Hair envy

The throwback Thursday-post made me think: The picture of me age 14 (ish?) must have been from right before I started experimenting with dyeing my hair.

I had a period from around 14-17 where I dyed my hair a lot. Mostly I bleached it a lot, I also had the whole mane green, I had so many different streaks, mostly green and blue.

Wait. Age 14-17, that was 17-20 years ago...

Anyways...

I honestly loved having my hair coloured like that. It was so much fun!
What I didn't love though, was that the colour always turned out puke green after two weeks. Of course back then I shampoo'ed 3 times a week and only used conditioner on my tips, so the colour (and my hair in general) didn't get the same care as I give it now.
But the biggest issue is probably that hair dye technology back then wasn't as advanced as it has become.
I see so many awesome, fun and gorgeous heads of hair in vibrant colours now!
Every single time, I feel a slight pang of envy. I miss it.

Don't get me wrong: I love my hair like it is. Otherwise I would have changed it long ago.
But I'm still allowed to be envious of  the more adventurous people out there having so much fun with the new hair dye technologies and techniques.

Rainbow hair

Sunset hair 

Or how about this one: 14 Reasons Why Rainbow Colors Look Gorgeous On Black Hair

(Can't link to individual pictures in that one)

Tie-dye

Fluid hair painting

Mermaid hair

 

 

  

24 colorful hairstyles

Christmas calendar content

10th: 15 ml Vitamin E day cream. Hm. I'll probably use this on my dry shins instead.

11th: 60 ml Rainforest brilliant shine conditioner. This will only be enough for my ends-only treatments, but I'll probably mix it in with something else for a CO wash. Has a good, discrete scent.

12th: 60 ml Peppermint cooling foot lotion. Uh, isn't this sort of for the wrong time of the year? Hubby eyed it and commented he would have loved it this summer. It goes into storage until then.

Thursday throwback

Two old photos of me, framed at my grandmas house.

I think I'm around 14 on the left and maybe 11 on the right?

I have two thoughts on this, and in order they are:
1) Arrrrrrrrrgh OMG OMG OMFG aaaaaargh
Those bangs. Those awful, horrible, craptastic bangs!
They were so massive, and so unflattering on me! They make my cheeks look even worse than they already are. And since my hair has a tendency to get crazy amounts of volume when provoked even the slightest by wind, I looked like the 80s threw up on my forehead most of the time.
Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy did no responsible adult ever take me aside and explain to me how unflattering they looked on me?

2) Did my hair change colour or is the left picture from a winter and the right from a summer?
The sun has a tendency to lighten that dark blonde/light brown colour hair (Called "leverpostej" in Denmark)
It could be a bit of both. I'm fairly sure I had no sign of my beloved redness before in my late 20s, so maybe my hair changes colour from time to time?

Christmas calendar content

7th: Japanese cherry blossom shower gel.
I expected this one to smell as divine and fresh as the first showergel, but it didn't. It sort of smelled perfume-y or powdery or something. Meh.

8th: Exfoliating gloves.
On one hand I'm pretty pleased with these. Even though I throw my old set in the laundry once in a while, I can't remember how old they are. They could use a replacement.
On the other hand I'm disappointed. The lid for the 8th was huge and I expected a bath salt or something like that.

9th: Organic cotton pads.
Very nice! I prefer mine a size bigger and "fancier", but I can definitely get behind them being organic. Cotton-production is one of the worst offenders when it comes to the environment, both with usage of water and chemicals, so this is awesome. Maybe I should check and see if Bodyshop have them in a bigger size and get those next time I need new ones?

This is the first time I've received 3 things I can and will use. I'm not super excited about any of them, but none of the things go to Hubby or my discard-pile.

Hubby commented: "So, do you pay extra for the surprise or something...? I don't think you're getting the moneys worth of stuff."

My reaction:

Christmas hair

It's one of those (Awesome!) days where I don't have to leave the house to work.
Usually it means me not getting out of my pajamas all day. I really felt like doing something vaguely christmassy with my hair though, so I went for a low key ribbon braided into it.
I folded a 3 meter long ribbon to loop it over a strand, but even then it was too short and I couldn't braid it on right from the beginning.
I kind of liked it.

Christmas calendar content

Still tagging this with "bathroom", even though it did contain some hair stuff this time.

4th: A tiny little brush. Like, really tiny. It confused me: Is this supposed to be a pocket brush, maybe? If you wanted a pocket brush, wouldn't you get one of those that folds up so the teeth doesn't snag on everything in your bag?
Well, points for thinking outside lip glosses and hand creams I guess.

5th: A shampoo. I use shampoo maybe once a year, so this goes to Hubby. It has a bunch of things written on it: No silicones, no sulfates, no colour, no parabens. Eco-conscious product. Community trade olive oil. Well, points for that. I'm all for this kind of slacktivism. This is right up Hubby's alley too: He's the one who has to inform me what kind of stuff we buy when it comes to laundry detergents and fish and such.

6th: A block nail buffer. Nice! I use nail buffers pretty obsessively because it's one of the easiest ways to keep my dermotillomania down. If my nails are short and smooth, it's a lot harder to get a good picking going. It's pretty good too. I'm particularly impressed with the smoothing-side.

So that's one item for the discard pile, one product for Hubby and one item for me.

Thoughts on: Length goals 2016

Original post

It's pretty obvious to me that you'd love to hit floor length one time, if only to claim the honor. But frustratingly I don't think you have the genes to do it (and of course you're tall which makes it even more difficult based on the dimension). It's not like you're neglecting or damaging your hair now, so it's difficult to imagine any regimen that would give you the additional length.
Of course there's always that chance encounter with the wizard who could transform the length overnight... ;-)
I'm not sure if you're taking votes but mine would be for option #3: perfect hair at a still very long length and essentially full volume, no taper.
In any event, enjoy it! 

indi500fan

I guess it's also a "supposed to" kind of thing. For as long as I can remember, I've been aiming for more length. Even when I trimmed a lot to get rid of layers, and I ended up with very little overall growth for long, long times, the end purpose was still to gain more length.
I guess it takes some getting used to to not want more length. I can't quite wrap my mind around it.
But yea, you're right: If I could do it, I would have done it by now.

Hmmm. I guess you need to ask yourself if the goal of getting to floor length is something your really want or if you want easier to manage (ie mid thigh). I think once you decide what you want, then you will be able to figure out what to do. I know for me, I abandoned the super super long hair goal when I got very active with horses. It was just too hard to manage. I'm at tailbone and may go shorter as it's just easier to deal with and looks better---but those are my own choices. The fact you're not seeing any new length is likely just the shorter pieces getting longer and thickening your ends. I remember that phase all too well. Though I sometimes felt my hair went into a 'slumber', then all of a sudden, grew over night. Now I can even see that with my gray growing in ;) Good luck with whatever you decide :D 

Darkhorse

It's funny, I don't think I've ever considered if I really wanted floor length. It seemed like one of those things you "should" just wish for if you were on a hair forum. Particularly LHC was awful at this. It was like I was held as this bright and shiny example for what you really could do with Scandinavian hair, so of course I should want floor length.
Huh.
I guess I don't really want it that much. Even if I could.

Okay, my vote might be unpopular, but I'd go with trimming back. Just from my personal experience, I can say, that I found it pretty cool to have classic length, but it was horribly time consuming, as I need to wash almost daily (eczema) and my hair tangles like hell. But it looked perfect, but I didn't really enjoy it, the fun of watching and pampering it while growing wasn't in it anymore. Then, one day I had enough and cut back to hip-ish/tailbone and loved my hair again. Easier to handle. Since then, I've cut back from hip to waist several times, as I've been becoming a lot more active in sports and it's easier for me that way. I go to the gym in the morning, shower there and then go directly to work, so I can spend an age drying to dry the hair. I figure I rather have a bit shorter hair and I can look professional with dry hair than having the super length I once had. I can always grow it back. So, sorry for the rambling above :-D I'm sure that once you decide how to proceed you'll be happy with your new routine! 

Buchfreundin

Your "rambling" made a lot of sense :) And you seem to be in the majority here!
I don't really have any limitations with scalp issues or activities, so maybe I should just go with what length I need to do my beloved updos?
Hair does grow back.

I think that the option 3 is the best for you. If you enjoyed it, you 'll like it. Would you trim yourself or go to the hairdresser? It's a problem if he cuts more... think about it!! 

Anonymous

Isn't that the truth? So simple, so true :) I should just do what I enjoyed the most. 
I'll make Hubby cut it for me. I trust him with my hair... Actually I just asked his opinion on my options and said I'm fairly sure I want to gradually trim it back. He then offered to cut it back to mid thigh right away, but I think I'd rather do it gradually. Keep the ends fresh and healthy, you know?

My vote: Option #1: The natural taper of the ends is very pretty. Only change that if it is lowering your quality of life somehow, such as being very hard to comb. 

LEE

Thank you :) I do think it looked pretty. Unfortunately I never wear it down because of my total lack of cowlick or any direction to my hair growth, haha. 
My hair care was a lot easier when it was mid thigh, and that made it much more fun... 

Christmas calendar content

This doesn't really deserve a post of its own, but I still want to show it off!

Hmm. I wonder if this one will contain any hair products?
Bodyshop does have some hair stuff, but to be honest I'm not familiar with their products at all.

1st: Pink grapefruit shower gel.
Yum! This one smells awesome. Totally mouth-watering!

2nd: Strawberry lipbalm.
I had to check on the inside of the lid for today just to make sure it was a lipbalm and not an exfoliator or something, as it didn't say on the product. This one smells really awesome too. It actually smells like real strawberry, not that nasty, artificial "strawberry".
Unfortunately I wont be using it at all. I hate balms in little pots like this. What am I supposed to do? Use a finger to apply it and then wipe my finger clean on my pants? Carry around a little applicator brush separately, so that one can get all nasty in my bag? Just try to stick my mouth into the pot? Yuck.

3rd: Tea tree toner.
Hmm, yea, I have nothing positive about this one. First of all, it smells so much of tea tree. Like getting smacked in the face by a tea tree branch. No way I would use that. Second, it violates my rule of sensitive skin to avoid "purposes" and adjectives in my products. This one is all about "clearing" and "blemished skin". Looking at the ingredient list (Okay, points for having it on the product and in a font size you can actually read!) the second ingredient is alcohol denatured which is a strong irritant. It also contains citral, which is a fragrance and has some safety concerns. Almost at the bottom of the list I find tocopherol which is both an irritant and can cause acne. Will not use.

So that's 2 out of 3 products directly in my discard pile. D'oh.

(I just realized that the background looks kind of weird. It's a bomb replica from Fallout. It came with the Fallout anthology that I got Hubby for his birthday)

Length goals 2016?

So. It seems I'm still firmly at top calf.
I've been at "top calf-ish" since the end of 2012 or so!

This is from December 2012:

Actually my hair was longer than now, but much thinner at the ends in April 2014.

So since I've been around the same length for the past 3 years, maybe it's time to either make a structured attempt to get more length or to suck it up and maintain around here.
I have around 40 cm to floor, so even if I got my full growth every month with no trims, theoretically it would take me over two years to get near floor length. And by then my hair would probably be very thin and sad at the ends. I just don't think my hair could get that long at all. And even if it could, I think I would dislike the end (Hah hah) result.

Either that or cut back to mid thigh, which was the length I enjoyed the most!
It was a lot easier to care for because I could detangle in one smooth sweep and didn't have to partially comb, lift up the ends and comb the rest. I didn't have to put my braid over a door handle to braid the ends either. And it was still plenty long to do all the awesome length-consuming updos I want to do!

So the 3 options for 2016 are:

1. Attempt for more length: Make a good, solid haircare plan and stick to it. Get out of the benign neglect routine and give my hair some more love, especially the ends. Structure my use of treatments and oils. No trims, only S&D.
2. Maintain: Trim off 1,5 cm each month and continue my usual benign neglect-haircare.
3. Return to mid thigh: Gradually trim off my gained length for the month plus some. I'm something like 20-25 cm below fingertip length, so if this was a goal for the end of 2016, I would have to trim off (20 +12 x 1,5) / 12  = 3 cm each month. 

Hmm. Wow. The last one is pretty depressing, isn't it? Just 3 cm off every month for a year and I have removed all my growth for the year plus an extra 20 cm.
No wonder "Growing your hair 101" step 2 is to avoid the hairdresser. (Step 1 is of course to avoid heat and chemicals and step 3 is to adapt a benign neglect routine)

Christmas calendar

Look what Hubby gave me!

Bodyshops Christmas calendar!