hair hair hair

[rootofnewt]

I'm amazed at the lengths some women on longhair go to straighten their not-straight hair and then try to make it shiny.

Having stick-straight super-fine hair isn't all it's cracked up to be. It doesn't stay in barrettes or ponytail holders. It won't hold curl. Anytime you see my hair with any sort of crimp or wave, it's because I braided it while it was wet, slept on it, then made sure not to take it out until it was dry (in other words--lazy hair day). It shows the slightest bit of oil, so when I oil my scalp, my hair looks grimy. It takes a few weeks for my hair to adjust to winter (I stop washing it daily when the pollen counts drop out of sight). In that particular picture, any "wave" is actually just the way my slightly damp hair is falling over my shoulders and boobs.

The grass is always greener. I've had complete strangers come up to me on my bad hair days (lank, limp, won't stay in a bun or ponytail, but it's shiny) and gush about how they want my hair. They invariably have hair that is interesting, hair that is wildly curly or upredictably wavy. It's always beautiful, yet they want my hair that will not obey the simplest instructions without being compelled to do so while wet and gelled with flax (and that wet styling leads to broken strands and flyaways). My hair isn't good for much besides being straight and shiny and limp and completely without body.

It is, however, exceedingly good for putting up in pigtails, braiding, twisting into buns, pinning down, and covering with yarn. Oh, yes, it's insanely good for that.

Comments

[stmaybe.livejournal.com]

i've lost more barretts that i liked because they slipped right out of my hair without me even noticing. a while later when my hair falls back into my face, i'll realize what happened - knowing the barret is somewhere in the car, in the bus, in the grass, on the road, the grocery store or the doctor's office.

the only barrets & ponytail holders i can get to stay in are so tight they cause headaches & way too much breakage. so not worth it.

sometime i like the shininess, but most of the time i just hear the ghosts of elementary school girls of my childhood making songs up about how greasy my hair is. wonder how they like their straw now?

i do love the wet braiding trick though. even if it does take over 12 hours to dry.

[stmaybe.livejournal.com]

oh & i still think you have the most beautiful hair i've ever seen. even if i've never seen it in person ;)

[prizmdonna.livejournal.com]

Probably not what you're looking for, but can't help but chime in with all the random strangers in saying that you're hair is just GLORIOUS. Sorry for the lack of empahy. :-)

- donna

[mmymoon.livejournal.com]

Grass is always greener. (For instance, how many men here think OMG ASIAN CHICKS ARE SO HOT, whereas I was reading some manga last night in which the Asian guys were gushing over English chicks and their curvy figures. Heh.)


"Interesting" hair generally means "takes forever to deal with." If you're somehow who Likes To Play With Hair, then yay, you win! If you, like me, thinks girls who like to do hairstyles for fun are off their bloody rockers, then you lose. (French braids = the most inane form of torture ever invented.)


My options are either 1. shaved head or 2. long enough to be tied back/styled, preferably in a braid. If I had a lazy hair day in which I left mine down, I'd both roast and have to spend upwards of two hour brushing it out. (I'm not kidding -- when I used to brush my hair everyday, it look AT LEAST an hour every night to brush it out -- when I had tied it back that day. And I'm whiny/sensitive, so it huuuuuuuuurt.) Short hair is NOT an option, unless I really crave that afro-tastic/old grandmother poofy hairstyle. (Although, in truth, there was one shortish length in which it made pulling it up into ponytails really easy -- but the ponytail style was then the only thing I could do then. Not very good for professional looks.)

I really need to just get into the habit of braiding it every day, because that looks nice, doesn't make me too hot, and keeps it relatively tangle-free until the end of the day(s). I haven't found a good system yet, though, since I like to shower at night, and if I braid it immediately afterwards, my hair stays wet too long. If I sleep on it, then I need to brush it out before braiding = lots of work.


So I figure everyone is always going to whine about their hair, no matter what. Except maybe girls without any -- in which case they'll either whine about having to shave it all the time, or whine about the chemo. :P

[sheilamarie.livejournal.com]

Having kinda curly fine hair isn't much better, though I have learned to love what I have for what it is. Despite the curl I can't get it to stay in John Corbett or pony tail holders (though I did find some made that felt like it was made from tights and found them to work VERY well, just can't seem to find the damn things anymore) and forget headbands, the lack of hair volume mixed with my weird shaped head means that the cloth ones that go all the way around NEVER work and the plastic ones either "bite" the tender area behind my ears or don't stay on.

Biggest problem with people who have hair like mine is that they just don't know how to take care of it. It CAN be curly AND shiny. I get complements on my hair when I bother to "do it" and wear it down. I've grown to like what i have :)

[lupa.livejournal.com]

sing it, sister!
as someone whose hair refuses to do anything, as you mention, and also refuses to be pinned down i completely sympathize. i don't whine about it anymore, though - in a way it's extremely low maintenance because i know i can't do anything with it, so i don't even bother ;)

[margaritka.livejournal.com]

i can relate. i too have stick straight,
baby fine, cursed with being oily, hair.
when it was long, long it looked gorgeous
after being blown out; however, after 2
seconds outside it looked horrible.

[never1eighty.livejournal.com]

Ok, so I can't relate. My hair is curly, wavy, thick and unruly as hell. But the grass is definitely always greener, I make bloody wool falls and my hair just does not cooperate when I try to wear them. Sucks.

[red-frog.livejournal.com]

krasota showed me how to make little knobs on top of my head to pin the falls to. That pulled, but worked fairly well even with the Lion's Mane of D00m.

[never1eighty.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, my hair is less like little knobs and more like masses of Medusa-esque snakes. Working on it tho. :)

[red-frog.livejournal.com]

Mine's heavily into the Medusa look as well--that's why I mentioned it. :)

[never1eighty.livejournal.com]

Oooh, maybe she's using some secret anti-Medusa knob technique that I don't know about? Must find out...

*cue Mission Impossible theme*

lol, sorry, it's late here!

[krasota.livejournal.com]

Have you tried the knobs method that ashbet uses? She's the one who runs <a href="http://www.psysheetp.com</a>Psych<s>otic</s>edic Sheep</a>. ;) She's got lovely curly hair, too.

[krasota.livejournal.com]

Oops. That link turned out rather ugly.

Let's try it again:


Have you tried the knobs method that ashbet uses? She's the one who runs Psychoticedic Sheep (http://www.psysheetp.com). ;) She's got lovely curly hair, too.

[queensheba.livejournal.com]

The grass *is* greener. I've never had my hair truly *long* - never more than a couple of inches past my shoulders. Mine is also fine and very very straight, and I do it in one of two ways every day:

1) turn the ends under with a round brush - this gives me a more "polished" look, or

2) curl the ends to add some texture, and pin part of it up to keep it under control. This looks more "youthful."

I wish I had the discipline to let it get really long, but I think my face needs a little more of a "style" around it - I can't get away with just long loose hair.

[ex-carnaval-619.livejournal.com]

no comment about the hair other than, your hair is sooo beautiful...

and you are so pretty Jos :P I hate you! ;)

[krasota.livejournal.com]

*slurps*

it's *your* birthday, pretty girl. (okay, just past, but we'll pretend it's, um, not the eastern time zone.)

happy birthday!

[dahliablue.livejournal.com]

And you expect me to feel sorry for you? :P

"Interesting" hair is hard to manage. I used to have interesting hair. And it took me about two hours to deal with it. And it was never really dealt with. Just tolerated by putting it in a ponytail or somesuch because it wouldn't do anything I wanted it to do. I truly don't have the interest in spending two+ hours on hair, so I'm glad the whole "I'll chop it all off" plan worked out well for me. I'm never growing it out again. But if I do for some strange reason, I'm getting it thinned and straightened. Because interesting hair takes too much energy and time.
But I love, love, love my hair now. I don't know how women deal with hair that's longer than a few inches. :P

Oh, look at that grass. How green it grows. :P

[elizebethjoy.livejournal.com]

You have a GREAT face for short hair! It looks very sophisticated on you.

[dahliablue.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much. :)

[lady-lion.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, yeah... My hair is exactly the same way. Yes, it's great for being shiny, but it's always limp and has a tendency to look stringy. I get the same thing; people with thick and/or wavy hair sometimes envy me and I sometimes envy them. ;)

Ack! Here comes a soapbox.

[cutopia.livejournal.com]

I've discovered the secret. Americans wash their hair way too much. Half of the so-called wavy hair in America could just be damage from perms and overwashing.

It is too bad hair collects pollen because it seems that it works best for hair texture to not wash it very often.

"Oh, but won't it get oily?" you may ask. That's the insidious conspiracy of our shampoo industry (I shall save my related diatribe against the anti-perspirant/deodorant industry for another time). If hair isn't over-washed then eventually the oil soaks back into it and makes it thicker and more manageable. At that point, it can go for over a week between washings without looking oily.

Mind you, hats are the universe's gift to women.