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Hey guys,
Some of you may not remember me, I'm quite an irregular poster on this board but I'm a full time lurker. its coming up time for my yearly maintenence trim (I dyed my hair a few years ago and im still suffereing the consequences!) Anyway my hair is straight and thick and reaching my lower back, but where the dye is is really rebellious and poofy because of the damage from the dye, my mother has advised I get my hair thinned to make it genereally more manageable because as it gets longer its getting more difficult to cope with. do you guys think thinning would be a good idea? or has anybody had any bad experiences in the past? any help would be appreciated, thanks guys. James.
Hi James,
Your description of your hair, "straight and thick and reaching my lower back" sounds like fabulous hair to me. (PLEASE post some pictures!) In my own personal opinion, I would NOT thin, thickness is something to treasure, don't listen to your mother, it has to be YOUR decision. You will want all the thickness you can get if you want to grow really long hair. If there are some damaged hairs from the dye, they should gradually be replaced by new, undamaged hairs, obviously if you dyed several years ago, most of these damaged hairs should disappear shortly due to the natural hair cycle. And I repeat, please post pictures, your hair is probably awesome.
All the best,
David
Hey, I have thick hair too, my hair was thinned about 6 months ago. I wasn't happy with the result, it made my hair even bigger! Now I got a lot of frizz compared to 6 months ago. I regret my hair was thinned back then.
Be careful!
Wessel
n/t
n/t
Hi,
your mother may be tricking you into giving up your great-looking long hair "for maturity's sake". Most people who made the mistake of getting their hair "thinned" soon became frustrated because their hair got even more unruly, and then they cut it all off - that way, mom finally got her way.
See where you are going? This is called "Salami tactics" after the Salami sausage where one slice is cut off at a time, and finally, the whole salami is gone and Mr Wordsmith is a short-haired guy (yuk!)
Let me state this in VERY strong terms: RESIST your mom's advice to have it "thinned" ("butchered" would be the correct term), THAT piece of advice is NOT in your interest - even though I'm sure she is the best mother of the world in every other respect.
Your hair is absolutely good enough as it is! No need to "improve" it by cutting!
By the way, what dye have you been using, and what is your natural color? Even though dyes can cause damage, there is NO need to thin, butcher, or cut it!
All the best!
Hans-Uwe
If you thin, you'll just have lots of stray shorter hairs sticking out all over the place eventually, and the annoyance of that may tempt you into getting it all cut off. Resist! Resist!
Just keep treating it nicely and getting occasional slight trims (only if you feel it's helpful of course), and hopefully things will improve.
Mouse
Wow, i'm surprised at how often this question is asked.. I'm sure if this board had sticky threads, there would be one entitled "DON'T THIN YOUR HAIR" lol. but seriously.. It'd be a mistake if you did.
I hate to say this but I think your mom probably wanted you to thin your hair hoping you will get frustrated and cut your hair all off.
Thanks a lot for all the advice, I think I'll avoid the thinning and just go for a trim. I'm sorry I havent posted any pictures so you can see what my hair is like, but I don't have a digital camera or any technology that would allow me to upload photographs.
Thanks again. James.
Hi James,
good that you decided against thinning.
Even with a trim, do be careful, and make sure that they do NOT take off more than you are willing to part with, eg 2 inches if your hair is waist-long. Make sure that you find a stylist whom other long-haired men trust for doing it exactly as you want.
One "trick" of less-than-competent stylists is to simply go about it the way they see fit, and when you challenge them, they'll say "Well it was particularly bad, and I had to take off ten inches rather than two."
You may be best off telling them something like "Just to avoid misunderstandings: If I say two inches, I'd like you to cut off NO MORE than two inches, even where you feel that a lot more should be cut. If that's necessary, we'll talk about it and make another appointment in 2-4 weeks." (The second appointment later gets cancelled, of course.) A good and longhair-friendly stylist will trim in a minimalistic way and then offer good hair care advice on how to "salvage" the rest of the length.
AVOID any stylist picked by your mother, and, consider the possibility of your mother calling ahead and telling the stylist something like "Long hair isn't really for him, but he won't believe his mother, so, please do something with his hair that will convince him to have it shortened DRASTICALLY - or, simply cut it A LOT shorter! If he refuses to pay you for disobeying his instructions, I'll pick up the tab." -
If your mother knows where you get the trim, I'd ask the stylist if she has called ahead. If the answer is yes, or "I can't give you that information", then walk right out again.
(Or am I being paranoid? Several young guys have had strange experiences with their parents)
Let us know how it went.
All the best,
Hans-Uwe