Personally, I'd prefer to keep my long hair. I've always wanted to grow it out for a program called Pantene Beautiful lengths, which I eventually want to do. It's similar to Locks of Love.. But yeah - anyways, I think I look terrible with short hair anyway. Just my face shape, I've never liked it (even though most my life I had short hair.)
So yeah. My hair is fairly long... Difficult enough to take care of in itself, but when you're constantly losing hair and hair is re-growing... It can become a mess and it becomes a million times more horrific. However, I've managed to do pretty well so far. My hair has thinned out a lot. I'm disturbed by it half the time, but I've found ways to hide it for people so half the time they don't even notice I've lost any.
Here is how I take care of my hair. (Disclaimer: The products I use change every few months, but they're typically very similar. Except the heat protectant I list.I just tried it out a couple months ago and I'm in love with it and never want to use anything else ever again.. Haha.) (Also, I apologize in advance for this long post. The pictures make it a lot longer than the word-content would otherwise.)
These are the shampoo/conditioner I'm currently using. Most people say it isn't good to wash your hair every day, but sometimes you can't avoid it. With all the hormone changes, your hair can either get really dry and brittle or really greasy & nasty. So just do what you're comfortable with. Currently I'm going every other day, but that changes depending on how my hair is. - and despite if your hair is greasy, use conditioner on your roots. Sometimes excess grease is because your roots aren't getting enough moisture and are stripped of everything good for them. Just make sure you rinse your hair well! With cold water, if you can. It helps prevent frizzy-ness.
The big circle is about how much shampoo I use for how long my hair is. But the small circle is about how much conditioner I use.
(I apologize for the hideous flash. I had just gotten out of the shower when I took these and had no makeup on and the flash isn't helping the picture quality or how my skin looks, at all.. haha.) anyways - never brush your hair with like.. a normal brush, when it's wet or damp. always use a wide tooth comb, to prevent further damage or breakage with your hair. (Yes, that is all my hair pulled forward. you can really see how little there is when it's wet, lol.) - ALSO. I don't blowdry my hair typically. I use as little heat as possible (and since I typically have to always either straighten or curl my hair, because i have a different texture growing in as re-growth than the rest of my hair, i avoid excess heat at all costs unless i'm really in a hurry.
Which... this morning I was in a hurry. so I let my hair air-dry halfway then blewdry the rest of the way pointing DOWN. do NOT try to add volume to your hair by blowing your hair up or turning your head upside down and blowdrying.. the re-growth will just become a pain in the ass and get all tangled.
AND USE A HEAT PROTECTANT.
This is about what my hair was before i blew-dry it the rest of the way. still a little damp. you can see the weird texture.. and the re-growth in the front. all of my hair is supposed to be one length, the way I've gotten it cut... anything that is shorter than the over-all length of my hair, is re-growth from over the past few years. (Medication changes pre-op, etc..)
The amazing heat protectant I use. I got it at CVS for like 5 dollars after seeing some guy I watch on youtube, reccomend it.. It's so good. It smells amazing. & yeah. Just spray it over the bottom half of your hair, and your bangs/etc in the front. don't spray your roots directly. Then blowdry if you're going to do that, if not, just run your fingers through it and get ready to flat iron or curl or whatever you're going to do. I almost always flat iron first, even if I'm going to curl.. just to tame all the re-growth. So I'll show you how I do that, typically.
I seperate my hair into sections.. I'll do the lower section, then middle section, then top sections.. then my bangs (that aren't cut intentionally.. thanks re-growth.) It still looks damp because after I blow-dry my hair, i add a little more heat protectant towards the ends so I don't fry them.
Make sure you get close to the root.. all over your head, so you get all the re-growth. In the front I've lost a lot of hair.. almost like my hairline was receding, but it's growing back. It has a weird curl to it. If you don't straighten it right, it looks like this.. almost a backwards upside down nike sign.. haha.
So make sure you straighten it like this, curving it downwards. (pretend my fingers are a flat iron for the pictures purposes..)
For dealing with the top section, the most important part that people see, I use a rat-tail comb to section off small areas and get really close to the root to get every possible cm of hair I can.
Never, & I repeat NEVER try to tease your hair. Forget about volume while you're going through this. It's not important. You'll get over having flat hair. It's not a big deal.. But if you do tease it, this is what happens. All re-growth. I don't care how careful you are when you do it, it will look like absolute crap.
It's only okay to use an actual brush for your hair once it's completely dry and flat. If it's curly, no. If it's damp, no. Only if it's straight/wavy and completely dry. And actually good to brush a few times a day to get all the hair that falls out, out.. So it doesn't end up in your shower drain.
After it's all straight/curly/however I want it, even though this says curl sculpting gel, i use it every day no matter what my hair looks like. Almost as a finishing cream. it smoothes everything down without looking hard like gel or hairspray and you can still run your fingers through your hair, etc..
You only need about this much.
Last tip: If you're going to put your hair up, make sure whatever your using wether it's bobby pins, clips, clamps, hair elastics, etc.. that they don't have sharp or little pieces of metal. My bobby pins are plastic-coated and no metal pieces of hair elastics, because hair can get caught on them and break off.. That's the last thing you need.
So yeah. Final product:
(From the back...)
(From the side...)
& finally from the front. (: (again.. terrible picture. Obviously if you've ever been to this site before you've probably seen better pictures of me. :P)
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So, I hope this helps someone see that it IS possible to keep your hair... People have said in the past when I complain about my hair thinning out just to cut it off but.. I look terrible with short hair. I've considered maybe cutting it a little past my collar bone and adding some layers in... But not until i'm reading to donate it to locks of love. Only then would I cut it that short... haha. I need a few more inches first. (:
Oh. & this is what my hair looks like when it's curled, which I've been doing a lot lately because it makes my hair look thicker than it really is.. Haha.
Oh, & that picture is from a photoshoot/videoshoot/interview thing I did for CCHMC a month or so ago!!! The photographer sent me all the pictures she took and I'm kind of in love with them. (Instead of getting senior pictures I'm just using these.. Haha.) [http://www.tmphotography.net/]
So that's it!!! Hope this helped some of you and have a great day. (:
-ashley
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