new thread
Dunno if this has been posted before, but check out www.longlocks.com - has some good natural hairare recipes and growing tips.
I like that site, it's mostly on topic.
Welcome Stu of the gorgeous red hair,
I'm glad you mentioned the Longlocks site. What I've admired about Susan Maxwell Schmidt's writing there is her gender balance. The tips are written "specifically for the person who wants to grow extremely long hair," rather than for the woman. She also sells hairsticks specifically aimed at men, her "ChapStix" designed with a lot less sparkle than the other designs on her site.
The tips for hair growing are generally good and include the best tip of all- "growing long hair is more a question of what you shouldn't do rather than what you should." I vehemently disagree with her first two hints- cutting off any damaged hair to begin growing and trimming often. Unless the hair is so damaged that detangling is impossible, starting with all undamaged hair will be optional. With her recommended three to four month, half-inch trims that old hair will be cut off in time anyway.
Also, the necessity of trimming is greatly overstated. It may be a hair type difference but after 17 years untrimmed, with only the occasional partial split end cutting of individual hair, I have not had the massive damage she predicts. "If your hair begins to show damage, it is important to trim it more often! Damaged hair doesn't grow, it breaks, and damage will only increase with time," well not in my case apparently.
Susan's hair is straighter than mine too which might account for her preference for combs over brushes. I even brushed wet with the cheapest, harshest sort of brush out there for years and came through with growth. My wavy hair detangles much better by plastic brush than anything else so I can not agree with her comb is best stance if being applied to all hair types. Use what works for you, with the hair type of a writer as a guide. That is part of what makes the Hyperboard so great, you'll be able to find men with similar hair that can give you tailored advice.
Elizabeth
You've got to know your hair, but there's more than one kind of damage.
If the appearance of split ends doesn't bother somebody, they can probably leave them. I see split ends and broken hair as a symptom, not a cause. Unless there is a plan to do something to prevent splits from forming, it makes no difference whether the damage is removed. But damage make hair tangle more, and detangling will cause even more damage, so it's necessarily not true that it will all be the same in the end.
Perhaps it is also her taste, but I too prefer hair which is neatly trimmed. Not everybody can carry off untrimmed hair. On many people it looks pretty careless, or worse.
How long is your hair after so many years without trims? My hair length maintained itself (through breakage) just above the waistline for years til I started taking better care of it.
But maybe it is breaking off. Thanks for the hope, Katherine!
I agree with the points where you dsagree with the longlocks site. Trims as regular as that may be OK for pepole whose hair grows fast, although I think that amount of trimming is excessive for everyone, but for those (like me) with slow growing hair, little or no progress would be made. It's a question of what suits you, and adapt all advice to suit your particular circumstance.
