new thread
Ugh, I'm so utterly frustrated! ::breathing::
Okay - so, as I posted a long while back (not that you'd remember) back in January of 2005 was my last haircut, and I had my hair permed and colored for a show I was in. It was all good (well, they cut too much, but I digress) and anyway, the color faded, I've had no trouble there, the perm seems to have relaxed back to how my hair has usually been. (Hang onto this info, we'll refer back to it in another paragraph.)
Tonight, I got called into work to cover a shift. I schlep food at a nice, casual cafe. When I do this, I put my hair back into a ponytail with those little (supposedly) not-stick elastic ponytail holder things you get at Sally Beauty Supply.
So we got swamped, and I worked a pretty tiring 5-hour shift, and I had the mezzanine, which means I was up and down stairs for everything. Not a problem for me - it's my workout plan. Cheaper than the gym, you know? But I sweat. A lot. It's probably exascerbated by the up and down stairs thing; maybe not. I don't know. But when I got off work tonight and attempted to extract my hair from its binding, it felt like one big knotty dready mass of tangled hair. I HATE that. It's just damp and tangled.
Now, here's where we refer back to paragraph one. I'm also playing in the pit for a show, and the other night I wanted to brush my hair and re-ponytail holder it, so I went to the hair and makeup room to borrow a brush. As I complained about the tangles, the hair guy asked if my hair had been permed, and I told him yes and when and all that, and he said the problem was that the two inch ends of my hair are probably still holding some perm and that's what's tangling. (The underbrush, or as I call it, the "schmutz hair" doesn't help either.)
So, despite others' advice here, I'm getting the little wispy crap (that never grows past a few inches long) cut off (which, I think, will also give me a better looking ponytail at work) and I'm considering getting a couple of inches trimmed off.
Bruce G. and anyone else who can speak knowledgably about this, what are your thoughts? I'm sure the ends are damaged more than just having lived through a perm a year and a half ago. If I have them cut and get a nice razor/texturing thing on the new two-inch ends ("layers in just the bottom two inches" they say in Cargo Magazine) will that give me a nice, healthy (or healthier) looking cut?
I need something that will let me wear my hair down when I'm not at work. Now I just keep it tied up because it's so slovenly when I get off work. HELP!!!!!
Chris, it is my professonal opinion that trimming off the permed 2-inch ends and eliminating the schmutz hair is the way to go. A slight layering will "naturalize" the "new" ends but I caution against the use of a razor because, unless it is in the hands of an expert, there is too much chance for split ends...and that is a whole other problem. I used a similar technique (with shears, not a razor) on the ends of Ardroth's hair to correct a "stylized trim"; he seemed most satisfied with the results. He professes to prefer to wear his hair down and loose...it always looks fantastic.