Loooong time lurker, finally saying hi

**Iwantlonghair.** · August 21st, 2024, 04:35 AM

Hello,

A little about me. I have struggled to grow my hair long since I have cut it into a pixie when I was 13. From then on, I've had an array of hair colours, hennaed hair, went black, bleached it, had a buzz cut... You know.. I'm pretty impulsive heh.
Now almost 30, my hair is at my chin, currently coloured with black box dye (I'm a natural level 7/8 blonde),with last inch of my hair bleached underneath. I have some hair loss at temples due to PCOS and my hair is fine 1b, sort of okay condition, but could be better.

I really want long hair, not sure how long I can go as genetics aren't really on my side.
My plan is to switch from box dye to henna, specifically to maintain my darker locks and improve the health of my hair and scalp as well as avoid the nasty chemicals that come with box dye.
I wash my hair every two to three days as my scalp gets greasy pretty quickly. I have no specific shampoo/conditioner at the moment, it's sort of whatever is on sale... I started oiling my hair and scalp before wash. I use gentle heat most of the time as I live in a cold climate, and my hair is limp without blowdrying my roots, I would like to cut down on it.
My goal is to reach BSL and take it from there.

I'll stop rambling now, cause this post is getting loooong... Thank you, if you've made it so far.

**Lady Winchester** · August 21st, 2024, 05:09 AM

Welcome!

I dyed my hair black when I was about 13, but luckily, it was only the semi permanent kind (though it took forever to wash out, so 13 shampoos my foot). I was trying to look like Maria Roberts from One Life to Live. Should have bought a black, curly wig instead. I was naturally strawberry blonde at the time (which has darkened to a light to medium golden brown from either chemo or aging, or a combination of both).

In grade 11, I dyed it blonde (which was a mistake, since it has to take the red out of your hair before it gets to the blonde, so it can take quite a long time, depending on how dark your hair is) and my senior year, I dyed it light golden brown/chestnut brown before I started to leave it alone and embrace my natural color. The last time I dyed it was in 2005 when I dyed it a deeper shade of red (I was still strawberry blonde at the time) and won't dye it again until it turns gray/white (if it ever happens, since I just turned 52 at the end of last month and still no grays) since if the blonde I dyed it in grade 11 washed me out, so will the gray/white, so no "embracing" the grays in my case.

My hair's approaching MBL again after trimming it back to in between APL and MBL around the middle of June. The only thing I do is wash it once (sometimes twice) a week with my regular anti-dandruff shampoo plus conditioner (Head & Shoulders Dry Scalp 2 in 1) and that is it (no deep conditioning treatments and no oils, since it doesn't really need it). Though it's a few shades darker than it was before chemo, I'm fine with it and have no desire to get my former color back (too much work). When I do have to cover the grays, I'll be using Natural Instincts in Medium Golden Brown (which is the closest to my current color) since Henna is much too messy for my liking, so I'll stick with the store brands that are more natural, since the less chemicals I'm exposed to the better.

**Iwantlonghair.** · August 21st, 2024, 06:05 AM

Hi, thank you for the welcome!

First of all, I wish you great health and that you get out of chemo quickly!

We have very similar natural hair colour, mine is also strawberry blonde leaning into light golden brown. I haven't seen my natural hair in colour in years, I think it's gotten darker over the years. It is still a stark difference when my roots grow against the coloured lengths and sometimes I'm just sick of dying it and miss my hair, but I think it would be absolutely destroyed if I try to bleach it or colour remover and I don't want to buzz it off..again... Bleached blonde also washed me out and so does black hair, but that damn impulsivity and raven hair envy got the best of me.
I'm glad to hear you have embraced your natural hair colour, if I could go back in time, I'd do the same...

I'm not sure if I have some grays already (which are actually dark hairs, not white) cause I have noticed that some hairs stay black when my roots are growing in...I'm hoping it's not just hair that refuses to grow.
Your hair is growing pretty fast! It took me a year to go from a pixie (last June) to barely past my chin, with only one cut in between. Are you planning on going to WL?

**Lady Winchester** · August 21st, 2024, 07:35 AM

I finished chemo nearly five years ago, so been there, done that. Still on Letrozole until next September (which is the same year I get my driver's license renewed, but that's in July, so sayanara spiky hair me which looks like an older version of Bart Simpson, since it was just starting to grow back and was still blondish at the time).

I was nearly at waist when I trimmed it back to in between APL and MBL, and that was mostly because I tried the double braid method instead of the ponytail method like I usually do. It was a bit more lopsided, so I had to get my Mom to straighten it out for me (she used to be a hairdresser, so she's the one I usually go to when I need a trim), so I lost about four and a half inches instead of two (oh well, live and learn, as they say). I won't go any longer than WL, since if I'm sitting on it, it's too long (at least for me). It took me about three years to grow it back from bald to mid back range (which is what it was before I lost it to chemo) with no trims in between, so I had to wait about twice as long as I usually do (I usually get a trim in between six months and a year and a half).