new thread
hi everyone! my name is jon and i'm new here. this forum is exactly what i was looking for, and hopefully i can get some helpful advice. i just recently started growing out my hair (only 3 months so far), and i have two questions regarding the actual care of longer hair.
1) i've read online that it's better to rinse out conditioner with cold water instead of hot. it supposedly makes the hair shinier and causes the cuticles to contrac/lock into place (?). is that really true? i've always rinsed with hot water and i wanted to know if it made any difference.
2) is it true that it's best to let long hair air dry instead of towel or blow-drying? i'd like to know the fact vs fiction. thanks in advance.
-jon
Hey Jon,
welcome!!you'll find a great community of longhairs here.Since you are new to growing out hair, I would recomend reading the article "on being a longhair" by Bill Choisser, which is in the "links" section on top of the page.As far as your questions go:
1)yes, it's better to rinse out with cold water.Why?because hot water,unlike cold water, tends to wash out all the natural sebum that your scalp produces,leaving your hair dry..
2)yes, it's better to let your hair airdry rather than blowdry it or towel dry it.this is because your hair is at it's weakest when wet...you should NEVER rub your hair with a towel when wet.As far as the blowdrying goes,(speaking from personal experience) as long as you have the blowdryer on a warm/cold setting (instead of hot),and if do it infrequently (once or twice a week), it shouldn't be that damaging.hope this helps. :)
thanks for the warm welcome! i'm 23 years old and have been playing around with the idea of growing out my hair since i was 16 or so. now that i've started, i'm not even considering to stop for at least the first year and a half to see how things look. before i posted, i read several of the other threads here, and i would have to agree, this place seems like a very friendly/supportive community of men who love long hair. that article by choisser really helped, as did your post. thanks again.
-jon
Good luck. Don't think about it too much and time will go by faster.
Welcome to the board, Jon, and best of luck with your hair journey. You've found a great place...enjoy!
Hey Jon nice to meet you! Best of luck on your journey to grow your hair! I think you'll like it here. I just joined yesterday and I like it! Keep that hair growing.
-mick
Welcome to the board Jon!
You might find, like I did, that you will be learning new things all the time no matter how long you are here. I know I am still working on figuring out what works best. I used to use shampoo and conditioner with silicone chemicals in them and that is one thing that I would recommend you avoid. I am going cone free!
See older threads further down here for references to "cones" which is silicones.
Good luck and be seeing ya!
I've found that washing my hair with warm, not to hot water works best for me and seems to result in my hair feeling it's softest. I'd definatly say that airdrying is the best way as it doesn't dry the hair out and lessens the chances of breakage. This is just from my experience though so take it with a grain of salt.
Anyway Jon, nice to meet you and hope that this board will be helpful to you. Take care dude.
Welcome Jon.
I don't have anything to add to the good advice already given, except to say happy growing!
arnocello