new thread
Hello,
Long time reader, first tme poster here.
I must have been visiting this site for months now, but for the first time I decided to post something.
Long story short.
Allthough I haven't exactly been keeping a diary of my hair growth, but it must be at least two years ago that I started to grow my hair out from a short cut.
Maybe a little under 3 years ago there was a part in my life that enabled me to start growing out my hair.
I guess I have always liked long hair, and for a while I wanted to have long hair myself, but always after a few months of growth I'd enter the awkward phase, and I guess because of school I wanted to appear at least somewhat neat, so I always cut it.
After a few months of seriously growing my hair, I stupidly went to a barber to get a "trim", Because that's what you "have to do in order to grow your hair long" lol, little did I know.
Well, the barber cut my hair super short, again.
I was furious and I swore to never go to a barber in my life after that.
And I didn't for a long time
The earliest pictures of my hair while growing I could find were from February of 2007, and at that point my hair was long enough to have a middle parting, so I figured that my hair growing journey must have started in the end of 2006. So I guess ths is my 2 year anniversary, hehe.
And let me tell you, it has been a rollercoaster.
There have been many times when I was on the verge to go to a stylist and get my hair cut, at some points I was so sick of it all that for a moment I thought about SHAVING my head. Luckily at those moments I decided to look at pictures of my hair, which always changed my mind.
Growing out your hair, as many of you know, takes long. sometimes it feels like your hair isn't growing at all, and you start to become paranoid about it.
But after months and especially years you really start to see how much it has grown.
In a way it takes a long time, and in a way it's a blink of an eye.
I have thought of myself as a longhair for a long time now, and it's funny when I look at some old pictures when I was a "longhair" and I can only think "Man, my hair was still really short!"
My hair care routine is very simple.
I wash my hair twice a week, I use nizoral shampoo, because I tend to have a sensitive scalp, and I often have pimples and stuff up there, so the shampoo is wonderful for my scalp, even though it dries out your hair.
After shampooing I put in a LOT of moisturising conditioner. And I mean a lot, lol.
I have tried many brands, some expensive too, but funnily enough, I think the best I've used is the cheapest one you can find from a grocery store. But hey, whatever works for you.
It's a finnish brand called XZ, that has many products. The conditioner doesn't contain any silicones, which my hair doesn't seem to like. and it's pretty cheap, so I can use plenty of it and not worry about spending too much money.
Uusually, a day or two before a wash I heavily (sometimes lightly) oil the ends of my hair. I use just a regular extra virgin olive oil. It doesn't smell that good but it does the trick for me.
Usually, twice or thrice a month I deep condition my hair. What I do is mix up a lot of olive oil and a conditioner of my choice in a cup, and then apply it to my hair, scalp, ends, everywhere, until it is extremely greasy and slippery, then I let it be for a few hours until I wash and condition my hair again.
Even though my hair gets greasy and oily naturally pretty quick, the ends of my hair are quite dry, and despite of heavy oiling and conditioning, it's still pretty dry and it tangles very easily.
Recently I have started to use some leave-in conditioners, but I don't think they're really suitable for my hair.
The last time I got a trim was in last march, and I'm thinking that I'll go get a small trim this christmas or by next march, only to cut of the split ends and dry hair.
Some people don't like to get any trims, and some do.
I have found that occasional trims work for me.
But only when it's done once or at most twice a year, and half an inch/quarter of an inch at most at a time.
I know that some of you have experienced some prejudices because of your long hair, but I am lucky in that way.
I have never experienced anything like that, no one has ever even made fun of my long hair, except my shorthair friends of course, hehe.
But I guess the reason for that is the fact that I live in Finland.
Being a longhair here isn't that out of the ordinary.
I don't know if it's because rock and heavy metal music is so popular here, or something else. But when you're out and about you're bound to see at least some longhairs.
When I'm on a bus or a train, there's usually at least a couple of long haired guys there too.
I recently went to a job interview, it was for some office work, and never once did my long hair become an issue at the interview, and at the job that I eventually got, there was two long haired guys at the office besides me. Even my boss had a slightly longer hair than most.
My hair growing journey hasn't necessarily been easy.
I don't have the best hair quality.
I have a very stereotypical scandinavian hair. It's blonde and tends to be fine and tangle easily. also the fact that I have some waves and curls doesn't make the tangling issue any easier.
Anyways, that was a rather long post wasn't it? lol.
Anyhoo, here are a few pictures of my hair from this week, I tried to show the length and my ponytail.
I usually just keep my hair in a simple low tail, very rarely do I keep it flow open when I'm out, because the wind is always blowing it to my face and it tangles easily like I said.
If there is an occasion where I'd have to be really neat, I either braid my hair or put it in a bun.
What a great introduction! I have a couple of reactions to specific parts of your message below:
{snip}
Isn't that the truth? My hair in the year or so of growing sometimes seems to be just crawling along. My memory of growing my hair in the early 90's is much more compressed, and while I remember the awkward stage from then, in retrospect it doesn't seem nearly as protracted as now. One of those illustrations of the elasticity of time.
{snip}
I have to say, you can't tell that from the picture-- the color, wave and thickness of your hair is amazing. You have one of those heads of hair that is meant to be grown out.
Chris
Another picture.
Here you can see that my hair reaches my upperback.
Here's a picture of my ponytail.
I wear my hair like this most of the time.
Hi ManeMan,
Welcome to the hyperboard, and I am glad that you decided to "de-lurk", and share some of your photos with us. I think you have a fantastic head of hair, and you have made amazing progress for only two years of growth. Your hair is in excellent condition, is thick and shiny, and the colour is awesome!
Also, thank you for sharing your hair care routine as well, and I hope to see you posting more often!
Welcome aboard,
David
Hi ManeMan. Congratulations on your hair journey. I know it has not been easy. Your hair looks great. Just keep it growin' and flowin'.
TLH
WELCOME MANEMAN!Now that's quite a story of your hair history and I'm glad you stuck it out.Without support from others,such as this board,it can be a very lonely journey to endure especially dealing with the awkward phase and then possible negative comments from others.Its hard for me to remember my own journey as I began growing my hair long in the early 1980s and there was no mlhh at that time.So it was just me and my determination to endure the journey which thankfully was successful.Never during my journey was I ever forced to cut my hair for anything.I consider myself very fortunate but I had to make sacrifices along the way.Today I'm very pleased where I'm at and intend to remain a longhair for as long as I'm alive and beyond.Keep the faith my friend!
Mark
Long story short?
I have to say that I have not read your post in full but you have awesome hair and are very welcome here.
Welcome Maneman...very impressive :-)
Hello Mane...you have beautiful hair indeed! Welcome to the community; I am sure you will find this is a superior group. Congrats on your longhair achievement and best wishes for the future. Keep us updated!
Cheers,
Max
Nice hair ManeMan! if that's typical Scandinavian hair,Scandinavians have some damn good manes! i like the pun in ur name btw :)
Man, that's a long presentation. We don't have so precise details, often. :) Good to know a little the person. Anyway, great head of hair, I always find beautiful scandinavian blond hair.
Welcome to MLHH.
Vivien
Welcome to the board, your introduction is very nice.
Your hair looks amazing!
Welcome, ManeMan.
Your hair is gorgeous. You have taken very good care of it. Just lovely.
Scott
Wow ManeMan!
You've possibly won the award for the longest post I have ever seen on this board! Welcome aboard, this is a really cool community and well worth visiting for support and advice. I think you'll fit right in here. Your hair is pretty wicked I have to say. Very uniquely firey looking.
Once again welcome and keep it growing!
Neil