Tuesday, November 16, 2010

A Hairy Dilemma

Happy hooperIt's that time of the year again.

I'm not talking about Thanksgiving.  Nor am I talking about leaf raking season or time-to-put-the-snow-tires-on-the-car season.  I'm not even talking about National Novel Writing Month season.

Nope, I'm talking about big hair season.

It seems that every time I have short hair, during October and November I decide that my short hair needs to be long again.  So I start to grow it out until I get so fed up with my white girl 'fro that I shave it all off.

That's where I am right now.

I took the photo to the left last year, before I gave in and cut my hair again.  Right now my hair is looking a lot like in the picture, except with about another inch of puffiness on all sides.  I feel like a brunette, female Ronald McDonald.  And, as you might imagine, I don't like feeling like a brunette, female Ronald McDonald at all.

But . . . I really do miss my longer hair.   Sometimes it was thick and curly and pretty.  I'd really like to swoop my hair around while hooping.  This photo is from May 2007:

Day 50 / Far-away friend

Of course, there were plenty of times that my longer hair was unruly and not so nice to deal with, much less wear around in public.  I'm not naive.  Check out another May 2007 photo taken just days after the one above (by the way, I think Turkish Delight is gross -- what was Edmund thinking??), in which my hair refuses to cooperate to my liking either tied back or loose:

Turkish Delight mosaic

So I'm not sure where I stand on the issue.  Right now, my hair is poofy and weird and in-between looking, and long enough that it's hard to fully hide under a hat.  But it will be a long time before my hair gets long enough to swing with ecstatic abandon during a hooping session.

I need hair help!  Have you ever grown your hair out?  Do you have any growing-out sanity-saving tips?

8 comments:

  1. I've never grown my hair out... least not in my adult life. But, I was thinking you could do that super cute hippie chick scarf/floppy hat thing until your hair gets to a workable length. Examples:http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2137/2439926972_26286d3547.jpgAnd etsy has lots of fun, cute things (I'm gonna have to do some shopping) if you search under head scarf.

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  2. I've done the grow out so many times that I can't keep track. It's a pain. Right now though, you could totally do the funky spiky look and it would rock. Your length is perfect for that. All you'd need is a bit of pomade and a spritz of hairspray to make it work.http://www.hair.becomegorgeous.com/short_hairstyles/cute_ways_to_style_short_hair-3207.html

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  3. Hmm... I am leaning towards the hair in the top picture (short, but not overly so). My hair is between my shoulder and my chin right now. I had grown it out longish for the wedding and then chopped it... wish I could cut it shorter but my hubby already thinks it is too short! I find that when I have long hair I mostly end up pulling it back anyway, so it's kind of pointless.

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  4. hats and head wraps. super cute and fun. and i like the spunky spiky idea too in the "mean" time :)

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  5. my only tip is i get to busy/lazy to go to the salon! i love your craziness hair. try getting some fun toddler clip in bows and sparkly things and hair products to change it up and have some fun while you grow out?

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  6. I'm growing my hair out now so I can try a different style, so I understand how you feel. However, since my hair comes in wavy and not curly/fro-ish when I grow it out, I can't give you any tips about managing your locks during the "awkward" stage. I do think your hair looks great longer, from the past pix I've seen, and if you can get past the annoyance of the current length, you might be glad you stuck it out. And if not, you can cut it off again - but at least you'll know for sure that's what you want.In the interim, don't try to hide the hair - play with it. Headbands, scarves, hats like that one in your November 6 post, the sparkly clips Clare suggested, funky temporary color - just have fun with it. :)

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  7. Ok, as a white-girl fro sistah I'll tell you all that helps me. It really helps to have my hair long, otherwise when it's short it fros out. Occasionally I'll get sick of it long and hack it off to my chin or shoulders, but I end up looking like Toad from Mario. When it's shorter I find putting gel in it when it's wet helps define the curls better. Just any old gel - I'm not a fancy girly girl. Other than that, I find conditioning it really helps w/ the brittleness and coarseness. I use either Nexxus b/c it smells so good, but that's semi-expensive (for me anyways) so I've been loving that new Dove intense therapy one. I wash my hair at the beginning of the shower, put the conditioner in, tie it up, and leave it in until the end of the shower. Then I rinse it out as the very last thing. Sometimes I use these conditioners as leave in conditioners, too. I juse use a nickel sized amount in wet hair and comb it through. Then it's good to go - no extra products needed.If it's still REALLY coarse and frizzing out like crazy, the only other product I use is a serum by Fantasia called "Frizz Busters." You just need a small amount in wet hair and it has no scent, residue, or anything. I put it in after my shower, comb out my hair, and then don't think about it again. I also find it's very helpful to only wash my hair every 2 or 3 days. Washing too often makes it unbearable.

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  8. Lindsay and James CoNovember 21, 2010 at 5:17 AM

    my hair is getting pretty long right now but thats only because I can't afford a hair cut quite yet, haha. I love your hair either way. Ite beautiful!

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