..: Hair Slavery :..

[Amethyste]

Do you sometimes feel like your are a slave to your hair? If your hair feels and looks amazing, your mood is positively enhanced, life is amazing and beautiful, but when your hair feels and look anything but that, your mood takes a dump and suddenly your day steps into darkness (of course I am only exagerating, a little)?
All the money spent into shampoos, treatments, tools and hair toys can be staggering! All of this in the name of "beautiful hair"... My hair has me wrapped around its little finger!
Though this being said, I am still doing it: Finding the perfect hair regimen and care. It is so different from day to day or year to year! I still want to grow my hair long and still do all this! I try to see it as a "treat myself with something nice" and pampering time, but sometimes, it feel time consuming to do all this haha... Still I love it.
Why am I saying all this? Donno... maybe others feel like me and I'l somehow realize that I am normal... or not :D

[heidi w.]

I'm a bit of a hair slave. I refuse to cut my hair although I've been thinking of it for a long time. My hair pisses me off a lot, and still, I put up with just a shytload of hair. Hair everywhere, on the floor, between my toes, waking up with a strand or two wrapped around me, and it's bleedin' hot and feels creepy. Oh well. It's still pretty, but I so rarely can get away with wearing it down because somehow the weather is not in my favor: wind, winter, and bleedin hot of late -- as in 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Today it's only 95, but it's only 10 am.

heidi w.

[sarelis]

I'm practising benign neglect at the moment, gave it a small trim using Feye's method a couple of weeks ago which has sorted my velcro ends out greatly, other than that I just wash it every 2-3 weeks when I dye my roots, so it's fairly low maintanence :)
Heidi, your hair is so beautiful, but I can certainly imagine that hair that long must be a trial sometimes!



I'm a bit of a hair slave. I refuse to cut my hair although I've been thinking of it for a long time. My hair pisses me off a lot, and still, I put up with just a shytload of hair. Hair everywhere, on the floor, between my toes, waking up with a strand or two wrapped around me, and it's bleedin' hot and feels creepy. Oh well. It's still pretty, but I so rarely can get away with wearing it down because somehow the weather is not in my favor: wind, winter, and bleedin hot of late -- as in 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Today it's only 95, but it's only 10 am.

heidi w.

[Madora]

No, I'm not a slave to my hair. I know what it needs and that's all.

However, I admit that if my hairstyle isn't exactly how I want it, I'll work at it until it is. If it refuses to cooperate, then I just go back to a basic braid and grouse to myself about the crankiness of my mane.

[DarkCurls]

I agree with the first part but not the last. I feel amazing when my hair looks good, but if it looks bad, I don't really care. ^^ I'll just put it up (this is extremely effective now that it's really hot outside).

I do obsess over it quite a bit... but it's not slavery yet.

[spidermom]

I feels like a pet to me, and in a way - yes - I am a slave to my pets.

[Toiréasa]

I feels like a pet to me, and in a way - yes - I am a slave to my pets.

Ha,ha I agree with you Spidermom,I am defiantly a slave to my poodles they need constant hair care if I'm not doing something with mine one of them need and bath or a trim :p

[Alvrodul]

A bit - I have a bit of a tendency to arrange my weeks around Wash Days (and I'm not talking about laundry here! ;))
OTOH, I don't feel that my life revolves around my hair. Except, perhaps when I henna - I tend to make something of a "spa day" of it, and just enjoy the pampering I give myself. :cloud9:

[Amethyste]

I just observed that all ouf you have fairly long hair to date. I am in the growing phase and it can get challenging, so put it up when it doesn't look good is not always an option for the shorter end of growers...

[Winnie!]

My mood often goes along with how cooperative my hair is, yes. If I cannot get any hairstyle to stay I get quite cranky. If my hair goes up easily with no fights then I am quite pleased. Other than that my hair and I live in peace. :p

[Anywhere]

To me, my hair is my b****. If it won't cooperate up it goes, hidden from the world. If for some reason I really need it to cooperate that day, then out comes the torture weapons (flat iron etc.). :whip:

[Dee38753]

Well...I don't feel that I am a slave to my hair.....yet. There may come a day when I feel this way...we shall see!

[italianamama]

I just observed that all ouf you have fairly long hair to date. I am in the growing phase and it can get challenging, so put it up when it doesn't look good is not always an option for the shorter end of growers...


I've grown out my hair from a pixie to past shoulder length twice, and yes it's a HUGE PAIN.

One of the things that helped me was that I was in the Marine Corps the last time I grew out my hair, and once past chin length I had to put it up in a bun every working day. I could only make a stubby little ponytail, so I bought a fall that matched my natural color. The fall was attached to a rubber band, and I'd braid the fall, attach it to my pathetic ponytail, and pin it up into a bun. It looked natural, worked beautifully, kept my hair out of my face, and most importantly, kept my growing hair up in a protective style.

Just a suggestion. The fall I bought was synthetic and not terribly expensive, maybe $30 including shipping. It also allowed me to keep my real hair slicked back with oil and I'd feign product use :D

[lilliemer]

I spend time on my hair but I don't see it as too much different than other interests/pasttimes. Some people live and die by their football teams, I'd much rather be attached to something I'm actually, um, attached to??

[prettykitty]

I feels like a pet to me, and in a way - yes - I am a slave to my pets.

Exactly this! I feed it like a pet, stroke it like a pet, and try to give it things I think it will like. I don't think I'm a slave to it though, it's way lower maintenance than my dog :)

[pepperminttea]

On the whole I like the ritual of caring for my hair, but sometimes it does feel more like a ball and chain. I spilt something rather unpleasant on my carpet yesterday and as I was cleaning it up I kept finding trails of shed hairs clinging to one another that had been missed with the vacuum (the carpet is patterned, things are easy to miss), and it made the whole task more difficult and foul. Some of the spilled substance was on the hair, so that trailed it across more of the carpet, and my hands. Blurgh.

And there are those days when it feels like an endless cycle; wash, detangle, put up, take down, braid - the same things over and over. But to be honest, those days are normally the ones where the same feeling applies to everything. The hair just becomes another outlet for the lethargy.

[pink.sara]

I felt sort of like this the last time it was long, I felt like my hair became my identity to others and care of it was hugely time consuming.

It's why I cut and went white.

Now though I value it like a favourite piece of jewellery and think of it as an adornment. Plus this time round I have the LHC to help me manage it at different lengths :)

[Kyla]

So, I came to this thread thinking "Pfft, no, I'm not a slave to anything! I'm awesome and free and my hair is my slave!"

And then I read the OP's description.

shudder:

I'm a slave to my hair! Although, I definitely don't think freedom is worth it if I have to cut it. :p

[guns1969]

Oh completely! My whole day is ruined when I have a bad hair day, which is way more often than a good hair day :(

[honeybunnie8]

I don't think I am. I have an 8 month baby so I have to keep it up or it gets pulls on and used a stabilizer to hold on to.
I dont have time to think about how good it looks since its up most of the time anyway.
My hair is pretty easy though. I can use most anything on it and it looks shiny and nice.

[proo]

Not exactly . .
but I hear ya, when it's looking good
the whole world rocks,
it's like "bring it on!"

I realize this is pretty goofy.

[Tia2010]

When I was younger..yes! Absolutely! A bad hair day was the worst thing ever :rolleyes: Hours spent before school making it 'perfect' .. and if it wasn't..oh the mood I would be in ! :(

But now that I'm older..I feel much less a slave to my hair. Now if I cant make it work, I just throw it in a clip or braid and go on with my day. I'm much less concerned with what others think of it.

[swearnsue]

No matter what I do with my hair I get the same reaction, Oh, your hair is red. I'd like to stay and chat a little longer but my ends want to be oiled RIGHT NOW! LOL.

[jacqueline101]

Its like I'm a slave to it I do what it wants.

[Diamond.Eyes]

Sometimes searching for the 'perfect' regimen can be rather frustrating, especially if the current thing you are doing to it isn't working. Don't feel sad, you have some of the prettiest red hair that I have ever seen and I'm sure you will eventually find something that makes you feel happy :flower:.

I'm not really a slave to my hair as far as it affecting my mood negatively, but I do kind of have to manage my time around it. If I am doing a deep conditioning treatment or putting curlers in the night before, I will make sure I don't make plans to go out with friends because I know I will be busy hanging out with my mane :laugh:. If I do feel like I am having an oily or not-so-great hair day, I will just bring attention to something else, like wearing makeup or some big earrings. :flower:

[Amapola]

I've seen that I *could* become a slave to my hair, so I try and remind myself to enjoy and treasure it no matter what.

I'm lucky... I live on a farm. When I get up and "go to work" (read: go out and feed animals, milk etc.) the only ones seeing my hair are the horses and the goats - and they quite frankly do not care *what* my hair looks like, as long as I hurry up and feed them! I work at home, so when I go back in to my real job, again, no one can see me. I try and remind myself that my hair is for *me*. When I run to the Post Office I do try and make it look nice, but if it doesn't, oh well. At least *I* will know that it can look good, even if it is being difficult that day.

I will point out that since I found this site, I have had much more success with my hair. The tutorials here are awesome, and I am slowly gaining not only the length I need to induce my hair to behave, but the skills and the tools as well.

[dancingbarefoot]

No, I don't feel like that at all. Long hair is a great deal less hassle for me than short hair ever was. Less upkeep, less styling time, etc. So much easier with long hair!

[RileyJane]

hehe im right in the same boat as u :D im deff a slave to my hair, mainly b/c im sooo obsessed with it! i want nothing more than to measure it everyday, ooo and ahhh at how much longer it looks now than a year ago, and do hair treatments.:p but alas, all that everyday would prob make me go crazy :p so i only allow myself to geek out like that once a week or so... but i deff have spent a TON of money on my hair....needless to say, i have also SAVED a ton of money from not going to the hair salon all the time and changing up my cut, color, etc. i just cant wait for it to be longer it still feels short to me !

[Amber_Maiden]

Oh yes! When my hair is behaving I'm definitely happier!!!

[Dee38753]

No, I don't feel like that at all. Long hair is a great deal less hassle for me than short hair ever was. Less upkeep, less styling time, etc. So much easier with long hair!

I do agree with the less styling time....I can also be much nicer to my hair...if it is shorter..I have to break out all the heated tools, gels and such just to get the style to work right...with the long hair...I can oil and do an up do and go! Definitely much easier!

[FrannyG]

I was a hair slave when I first joined here. I was trying every different method under the sun, and I did have bad hair days that frustrated me. That lasted for perhaps nine months or so.

After the novelty wore off, I haven't felt like a slave to my hair at all.

I have made some hair mistakes since then that damaged my hair, but I shed no tears when I cut it all out--twice.

From time to time, I still try new things, but only if I'm in the mood to. I no longer feel the need to try to find the holy grail.

At this point, I honestly don't have any bad hair days. There is always a hairstyle that will work with whatever my hair is like on any given day.