zen locks

finally an update

2010-11-02T15:42:00.003-05:00

wow, it's been a long time since i wrote here. i guess i've just had lots of bigger things on my mind and just haven't thought much about my hair. life has been a bit stressful, but it's mostly ok. there are some big changes coming for me that i'll have to adapt to. not sure how that'll work out. . . sigh. it's nothing horrible, but i'm nervous about it. meh.

but, back to hair. i got four inches chopped off in may, and another four just a week or so ago. i wasn't thrilled to have to do it, but my layers were just pissing me off so much and making my hair look so thin and damaged at the bottom that i decided it was the best thing to do. my hair looks a lot better, and while it's back to BSL it shouldn't take long to grow back. it'll be much better in the long run. i may have to trim a few more times to get it as full as i'd like it, but it's looking better and i'm a lot happier.

i've been wearing my hair up almost every day. i twist it up and use a ficcare to hold it in place. i like the way it looks and think i look much more polished than when i wear it down. i've worn it down once or twice recently, and i like it better now that it looks neater, but i'm sticking to wearing it up for the most part. not really doing much other than my usual CWC routine with a lush shampoo bar and tons of cheap V05 conditioner. i never oil my hair. i did use a couple of jessicurl products for a while but ran out and didn't order any more. might go back to the ojon at some point, but i've just been sort of lazy about oiling and my hair seems fine.

haven't been on LHC much, but i do like reading and posting when i do get the chance to look at it.

still aiming for waist eventually, especially now that i feel like i'm making some progress with gaining thickness.

time for another cut

2010-04-30T10:26:00.003-05:00

sigh. my fringe needs trimming anyway, but i also think it's time to cut a few inches off. i'd have to cut off a lot more to get the layers closer to gone, but i'm just unwilling. god, how long is this going to have to go on? it's frustrating. i'm sick of worrying about it though, so maybe i'll just start getting regular trims until i'm happier with it. i don't know that it'll ever be as long as i want it unless i do that. i think it just keeps breaking off.

gah. frustrated. maybe pics after the cut.

my hair hates oil

2010-03-02T12:43:00.002-06:00

yup, pretty sure it does. i haven't used ojon or any oil in over a week and my hair just plain feels better. no crunchiness.

i'm concerned my hair's getting no protection from the elements, though. a question to pose to LHC i guess: what to do if you just can't stand to use oil.

hair photo, february 2010

2010-02-21T22:24:00.007-06:00

at last, a new hair photo!

and here it is next to the last one, taken in june:

my effing layers are obviously still an issue, but there's definitely been growth, even with the bottom layer trip in october.

shrug

2010-02-19T11:53:00.003-06:00

well. . . i don't know. the day after my first SMT i don't know that it looks much different. the ends do feel a bit softer, but they still look straight and don't curl up like they did right afterwards. i think it helped some, but maybe i just need to do it again soon. i've got to figure out ways to give my hair more moisture--it's just so dry most of the time.

clarifying was interesting. i hadn't really done that before. my hair felt so stripped right afterward. i guess i might do that once every couple months to make sure i'm not getting so much buildup that moisturizing does little good.

i wish i wasn't so hung up on the bottom layer. it just looks so thin. i'm fighting the urge to just hack off three inches. but i know i'd probably regret that. i'm just going to start trimming about 1/4 inch a month and see how that goes.

overall i'm pleased--my hair does feel pretty good. i think i'll start doing this at least once a month, maybe twice for a while, until i feel like my hair is getting enough moisture.

i'm SMTing even as i type this

2010-02-18T19:56:00.003-06:00

so i finally decided to try snowy's moisture treatment. i was reading the article i posted the link for earlier and it mentions SMT.

the article recommended clarifying, so when i got home i clarified with suave lavender and lilac shampoo. my hair felt super squeaky once i'd gotten the shampoo out. i'm not sure if i had a lot of buildup of anything or not, but considering no shampoo of any kind (SLS or no) has touched my length in months, i'd imagine there may be some buildup. i got out of the shower and made up the SMT. i applied that thoroughly and put my hair up with a claw clip. i covered my head with plastic wrap and put a towel over that. now i'm on the couch waiting for an hour to pass. not much longer and i can wash it out and see what happens. yikes!

i'm always a little nervous when i try something like this. hopefully it'll turn out well. once i wash it out, depending on how it feels, i may use a little more conditioner. i guess i'll just comb it out, put some ojon on it to seal in the moisture, and see how it dries.

wish me luck.

healing my damage

2010-02-18T12:33:00.001-06:00

my hair's really not terribly damaged, but i feel like i need to give the last several inches of my hair some real TLC while i'm growing out those god-awful layers:

Damaged Hair: Understanding, Preventing & Rehabilitating

i'm back on LHC after a long hiatus. i missed that place!

been a long time

2010-02-05T14:53:00.003-06:00

wow, i haven't posted anything since i got my hair cut in october. i've had too much going on in my life to think about my hair too much. it's still growing, of course, and i guess i can now consider myself at bra strap length. i feel like it's going to take forever to get to waist, but perhaps not. maybe another year? tough to tell. i just hope this isn't terminal for me, but i doubt that--my hair has been longer than this before. i may just be in a bit of a stall.

one problem i've been dealing with is thickness. my stupid layers are still there, and i feel like they look really thin, especially toward the bottom. this isn't so bad if my hair is curling properly, but on days that it's flatter and straighter, it looks odd to me. i did a self-trim the other day and cut off about an inch, and that helped a little, but getting rid of the layers entirely is a long way off. i may just let it get to waist with only small trims, and once it's there i'll cut off a few inches, let it get back there, cut a few more off, etc, until it's the way i want it to be. still, it's healthy. a few splits, maybe, but the ends look good for the most part.

right now i'm just sticking to my usual CWC/ojon on the length when still damp/occasional deep condition routine. i'm sure there is room for improvement but i'm just not sure what that might be right now. i haven't been back on LHC in ages. maybe one of these days i'll have time for it. would be helpful to take a length shot, explain my goals and routine, and see what advice the folks there might have.

my scalp is in good condition. not overly oily, not scabby, etc. i get a few flakes but i've always had that, and it's just dry skin flakes, not dandruff.

i need to figure out a good way to protect my hair when bike riding, since i'm going to be joining a cycling club and doing some long rides. i think a tucked-under braid and a bandana on my crown should do the trick--that should protect my hair from wind and the friction of the bike helmet.

my mind just hasn't been on hair. i miss LHC.

well, i did it

2009-10-30T09:14:00.004-05:00

i had my trim yesterday. she cut off an inch or two off the hemline and trimmed my fringe. it really does look a lot better and i didn't lose much length. i haven't gotten a picture yet, but hopefully i'll find time as i'd like to get a better idea of the difference between the last pic i took and now. feels a lot better to not have such long fringe anymore either.

it's not tangling so easily now. my stylist said to just let it go for a while and then trim again when i'm ready so we can get rid of the layers and get some thickness back. she said my ends didn't look unhealthy but she could see why it bothered me. they just weren't as strong and felt crunchy all the time.

i washed it this morning. she had put a bit of product in it and while it wasn't a huge amount i just don't like leaving that stuff in my hair. it has dried very nicely.

i haven't felt like my hair has been growing much, but my stylist was impressed. i had gone to her for a fringe trim in may, and she said it had grown a huge amount since then. makes me feel a little better. now that i've had a trim maybe the growth will seem a bit more obvious. getting closer to being all one length should really help.

i haven't been on LHC in months. missing it a bit. maybe i'll head on over there a little later.

up for the chop

2009-10-29T10:01:00.004-05:00

i have an appointment for a trim today. le sigh. this may mean cutting off a few inches. but that's just going to have to be okay. i need to build some thickness so it'll grow in better. my fringe needs a trim badly too. at least i have a stylist who is an extremely good listener. i'll have to post pics later.

on the bright side. . .

2009-10-15T11:40:00.000-05:00

a bank teller complimented me on my hair yesterday. she said it was pretty and looked really bouncy. she said to come back and show her how much longer it gets. made my day.

time for a real cut. . . sigh

2009-10-15T11:36:00.002-05:00

so yeah, time for a real cut. my bottom layer just bothers me more and more. it feels crunchy and weird all the time and looks straggly. it doesn't seem terribly damaged, but i fear it will be if i don't do something soon. i've got an appointment with my stylist in a couple weeks. she'll trim my fringe and work on evening up these awful layers. hopefully she'll be able to do that in such a way that i don't lose too much length. ah, well, it will grow back. hopefully it won't take long to gain back the ground i'll be losing. sigh.

i haven't been on LHC in ages. i've just been maintaining the status quo with my routine. that seems to be going okay. after my cut, i may need to look at it again and see if there's anything i can do to improve it. might just need to start being more careful with the overall handling of my hair.

again, sigh.

another trim

2009-09-08T17:00:00.002-05:00

i trimmed again yesterday, just 1/2 inch of my bottom layer. didn't seem to make much of a difference, but it should if i keep doing this every couple months until the top layer catches up with the bottom. i'm sad about it slowing my progress, but i think it's the right thing to do. eventually, once i feel more comfortable with the length, i'll get a professional trim since i know my stylist will cut off no more than i ask her to.

slow going, but i think i'll hit waist eventually.

i cut my own hair!

2009-07-29T11:50:00.003-05:00

that's right, i cut it myself. my bottom layer was just looking so thin and it was tangling a lot more easily. so i used feye's hairtrimming method and cut off a little over an inch. it was really easy, and i feel like it looks better already. i didn't lose a lot of length, though i'm tempted to cut a bit more. i'm holding back, though, as i don't want to get scissor happy and then regret how much i cut. perhaps i'll wait another month and do it again, and then just repeat the pattern until my layers are more evened up. now if i could just figure out how to trim my fringe on my own, i'd really save money!

slight change in routine

2009-07-20T12:13:00.001-05:00

i've been sort of keeping the status quo with my hair routine for a while now, but i've had to add something. it's been so hot here that i feel like my ends are always dry and crispy. i wet them down every day in the shower now, and some days i actually put some conditioner on them, let it sit for a few minutes, and rinse it out. it seems to help.

i'm fighting the urge to trim, big time.

hair photo, june 2009

2009-06-25T11:51:00.002-05:00

oh, woe is me. my ends look so see-through. they aren't damaged, though, i swear. believe me, i've inspected them, and i've checked out the shorter layer too. my bottom layer is just so far removed from the top. people on LHC said my hair is beautiful and looks good and they've complimented me on my progress, so that's nice. but sigh.

i guess i can say i'm at BSL, but maybe that'll be more true in a couple months. i wish i could start trimming, but i'm just unwilling right now. it looks a lot better in person than it does in this picture. again, sigh.

scalp issues

2009-06-24T15:35:00.002-05:00

i've noticed my scalp gets a little itchy in some places after a wash these days. not all over, just a couple spots toward the back of my head. so of course i scratch, which i shouldn't do, and it gets scabby. gross. some folks on LHC thought maybe it was SLS, but i told them that i don't use anything with SLS. the lush bar has sodium coco sulfate in it which shouldn't be as harsh as SLS, but i just don't know if that could be the culprit. i washed today and it wasn't quite as itchy--just one spot in the back and to the left side, near my ear.

maybe i should oil my scalp and use a little tea tree before my next wash. that seemed to help last time my scalp itched. with the heat of summer/sweating, my scalp may have gotten a little fungal-y. the cinnamon leaf in the lush bar should take care of that, but maybe it's not enough.

i need to get a length shot. still haven't. i just haven't felt like it.

one year LHC anniversary

2009-06-17T12:08:00.003-05:00

gosh, i just realized that i had my one-year LHC anniversary on sunday, june 14. i really should make a post with progress pics. we got a new digital camera over the weekend since ours croaked, so i can take length shots again. i guess i'm feeling like it'll take forever to get to where i want to be, so some "atta-girls" from the forums wouldn't be such a bad thing. horrible of me to fish for compliments, i know.

shampoo bars

2009-06-16T16:03:00.003-05:00

back in december when i visited friends in north carolina, i bought a shampoo bar made at a goat farm that specializes in goat milk soaps. i'd used their soaps before but this was the first time i'd seen them make a shampoo bar. i tried it last week.

i think i'll be using it as soap instead. my hair was REALLY greasy at the crown by afternoon. ECK. i can handle a bit of hair oil but that was way too much. i'm back on my lush new! bar again.

fringe trim!

2009-05-26T13:01:00.002-05:00

i had another fringe trim on friday before we left on our anniversary trip. she cut off three inches and i can SEE! i'm pleased with it. my hairdresser was quite enthusiastic about my length and my plan to gradually even up my layers, which was nice.

our digital camera appears to have died, or i'd probably post another length shot. i may really be BSL soon, though i'm not going to say that until it's clearly BSL no matter what bra i'm wearing. LOL.

today is the day

2009-05-06T12:01:00.003-05:00

yup, it's may 6th, which means it's been a year since i've had a haircut. that does not count the fringe i had cut some months ago. it's grown a lot, though not as much as i'd like. but i suppose few can say that.

i guess i'm at BSL. it really depends on which bra i'm wearing, LOL!

i'm not sure what i want to do next. my ends seem kind of see-through, but like i said in my last post i seem to be getting fairytale ends. the jury's still out on weather i want to keep those or not. probably not for the long term. i'd still like a U-shaped hemline, or at least less severe layering so my ends look thicker. i know i said i'd wait until today and then reassess. i'm thinking i may just need to maintain a holding pattern for a bit longer. i may hit a growth spurt soon since it's getting hotter and i'd rather not take a step back right now. maybe around mid to late summer i can think about starting to work on evening up my layers. my ends look good and i haven't seen splits or white dots, so i'm not worried about damage.

my hair felt pretty gross yesterday. it was my second no-wash day. my scalp seemed greasier than usual and my length felt dry and coarse. i'm chalking it up to higher outside temps and i'm hoping i'll adjust. i'd hate to go back to washing every other day, but i know some folks have said they had to adjust their routine to accommodate the seasons. sigh.

spring is here

2009-04-14T15:52:00.004-05:00

not that we have any seasons but summer and christmas here in houston. but we are no longer having random cold blasts and their accompanying dry air, so my hair is happier. i'm loving the way it looks and feels these days, so i'm able to just stick to my usual wash schedule and ojon and just forget about it. i haven't taken a length photo in a while. i'm just not that worried about it anymore. soon i'll cross the year mark (may 6) since my last full haircut. i'm rather impressed with myself. on that day i'll reassess and see if i should start microtrimming. my fringe is going to need a trim really soon, so i guess that'll be a good time to make an appointment, full trim or no full trim.

i think i'm getting fairytale ends! may need to get a pic soon so i can ask the LHC braintrust and see if they think this is the case. i didn't think i'd like fairytale ends on myself but i kinda do! my ends curl in a pleasing way and despite their "seethrough-ness," they look really healthy! i don't know, i still may get the hemline cut into a gentle U-shape once i'm at length where i'm comfortable doing that. but at least i feel like i've moved past the hair doldrums i was having a while ago. yay!

finally, a new hair photo

2009-02-26T22:58:00.005-06:00

i must say, i'm disappointed. it has obviously grown since my last photo in december, but i've got some serious taper going on, which i don't really like. this just confirms for me that i'm going to need to start trimming soon. i REALLY don't want to, but the bottom layer is just driving me nuts. the two photos below show the difference:

i almost don't think i should call this APL anymore since only that crappy bottom layer has reached that length. i guess some people would call this "fairytale ends," but i just feel like it's not where i want it to be. it looks good overall though, so maybe i'm just having an off night for the camera. i'll hold out a while longer, but i'm guessing it's time to suck it up and start trimming to build thickness at the hemline.

edit on 2/27: just wanted to clarify that i had just put some ojon on my hair and gathered the bottom layer together in back before this picture was taken. that's why it looks a little weird. i think i'll wait a month and see how that picture comes out. if the bottom layer still bothers me a lot, i'll trim. may need to go sooner though as my fringe is getting long. my ends are actually in very good condition, the bottom layer just doesn't contain a whole lot of hair, hence the whispiness.

could my hair hate jojoba oil?

2009-02-26T16:47:00.004-06:00

i'm getting to the point where i think it just might. i swear, it makes my hair feel crunchy. i haven't been oiling my hair at night as much this week and i'm noticing that it's feeling softer than it does when i use the oil. i've been using ojon on my hair in the mornings after misting, and that seems to be enough. i've heard people on LHC say that oiling makes their hair crunchy, so maybe i'm one of those people too. i might post on LHC and see what others have to say. i read that in a thread a long time ago but couldn't tell you how to find it. i'll search for it and post if i don't find much about it that's useful.

i don't know. it seems like as soon as i find a routine that seems to work for me and settle in, my hair decides it hates it. it used to seem to like jojoba oil, but maybe i just thought the coarseness was due to something else and didn't notice that it seemed to get that way when i used the oil. BAH. at least my wash routine is mostly back under control. ::crosses fingers that this won't frigging change for once::

i might try a bit of ojon before bed and see if that is helpful. it may also be too much, but it's worth trying, and my hair seems to love the ojon.

i still have a lot of jojoba oil left, so i'm not sure what to do with it. pretty soon mosquito season will start, and when the mosquitos are bad i typically quit using body lotion as it just attracts the nasty little bloodsuckers. i've discovered, however, that my skin is a lot softer and looks better if i moisturize, so maybe jojoba is a good alternative. i don't know, it might still attract them, but maybe not. maybe i'll pose that question on LHC since we've got a lot of folks there who use oils on more than just their hair.

i swear i'm going to get my husband to take a hair picture soon. i really want to see how much i've progressed since december. i'm afraid it won't be much, but maybe i'll be pleasantly surprised.

un-update

2009-02-18T10:46:00.002-06:00

i don't even know why i'm posting. nothing about my hair that's fit to print, really. i haven't even been on LHC recently. i'm kind of erratic with my wash schedule this week. i did go back to two days between washes and feel a little better about my hair. it still seems so course and unruly on the second no-wash day, but not always. we finally got some rain down here so maybe the end to the dryness will help.

been using ojon on my damp hair in the morning and oiling at night as usual. on non-wash days i wear my hair up in the shower but pat it down with water and mist a bit more when i get out. it may actually be too much. might just experiment with with just misting or just patting it down, just to see if it does better with one or the other. the ojon seems to do a bit better on dry hair, so maybe i shouldn't put that on until it's completely dry after a misting.

i really need a fringe trim, but just can't seem to find the time to go to the salon. i'm really leaning toward getting my bottom layer trimmed since it's driving me nuts. i've been growing it for so long without a cut that i'm sure my layers need some shaping. it'll be traumatic, but maybe it's time.

still no hair photo. again, no time. might as well wait until march at this rate. i'm going to new orleans for mardi gras this weekend and next week will be a blur.

STRESS

2009-02-04T13:26:00.002-06:00

i'm dealing with a lot of stress right now. oddly enough, i haven't noticed too many negative effects on my hair. it seemed horribly flat and dry last weekend, but then it was dry in the house, and running the humidifier seemed to help.

i'm beginning to think i may need to start going two days between washes instead of three. my hair looks and feels horrible on the third day, and i worry that i smell like sebum. which isn't that awful, but it just doesn't smell clean to me. i think i'll go back to that. i'd really rather stretch out my washes more, but if it doesn't feel good or look good, what's the point?

i also hate to say it, but i may need to start trimming. i'm going to take a hair photo soon since i skipped taking one in january, and then i'll assess from there. i feel like my underlayer/longest layer look straggley and thin. i'd like to start gaining some thickness. i'd still like to hold out until i get past BSL, but it may be worth taking a little setback if it looks better. ugh. i didn't want to cut at all until at least may, but i guess i'll decide how i feel soon enough.

gift from hubby/more routine adjustments

2009-01-15T09:26:00.006-06:00

hubs bought me a shower filter! he had to go to lowe's and decided to buy me one. i've heard folks mention these on LHC before and supposedly they help. guess we'll see if it makes a difference. as dry as my hair tends to be it couldn't hurt.

my hair is doing better. i decided to just start conditioning my ends with suave tropical coconut between wash days if it needs it. not on every non-wash day, of course, but on the second or third day. today i just misted the hell out of it with distilled water and then a little defrizz spray and that seemed to help. brushing with my BBB helped smooth it out, and a little ojon helped with the little bit of frizz that resulted. it's looking pretty good for my third day without a full wash.

i'm trying to figure out what to do about my wash schedule so i can accomodate doing hot yoga once and a while. i sweat so much doing that and i have to wash after it because if i don't my hair will be nasty. i suppose i could just wash that day and then do three non-wash days after--just restart the schedule. i haven't done hot yoga in ages and would love to do it this weekend.

no photo this month

2009-01-12T16:05:00.003-06:00

i don't think i'm going to bother taking a photo this month. i have the feeling this cold air that is wreaking havoc on my hair is probably causing a bit of a stall. maybe not, but still. . . it might be better to wait until february to take one. that way if there's quite a bit of growth it'll be more satisfying.

still dealing with the cold, and the dry air in the house from having the heat on. YUCK! my hair feels so damn flat much of the time. i wound up doing CWC today, a day earlier than i'd like, but it was just too gross. my scalp felt pretty greasy and my hair, while soft, was so ungodly flat i could tell no amount of misting was going to keep it going for one more day. i could have just conditioned the last few inches again, but why bother? maybe i need to do that or run some seriously diluted condish through it on the second day, just until it's warmer out. or at least we get some rain so it's not so dry everywhere.

i'm stressed out right now too. while it's not causing shedding, i swear it's making my hair freak out and look like crap. maybe i should just suck it up and try some updos. i like having my hair down on my neck though--keeps it warm.

i hate you, dry air

2009-01-07T11:55:00.003-06:00

decidedly dry air is my hair's worst enemy. it's been cold the past few nights, so we've had the heat on. i've been waking up with horridly dried out hair. i ran the humidifier last night and that helped a little, but my hair still felt flat and dry. i wore my hair tied back with a scrunchie in the shower this morning as usual, but i wound up pulling it all the way through in a ponytail and soaking the tail. i put some conditioner on about the last 3 or 4 inches and let that soak in before rinsing. i used a little ojon on my damp hair. that made it feel better.

i'm just hoping these temperature fluxations will stop and that we'll have some consistant temperatures. i'd rather we didn't really need the heat. i hate what it does to my hair. ugh.

i guess i should run the humidifier at night and maybe put it right next to my side of the bed. should help. i'd rather not have to wash my hair more often just to keep it in moisture.

ojon!

2009-01-02T11:26:00.004-06:00

i tried the ojon hubby gave me for christmas. i followed the instructions--saturated my hair with it, left it in for 20 minutes before washing. unfortunately, CWC wasn't adequate to get it all out--my hair would have been all gunky otherwise. i wound up having to shampoo my entire length with my lush new! shampoo bar. i used plenty of conditioner after though. i can't complain one bit about the way my hair turned out. it came out really soft and shiny. my curls were much more defined too. once dried, my hair seemed kind of frizzy, but some jojoba oil took care of that, and then it looked fine. not sure what to do about rinsing out the ojon without shampooing the length. i put that question out on LHC to see if any ojon users have any better ideas.

i might start using a little after every wash on damp hair and doing the treatment every few weeks. some LHCers said they didn't like the smell and that it smelled like cigar ash. i didn't think so--to me it smells like chocolate and coffee. my hair is really soft today.

happy new year! i think 2009 will be a good year for my hair. i should reach BSL by may or june, maybe waist by the end of the year. may be wishful thinking about reaching waist before 2010, but i can dream.

folks on LHC are talking about new years resolutions for their hair. i started a thread about this before christmas and haven't checked on it in a while. it's interesting to see what people hope to do with their hair,makes me feel less impatient with growing. don't know that i have too many plans for my hair--i've decided not to trim at all until at least may or june. i've marked the date of my last full haircut on the calendar and once that rolls around i'll reassess. i'm considering just letting it go until it reaches my waist and then start working on getting rid of my layers. now that it's grown some more it actually looks kind of good with the layers, but i'll see how i feel after more time has passed. i hate feeling like i'm not really at APL because my bottom layer is a bit whispy by itself.

a little experimentation. . .

2008-12-19T11:42:00.002-06:00

so in the past day or so i've been going a bit easier on the jojoba at night. my hair's been much less crunchy. it still gets a bit coarser over time, but today is day two without a wash and it is still pretty soft. i guess i don't need that much oil after all. an extremely sheer layer of oil on my palms seems to be enough. i didn't soak my hair too much with distilled water this morning, just did one pass with defrizz spray. it looks and feels pretty good.

i'm wondering if i should minimize brushing. i do it at night before applying jojoba oil to distribute oils from my scalp down the hair shaft. sometimes it needs a little once it's fully try after a wash or misting, but any more than that just seems to create frizz and static. i like my BBB though.

hubby gave me my christmas gifts last night. he got me a microfiber towel and some ojon restorative hair treatment. i'm looking forward to trying those out, especially the ojon since i've heard so much about it from a couple of my friends. i may have to wait until i get back from north carolina though.

ever since i hit APL i've been obsessively checking my length in the mirror. i'm thinking that i should hit BSL by june, and with any luck i'll be nearly at waist by the end of 2009.

day three issues

2008-12-12T12:37:00.004-06:00

so i tried what i said i would. today is once again day 3 with no washes, so this morning i just misted my hair with water. after it dried i gave my hair a little shot of defrizz spray on all sides. that's it. it feels better than it usually does on this day, so that helped. i don't think i really need additional jojoba oil in the morning anyway. it may just be too much, so i'll leave it out from now on. i'll use it on my wet hair on wash day because my hair seems to really like it, but leave it out on no wash days. applying it at night is enough.

i must say, this whole washing my hair only once or twice a week is awesome. i used to wash every day and now realize what a pain in the ass it was. it was a cycle of stripping everything out of my hair, drying it out, thinking it looks bad because it's stripped and dried out, washing it again, and on and on. washing it less has made it look and feel even better. it's liberating.

OMG

2008-12-09T22:28:00.005-06:00

i think it's safe to say i'm at APL:

i should be solidly there by next month or the month after. WOOT!

hair grossness

2008-12-09T09:16:00.003-06:00

not that my hair is gross, but i wanted to mention the "dandruff" issue i had last week. my stylist didn't think it was truly dandruff, just dry skin. it has been kind of dry around here lately, and cooler, so it's no surprise since i'm prone to dry skin. the evening of my haircut, i did a scalp massage with jojoba and tea tree. that was nice--very relaxing and my scalp got some needed moisture. i did CWC and washed my scalp well the next day and the flakes were gone. maybe i should do that the evening before every other wash.

also, i'm still bound and determined to go three days between washes. thing is, my hair is pretty greasy at the crown by the third day, and my hair looks pretty flat. i may try going a bit easier on the defrizz spray and jojoba that day and see if that helps. by the third day i don't need so much anyway since the natural oils have had enough time to work their way down the hair shaft. if that doesn't help, it's just time to get better at updos, which my new ficcare is good for. i used it yesterday and had a pretty okay looking updo. need to practice those anyway.

why, oh why?

2008-12-09T09:07:00.005-06:00

okay, someone please tell me WHY i gave this hair the axe?

that was taken in 2001 (sorry its so tiny). just what the hell was i thinking when i cut it? i mean, LOOK AT THAT. it was so long and curly and gorgeous. just think what it could have been like if i was using my LHC techniques back then. and if i'd left it alone i'd probably be at terminal. not that terminal is really a goal of mine, but it's kind of fun to imagine.

BAH. someday i'll be back there. probably by the time another six months roll around even.

fringe!

2008-12-04T20:01:00.002-06:00

so, i did it! went to get my fringe this evening. my stylist didn't even charge me for it--she said there was no reason to since it only took a few minutes. she's nice like that.

before and after photos:

it doesn't look like a dramatic change, but it really made a difference. it gave me a little height in front and frames my face much better.

i'm very, very pleased. i had been to this stylist a couple of times before at another salon, but since then she's moved on to work at a green salon. it didn't reek of awful fumes and she was very encouraging about the stuff i'm doing with my hair. she thought my two washes a week, assload of jojoba oil and defrizz spray routine was perfect, and she said my ends look great!

dandruff. . . yuck!

2008-12-04T12:53:00.002-06:00

so it seems i've got some dandruff, or at least some dead skin cells that are making themselves known. they are around my hairline above my forehead. i didn't notice them until i went to use a BBB on my hair when i got to work. i guess i brushed a patch of dandruff and pretty much made it go kablooie. EW. i had to keep shaking my hair out and using my fingers to get rid of most of the flakes.

just, YUCK. my scalp isn't itchy or anything, so what's the deal with the flakes?

i don't know where this is coming from. i'm hoping my scalp isn't getting all fungal-y for some reason. don't know why it would. currently i'm going two to three days between washes, but i can't imagine that would allow me to get dandruff. the shampoo bar should keep fungus away--it has cinnamon leaf oil in it, and that should be an anti-fungal. it may not be real dandruff--i guess it could be that my scalp is just sort of dry in places. i saw some dandruff advice on LHC, so i may try that anyway. tonight i'll scritch my scalp real well, which will be gross but should get up the flakes. i'll do a scalp massage with some jojoba and tea tree oil and see if that helps. then i'll wash tomorrow. hopefully that'll help.

fringe delay (bah) and new ficcare

2008-12-03T09:01:00.004-06:00

i was supposed to get fringe cut yesterday, but my poor stylist called me up and said she had a horrible cold that she didn't want to pass on to anyone. she was really apologetic, but of course i understood. i don't particularly want her cold either, so my fringe can wait. i'm rescheduled for tomorrow night (thurs.), so hopefully she won't still be sick and i can get this taken care of. the hair in front is constantly weighed down and it's driving me crazy.

my new ficcare came on monday, just in time to pull up my flat, limp hair! i got the ficcare maximas in tortoiseshell, and it's lovely. i cannot believe the hold. i could pull all of my hair up and it kept it in place. awesome. ficcare had a fall sale and sent me the promo code, so i got this one--it pretty much paid for the shipping. next time they do a promotion i'll get an innovation clip--those are sexy.

my hair was much better on tuesday--once i washed it had lift again. a little flatter today, but not by much, and it's expected on no wash days. i keep telling myself that what i took for volume before was actually frizz, and i'm a lot less frizzy now.

hopefully i'll get my fringe tomorrow night. there will be photos, oh yes there will.

3 days no wash, and tomorrow's the day

2008-12-01T11:26:00.004-06:00

so lately rather than go two days in between washes, i've been going for three. it wasn't entirely intentional. a couple of times now when day 3 rolled around i just didn't feel like washing, so i didn't. it still looked okay, not as okay as the day before, but okay. not so much today--it's super flat. it still feels soft and the frizz is mostly under control, but it's flat. i guess once i get a certain amount of oil in it, it starts to weigh it down. however, i did spend a great deal of yesterday in dry plane air, and that always seems to do weird things to my hair.

i'd really rather go to three days between washes if possible. that way i'm only washing my hair two days a week at most. the only thing that's a little bothersome is the amount of shedding. i seem to do a major shed when i wash, and i seem to lose progressively more hair towards the end of my three no wash days. i doubt it's anything to worry about, but it's annoying to have to clean up all of that hair. i bet most of it is just that when i washed daily, i'd shed quite a bit, so i wouldn't notice as much for the rest of the day. then the next day i'd wash again and repeat the cycle. i think one of the next things i'll do is some research about shedding and what i might be able to do to cut down on it. it may be that this is just the normal amount of shedding for me and that there's nothing i can do about it, but it's worth looking into.

and also, tomorrow is the day i get my fringe. i'm nervous and on the verge of chickening out, but i'll probably end up doing it. i'm thinking (hoping) that it will make me look and feel better. wish me luck.

so far, so good

2008-11-21T11:43:00.003-06:00

been sticking to the new routine all week and my hair continues to feel really soft and smooth. today i used a little less of the defrizz--i did one pass of plain distilled water and then one with defrizz spray. used a little jojoba as well. my hair feels pretty good. it's obviously still a little freaked out from the new schedule--it's still doing a little of its typical unruly flailing, but it looks good. it needs brushing with a BBB once it's dry so it doesn't look too separated, but i do that gently and it distributes the oil real well.

so it's set in stone. i've got an appointment to get fringe cut around my face on december 2nd. i'm a little freaked out about it, but i really think it'll make my hair look better since the hair by my face won't be dragged down with so much weight. i need some "height" up front to look good, and my stylist is going to leave the rest of my length alone. crossing my fingers that it will look good. i'll post a picture.

man, i'm posting a lot. i guess it's a good thing to do though, since i'm finally moving toward a solution to my dryness issues. keeping a record helps me recognize patterns sometimes, so it's helpful.

new wash schedule, redux

2008-11-20T14:48:00.002-06:00

just a post with my adjusted wash schedule, for my own documentation purposes:

day 1 - CWC, oil as a leave-in when wet and before bed
day 2 - no wash, wetting down with distilled water and defrizz spray, oil on damp hair and before bed.
day 3 - no wash, wetting down with distilled water and defrizz spray, oil on damp hair and before bed.

back to CWC after day 3.

in which i again gush about kimberlilly's defrizz spray

2008-11-20T14:44:00.003-06:00

this is unreal. my hair feels so soft and silky today--i don't even remember the last time it felt like this. today was even a CWC day, and lately the day of a wash is my driest, frizziest day. it's totally the defrizz spray coupled with the oiling. yesterday my length felt just slightly greasy to the touch. not disgusting greasy, mind you, just moisturized greasy. i oiled last night before bed as usual, so i think i'd had enough time to build up a nice layer of oil made up of my natural hair oils and the jojoba oil. as a result, my hair doesn't feel totally stripped today. i'm beyond impressed.

i feel like i need to adjust the amount of defrizz spray though, mainly because i don't want to go through it so fast it starts becoming cost prohibitive. i got another spray bottle last night that i filled with distilled water, so i may try wetting my hair down with one pass of plain distilled water and then doing one pass with the defrizz. i may have overdone it just a bit over the past two days, hence the greasy feel. a little less will probably still do the same wonders along with my usual morning and evening oilings. no more water washes for me if i can help it--they just stripped the hell out of my hair. giving it two days of no washing gives the natural oil some time to travel down the hair shaft. i was a bit greasy at the crown yesterday, but not to the point that it was sectioning off. my scalp will adjust eventually, and maybe then i can wash a bit less.

bring on the fringe

2008-11-19T12:10:00.004-06:00

so i made the call today. i left a message for the stylist in the area that i really liked. i'm going to get some fringe cut around my face--some sort-of "bangs" that fall to about cheekbone level. in short, my hair is driving me nuts and i think getting shorter layers just by my face is going to help. once the stylist calls me back i'll tell her exactly what i want, which shouldn't be a problem since she's a great listener.

i'm still loving the defrizz spray, but MAN does my hair seem flatter than usual. maybe it's just the weight of it since it's getting so long, or maybe the defrizz spray is finally taming the frizz i usually deal with so it just seems flatter. i don't know though, it's still way too unruly and the curls are too undefined for my liking. i'm just hoping that getting the fringe will add a little "height" and make me feel better.

it's probably just my damn layers being a pain in the ass again. i hate them. this is why, a long time ago, i said "never again." i got talked into them because at a certain length, layers do make my hair look a lot better. but now that my hair is finally getting long, they make my life hell.

i'm mildly freaked out by what i'm planning to do, but i think i'll like it much better once it's done. EEK.

kimberlilly's defrizz spray OMG

2008-11-18T10:55:00.004-06:00

so i made this last night. bought a little bottle of aloe vera juice at whole foods, came home, and mixed the stuff. i used some last night along with my usual nightly jojoba oil. used it again this morning to mist my hair along with more jojoba since it's a no wash day. my hair looks and feels so much better. it's soft and shiny, and there's a huge reduction in frizz. it still feels a bit dry to me but i probably just need to use it a few more days.

i do need to find a cheaper source for aloe vera. the brand i bought was aubrey organics, and while it's good stuff it was $9 for a 4 oz bottle. i'd like to find a larger quantity for less. i'm wondering if the food-grade supplements would be cheaper. mostly i just don't want to buy aloe vera gel that has any kind of alcohol in it. that just defeats the purpose since i'm trying to fight my dryness problem, and alcohol will dry the hell out of my hair.

still, i'm really pleased. let's hope this lasts. i often seem to find something that works temporarily but then it's back to the same old, same old. i have the feeling this stuff will work, though--it got glowing reviews on LHC.

i'm going to crumble to dust

2008-11-17T16:46:00.003-06:00

seriously. someone flipped the winter switch and now it's COLD. that's not saying much in houston. i mean, it's 70 degrees out there right now, but in the 40s or 50s at night. that probably doesn't seem cold if you live in the northeast like i used to, but when you're used to tropical temperatures you start to get spoiled. plus the air is DRY DRY DRY. i took a plane trip over the weekend, and the stale, dry plane air yesterday almost killed me. my hair felt horrible during and after the trip. i got home, misted, oiled and braided. this morning wound up being a wash day, and my hair felt REALLY awful for part of the day. just. . . dry and flat. my lips were dry and peel-y too and i used a whole bunch of bag balm that didn't seem to do anything but seal in the dryness. i started drinking a ton of water around lunch time, and that seems to have helped with both my hair and lips. time to make sure i mist, oil and braid every night when i get home from working out, with heavy oilings the night before CWC day. and drink water. hard to believe my water intake may need to be even greater in winter than it is in summer.

this is a dangerous time of year for me because the dryness and flatness makes me want to cut. but HELL NO, i'm going to stick to my guns this time. hopefully oiling and misting more will help. i was hoping i wouldn't have to vary my routine for winter, but i guess even those of us in tropical climates have to do that. not sure how it's going to end up working for me over the next few months, but you live and you learn.

i don't know what i'm whining about. it's not going to stay like this anyway. november in houston seems to have a few cold blasts and then it's not too bad at all for the rest of the "winter." hopefully. . .

more frizz annoyances (it never ends)

2008-11-12T17:02:00.004-06:00

did a water wash and used my leave-in today, and man was it dry and frizzy. not to mention gunky-feeling, and i can't tell if it's either 1) my imagination 2) too much oil last night or 3) my hair hates the amlika leave-in now. hell, maybe water washes aren't a good thing anymore. maybe i'm just stripping all the good stuff out of my hair rather than getting the oils moving. it certainly seems to do better on my no wash days.

last week, though, i did a water wash and didn't scritch my scalp. the oils stayed in my hair and worked their way down a bit. felt a little greasy but it didn't show, and my hair wasn't real dry or frizzy.

i'm thinking maybe i should try to following things on what would normally be my water only days:

1) try two no wash days between CWC days, misting and a little oil instead
2) use very diluted conditioner in the shower in place of the leave-in on WO days

i just hate that my hair looks so damn fuzzy in all my pictures. i want it to look smooth and glossy, and just don't know how to get it there. i really need to get the stuff to make that defrizz spray. . .

november hair photo

2008-11-10T22:25:00.005-06:00

hubby took a new photo for me tonight. here it is next to the one from september:

my hair looks sort of fuzzy and weird tonight, probably because it's raining for the first time in weeks so the moisture is making my hair curl up. i still don't feel like i'm at APL yet, but i'll definitely be there in the next couple of months. i think i might post this to LHC and see if anyone thinks i'm really at APL yet--i feel like i need the unbiased opinions of some other longhairs.

what's encouraging is looking at my first photo. i'm wearing the same black tank top in the first photo as i am in the most recent one. it's really grown a lot since june.

LHC, i love you

2008-11-10T11:28:00.005-06:00

so i posted about my dryness issue on LHC and got lots of good responses:
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=15069

so i have a few ideas now, and once i've had a chance to read the responses over again and decide what to try, i'll start a few small experiments to see what might help the dryness issue on my wash days (and let's not forget my ongoing frizz problem). it sounds like it might be as simple as just oiling after washing on CWC day.

in one response, someone mentioned kimberlily's defrizz spray. i was having trouble find a recipe, so i posted to the recipe board. once again, LHC to the rescue!
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=15179

i think i'm going to try that. i usually just use water to mist, distilled or tap, but this will be a nice thing to use on non-wash days.

i love LHC, seriously. everyone is so friendly and helpful and full of great advice.

in other news, i tried the lush new! bar this morning, and i'm in love! my head feels super clean, my roots don't feel dried out and they even have some lift! i was worried the cinnamon smell would be overpowering (i could always smell the godiva bar scent after my hair dried and if i was sweating). but not so much--it smelled really nice in the shower, but the smell washed out. i made my hubby smell my head afterwards and he said he couldn't smell it at all. :) we'll see if that changes after a sweaty workout, but i'm pretty pleased with that. i don't want to jump the gun, but man, the difference no SLS makes!

damn you, dryness!

2008-11-06T10:57:00.004-06:00

well, it's not THAT bad. it's weird actually. here's the thing--i used to wash my hair every single solitary day. i thought it looked bad if i didn't. now i can see that in reality it didn't look so good because i was washing it so much. DUH. i would strip the hell out of my hair, it would be dry and unruly, so i'd think i'd need to wash it again, which i'd do, which would strip and dry it, and on and on. now it looks a lot better on the days i don't wash it at all or only use only water.

so now it's bothering me that it seems dry and frizzy and doesn't lay right on the days that i do CWC. i'm still using suave tropical coconut, and i have two days now in between CWC. so maybe the conditioner isn't agreeing with my hair, or i need to cut down to as few as one CWC day a week. the shampoo bar i'm using up (lush godiva) does have SLS but i'm soon going to be done with it and will start using the new! bar (no SLS). i don't think it's the shampoo bar, though, since it's mainly my length that seems dry, not my scalp, and i do keep shampoo as far from my length as i can. it may be that i need to apply a little oil to my hair right after washing on CWC days. i do that on days that i only mist and it seems to look pretty good.

i think i'm going to take this issue to LHC, just to see if anyone has dealt with this and if they have any suggestions. if i need to switch to a different conditioner they may have some ideas of something i could use.

bangs?

2008-11-03T13:04:00.004-06:00

so yeah, for a while now i've been thinking of getting some long bangs cut. i hate to even use the word "bangs" as it's really just that i want some long fringe next to my face. i just think it would open up my face a bit. and take away some of what i perceive as the hair being weighed down around my face. "bangs" in my mind means cut straight across the forehead, which looks HORRIBLE on me. so if i do this i'm probably going to tell the stylist what "bangs" means to me and tell her that it's not what I want, that i really want a short layer right by my face. yeah, i know, it really means the same thing, but if i give her a length estimate (somewhere between my cheekbones and my chin), i think she'll know what i'm aiming for.

i'm not going to do this for a while though, probably not until i'm ready to cut my bottom layer or the hair by my face is just driving me batshit (whichever comes first). i swear, once my layers are evened out, i'm investing in a pair of scissors and learning to trim my own damn hair. i know i've got a link saved to my delicious account for a trimming method that looked pretty easy. and trimming my future quasi-bangs shouldn't be hard.

so far, so good on my new wash schedule. it feels kind of dry and weird sometimes, but that's par for the course with my hair. i'm thinking it's just not used to getting one less conditioning a week yet. it's saying, "hey, where's the conditioner? i must have conditioner!" sorry hair, you'll have to get used to this. you need a few days a week without being soaked.

i'm still not sure what the optimum wash schedule would be. i'm trying to do something about my dryness issues, and i think cutting down on washes will help/is helping. there's only so much a wurly can do about dryness, i guess. i'm just worrying my hair won't get enough moisture this way either. i have been misting and using a little oil in the morning on non-wash days and using my leave-in on WO days, so i'm hoping that's enough for now.

eventually i'd like to cut down on full washes even more, so maybe if i had three days between washes i could just use some really diluted conditioner as a rinse one day to keep me going. i think i'll see how this schedule goes for a while first. i can tell it's going to get easier to stretch washes out once my oil production adjusts. the good thing about water-only washes is that it seems like i don't strip everything off my scalp, which is good. natural oil is the best thing for dry hair anyway.

anyway, i'm rambling. back to work.

more on the new wash schedule

2008-10-30T12:12:00.005-05:00

well, not that much. i did CWC yesterday, and since last night was my spin class, i did a water wash and leave-in this morning. tomorrow i'm going to try not washing at all, just misting and combing to freshen up from having my head on a pillow all night. i'll bring some hair clips to work in case it looks awful. guess we'll see what happens.

i wouldn't say i'm fighting the urge to cut right now, but i'm impatient as hell to have my hair grow out to a length where i can cut my bottom layer. the longest layer is just so whispy and strand-y because there's not much of it. if i could cut it to match the next one up it would look better in terms of my hemline, but then i'd be back to shoulder length. HELL NO. not only would i have triangle-head, i'd be setting myself back. it's driving. me. crazy. but i refuse to do any serious cutting until my "middle" layer is to at least APL, maybe BSL if i can stand it that long. it may be that once my longest layer is solidly at BSL i'll feel comfortable with getting an inch cut off of it and a dusting trim on the other layers. in reality, i know my hair looks pretty okay the way it is. i'm forcing myself to wait until early may since that will be the year mark from my last haircut. i'll see how i feel then. i know my hair looks good with some layers, but how that's going to work with long hair, i just don't know yet.

you know what's odd? i feel like my hair looks better today than it did yesterday, and i usually feel like my hair looks best after CWC! my hair is just far too unpredictable for my taste. maybe less wash days are a good idea after all, though i don't want to speak too soon.

new wash schedule?

2008-10-28T09:37:00.004-05:00

i haven't had much to report lately, mainly because i was in california for a conference for a week. while i was there i experimented with not washing and just wearing my hair pulled back every other day. i still hate the way my hair looks when i pull it up--too many flyways, but i feel like it was good to stretch out washes. i'm staying with it this week, though i'm wearing it down. i did a deep condition with hask henna n' placenta treatment on sunday. yesterday i didn't wash it, i just misted it in the morning to combat bedhead and combed it out. it felt pretty good all day and looked nice. today i did a water only wash and used my leave in. tomorrow i'll start the process again with CWC.

my only worry is my workouts. it is getting a bit cooler so i don't think i'm sweating as much even in a climate-controlled space, but when my heaviest workout (spinning) occurs on a CWC day i'm concerned my hair will be nasty on the next day when i don't wash. it may be when that happens i'll have to have a stricter schedule--some kind of wash the morning after a heavy workout, but restricting CWC to certain days.

i think i'm getting better at my nightly oilings. i'm pretty sure i was using too much oil for a while there and that it was weighing my hair down. i use a lot less now, and it seems to make my hair happy and not pull it down or make it feel gunky.

i'm using up the rest of my lush godiva shampoo bar, so i can start using the new! bar. no SLS in that one, and a friend of mine says i will love it. i'm kind of tempted to try the all natural chagrin valley bars that everyone talks about on LHC--maybe the honey, beer and egg bar. you can get a smaller sample bar to start, so maybe i'll try one sometime.

frizz update

2008-10-13T12:02:00.003-05:00

okay, so the frizz is under control for the most part, but my hair feels sorta weird today. i applied oil a few more times before i went to bed last night, and i braided to keep it contained. i thought about doing CWC this morning but decided against it and just did a water wash and cold water blast at the end. it's a little strand-y and feels a bit coarse, but the coarseness could be my imagination (i NEVER feel like my hair is as soft as i'd like, and i probably just need to accept the fact that i've got coarse hair). perhaps after tomorrow's CWC it'll feel better.

it's been pretty dry around here lately, especially for houston. i don't know how my hair could dry out--i've been misting the hell out of it and using the jojoba oil each night. eh, occasionally we all have hair drama, i guess.

FRIZZ . . . and other stuff

2008-10-12T18:31:00.006-05:00

ACK. FRIZZ.

my hair has been REALLY frizzy the past couple of days. i can't for the life of me figure out why. i did a V05 hot oil treatment today to see if it helped, but it didn't seem to do too much. just a little while ago i misted the hell out of it and applied some jojoba oil. that seemed to help a bit. i'll definitely apply more tonight.

the satin pillowcase is rather nice. my head just slides across it and it doesn't pull on my hair like the ones i used before. i really need to quit being so lazy and braid my hair before bed. that really cuts down on the amount of tangling my hair has to deal with from being between my head and the pillow. not that i get much tangling to begin with, but braiding takes it down to nothing.

i put some pictures up in a photo album on LHC. comparing the pictures has gotten it into my head that YES it is growing. the other night i wore the black tank top i was wearing in my 6/29 picture--my hair is now brushing the top of it in the back, whereas it was a few inches above it in the picture. hair don't fail me now!

this is getting bad

2008-10-02T14:35:00.002-05:00

i guess i just have to admit to myself that i'm obsessed with my hair.

i bought a satin pillowcase through amazon.com.

the highlight of my week is that it should arrive at my work via UPS tomorrow.

new hair photo

2008-10-01T23:34:00.008-05:00

last month's and this month's photos, for comparison:

eh, your guess is as good as mine. i guess it's a bit longer. or maybe i'm dreaming. it's easier to tell if you compare photos that are a couple of months apart:

it's certainly looking healthier every month.

back to normal?

2008-10-01T10:55:00.003-05:00

MUCH less hair loss when i washed this morning. i guess i'm mostly out of the woods with the nasty hair episodes i've been having due to disaster stress.

i'm really liking the suave tropical coconut conditioner. the smell is nice, and my hair is much more manageable when using it. let's hope it lasts.

i'm rethinking the three day wash cycle i posted about the other day. i might start by doing water washes the second and third day and see how i do with that first. i just don't have the guts to go as far as not letting water touch my hair for a day yet. don't know why, but i think i'll be better off if i work my way up to it so i don't shock my hair too badly.

more hair stress

2008-09-30T11:12:00.004-05:00

i hit my breaking point last week. my husband was still out of town, i didn't feel safe in the house, and then the power went out across the street. while we still had electricity in the house, the neighborhood was dark and creepy and it knocked out the phone and internet in my house. i just. . . couldn't take anymore. i called a friend in austin and she told me to come out for the weekend. so i went. i needed a break so badly, and now that i'm back and my husband is at home, i feel 10 times better. getting to work out for the first time in two weeks helped too.

on thursday, the day i drove to austin, my hair felt awful. it was extremely strawlike and brittle-feeling. i was too tired to do anything about it, so i just went to sleep that night. the next morning i conditioned the hell out of it with suave tropical coconut conditioner. once it dried it felt much better. on the other days i just did water washes and used leave-in and jojoba on it and it seemed to regain some moisture. now it's back to (mostly) normal. i think i'm still losing a bit more hair than usual, but it still looks as thick as ever, so i'm not worried.

it was almost as if the stress just leeched the protein and/or moisture out of my hair. i don't know if this is the case, but i think i might post on LHC to see if anyone else has experienced this. i'm going to be giving my hair some extra TLC for a while here until i feel like it's really back to normal.

3-day wash cycle?

2008-09-24T14:47:00.002-05:00

i'm toying with this as a possible hair routine.

three day cycle of CWC and WO:
day 1 - CWC, misting at night
day 2 - No washing, misting in the morning, oiling at night
day 3 - WO, leave-in conditioner, oiling at night

the cycle would start again with CWC the day after. this way i would only be using shampoo two or three days a week. the only issue i really have with a non-washing day is that i work out so much i'm concerned my hair would be really nasty. i guess misting and brushing could help after a workout. i suppose this is also where pulling it back comes in, but i still feel like my hair is too short to be held back without a million flyaways making me look horrible. just an idea i'm toying with, and part of my plan to cut down on my washes. i guess once my health club has power and i can work out again, i could try this for a week or two and see how it goes. if my hair is just too gross on non-washing days and i'm just not happy with the updos i come up with, i could just go back to the old routine.

things are going a bit better hair-wise. still having some loss, but i'm not really convinced it's any more than i used to lose during a non-stressful period. it doesn't seem to have made a difference in the circumference of my ponytail, so i'm not going to worry about it.

i have a lot of shampoo left to use up. i still have half a bottle of V05 pomegranate and grapeseed, plus the remains of my lush godiva bar and a whole lush new! bar. maybe after that i'll try CO to see if i like it. i'd kind of like to try the kiss my face whenever shampoo after that, just to see if getting rid of any and all sulfates will be the answer. i need to keep some kind of shampoo around since hubs uses it, but luckily he doesn't really care which one he uses. i feel like i'm going to still want to use some kind of shampoo, but it could be i won't miss it once i try CO. all depends on how my hair likes it, i suppose.

hair stress, V05 hot oil treatment

2008-09-22T17:24:00.004-05:00

what a week. i live in houston, so we were right in the path of hurricane ike. not only that, my husband has had to go on two business trips (he's on one now). i know that i'm lucky--we didn't have any trees fall on our house and our windows didn't break, plus we got electricity back in only a couple of days (some people in my neighborhood STILL don't have it). but honestly, i've never been so scared in my life as i was during that storm. the wind was so loud and every time a gust blew against our windows i thought they were going to explode. plus when it was so hot in the house it was nearly impossible to sleep, so i was sleep deprived on top of it. i was really stressed out about my husband going away after all of that, and once i was back at work all i did was compile hurricane relief information to put on the library's website. i just . . . hit my saturation point.

my hair hasn't been taking it too well. it's been unmanageable and dry and it has been falling out like crazy. i've been off my usual routine quite a bit and was doing CWC more than usual (washing my hair was soothing, even though i know doing it that often isn't all that great for it). i also haven't been keeping up with my oiling as much. i did a V05 hot oil treatment yesterday, though, and it seemed to like it. it's feeling softer and more like it usually does when it's happy. i need to get back to taking more care with taking my vitamins, drinking water and exercising. my routine has been pretty much shot ever since the storm.

the V05 was nice and pretty easy to apply, though it was too hot at first and i had to let it cool a bit so i wouldn't burn my fingers. i have one more tube left that i'll probably use in a week or two. i think i'll stick to the henna n' placenta treatment after that.

henna n' placenta

2008-09-07T23:54:00.002-05:00

just a quick post as i wind down before bed (another work week awaits, GAH). i deep conditioned with the hask henna n' placenta today. i hadn't shampooed my hair since thursday and i didn't wash my hair on saturday. i went hiking today (sunday) so i didn't wash until i got back. i needed to shampoo down to my ends because i got insect repellent in my hair (trying to avoid ticks and mosquitos, don't ya know). so i did that first as per the directions on the packet. got out of the shower, towel dried, and applied the entire contents of the packet to my hair. put a shower cap over it and wrapped a warm towel around my head. kept it like that for 10 minutes, at which point i washed all of it out and finished with a blast of cool water.

the result? OH MY GOD. i remember saying i had tried this in high school but couldn't really remember how it turned out. how could i forget results like this?! my hair turned out unbelievably soft and shiny. it was so much more manageable, not wild at all, and the curls and waves looked beautifully defined. there was still a little frizz, but that's just my hair, i suppose. i may have to use this treatment once every couple of weeks. and at around a dollar a packet, it's doable. i still have the box of V05 hot oil treatment to try, though. . .

tonight i oiled my hair and braided it so i could keep in all that lovely moisture the henna n' placenta put in it. tomorrow, WO and amlika leave-in.

back to normal (i hope)

2008-09-05T10:48:00.005-05:00

doing even better today. when i got home last night i misted my hair, bunned and put it under a bandanna before going to work out. my hair was still damp when i got home. i let it dry and it felt much softer. i applied jojoba oil from the ears down and braided before bed. today was a WO day and i applied a bit less leave-in than i had been, just in case that was overwhelming my hair. it's looking better now that it has dried and is feeling relatively soft (not as soft as i'd like, but when is it ever?).

i tried the method mentioned in this article this morning:
making washes more cleansing

hopefully that helped with the oil production. it seems less greasy at the scalp than it did on wednesday, so maybe it worked. i'll try that again tomorrow since it's a wash day. i REALLY want to get to the point where i don't even get my hair wet some days, but that's not happening until my hair is long enough that i can pull it all back without a million flyways getting in my face. the method in the article will be really useful when i can finally get to that point.

progress photo for september

2008-09-04T22:25:00.009-05:00

yup, there's definitely been a change:

granted, my hair is less curly in the most recent photo, but i don't think it's by too much. it's growing. slowly, but it's growing, and i'm flirting with APL.

a few insights (i'm bored at work)

2008-09-04T13:22:00.000-05:00

now that some time has passed, i have a few insights. i think i need to apply my jojoba oil a bit differently. the last few inches of hair just plain feel drier than the rest. that's why it feels coarse and looks frizzy.

just call me captain obvious.

so yeah, i guess i'll be focusing my misting and oiling at the last three or four inches of hair. i'll just brush the hair oils through, mist, let dry to damp and then apply oil from the ears down. the rest of my hair just doesn't need it that badly.

my BBB may need cleaning, too. it sits around and probably collects a certain amount of dust, which will stick to it since i do use it to brush oils through my hair. i read online that you can just wash a BBB with some shampoo, rinse well, and let air dry. i'll do that tonight once i'm done with my oiling.

better today

2008-09-04T10:32:00.002-05:00

my hair feels a lot better today. i misted the hell out of it and applied a little oil before going to work out last night, kept it under a bandanna/pulled back with a scrunchie during the workout. brushed the natural oils and previously applied jojoba through, misted again and braided before bed. today is a wash day, so i did my usual CWC. i finished off the wash with a blast of cold water, though i don't really know that it did much for the frizz. usually it takes a day or two for me to notice a change when i try something, so maybe if i keep up the cold water thing it'll help. anyway, it does feel better today. i got my scalp good and clean this morning and i'm not having a lot of hair loss like yesterday. it still looks strand-y and a bit frizzy, but it's laying better. i'm not entirely happy with it, but it'll do.

ugh. i don't know what i could have done to make it freak out so badly yesterday. it may not have been me, though. lots of weird stuff happens to me physically and emotionally just before my period. maybe this weekend i'll do a heavy conditioning with the hask henna n' placenta i've had lying around or try the V05 hot oil treatment. i'm leary of doing anything unusual when my hair's not happy, but perhaps it couldn't hurt.

i don't understand the "strandiness." why does my hair separate so badly, especially at the bottom? i think it has to do with these damn layers, which i am DYING to even out. i don't dare cut until i'm truly at BSL though, and that's a long way off. sigh.

yucky hair day!

2008-09-03T14:29:00.004-05:00

my hair is staging a revolt today--yuck! my scalp is super greasy and my hair feels really coarse and looks all strand-y and frizzy. i'm losing a lot of hairs too, but that's happened before when my hair has been like this. it is probably from the incessant combing i've been doing in a desperate attempt to make it look a little better. bad, bad zen!

i can't think what could have brought this on. i'm about to have my period, and i'm wondering if i overdid it with the oiling last night. today was a water-only day, and my hair doesn't always look its best on those. it's usually not this bothersome though. i did try a new gym yesterday and got in a pretty heavy workout that got me really sweating (including my scalp). that could have jacked up my oil production, i suppose. and i've been eating more protein lately, so maybe it's making my hair freak out. GAH. no idea.

i guess it's not too bad. it doesn't look overly horrible--anyone who is not me probably wouldn't notice unless i pointed it out. but still, GROSS. i'm doing a spin class today, so i'll just mist it and put it under a bandanna before that. another mist/oiling tonight. it'll be better after i wash tomorrow.

back from vegas

2008-08-25T20:54:00.004-05:00

vegas was awesome, but DRY DRY DRY. i don't think i was fully prepared for that level of dryness. the heat didn't bother me even though it was 107 every day. in dry heat, sweat works the way it's supposed to and you cool off a bit. novel, huh? my skin actually liked it--my skin cleared up. my hair, however, was another story.

it didn't actually do as badly as i feared, but still, it was dry and felt somewhat straw-like during most of the trip. misting really helped. my hair just sucked up every bit of moisture i gave it. i didn't do so well with remembering to oil it, though--we were just too busy running around all day and by the time we got to our hotel room it was late at night and i was able to do nothing but collapse into bed. now that we're back i'm oiling it and misting a lot. i may do the misting thing before oiling from now on--mist and let it dry, then apply the jojoba oil.

one thing i got to do while in vegas was visit the lush store in mandalay bay! i bought a bar of new! and a couple bath bombs. they had big huge blocks of jungle (conditioner) and trichomania (shampoo bar) that they slice up to sell. kinda cool. i considered also buying a bar of karma komba shampoo but decided i was already violating my 'no product purchases for a month' rule. BAH. i was on vacation so i decided one shampoo bar didn't count.

i found a scabby spot on the back of my head the other day. gross. not sure how i got that as my scalp has seemed really clean and healthy lately and i don't recall scratching my head. weird.

it's almost time for another progress photo. yikes!

my mini-ficcares came!

2008-08-20T20:39:00.002-05:00

i ordered them last friday and they came by UPS today! my GOD, for hair clips with no teeth the hold is incredible! they are teeny, but they hold big chunks of my insanely thick hair! i need to practice with them, though, because i kept getting a hair or two caught in the hinge when i took them out (YIKES!). but still, they are lovely and have incredible hold. they will be really helpful during this growing out journey--my layers are so odd right now and this will help disguise them until they are long enough for an updo or can be evened out. YAY!

i got the tortoiseshell ones: http://www.ficcare.com/Products.aspx?collId=13

a word on dimethicone

2008-08-14T19:19:00.005-05:00

hooray! i just found out that the one cone that's in my leave in conditioner isn't such a bad thing. it's dimethicone copolyol, which is water soluble! meaning it just washes out the next day when i wash my hair. most excellent.

i'm not so sure my hair hates cones all that much anyway. i'm still going to avoid the non-water soluble ones though--don't want to leave a bunch of crap to build up on my hair. i think some of my previous dryness issues probably came from shampooing my ends with sulfate shampoo every single freakin' day. not doing that anymore.

the jury's still out on whether i'll start doing CO in a month or two, but i've been considering it. at this point i sincerely doubt i really need to use shampoo. the amount of scalp oiliness i experience varies so much. the other day on a water-only day my scalp was pretty oily, but today, another WO day, it's hardly oily at all. very odd. a little oiliness really doesn't bother me that much. i usually take advantage of it by brushing the oils from my roots to the hair shafts, applying jojobo oil to the ends and then bunning.

but yeah, i might start CO one of these days. either that or start using one of the kiss my face shampoos (sulfate free). suck it, dryness! you cannot defeat me!

bye bye jungle

2008-08-11T23:00:00.002-05:00

you know, i'm really not as enchanted with the lush jungle conditioner bar as i once was. i like the smell, but it seems to leave my hair dry and "stripped" feeling, as well as weigh it down. plus despite my efforts to keep it from melting, it's nearly gone while i've still got lots of the shampoo bar left. i guess i won't be buying it anymore. i'll use it up, but i'll probably need to use leave-in when i do use it.

i still plan to try some more lush shampoo bars though, namely new! and probably seanik. no SLS in those. but again, no product purchases until i've stuck to my current routine for at least a month.

LHC hair survey

2008-08-10T23:25:00.002-05:00

LHC name: zen_oven

Current hair length: A few inches past shoulders

Goal hair length: BSL and then waist

When did you start growing your hair? I guess about May? I had my last haircut around then was when I decided to let it grow.

What is your average monthly growth rate? No idea, but looking at my comparison photographs it seems to be about an inch. If that's true, I guess I'm pretty lucky.

Do you trim your hair, if so how often? I'm not sure about trimming just yet. I don't plan to trim until I hit BSL, and that's when I'll start getting these damn layers evened up.

What supplements do you take? A multivitamin for women and Omega-3. I might take MSM since it's supposed to be good for hair and joints.

Do you eat any special foods for hair growth/nutrition etc? Not really. Though I really should look at improving my nutrition.

Do you do scalp massages? Yes, when I wash.

What is your favourite shampoo? Don't know that I really have a favorite, though I'm loving my Lush Godiva shampoo bar. I do like the V05 Pomegranate and Grapeseed I've been using too.

What is your favourite conditioner? Again with the V05. I'm going to try the Suave Naturals coconut next.

Favourite leave-in conditioner? Again, don't know that I'd call this a favorite since I just used leave-in for the first time a couple weeks ago, but I like the body shop Amlika Leave-in I've been using. Gonna try something cone-free next time.

Favourite deep conditioner or treatment? Haven't tried one yet. I've got V05 Hot Oil and Hask Henna 'n Placenta waiting for me, so I'll try those at some point.

What are your favourite basic oils? Jojoba and sweet almond. Haven't tried sweet almond on my hair yet, but the jojoba is working wonders!

What are your favourite essential oils? Tea tree and lavender, but I haven't tried them on my hair yet.

What is your favourite product of all time? Don't really have one yet.

What is your least favourite product of all time? Again, don't really have one.

Is there anything you would never put on your hair? (-cones/quats etc) Chemical dyes. I've done it before but I will not do it again.

What do you like most about your hair? Thickness! And most of the time I love my mixture of waves and spirals.

What do you like least about your hair? It's just too wild, though the care I've been taking with it seems to have helped with that.

Do you colour your hair? Nope.

Do you clarify? I haven't tried it yet but I probably will try to do that once a month.

How often do you wash your hair? Every other day, with water only in between. Hoping to start easing off of washing so much once my hair gets long enough to do nicer-looking buns than what I can achieve now.

How long does it take to dry? A couple of hours.

Do you prefer you hair up or down? I like it both ways, but most of the time I like to wear it loose.

What is your favourite updo? Double buns, which I call "happy hair." The higher on your head they are, they happier you are.

Bangs or no bangs? No bangs currently. I don't look all that good with them, though at some point I may have a stylist cut some long ones to frame my face.

Whose hair at LHC do you aspire to? Dianya's. I don't know that I'll grow my hair to terminal length like hers, but her hair is lovely and it inspires me to keep going.

Do you keep a hair journal? Yup. It's pretty helpful.

How many hairtoys do you own? Only a couple sets of hair sticks from when my hair was longer, a claw clip or two. I'm hanging on to them for when my hair is back to a workable length.

What is your favourite hairtoy? Don't have one yet, though I think I'm going to love Ketylo hair sticks.

Brush or comb? Both. I mostly comb, but use a BBB to distribute oils.

Do you use hot styling aids on your hair irons/blowdryer etc? No way. I've always hated those.

Do you make/sell any hair care products? No, but I appreciate those who do.

What is the last hair-related thing that you bought? A misting bottle to use in Vegas.

What’s your favourite kind of cheese? Laughing Cow Swiss. I love that stuff.

Share a funny/inspiring/shocking hair story if you have one: I can't really think of anything in particular. Though once I did use Sun-In on my dark hair--it turned it orange. And I got a BAD hair cut when I was ten. It looked like someone stuck a bowl on my head and just cut what was sticking out. GAK. It was hideous.

bunnage! sort of. . .

2008-08-10T19:12:00.007-05:00

i was able to pull my hair back today, which i haven't done in . . . forever. i don't think it looks all that great from the front as i get lots of flyways and i can't seem to make any really decent-looking tendrils to frame my face, but i was able to pull it all back with a scrunchie. i didn't wash my hair today and just used jojoba oil on it before i pulled it up. here's a picture:

slowly but surely. . .

2008-08-04T21:06:00.006-05:00

got hubs to take another hair photo tonight. it didn't seem like anything was happening, but it looks like it's growing. not much change, but a little. here's the photo from the end of june next to the one i took tonight:

jojoba oil

2008-08-03T16:27:00.002-05:00

got some jojoba oil today at whole foods. tried it when i got home. used just a couple of drops, rubbed it between my palms and ran my hands through my hair. i think i got a little too much in one spot up front because there are some strands that keep sectioning off, but so far, so good. i think i'll do this every night before bed and see what it looks like in a couple of weeks. trying to get my poor hair ready for the vegas trip.

and now, i swear to god, no more product purchases for at least a month! i need to give my hair time to respond to the new routine. i haven't gone crazy with changes or anything, but it's time to maintain the status quo for a bit.

for organizational purposes

2008-08-01T20:49:00.004-05:00

some links to LHC articles, just for my own organizational purposes. mostly methods i'd like to try/have tried:

conditioner only washes - TLHC style

to cone or not to cone

vinegar rinses

heidi w.'s oiling tutorial

C-COW-C: a fusion wash method

product-related:

sulfate-free shampoo list

cone-free conditioner list

and here's an article with a lot of the acronyms you see floating around on LHC:

LCH terms and abbreviations

CWC done properly. . .

2008-08-01T19:41:00.000-05:00

did it this morning using the lush shampoo/conditioner bars. not much change yet but i expected that. we'll see if it gets softer after a couple of weeks.

CWC, my care regimine, 'cones and sulfates

2008-07-30T21:09:00.009-05:00

i just realized i've been leaving out what may be a pretty important part of the CWC method. i've been washing the first application of conditioner out before shampooing my scalp. the first application is supposed to keep the shampoo from getting to the length.

der.

so yeah, i'll start doing that next time i CWC. tomorrow's a non-washing day. that said, i guess i'll document my current regimine (well, what i plan to do, i've been doing stuff a bit haphazardly lately):

CWC every other day - lush godiva shampoo bar/jungle conditioner bar or V05 S&C*
water wash every other day - towel dry, then put on body shop amlika leave-in
combing with wide tooth wooden comb - after washing and as needed to maintain (no more than once or twice each day)
light brushing at night with boar bristle brush - roots to ends

*like i said earlier, the lush bars leave behind a pretty strong scent, so i'd rather not use those the days i do pilates or hot yoga. don't want to suffocate anyone in class.

i'm trying to do some research on 'cones and sulfates. i'm not terribly worried about 'cones--i've used stuff with them before (the amlika leave-in has them) and i've never really had a problem with them. it probably won't be an issue if i clarify once in a while (need to find some articles on a good way to do that). the sulfates worry me more. i'm worried they are the reason my hair tends to be so dry. maybe actually doing CWC correctly will help. the lush godiva has some sulfates in it, but not as much. it may be that i should try a different lush bar and find a sulfate free shampoo.

i guess i won't try anything new for a while and see how things go. i'm going to read about some other techniques and see what i might try. i may need to try oiling soon since we are taking a trip to las vegas and i'm trying to keep the dryness from hitting my hair too hard. i asked about it on the LHC forum and got some good advice to try. here's the thread: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=9440

oh dear

2008-07-27T15:30:00.004-05:00

okay, this may start to get dangerous. i had to go to walgreens to pick up a couple of things for the house and i left with a packet of hask henna 'n' placenta and a box of VO5 hot oil treatment. i've tried the henna 'n' placenta before, but that was years ago--i was probably in high school, and i can't for the life of me remember the result. it must not have been fantastic or overly horrible, or it would stand out in my mind. no reason not to try it again, and i'm kind of wanting to experiment to see how my hair likes protein. hopefully it will. i've never tried V05 hot oil, and my hair probably needs the moisture, so we'll see how that goes sometime soon.

i tried the body shop amlika leave-in today and so far, so good. i just shampooed my roots as usual but did not condition in the shower. once i towel dried and combed out i applied a small amount to my hair and combed some more. my hair seems a bit more manageable and feels pretty soft. it certainly made it smell good, too.

all right, fine. i'm getting mildly obsessed with my hair. but it's only going to get worse once i can use hair toys. i'm getting rather envious of the hair toys i'm seeing on the long hair community. lots of brand names are getting thrown about: ketylos, ficcares, baerreis, and on and on. guess i'll google those and peruse the websites. i'll just be happy when i can use my hair sticks again. it's tough to find toys that will hold in my hair but i got pretty good with hair sticks once upon a time.

new comb and leave-in conditioner

2008-07-26T18:26:00.003-05:00

i went to the body shop today! i haven't been to one in years. i bought a new "detangling" comb so i have one to use at home--i'll keep the small one i've had for 15 years in my purse. that should solve the natural bristle flatness problem.

while i was there, i bought a leave-in conditioner, the amlika leave-in conditioner to be exact. here's the description:

A rich conditioner with amlika derived from a berry plant in India. Leaves even dry hair soft and shiny. Use all over or where you need it most; just apply on towel-dried hair and style.

this is part of my quest to find some way to tame the wild beast that is my hair. it tends to be frizzy and feel dry, so maybe using a leave-in treatment or some other product will help. i've always been leary of using "products," but that mostly applies to styling gels and hair spray (HATE those). i kind of wonder if i should have bought the grapeseed glossing serum or the brazil nut define and no frizz. the latter on may be even better, as it mentions curly hair. my hair's not terribly curly, but perhaps it would tame my curls a bit better and shape them more. i'll try the amlika leave-in on a day that i do a water wash or just not condition in the shower one morning and see how i like it.

on a non hair-related note, when i was wandering in the body shop with hubby, i was looking at the body scrubs and considered buying the coconut body scrub. those things are pretty expensive though, so i think i'd rather try to find a way to make my own scrub with sea salt. i guess i'll see what i can find on the internet.

update, hairbrush vs. comb

2008-07-24T20:30:00.001-05:00

i haven't updated in a while, but that's because i haven't really changed my routine any. i can't really tell if my hair is growing very fast or not. maybe i should take another photo at the end of next week and see if there's any change, though i doubt it will be noticeable.

one thing that's been bothersome is that i've noticed one of my natural bristle brushes seemed always just flatten my hair. the larger brush seemed to work fine, but the smaller one that i keep in my purse always seemed to just make it flat, not bouncy. i think i should probably just buy another wooden comb to keep in my purse. my hair is probably just too curly to brush when it isn't totally dry.

water rinses, swimming, first hair photo

2008-06-29T12:06:00.004-05:00

so i tried doing just a water rinse yesterday, and my hair did pretty well. i wound up pulling it back halfway through the day, but that was because we went to the gay pride festival and it was too hot to wear it down. my hair felt and looked good all day though. i was worried it was getting greasy at the back of my head, but it was mostly my imagination--it never got the telltale stringiness that accompanies greasiness. definitely more oily than usual, but not bad.

i'm hoping to cut down the number of times i actually wash my hair each week. i guess i could start by doing it every other day and gradually working my way down to only two or three times a week. i'll decide later. i'm hoping i'm not experimenting so much that my hair will freak out.

we're going swimming today. i did see an article in the LHC forums about dealing with your hair when swimming, so i guess i'd better take a look: swimming and hair!

ah, and here's a picture of my hair for future reference, taken friday, 6/27:

guess i'll start taking photos monthly to get a good idea of how fast my hair grows.

hair typey bits and observations

2008-06-28T01:58:00.003-05:00

just for my future reference: 2b/2c / M / ii/iii

a few more observations: been varying my routine a little. well, sorta. i don't use the jungle conditioner bar every day. on thursday i just used the godiva bar to shampoo my roots, using garnier fructis conditioner before and after. i like the jungle bar, but it is a strong patchouli smell (i usually hate patchouli, but it's a patchouli scent i actually like, though still strong). mostly i just don't want to bother anyone when i work out at curves or in yoga/pilates class. when i sweat the smell gets stronger. we don't have that much of the fructis left, so after that i may pick up something that i know is 'cone free, like suave or V05 for use in between the shampoo bars. i love the bars, but using something else that's cheaper will stretch them out more and i won't need to worry about asphyxiating anyone with patchouli.

did a water rinse tonight after going dancing. combed out just fine. may try it again sunday morning.

and now for sleep.

LUSH! (and also hair typing)

2008-06-25T09:43:00.002-05:00

my lush shampoo bars came! i tried them this morning. i ordered the godiva shampoo bar and the jungle conditioner bar. i also got the hybrid bar for my husband. i did my usual CWC routine with them--used the jungle from the ears down, rinsed that out, lathered up with the shampoo bar and scrubbed my scalp, rinsed, used jungle for my length. i found i could just lather the shampoo bar like a bar of soap and just use the lather on my roots, while it was easier to run the jungle bar down the length of my hair. my hair smells and feels fantastic and seems to be laying well now that it is dry. hubs tried his bar this morning and seemed to really like it.

in other news, i looked into hair typing. eridan had sent me a page on hair typing with photos, but i can't seem to find it again. i did find this, though: fia's hair typing system

i believe i'm a 2c in terms of curliness, and medium/normal (individual strands). i need to measure my volume and length. guess i'll do that when i get home tonight.

first day of CWC

2008-06-21T18:34:00.003-05:00

tried CWC for the first time today. i wet my hair, put on conditioner from my ears down. let that soak in, washed it out after a few minutes. then shampooed just the scalp. I washed that out and then applied conditioner once again, from top to bottom, but avoiding my scalp. my hair has felt pretty good all day, looks a teeny bit less straggly, and feels pretty soft for how coarse it usually is.

i also dug out a wooden wide-toothed comb that i bought at the body shop years ago and hardly ever used. that was good for combing my hair out after washing. i still lost hair when i combed, but i felt like it wasn't snapping the hairs off, just removing loose ones.

i went to whole foods for a while and looked around in their health and beauty section. i looked at bottles of jojoba and sweet almond oil but decided not to buy any of that yet. i did buy a natural bristle brush, and that feels gentle on my hair as i'm brushing, too, and seems to smooth it nicely. if i could find a nice purse-sized one as well, that would be ideal.

still waiting for my lush shampoo bars, but those are supposed to be delivered to my work anyway. i'm wondering how those will do, especially with CWC.

LHC

2008-06-20T20:42:00.002-05:00

i joined the long hair community about a week ago. it wouldn't be a bad idea to keep links to useful posts and articles in this space.

here's one now:

ursula's standard newbie advice

in the beginning

2008-06-20T20:37:00.001-05:00

this is going to be my hair journal. i decided to grow my hair long again and i want to take better care of it this time.

i guess i'll start by using the CWC (conditioner-wash-conditioner) method for a while and see how that goes. right now i'm still going to wash it every day. i just don't have the balls to go a day without washing it yet.

i've got lush shampoo and conditioner bars on their way to me now--i'm told they are lovely.