Annoyances

I was taking a look on LHC today out of stupid curiosity. Like always in the last two years or so, I ended up regretting it and asking myself why I check in on a place I know end up irritating and offending me.

First thing that sprang to my eyes was a pretty negative thread on “hating” hair stylists.

But where were the attacks from the self-appointed Stylist’s Squad? No personal attacks? No name-calling? No telling OP how she made some stylist cry? No mentioning how another stylist emailed yet another stylist to tell her how she was permanently scarred by LHC now? Thread not being locked in a few hours?

How odd. When I made a thread about silly stylist advice, that was what happened to me.

(And some of the stylists who had flipped out on me later bragged how they never even had a friendly mod-warning ever)

I guess by now I really shouldn’t be surprised at how unfair LHC modding is, but some times it’s hard not to be.

Second thing that jumped at me, was that someone had linked to my biotin rant in a thread on biotin. And then someone else than attacked the first poster for having done that and obviously didn’t read a single word of my blog post.

Sad how some people are so busy being bitchy and making themselves sound better than everyone that they don’t even realise they just argued against someone who had said almost the same as themselves?

That is indeed ironic.

I’m still considering writing an entry for my blog on what went down on LHC lately.

On the “for” side is that I know the people I care about are curious, and that I know how frustrating it is to see something obviously has happened to someone I care about and whose advice and opinion I value stops posting.

On the “against” side is that I know bitchy people will project their own bitchiness into a post no matter how carefully I word it and how much I explain and how many disclaimers I make.

Rinsing

Learning to rinse your hair is one of the important skills when it comes to hair care and sadly underestimated. I think most people usually just rinse standing up and letting the water hitting the top of their head and washing down. It’s not a very efficient way to rinse though! The water pretty much bounces off the top layer of the hair and you’re not getting the product out. Even when the water in the drain stops bubbling, it’s not really rinsed clean.

Some people have no problems leaving conditioner and products in their hair, some even keep from rinsing conditioner completely out. I’m not one of them. Rinsing thoroughly clean can make a huge difference in shine and manageability of your hair.

One of the first things I had a real light bulb moment with when I started learning about proper hair care was to bend forwards and use the showerhead to rinse directly at the scalp and hair. You have much better control, you can spot the bubbles better and you can rinse much more concentrated. Use the pads of your fingertips to massage the scalp and comb gently to get all parts of the hair rinsed.

For loosening up lots of product like after henna or cassia, it can be a good idea to do a “mermaid soak” before rinsing. That’s where you get in the bath and let the water gently loosen up the bulk before rinsing and manipulating.

I like starting out my rinsing with bending over the tub and directing the showerhead upwards on the scalp and length. I prefer getting some focussed rinsing done on my hair before stepping in the water. Once I get wet, I get cold from focussing the water on my hair and not body.

Another thing I like to do is leaning forward and resting the top of my head on the wall. When I direct the water on my hair, I can get it nice and flattened against the wall and rinse it very efficiently.

Don’t forget that water can be a real help when it comes to detangling and shaping your hair. For my final rinse, I do it according to what I’m going to do with my hair next. If I’m getting my hair wet before a deep conditioning, I bend over and let the water help pulling my hair up and ready to be wrapped up with conditioner on top of my head. If I’m going to put it up and get on with my day, I make my parting, and then rinse it backwards behind my shoulders ready to towel dry and be put up. It saves me manipulation and pre-smoothes the hair.

For apple cider rinses, I prefer to actually dip it in a bowl in the shower. ACV has a normalising effect on the skin and scalp and this way I can get the entire scalp in the bowl.

I have always been sceptic of cold final rinses. The theory is that the cold blast will make the little “fish scales” on the hair strands surface clamp shut and increase shine. However, wouldn’t the cuticles return to normal as soon as the cold hair returns to room temperature? And wouldn’t that make a cold and uncomfortable rinse unnecessary? I’m not going to preach that my scepticism is right and cold blasts are wrong though. People whose opinion and experience on hair care I respect and value swear on a final, cold blast. I still want to put my theory down and leave it up to any reader to consider the thought.