new thread
Hi all you Hairy People,
Ex-frequent post now turned Lurker speaking (lol)....
Hey, what's the big deal all about? If one person believes in trimming, and another doesn't trim at all, who cares?? It's THEIR hair! Besides, each person has completely different hair from the next: some have very fine hair, maybe very subject to split ends; while another person maybe is one of those very lucky dudes who never ever gets splits; and yet another may simply enjoy a certain look in long hair, and so trim it in order to try out a certain style... DIVERSITY IS A WONDERFUL THING, PEOPLE!!!!!
For those who know me already, I will confess that I am opinionated; but, this gives me no right to be a *dictator* about it. (Reminds me of a silly joke: "What do you get when you cross a penis with a potato?" - look back at the word I put ** next to, for the answer to that joke - LOL)
When I went through the awkward stages myself, I had two distictly different experiences: 1) the first time I grew my hair out (in the early '90s), I had lots of trims and even several re-styling attempts (it was such a new experience for me that I wanted to find what "look" appealed to me the most); 2) the second time I grew my hair out (after my devastating Y2K short haircut), my "awkward stage" experience was very different, in that I had very few trims, and only really "dustings' to remove my split or damaged ends. BOTH experiences got me my goal: LONG HAIR!!! And BOTH methods were in the long run, FUN to go through!! Method # 2 got me loooong hair much quicker; but, I also rather enjoyed trying out different styles during my first experience of growing as well.
Personally, I don't like to see long hair that hangs onto a lot of damage (split or broken ends, horribly uneven cuts, or extreme dryness or frizziness due to bleaching, coloring or perming, etc.); but, all I have to do is not look that direction, to turn my head the other way. As the saying goes, "Y'all are not here to decorate my world!" (much as I wish you would cooperate with my opinionated views - LOL)....
Recently I've been experiencing joy in NOT going to a salon. But, this does not in any way mean I am neglecting my hair. Neglect of anything, --- hair, or any other thing you can think of in life --- is just plain BAD. However, the last professional trim I had was done by my partner, a professional dog-groomer (LOL), who trimmed my hair one year ago this month, --- and only took off only about an inch (because I didn't like how my hair looked so uneven at the bottom at that time). Now that my hair is growing out more or less into a natural "V" shape, i LOVE it, --- and have no intention of trimming it anytime soon (unless it gets to a point where I don't like it again)....
It's MY hair! I'll do what I want with it, thank you!! I try as best I can to do the "Search & Destroy" method of keeping up with trimming off my split ends myself nowadays; but, if I don't feel like going to a salon (it's been over 4 years now since I last went to a salon that trims people hair - lol), that's MY business, --- and visa-versa: if I feel like going to a salon tomorrow, that's my priviledge and perogative to do so... So, as long as I am trying to keep my hair as healthy-looking and well cared for as possible (not looking like I just rolled out of a garbage dumpster - lol), the issue of trimming VS not trimming should be a NON-issue!!!
End of Cowboy Sermon!!!!
- Ken in San Francisco
(And now, back to lurking...)
Well said ken, I agree that people should decide themself if they want a trim. But not if they do it for the wrong reasons (presure from other people).
Some people do not know that hair can go a long time without trimming. Before I came on this board I believed that you had to trim your hair so it will grow faster and that is not true.
I also want to even up my hair at some point, but like Keven showed hair evens out itself. I don't need any trim yet so I will just grow it out naturely like I'm doing now and see where it will bring me.
Cowboy Ken promises to shut up soon; but, for some reason wishes to flap his mouth in the breeze about one more thing he forgot to mention (lol)....
I've noticed an interesting thing about some of the most opinionated MLHH members here (myself included): there are those of us who have openly posted frequent pics of ourselves, both front and back shots; and then there are occasional participants who post only one, possibly two, mediocre pictures of themselves, --- from the back only, usually very small, and of poor quality, and quite blurry... and yet it is this second group of people (one person in particular, who shall remain nameless, --- at least not spoken out of my mouth - lol) who seem to be the quickest to criticize others.
Why??
To all the folks here who have so openly shared their pics, as well as their thoughts and experiences, I say: BRAVO!!!! You are the true givers here, and I thank you for making my lurking experience happier and richer for it! To any of you who post only one or 2 boring, useless pics of "yourself", I say: facsinating as remaining mysterious may be (in your own mind, at least), your comments have little or no weight behind them, --- so, go ahead and be as blunt as you wish... I'm [mildly] entertained!!!
- Ken
Thanks Ken, for telling it like it is. I can always rely on you to cut to the heart of the matter.
Matt B.
Hi Ken nice to hear from you and knowing how busy you are I wonder where you found the time to write all that. LOL
I agree with you though, yes I know some of us give the trimmers a hard time but all in fun and it is ones personal choice and as I always say whatever makes your boat float. It's the ones who trim for silly reasons like "I have to trim cause it's the third Thursday after a full moon". or some other silly reason. At the end of the day it's your choice and if we give you a hard time just give it back.
Kevin
It's good to hear from you Ken the busy boy that you are!
Wise words indeed Kevin and at the end of the day if you wish to have adventures with scissors it's you choice...eh trimmers!
Cheers,
John.B
Yes! We are SO lucky to have Kevin as our President. The MLHH is truly blessed.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. "Adventures with Sissors." Sounds a bit kinda like the name of a book yet unwritten that might be a landslide sell-out best seller. And it would probably sell the MOST copies if it were TRIMMED to a 100 page short novel. (The price would be cheaper than a trip to te Salon.) LOL :-)
Hi Ken.Boy do you know how to write a post!LOL.I have to say, like I've always thought about you, and that is you are a real voice of reason.I know a bunch of us come down hard on guys who constantly talk about trimming and sometimes I guess you've got to cut them some slack.I mean even myself included has trimmed his hair in the past and even one strange phase I had in the late 1980s permed my hair into some quite tight curls!LOL.If some of you remember I posted some vintage pics of myself awhile ago which included that beauty.LOL.So Ken I must admit sometimes its good that you put your two or three cents in just to keep us on our toes.Thanks for that monologue as we do miss your daily posts my good friend:)
Mark
I totally agree with all of your comments.
From the sound of things, our hair journeys have been fairly similar.
I grew mine years ago to about mid-back. That took about four years with a few trims and style experiments along the way. I was looking for another job and felt I'd probably have more luck with short hair, so it all got clippered off in '95.
My last trim was at about six months, to even the length up. That's about three years ago now, so it's about the same timescale as my first hair adventure, but my hair's about 6-8 inches longer and I don't think it's in any worse condition than it was then, so my attitude to trims is get a trim if you feel you need it, but if you don't need it, let your hair do its thing. That's assuming your goal is length. If you just want hair a certain length, do what suits you.
I think I've been quite lucky because I don't have many split ends. What does tend to happen though is that the ends of my hairs break off and that can be anything from a couple of millimetres to a couple of inches, which is really annoying.
Somewhere around MYOB and I'm not here to decorate your world are my responses to people who want to dictate how others live their lives.
Hi Urban Cowboy. I agree with you. Trimming is only okay if you have damaged ends, and you are well out of the awkward phase. Awkward phase trims are condemned and that made me decide that growing out my hair is more important to me than seeing my dad. My dad think my hair is out of control. My hair is not too bad, and I want to get out of the awkward phase as fast as possible.
I don't believe in "awkward phase" trimming. It is my hair, and I only spend 1-2 percent of my time with my dad anyway, so he does not have the right to make rules for me like that. I am past the worst part but my hair is often frizzly and can be messy in the morning. When I can put all of my hair in a ponytail, then most of these problems will be solved.
My awkward phase is not too annoying, but part of the reason is that I learned about it before I experienced it, so I was ready for it. I used bobby pins to put in my hair during the worst part so my hair would not get into my eyes. That was my experience of my awkward phase. The trim for my cousin's wedding in February did not help. Only I have the right to get trims or such. Then when my dad said that he wants me to get another trim, and then a trim every six months thereafter, I declared that growing out my hair is more important to me than seeing my dad.
Regardless
Ken,
I couldn't agree more! For instance, to the chagrin of most posters here, I use a flat-iron from time to time to straighten my hair. If I don't, I end up getting tangles at the ends...plus I just like the way it looks and feels afterwards. In my case, I'm convinced my hair comes out of my head already damaged being dry and unmanageable. I'm careful not to use the iron all the time and a natural bristle brush has certainly helped. Others may not have the same texture as mine, so they don't understand. Thanks for pointing that out...that everyone is different!!!
Viva la difference! (I'm not sure I spelled it right, but pretend to use a French accent when reading LOL)
Take care and keep lurkin' and growin'!
Brett
Growing My Hair Out...Again! Progress Pics