have tried a lot of different stuff over the past year... and now I'm getting into benign neglect mode... just S&C every couple of days, and wearing it up 99% of the time.

I'll let you know how it goes in 5 years or so ;).

Mesmerize, it was the same for me! I keep thinking 'after I cut off the layers,' or 'when I grow out the bleach' or 'when the new growth comes in' it will be better - but it never does change. And there really is no magic formula for my hair either, except SMTs, which help about 80% of the time.

When you shed, did you get a lot of new growth? I also find this really hard to deal with, and seem to be still having new growth.

Good idea to force yourself to wear it up. I am trying to do this more, though I am so bad at hairdos.

'Stop giving up' means just ignoring it, then? It's really hard for me to do that because I do have to pay so much attention to it, use so much product to make it look good...

the mixed thing seems to be genetic - straighter, finer haired mom, wavier, coarser haired dad, I guess...


Some hair issues are directly related to health, my daughter has always had fine wispy hair (once she grew some at about 4 years old) she was recently (about a year ago) diagnosed with a thyroid condition (shes 24 now) and has followed a natural health path for over a year to correct it. I oiled her hair for her last week and am amazed at the difference in the thickness and health of her hair now:). I wish i had realized 20 something years ago that her sparse eyebrows and lack of hair growth was more than a sign of "genetics on her dads side" :cry:

Wow, I'm sorry to hear that. Hopefully she's getting better now? There are some good treatments nowadays...


Yes, I hear you! I have a similar type to yours and Mesmerise, and it is a challenge. I have good days and bad with my hair, but I think that it will never look like I want it to when I wear it down. Sigh.. I'm learning to love it, but it's not easy at times! It does help to find people with similar hair types-- I feel I have a more realistic expectation of what my hair can be at its best. But even then, there's no guarantee. After many years of experimenting with both conventional and herbal/home made products, I have settled into a basic S&C (from a "natural" line) routine and benign neglect. I do a little post shower oiling, occasional DT, but mostly I just leave it alone. Less is definitely more, I think, with our hair type. :flower:

Once in a rare while mine surprises me (like my avatar pic) and looks really great without me doing anything. SMTs tend to make this happen more often - have you tried them?

I basically also just CWC or CO or WC wash, put in leave-in (if I haven't CO'd), and air-dry. If I blowdry, I can tame my hair more (and did this for many years) and product helps a lot.

[Melisande]

Catnip, Katzenminze. As Katze, you should have no problem in locating it ;-) at the Fressnapf shop of your choice.

[Katze]

A couple of thoughts in reply to the OP's post.

1. All hair tapers.
2. Hair growth is a matter of genetics and hormones, and what you inherited. Some people do not inherit great hair growing genes, athough it's unlikely you fall into this category.
3. Recovery from the days of bleaching can take up to 2 years, since one assumes you bleached ALL of your hair. So, essentially, you have to wait for all new growth to grow in. And that can take a while.

Meanwhile you can experiment with this and that, but you won't have a routine until you are at the place where you're dealing with the hair you intend to work with, which in your case is all natural hair. Meanwhile, your hair is going to act out. You are not the only one who has some mixed hair on your head. It turns out that I found out that a fair amount of people have this problem.

And FYI, even my hair tapers. Everyone's hair tapers. That is ENTIRELY normal.

You mention you had a huge hair shed in the wake of having your baby. You claim you lost half your hair. That is not normal. I'd get a thyroid or hormonal balance checkup as these type of problems can really mess with hair growth in addition to potentially causing other problems systemically. Has your mood changed a lot? That could also be an indicator that something is up.

heidi w.

Well, I have accepted that maybe I will never have the hair I intend to work with, so I have to find ways to work with what I've got. :)

Thyroid and all other blood tests tell me I'm normal. My doctor won't go further, though I am considering some allergy tests. I do have compromised health since breathing in the smoke from 9/11, but am actually overall quite fit and healthy right now. Mood is also quite good. I go to the gym 3x a week and bike 5 days a week, and despite a bit of extra flab, feel healthy.

I think my hair is just genetically doomed. :)

When I came here I tried all kinds of things that seemed to work for fine, wavy hair. Many of the suggestions - leave-in, SMTs - were great, things I keep using. But none of what I consider my 'routine' (which is constantly being tweaked since my hair is different from day to day and week to week) really gives me.

I last bleached in summer 2005 - streaks, but there was prior bleach throughout. That damage is long gone, since I have trimmed constantly since coming here. My big shed was from July-October 2009; that new growth has caught up (and hair is thicker than pre-LHC).

HeidiW, while your ideas are excellent for 'where I was' several years ago, they don't solve what I think isn't solveable - hair that will never be all one length, hair that flies away and wisps and changes texture and basically has a mind of its own. I figure there must be others like Mesmerize and Melisande who experience similar frustrations, and perhaps also newbies who don't understand why their hair doesn't look like yours! :)

I learned a lot by learning about hairtype, and this learning is something I am 'tweaking' too because my hair seems to be getting coarser as well as wavier, while still retaining its babyfine qualities on top.


Catnip, Katzenminze. As Katze, you should have no problem in locating it ;-) at the Fressnapf shop of your choice.

[girlcat36]

Katze, I'm glad you started this thread! The subject has been weighing heavily on my mind for the last six months. Hairwise, I am not blessed, and am genetically doomed.
My hair never looks good. It will never be neat and tidy. I certainly try, but it just won't happen. My hair is babyfine and frizzy with a severe taper caused by heavy shedding. It is lighter than air and just floats around messily.
I take very good care of it and it just doesn't matter. It only wants to look halfway decent until APL.
You would think it would just GROW.....like most people's, but no. I would love to have a nice blunt hemiline...is that too much to ask for?? Even at APL my stupid hair fairytales!
Ugh. I'm at 28" and maintaining for a year before I decide if it needs to be kept at APL permanently.

[alyanna]

I've been meaning to respond for a while now.
I have the same hair as many of the people who responded. In the 2 range, thin and fine. The front of my hair is straighter and the nape is the curliest. The canopy is always kind of frizzy and splitty looking.

I don't know if mine will grow much longer than APL but I haven't been trying for very long. I've been stuck at just above APL since January. I do have about 4 inches of bleach to grow out though so we'll see how it goes. I don't think I'd ever maintain at APL because I wore this length fro a good 10 years already. I'd probably go back to a bob and then I can dye and change my hair style every few weeks and not worry about it :cool:

Not to utter blasphemy, but Katze, have you ever considered just going short?

[Mesmerise]

A couple of thoughts in reply to the OP's post.

1. All hair tapers.
2. Hair growth is a matter of genetics and hormones, and what you inherited. Some people do not inherit great hair growing genes, athough it's unlikely you fall into this category.
3. Recovery from the days of bleaching can take up to 2 years, since one assumes you bleached ALL of your hair. So, essentially, you have to wait for all new growth to grow in. And that can take a while.



I would agree that "all hair tapers" but there's regular taper and then there's TAPER! Honestly, for your hair to get to the length it is, I'd say you have much less taper than many other people. It has to do, I suppose, with the growing cycle of your hair. If you've got a shorter growing cycle, your hair will shed more quickly and you'll end up with more hair taper more quickly. I've seen some people with waist length or longer, and the end of their braid doesn't seem much thinner than the start! On the other hand, there are people like me (and Katze and others) who start off with an okay braid, but by the time it's APL or BSL it's a skinny little pitiful thing!

What genetically "bad" hair is, is hard to define. My hair may actually appear good to someone who has really, REALLY bad hair which can't reach SL without splitting, or which has a terminal of APL ;). But honestly, there's no possible way I could grow knee length hair, as it's really not in my genes to do it. If it's tapered away to almost nothing by waist, there's just not the possibility of knee length. So in the genetic stakes, maybe I'm not at the worst end, but I'm certainly not blessed either ;).



Mesmerize, it was the same for me! I keep thinking 'after I cut off the layers,' or 'when I grow out the bleach' or 'when the new growth comes in' it will be better - but it never does change. And there really is no magic formula for my hair either, except SMTs, which help about 80% of the time.

When you shed, did you get a lot of new growth? I also find this really hard to deal with, and seem to be still having new growth.

Good idea to force yourself to wear it up. I am trying to do this more, though I am so bad at hairdos.

'Stop giving up' means just ignoring it, then? It's really hard for me to do that because I do have to pay so much attention to it, use so much product to make it look good...

the mixed thing seems to be genetic - straighter, finer haired mom, wavier, coarser haired dad, I guess...


Yes, I have lots of "baby hairs" and "medium length hairs" that contribute to making my hair look ridiculous, with lots of fly away bits, and just... eugh hair. A friend who is a hairdresser saw my hair about 6 months ago, and I told her that the random "layers" were regrowth from a shed, and she looked really skeptical and suggested that maybe my hair was breaking at that length. (She thinks henna is the devil though, and knows I henna so probably blames that ;)).

I'm not really great at updos either. I really just twist it up somehow and shove in an ibis clip, or a flexi-8. Lately I've done twisted bun thingies and shoved in a pencil as a hairstick :p. I get a lot of comments on this hairstyle, mostly "why have you got a PENCIL in your hair?" I was just sort of fascinated by the fact that a pencil actually CAN hold up my hair! I really only spend literally 2 minutes putting my hair up into something. I haven't tried anything too complex, even though a lot of those styles look great!

And yeah, my focus is to just leave my hair the heck alone and stop cutting it too much! I usually get to a point where I am just compelled to trim back my hair, and have often just gone all out and cut right back... this time I want to see how patient I can be and just leave it alone to see what will happen given time!! I hate that it looks awful when I wear it out right now (as it's recovering from flat iron damage :rolleyes:). But I know I'll just get frustrated if I cut it off to "start again".

And... if I give it a few years without chopping majorly, and it really doesn't ever improve beyond a certain point, at least I will know I gave it everything to get there, and I will resign myself to having shorter hair.

[Silverbrumby]

I was going to quote your whole post Katze as it could be my most post.

My hair has about 3 different textures in it. The front, sides and back all feel a bit different and it just loves to frizz.

I'm not blessed. At least not now. My hair looks good streaked and blow fried, or it did before thyroid disease. I put up an album called bad hair so folks could see it dried naturally and what it was like pre children and thyroid disease.

I have difficult hair. It's difficult to get it to look nice most days and requires patience and careful watching. It changes with weather conditions, my bunning it correctly and releasing the bunning before it dries completely but not too soon or it will frizz.

Some days I get tired of it and braid or bun it so I can forget about it. When I get my hair to BSL the taper is down from 2.75 to 0.50. Now that's taper. At 0.50 and less at BSL I can't see my terminal being anything much past that.

I'm hoping that with LHC it will get better.

I'm loving your post because I've got this feeling that my bad hair genes trump all these wonderful measures to make it into the beautiful, silky hair I'd love to have. My hair does not FLOW. When it's out and hair dried it frizzes and if I lean forward it doesn't slide over my shoulders and drape forward. It has no weight at the moment, is super fine in places and fragile.

The good:

It is growing back in. It has increased in the ponytail from 2.25 to 2.75. There is more curl now. I'm hopeful but I'm also glad I'm not alone in having good hair genes.

[Gilly]

I really understand you Katze!

I have been here since 2006 and my hair is pretty much the same length it was then, it will play nice occasionally but I really think this is just it's perverse way of showing me who is boss, I think I am getting somewhere with a good routine and BAM, rubbish hair again despite NOT changing anything:rolleyes:
I have become obsessed with my hair, my day can be ruined if it does not play nice, its baby fine, has some evil whurls that will stick out in all the wrong directions (usually when I need to look nice!) I am forever on the search for the latest holy grail that will give me awesome hair, but as yet it has not been found, I have spent a fortune on products and sometimes I can't really afford it but its really getting me down.
I have dabbled with cones and again it worked for a while then the spots and bumps arrived so I am off them again, I tried COing, then I got the funky hair and scalp itching.
I dream of having hair that I can ignore, but its a constant battle, I CAN'T wear a scarf, hat or otherhead covering in the office, I CAN'T stretch washes, I have tried, not gonna happen, I can't stand the itching. I can't have wet hair in the office either, so it seems I am stuck with it.
Believe me, you have my utmost sympathy and understanding xxxx

[hanne jensen]

I'll join! I want to stand up and be counted!

After 3 1/2 years membership here my hair is still fried. My hair is baby fine, dry and very fragile. I have to dust most of my growth off or my hair will split up to my scalp. No matter what I do, my hair looks frazzled and fried. I've tried just about everything under the sun. In that time, I've only grown 24 centimeters. That's a slow annual growth rate!

I started growing my hair out because long hair is supposedly low maintenance. My foot! It takes me about 20 minutes every morning to de-tangle. If I just rip through it, I'd be bald!

Right now, I'm trying to just ignore my hair and smack a scarf on every day. That way I don't have to fight with it to get it to look decent.

A life saver for my hair is the new split mender serum. It really does glue splits together. I use Joico. Tresomme has one and so does Nexxus.

I know that I sound like I'm giving up, but I'm not. Someday I will have very long hair, it's just going to take awhile.

[Babyfine]

Signing in. I've been here since 2004-my goal is waist length and I've cut it back to shoulder twice (now at APL) in frustration. I have babyfine hair that tends to frizz, is fine, lightweight and blows all over and yes- I have a taper that starts at APL. It's just the way my hair is. I don't know if I'll ever get to waist length, I want to grow it that long to see if I can.
My hair behaves best at SL, but I want to go long to be able to do more styles.
But then, I feel like I can't wear it down, whenever I wear it down I have to put a comb through it every so often to unclump the strings and keep it from getting too tangled.

Gilly you sound just like me-I tried going CO and stretching washes it does not work for me, and I've gone through tons of products, too-I give up and now I'm just using what I have. And 2nd day hair rarely works for me, either.

[Hollyfire3]

This is a hair problem, if only temporary, my hair needs clarifying, but clarifying doesn't agree with my hair and it takes all the curl out, i have just gotten some back, but it feels coated, what to do? Stupid hair, problematic hair, even if not in the way the OP is describing.

[CarpeDM]

I have two textures, fine straight and coarse wavy kinky, both textures don't work well together. The only way I can "fix" my hair is to flat iron it. If I don't flat iron it, the wiry hairs stick straight out on top of the fine straight hair and it looks awful. So to save my hair from the flat iron damage, I put it up. I also can't leave it down because it gets so tangled so fast, it just isn't possible. Genetically speaking, my hair problems could be from both my parents, my mom has the fine straight hair and my dad has the crazy wiry hair. Working with my hair is a constant battle because there isn't much I can do to fix it, I just have to work on accepting it for what it is...

[joyfulchiara]

Wow! I'm so relieved to hear of other people with mixed hair types. I was beginning to believe I was a freak of nature!! :P

My hair is medium thickness, very smooth and shiny and wavy underneath. (From about my ears down.) The top layer is thinnish and very curly 3a-3b. And VERY prone to frizz.

Glad to know I'm not the only one battling this.

[Katze]

So glad to see others are in the same boat! We are not alone!


I've been meaning to respond for a while now.
I have the same hair as many of the people who responded. In the 2 range, thin and fine. The front of my hair is straighter and the nape is the curliest. The canopy is always kind of frizzy and splitty looking.

Not to utter blasphemy, but Katze, have you ever considered just going short?

Your hair sounds like mine!

Short unfortunately is unflattering to me. I have a very round head and short neck and wide shoulders, and above shoulder length just accentuates this. Sometimes I think of cutting short, but I know I would be miserable.


I have two textures, fine straight and coarse wavy kinky, both textures don't work well together. The only way I can "fix" my hair is to flat iron it. If I don't flat iron it, the wiry hairs stick straight out on top of the fine straight hair and it looks awful. So to save my hair from the flat iron damage, I put it up. I also can't leave it down because it gets so tangled so fast, it just isn't possible. Genetically speaking, my hair problems could be from both my parents, my mom has the fine straight hair and my dad has the crazy wiry hair. Working with my hair is a constant battle because there isn't much I can do to fix it, I just have to work on accepting it for what it is...

Yeah, I think mine is genetic too.

Here is a summary of some of the tips people have given so far in dealing with mixed, or difficult, or 'won't-grow' hair:

ACCEPT AND LEARN ABOUT YOUR HAIRTYPE!
Comb different hair types separately
Put more oil/leave-in/product on wavier/curlier parts of your hair
Go with hairstyles that work for your hairtype (‚male anime’, ‚80s hair band’) and don’t try for a smooth curtain of hair if your hair doesn’t want to do this!
Curly girl method – some ideas can work for mixed hair types - CO, for example, but fine hair might need clarifying
Occasional sulfate washes for sensitive scalp and fine hair that tends to get limp
Lanolin nursing salve for frizzy, dry, fine wavy hair
Cassia and catnip can help
Get your thyroid checked if your hair refuses to grow, sheds a lot, or is thinning

Any more? :D

[moon2dove]

Great thread Katz :)

Everyone here has voiced perfectly, what I would say about my hair!

Mine is curly, wurly and still frizzes whatever I do or put on it.

Sometimes,a couple of days after shampooing - and I do wear it up everyday- it tries to 'go straight' and frizzy. That is sort of confusing sometimes! :confused::mad::(

I do have really bad days when I want to cut it all off , But, I know most of these problems are my own fault, as in, trying to straighten my ringlets and succeeding (sort of) and ending up with this frizz-ball I call a hemline when it's trying to be straight :rolleyes:

So, I'm 'dealing' with what I've got it:shrug:

Also, I have Thyroid probs and that sure doesn't help :(

[Katze]

Wow, it's amazing, most of us seem to have a similar hair type. Could we just be the 'black sheep' of healthy natural hair care? Fine or mixed medium thickness wavies? :silly:

(My DH is also a fine haired wavy, more like wurly - maybe 2c-3a, and does have some 'M' hairs, but he is iii thickness and his hair grows like a weed, and all he does is occasionally use conditioner and leave-in. He's about mid-back now, without even trying.)

For a while I thought it was just me, that if I only "understood" what other LHCers were doing 'right', I would get pretty hair, too. :) Nope. And seeing that DH does 'nothing' and has pretty hair reinforces this. (Note to self: DON'T COMPARE YOURSELF TO OTHERS!!!)

The other thing I forgot to add to my list (besides 'cones, which someone mentioned) is PRODUCT! Gel mixed with leave-in, or a light mousse, really work well for me.

Thinking about it, the list is more of an idea of 'how to best manage and optimize problematic hair' rather than 'a magic bullet to make your hair look healthy, behave predictably, and grow long.'

SOOOO good to hear there are others here!

I think when I get back home (I am visiting my family in the USA) I will try to go back on 'cones again (Dove) since my scalp is relatively calm. 'Cones always seem to mess up my scalp but my hair really likes them (with occasional sulfate washes to clarify).

[alyanna]

So glad to see others are in the same boat! We are not alone!

Your hair sounds like mine!

Yeah, I think mine is genetic too.


ACCEPT AND LEARN ABOUT YOUR HAIRTYPE!
Comb different hair types separately
Put more oil/leave-in/product on wavier/curlier parts of your hair
Go with hairstyles that work for your hairtype (‚male anime’, ‚80s hair band’) and don’t try for a smooth curtain of hair if your hair doesn’t want to do this!
Curly girl method – some ideas can work for mixed hair types - CO, for example, but fine hair might need clarifying
Occasional sulfate washes for sensitive scalp and fine hair that tends to get limp
Lanolin nursing salve for frizzy, dry, fine wavy hair
Cassia and catnip can help
Get your thyroid checked if your hair refuses to grow, sheds a lot, or is thinning

Any more? :D

Yes it is totally like yours!
I've found damp oiling (just a tiny dab of oil) has REALLY helped combat the splitty-looking frizzy canopy. It makes it feel nice and soft and look healthy.

So funny the male anime 80s hair band!!! That sounds exactly like me. My hair is SOOO 80s looking! One user, I think it was Arya, said my hair looks like that girl from the movie Flashdance or Dirty Dancing. I would have to agree. And I've had that male anime shorter shag that worked really well with my natural wurly mess ;)

I do have to use mixed method washing. Sometimes if dry I go for CO. If limp, I do ALS.

One unfortunate thing: even when I do gain thickness, I eventually loose it again. All it takes is some stress or wearing it down a couple of times in windy weather, and I'm down from my hard-earned 3" back to a little over 2" :rolleyes:

[MsBubbles]

Go with hairstyles that work for your hairtype (‚male anime’, ‚80s hair band’)

Katze, I didn't mean your hairtype for the anime styles, I meant mine, because it's so straight, all over. I don't have the body/waves that you have. My point was that any style my hair might work well with, isn't something I find interesting or attractive at all. It was in reference to me admiring your natural taper and body wave, even though you don't appreciate that about your own hair. It's one of those murphy's law type things. I never meant your hair would work easily with a male anime style. I meant mine.

Anyway, I'm so glad that some similar hair-typed members have posted here for you!

[lapushka]

The other thing I forgot to add to my list (besides 'cones, which someone mentioned) is PRODUCT! Gel mixed with leave-in, or a light mousse, really work well for me.

Oh definitely! Gel, a leave-in and some serum or drops of oil here! :thumbsup:

[spidermom]

You know, I would have jumped right into this thread when I was new. I despaired of ever growing longer than maybe waist because I was always shedding and growing new hairs. Plus I wanted it straight, and it's not. To this day, if you look close enough, you'll see that I have a fine mist of frizz all over the surface of my hair. Without generous application of product to keep that glued down, my up-styles look terribly grizzled.

But over time I've learned that I'm pretty lucky in the hair department, all things considered.

[lapushka]

To this day, if you look close enough, you'll see that I have a fine mist of frizz all over the surface of my hair. Without generous application of product to keep that glued down, my up-styles look terribly grizzled.

I know this well. I look grizzled all the time. There's always tiny loose random hairs floating about the sides and top of my head, even at the nape! They're near to impossible to contain.

[jacqueline101]

My hair is damaged from a perm I'm growing out I've had a lot of success with oils and leave in conditioner. My ends got really dry on my hair this winter not the long length but the shorter part of my v my hair grows in a natural v hem line. I need a trim from a beauty shop. I'm counting down until I can get long enough to try the faye self trimming. I might do the trimming according to the farmers almanac.

[jel]

I know this well. I look grizzled all the time.

I do too, especially now that I have 6 inches of natural roots - thick, frizzy 2c/3a strands keep flying above my head whether my length is bunned or loose.

However, doesn't everyone's hair behave like that? Except, maybe, some pure 1a/b textures (although it's rare, in my experience, to see a truly uniform hair texture). More likely it's the products, including hair dye, [ETA: and flash photography] that give the smooth sheen we all admire.

As far as I'm concerned, I love my wild frizz (most of the time! :silly:). I see myself as free and strong, so why should my hair be tamed and ironed into submission?

[alyanna]

I have another question/suggestion for Katze, and please excuse me if it sounds lame or "been there done that".

It sounds like you get dissatisfied around APL, when your hair seems to get to a critical point. The taper becomes more obvious, the ends become see-through and overall, your hair starts to look thinner (see I'm the same way). So then you trim the ends to make your hair look better.

What if you just left it? Let it look see-through or scraggly or whatever. I've been told by several people, most of them thinnies like me, if you want your hair to grown, just LEAVE IT ALONE!!!

Stop thinking about it. Stop fussing. Stop trying to make it look pretty even. Think of it as "going terminal" (join the terminal goal thread). Allow yourself 2 or 3 micro trims per year and that's it.

Maybe if we let go of the idea of having long AND pretty hair, we can get over the hump, and eventually, we will have long and at least sort of pretty hair ;)

[hanne jensen]

I forgot to mention that I have a little mixed hair type. My under hair, or the hair around my face and at the nape of my neck is ethnic hair. Dry, fine and kinky. This hair just doesn't grow. This hair is from my father's side of the family. From my mother's side I have typical scandinavian hair. Fine but thick. The plus side of my kinky underhair is that I can get face framing corkscrew curls easy. I just take a lock of hair, wet it with my fingers and let it dry.

[Gilly]

This morning my hair decided to spit the dummy again:rolleyes: I ended up plastering loads of product into it, blow drying it and anchored it in place with hairspray, it looked truly awful:(
By the time I had got from my car to the restroom at work it had started to rebel, more combing and hairspray battered it into submission, I looked like I was wearing a helmet.
I came home and washed the hell out of it, I had to do 3, yes, 3 clarifying washes to get all the gunk out.
I really can't cope with this!!!:(:confused:

[Mesmerise]

I have another question/suggestion for Katze, and please excuse me if it sounds lame or "been there done that".

It sounds like you get dissatisfied around APL, when your hair seems to get to a critical point. The taper becomes more obvious, the ends become see-through and overall, your hair starts to look thinner (see I'm the same way). So then you trim the ends to make your hair look better.

What if you just left it? Let it look see-through or scraggly or whatever. I've been told by several people, most of them thinnies like me, if you want your hair to grown, just LEAVE IT ALONE!!!

Stop thinking about it. Stop fussing. Stop trying to make it look pretty even. Think of it as "going terminal" (join the terminal goal thread). Allow yourself 2 or 3 micro trims per year and that's it.

Maybe if we let go of the idea of having long AND pretty hair, we can get over the hump, and eventually, we will have long and at least sort of pretty hair ;)

Yes, this is pretty much what I am doing now! I've decided to put it up and forget about it. I will leave it as long as possible without a trim (trying to trim only ONCE a year) and then just leaving it GROW. When it gets to goal, I will maintain and just see what happens!!

[Firefly]

I have another question/suggestion for Katze, and please excuse me if it sounds lame or "been there done that".

It sounds like you get dissatisfied around APL, when your hair seems to get to a critical point. The taper becomes more obvious, the ends become see-through and overall, your hair starts to look thinner (see I'm the same way). So then you trim the ends to make your hair look better.

What if you just left it? Let it look see-through or scraggly or whatever. I've been told by several people, most of them thinnies like me, if you want your hair to grown, just LEAVE IT ALONE!!!

Stop thinking about it. Stop fussing. Stop trying to make it look pretty even. Think of it as "going terminal" (join the terminal goal thread). Allow yourself 2 or 3 micro trims per year and that's it.

Maybe if we let go of the idea of having long AND pretty hair, we can get over the hump, and eventually, we will have long and at least sort of pretty hair ;)

I think this is good advice. For me the journey from about APL to Waist was a nightmare... so I just wore it up most of the time and tried to forget about it. Even took a long break from LHC. I think it's the only way I would have made it this far. I still struggle with liking my hair, but definitely not like I have in the past.

On another note... I feel like I bit of a misfit among other 2c/f/m/i/ii-ish hairs, as mine does NOT like a lot of product! :(

[UP Lisa]

My hair is and always will be difficult. It is baby-fine and flyaway. it really doesn't frizz, but it is so tangly that I cannot detangle it without causing damage. I feel like it can never look really healthy, because there will always be broken off hairs mixed in.

I also deal with a very oily scalp that I am SO tired of after 40 years.

Is this complaint day, or what?

[joyfulchiara]

Does anyone else with curly hair have issues with flax gel? Do you have any recipe suggestions I could try?

My hair hates it. I'ts a frizzy dull mess when I use it. Because of skin allergies I've been making my own hair products for about a year now with good success. Except for the gel. My hair loved gel made with gelatine but I couldn't deal with the smell. To me, it smelled like vomit. I'd be dry heaving in the bathroom after putting it in. After it dried the smell would dissipate. But that first 30 minutes while I was scrunching and drying with a diffuser was hell.

[Silverbrumby]

I've started a Monistat 7 experiment on my problematic hair. After watching this clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWxC7Ne1qXA

The thing that jumps out for me is the fact it effects the hormone receptors in the hair. My hair, since hitting perimenopausal my hair shaft size has been shrinking. I have found in my 18 inch long shed hair that you can eyeball the change from the root to the tip of that hair. About 1/2 way down the 18 inches you see it's reducing until you get to the root where almost half the diameter is gone.

I have a good amount of hair on my head but I'm not liking the finer hair that breaks more easily, frizzes etc.

I'll post back here every month to say how it's going. At the very least I wouldn't mind faster growing hair (it's already grown 1/4 inch in a week) and a big bonus would be getting thicker, stronger hair strands. I'm thinking that in 3 to 4 months if there is going to be a change then I will start seeing it.

BTW, I'm pretty sure that if your fine hair has been there all your life this isn't going to change anything. For me the hormonal shifts have had an impact. I'm hoping this helps.

[alyanna]

Well I just measured my ponytail circumference and I'm somehow back to 2". I was up to 3" about 4 months ago.

:(:wail:

[Mesmerise]

Well I just measured my ponytail circumference and I'm somehow back to 2". I was up to 3" about 4 months ago.

:(:wail:

Ugh! I feel for you. Mine has lowered again too... it was up to almost 3" (in a high ponytail that managed to get most of my regrown hairs)... and now it's dropped (I won't measure though cause I don't wanna know!!) after having another shed...

[sycamoreboutiqu]

,,,,When I comb my hair, but separate them by pulling the curly part to the front and leaving the wavy part behind my back. I'm not that interested in keeping the curls defined since they are always covered by my other hair, so I comb it. I always put more oil on this part and comb it separately. The key is not mixing the hair types when combing because you tend to go faster on the wavy part and end up breaking the curly part. ...

Thanks for that suggestion. I have the same type of canopy wavy, underneath in back much more curl pattern and it causes way too much volume (one persons hair envy is another's annoyance - in my case too much volume).

I have on occasion spent more time trying to smooth down that section but never thought of separating them to do it. Sheer genius. Going to try that next wash.

[UP Lisa]

I feel your pain. Mine used to be 3", and last time I measured it was 2.5". Scared to measure again.....



Well I just measured my ponytail circumference and I'm somehow back to 2". I was up to 3" about 4 months ago.

:(:wail:

[Kittyxx]

my hair is definitely problematic - it's pretty curly but the pattern is never quite right
it also frizzes - sometimes it ends up kinda looking like an aura or something -_-
and to top it all of I get that triangle thing going on as well

[alyanna]

I feel your pain. Mine used to be 3", and last time I measured it was 2.5". Scared to measure again.....

I'm trying to be optimistic though. I think it goes in cycles. But all this doesn't fare well for my ends or for trying to grow longer.

[MaryMarx]

I have accepted that I will never be one of those girls with thick gorgeous hair.
I feel sad about it sometimes, but I also try to remember that atleast i HAVE hair.
And I do what I can to make it look good.

I also try to look at others hair and see that I'm not alone, a lot of people around me have thin hair.

[Katze]

You know, I would have jumped right into this thread when I was new. I despaired of ever growing longer than maybe waist because I was always shedding and growing new hairs. Plus I wanted it straight, and it's not. To this day, if you look close enough, you'll see that I have a fine mist of frizz all over the surface of my hair. Without generous application of product to keep that glued down, my up-styles look terribly grizzled.

But over time I've learned that I'm pretty lucky in the hair department, all things considered.

You really are lucky, Spidermom. Your hair is gorgeous. If I could get my hair to look as nice as yours (and I know all pics are peoples' 'best hair pictures') I would be happy.

Waist is, in my opinion (and I know this is not LHC opinion!) LONG! I have never had my hair past BSL. :)


I have another question/suggestion for Katze, and please excuse me if it sounds lame or "been there done that".

It sounds like you get dissatisfied around APL, when your hair seems to get to a critical point. The taper becomes more obvious, the ends become see-through and overall, your hair starts to look thinner (see I'm the same way). So then you trim the ends to make your hair look better.

What if you just left it? Let it look see-through or scraggly or whatever. I've been told by several people, most of them thinnies like me, if you want your hair to grown, just LEAVE IT ALONE!!!

Stop thinking about it. Stop fussing. Stop trying to make it look pretty even. Think of it as "going terminal" (join the terminal goal thread). Allow yourself 2 or 3 micro trims per year and that's it.

Maybe if we let go of the idea of having long AND pretty hair, we can get over the hump, and eventually, we will have long and at least sort of pretty hair ;)

Hm, interesting ideas. My problem is that my hair is neither long or pretty. I have really spent a lot of time 'giving up on it' and living with hair that is ugly 90% of the time - especially after my postpartum shed.

And most of the time I actually don't know what to do with my hair! So I usually wear it down or in some kind of messy half bun thing - basically the same hairdo every day - or a braided updo on dirty days. What with the taper and the fuzz, there is not much else I can do.

I do think my hair probably has a short terminal length - maybe waist for a few scraggly sprinter hairs. When I was pregnant with DD, it did get close to waist for the first time in my life, but expecting my normal hair to ever get that way is unrealistic.

One good thing is that I have been doing WO for the past week and my hair is acting a bit better. My next wash will include an SMT in some way. It's not a magic bullet, but as with other things, I know it will work for a week or two. :)

[Katze]

Hm, WO goodness seems to be wearing off (and I did not have the time for an SMT; but used a shampoo bar instead. What is UP with those things - it never seems to work, just gives me waxy hair)?

Do other 'problematic' wavy finehairs find that something that works wonderfully for a while just stops working? I blame buildup, and the fact that my hair 'gets bored easily.'

Next experiment is probably gonna be going back to SMTs with every wash.

[Firefly]

Yes-- ALL THE TIME! Very frustrating. I'm currently using a shampoo/conditioner that are working extremely well, but I can't help but feel like it's only a matter of time before they stop working, since this has been the pattern with most products I try. :(

[Silverbrumby]

Hm, WO goodness seems to be wearing off (and I did not have the time for an SMT; but used a shampoo bar instead. What is UP with those things - it never seems to work, just gives me waxy hair)?

Do other 'problematic' wavy finehairs find that something that works wonderfully for a while just stops working? I blame buildup, and the fact that my hair 'gets bored easily.'

Next experiment is probably gonna be going back to SMTs with every wash.

Same here. Shea butter worked, then didn't, clarifying worked then didn't, Argan oil worked, then didn't, cones work then stop, wet bunnings works then fails, BBB works then makes it frizzy ACV works then dries the crap out of my hair. Henna made it lovely then took out my curls and the color looks a bit odd. Cassia worked but increased the shed and now doesn't work so well.

Things that always work: bunning, braiding, satin pillows and supplements.

My hair has a good day when I think 'oh, so that's the answer to my problems' then boom, frizzy or flat or overloaded or shedding or splitting etc.

[bumblebums]

I am a little late to this party, but I seem to belong in this thread based on hair type alone :) My hair also has a pretty dramatic taper even though I have a 3.5" pony.



Do other 'problematic' wavy finehairs find that something that works wonderfully for a while just stops working? I blame buildup, and the fact that my hair 'gets bored easily.'
Next experiment is probably gonna be going back to SMTs with every wash.

Very much so--when I was experimenting, that is. I have finally found a routine that I can live with: CO, air-dry, damp-bun, maybe oil now and then with coconut oil, but otherwise forget about it. And I almost never wear it down--it's both upsetting to see all the frizz and thin ends and annoying because the hair flies everywhere.

[Hollyfire3]

Yes-- ALL THE TIME! Very frustrating. I'm currently using a shampoo/conditioner that are working extremely well, but I can't help but feel like it's only a matter of time before they stop working, since this has been the pattern with most products I try. :(

I feel this way too...only its from damage that I am having problems, but i found a great shampoo and conditioner, i just feel like they are going to/have slowly stopped working.....ahh!!!:(:(

[catamonica]

In 2009 I used horse shampoo. My hair grew from past midback to waist. I dont know if you can buy it in Germany, but you could order it online. Its original mane & tail horse shampoo. I
hope this helps.

[catamonica]

MaryMarx, try some seasoned chopped onion in your shampoo. One or two capfuls. It makes your hair thicker. I read this online. It really helps.

[Silverbrumby]

My hairs been getting better. It's still problematic. It has 2.75 circumference at the base of the ponytail then a dramatic thickness drop off 4 inches from my scalp.

New routine which has worked for the past 4 weeks.

Loreal sulfate free shampoo Everpure moisture shampoo

Conditioner on 30 min before washing

Aussie 3 MM bond after

Garnier leave in conditioner after wash

3 drops of oil on ends.

[MaryMarx]

MaryMarx, try some seasoned chopped onion in your shampoo. One or two capfuls. It makes your hair thicker. I read this online. It really helps.

That sounds interesting, thanks!

[Katze]

Same here. Shea butter worked, then didn't, clarifying worked then didn't, Argan oil worked, then didn't, cones work then stop, wet bunnings works then fails, BBB works then makes it frizzy ACV works then dries the crap out of my hair. Henna made it lovely then took out my curls and the color looks a bit odd. Cassia worked but increased the shed and now doesn't work so well.

Things that always work: bunning, braiding, satin pillows and supplements.

My hair has a good day when I think 'oh, so that's the answer to my problems' then boom, frizzy or flat or overloaded or shedding or splitting etc.

Me too! Me too!

SMT always works for me; plopping also always works. Leave-in also always works.

Oil worked, then didn't. CWC worked, then seemed to dry my hair out. CO worked, then scalp rebelled. Cones work on and off, depending on scalp's mood.

At the moment, WO is mostly working - 75% of the time.


In 2009 I used horse shampoo. My hair grew from past midback to waist. I dont know if you can buy it in Germany, but you could order it online. Its original mane & tail horse shampoo. I
hope this helps.

We used to use that back in the 90s, had no idea it was still around! From what I understand it is full of 'cones and all kinds of other nasties, though it does work for some people. It did always make my hair softer, but Dove or Garnier Fructis do the same...


MaryMarx, try some seasoned chopped onion in your shampoo. One or two capfuls. It makes your hair thicker. I read this online. It really helps.

What is it supposed to do? Is it from the sulfur? Or the antibacterial properties of onion? How does it smell?

[leilasahhar]

I was in the same boat about a year ago. Since then I've changed my routine and I've been ranting about my hair growth all over LHC! In place of shampoo I use shikakai\aritha powders. This alone is amazing how its changed my hair. I use redwood roots hair nectar to nourish my roots..claim to accelerate hair growth (so far its true!) And I use fenugreek powder mixed w hot water plus a little oil and use it as a leave in treatment. Rinse after an hour. :)! I'm posting pics on my profile soon. I'm so happy and my hair is finally growing! And healthy! Thank u LHC and hope this helps you too :) herbs from amazon.com, akins, and redwood-roots.com.

[RitaCeleste]

I have what people call bad hair. Its different textures many of them extra frizzy textures. Its pretty strong even though I've colored the mess out of it. Hair color actually makes it softer. Sad huh? I condition it, I oil it, sometimes I deep condition it it and walk around with my hair gooped up in a plastic cap. I love to brush it and let the frizz fly. That's about all I do to it. I don't even brush it too darn much if I'm not thinking about hair. I mostly don't think about hair most of the time. I trim only the very ends using Faye's self trim method. The sides got hacked up at the salon year ago and they still have not caught up (same with the gap she cut in it). I let it go and grow. I didn't cut the bottom to match the sides all at once. I still haven't cut out the gap, (I'm not gonna cut 4 inches at once ever again!). Even if it turns out its terminal at bra strap, that just means it'll never really need to be cut again unless you actually want it shorter, right? Let it alone 99% of the time and see what happens.

[TazM]

I'm having a problematic hair stage, my hair is APL with layers at the front and back so it was kind of cut like it was meant to be styled with a hair straightener, or hair dryer at least, and since I've given that up it sticks up and curls out all over the place, so its a bit hard going to work looking like a scarecrow. Im still experimenting with up do's and ways to style it without heat so hopefully I'll be able to work something out. Now, speaking of heat that takes me to the next problem that due to heat abuse it has broken off everywhere, whatever section of hair a look at it seems all the hairs are different lengths and there's even some pretty short chunks here and there, so it can be discouraging to look at when you think that even when it grows a bit longer I might have to just trim it all of and be back where I started, having said that though it's still in pretty good condition (thanks to TLHC) so maybe I could just keep growing it long and try micro trimming?

[catamonica]

Katze, It does not have an odor. When I mixed it in my shampoo, after my hair dried, it felt thicker. You can find it in the baking section in a grocery store. Already chopped up. I am not sure about the properties in it. Do they have that in Germany?

[lilliemer]

Katze, It does not have an odor. When I mixed it in my shampoo, after my hair dried, it felt thicker. You can find it in the baking section in a grocery store. Already chopped up. I am not sure about the properties in it. Do they have that in Germany?

Do you mean the dehydrated minced onion that comes in a plastic jar? I had thought people meant chopped FRESH onion ::newbie::

[rena]

*Raises hand over hung head*

Another multiple textured scalp here. Top is waves, bottom is curls, hairline is pubish :(.

What makes it worse, I'm discovering, is the lovely gift of PCOS I found I've been blessed with for some time now. I believe it plays a part in the less desirable features of my hair such as the strange, wiry hairs I find spread about my head, and my very, very, very dry, coarse, and brittle hairline (with I loath). I'm also afraid that it may be causing me to lose some hair as well.

I will hand it to better treatment though; it HAS helped some. There is a crazy difference between the ends and scalp as in the roots are shinier, softer, and noticably less parched, which is great, but the other problems I just mentioned still persist. If they are linked to my condition (and I think they are) than the only way to improve these issues is to find a way to manage my problem and hopefully that would help. Just have to wait and see I guess.

[catamonica]

You can use the dehydrated minced onion or chopped onion. I have used both, in my shampoo. It does help. Welcome lilliemer to TLHC.

[catamonica]

leilasahhar, where did you get redwood roots hair nectar & fenugreek powder? I would really like to try it, to see if it helps my hair grow faster. I gained four inches
after two years of not growing, because I wear it in a bun most of the time. But the stuff you are using sounds great.

[Silverbrumby]

leilasahhar, where did you get redwood roots hair nectar & fenugreek powder? I would really like to try it, to see if it helps my hair grow faster. I gained four inches
after two years of not growing, because I wear it in a bun most of the time. But the stuff you are using sounds great.

I just got some off Amazon. It wasn't expensive either. I really don't think it's going to do anything but I'm always up for a nice surprise.