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I thought I would share with everyone something I am doing to control my hair during the awkward phase of growing. As I am now in the awkward stage of hair growth, normally the top of my hair is fairly straight. But the sides stick out, creating large 'wings' after drying. This looks horrible in my opinion (like a nightmare out of the 1970's or something). So what I do is after washing is towel dry my hair well. Then I brush it as straight as possible. While my hair is still a little bit damp, I put on a tight beanie hat (winter hat), making sure underneath the hat my hair is pushed flat down (not tangled or folded). I wear the hat for about one and a half hours. After removing it, the sides of my hair lay flat and straight over my ears. No more wings! And it lasts until I wash it again. This is really helping me make it through the awkward stage. I really like this technique because it doesn't damage my hair like a straightening iron would. I hope some other members here also in the awkward stage with 'wings' try out this technique. It has really worked well for me.
I'm glad you found something that works for you. I've been amazed at how different my hair comes out depending on what I do during the drying process to "set" it. If I do nothing, it get's very wavy/curly and looks like a lion's mane. If I tie a bandana around the top and put the back in a ponytail it dries a LOT straighter and is more managable. Choice is nice!
Keep experimenting because various techniques may become more or less effective as your hair gets longer.
Mouse
Yes, Sakura, this is a perfect technique for flattening down those fly-away "wings" during those awkward in-between stages. I did EXACTLY the same thing with a winter hat, too. It was a wool/poly-blend, perfect for the job. Thank you for posting, Sakura, I thought that I was the only one who did this!
Yours for longhaired camaraderie
Quenyan (+:-)}
That's great to hear I'm not the only one who knows about this, Quenyan. I wonder how many men who were trying to grow their hair long gave up and cut it because they had wings during the awkward stage. I don't think I could make it through my awkward stage without doing the damp hair winter hat trick. I would have cut it by now.
Hey Sakura...
Thanks for the tip. I'm a runner; a runner in the awkward phase mind you ... and my wings have gotten so big that I thought at one point I could possibly become airborne. LOL
Again... thanks for the tip.
Tristan
Hi Tristan. Please keep your feet on the ground and try this technique. Lol. Hopefully it will help you as much as it has helped me. Just remember that the hair has to be slightly damp to get the flattening effect. Several times before I tried doing the 1 1/2 hour winter hat thing after my hair had already dried and it didn't work well at all. Still had (smaller) wings afterwards. I think damp and combed hair is the key before wearing the winter hat. Let us all know if it works for you. ;)
Why go through all that when you can just push it behind your ears? Seriously, that's what I do since I find hair covering my ears to be VERY annoying.
Some of us like hair over our ears. Also, wings don't seem to want to stay behind ears very well. And the damp hair winter hat technique isn't that much trouble at all. Wash hair, towel dry hair, comb hair, wear winter cap for 1 or 1 1/2 hours. Done. No more wings for me until the next wash.
I would advise against doing this, due to the fact that after using this method to take care of my hair I developed some kind of rash on my scalp which made my hair very thin. Ive been getting trims every 2 months for 6 months so far, and while the top of my hair and the sides seem to be thick enough, the back of my hair is still embarassingly thin.
I'm not quite sure what happened to your hair, but I've been doing this every day for a while and have never had any problems. I use a breathable winter cap . I just don't see how doing this method to tame wings during the awkward stage would cause hair loss.
Thats a cool idea, I just let mine do whatever!
It's a great idea that I've tried several times. However, the only problem I've found with this is it tends to make my hair feel very thin and lifeless, which I hate. Plus, it just looks weird on me, straight hair, that is. I guess wings were just meant for me. Anyway, thanks for the advice, though.
Glad it works for you. It's possible that over the remaining months you'll have to modify your procedure. for example, your hair may grow out from under the hat and it won't be big enough to control it. You can purchase styling clips at stores that sell hair stuff like hair ties etc. that you can put in your hair while it is drying to shape it until it is long enough to not need any of these tricks.