Hello! Hip-length hair and no idea what I'm doing!

[-arachne-]

Hi! My name is Jessica and I'm a college student from Texas. I've been reading your forums for quite a while now, and eventually I just had so many question that I figured I might as well create an account. You guys all seem so friendly!

Little bit about myself... I had very long hair as a child (past tailbone) but I had many years throughout my teens where I kept it it short - never past shoulder and sometimes short enough that I only had 1-2 inches around my head. Now, my hair is several inches past waist, but not to tailbone, so I guess it's hip length. I really don't know much about long hair care. (I have 4 brothers and 0 sisters.) I wash every 3-7 days, whatever I can manage, deep condition with coconut oil, and I use cocoa powder to absorb oil occasionally. Not heat! Just started on argan oil. As far as things that aren't hair related, I'm kind of nerdy and I LOVE gaming. I also enjoy doing charcoal drawings, photography, and fencing, which I've been doing a long, long time.

I think the main thing I'm wanting to learn from the forums is how to do more hairstyles. (Also, I hope to pick up some tips and tricks on general care of my hair and products to use. I don't think I've found 'my thing' yet.) It's gotten to a length that I just don't know what to do with it. I try to wear it up as much as possible, because I don't want to damage it, and while it's in pretty good shape I still have some split ends at the nape of my neck from when I used to straighten it several years ago. But I don't know many updos, and my hair is heavy... This is one question I had, actually. I'm noticing that as I wear it up and in clips, I seem to have more short hairs around my crown. In my quest to save my hair from damage, am I actually damaging it from the weight?

Thanks for your time and sorry for the long post. I'm excited! Look forward to knowing some of you.

[Madora]

Welcome to LHC, arachne!

The short hairs may be new growth coming in. Be sure your clips are smooth with no jagged parts.

As far as hairstyles go, the most comfortable way to wear long hair is to section it, like thus:

1) Gently detangle with a wide tooth comb and comb back away from face
2) Make a horizontal part from the top of the left ear, across the back of the head, to the top of the right ear.
3) Take all the hair above the part and comb out. Loosely braid the hair and secure with hair friendly elastic
4) Take the braid, and holding it flat against your scalp with one hand, coil it in a bun, pinning with hairpins as you go.
5) Take remaining hair and loosely braid it, then wind it around the braid already made.
Voila: one double braided bun.

Special note for #5...To start the braid as close to the bun as possible, bend at the waist and braid the hair.

With this sectioning technique you can do: double rose buns, double twist buns, double roped buns, double fishtail buns, the Cameo bun.

Sectioning is also the basis for my avatar pic.

Here's a lovely tutorial by Lillith Moon on how to do the easy two strand crown braid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPHEzUr5bWQ

For more inspiration, check out the video tutorial by Torrin Paige on You Tube!

Good luck!

PS..Always, always, always, detangle your hair before styling it.

[~honeyflower~]

Hello newbie

I am glad you found the forum enjoyable, it's really amazing to connect with people all over the world with the technology we have today.

I would be happy to help you, but as you may know, we each have different hair. So my knowledge what works for your hair is limited and... (laughs) I cant see you. However, you sound a lot like me last year. Believe it or not, I also had hip length hair and I also had the weight problems too. I would try clarifying FIRST because, products can layer up on your hair strands and weigh it down. If all fails, a U shaped cut works.

In 2012, I had the impression that hair had to stay up everyday. So, I wore it in a French braid everyday and pretty soon I began to see breakage which lead to thinness in my hairline. Now, I wear it differently everyday because of that. One thing to remember is, if its tight or tugs ...redo it, or forget it. I like to watch Torrinpaige and Hair4myprincess for inspirations on youtube. Just watch for teasing, hairspray, or heat applications those are a no no.

All split ends should be cut off. Since we have thick hair its easier just to have scissors on hand and cut any you see until you don't see anymore. Remember to cut with sharp scissors and no slants when cutting split ends.

The biggest thing I had to deal with was shampoo and conditioner. My need was moisture so I spent a lot of time on Internet to try to find a routine that didn't have proteins in products and end up with one. Then finally! I found a book called, "The Science of Black Hair" by Audrey Davis -Sivalothy. I found it on Amazon and bought the kindle edition for $10 and this is a very good book to use. I'm not a descent of African but I found the author's advice good for any type of hair. If you want to talk to me for tips from the book,please PM when you can.

[~honeyflower~]

My kindle cant edit.

I was trying to say that the author has tips that I found are on LHC too. I just like how she has a list of both moisturizing and protein shampoo, conditioners, and leav-ins and a routine to follow.

[lapushka]

Hi!

I'm a iii as well. Sectioning, such as Madora suggested might work, but if you're not into that, a cinnabun is a nice way to bun the hair and at this length it should become possible for a iii. A lazy wrap bun is also nice to do. (BTW just YouTube the buns, and it should come up.)

Anyway, nice to meet you!

[~honeyflower~]

My kindle cant edit.

I was trying to say that the author has tips that I found are on LHC too. I just like how she has a list of both moisturizing and protein shampoo, conditioners, and leav-ins and a routine to follow.

[heidi w.]

Detangle with a wide or extra-wide tooth comb. If you use a brush, it can take a week or two to get used to detangling with a comb. At least it didi for me because my hair won't tolerate a regular wide-toothed comb. I buy my comb from Madora in NY, from the website. Oh, and also a brush can pull more hair out.

I don't know your hair type. But using cocoa powder? hmmm. questionable. Oil hair from the earlobes on down, nothing applied to scalp hair. Same with conditioner which should be applied every time you wash your hair.

Take hair down at night. Don't wear an updo all night. The hair needs to rest in its normal part and relax. Take the hair down, detangle, and put in double braids for the night and sleep on a satin pillowcase to allow hair to slide during the night. Take hair down in the opposite order you put it up in. Reverse whatever you did to put it up. Otherwise you'll end up with very tangly hair.

It's very easy to bun the hair, which I recommend. Simply start by twisting and roping the length around, then pin. Do not wait to pin when all your hair is spiraled up. Do it as you progress. Use long hair pins and interlock them. This creates a network. You can begin by placing pins N, S, E and W. Eventually you can go one less, in a triangle. Form a ponytail first then begin spiraling and pinning. This should work for you. Most updos begin with a ponytail.

heidi w.

[-arachne-]

Thank you all so much for the warm welcome!

I did try a sectioned updo on my hair the other day, which was something I gave up on last time I was trying it... I think my hair was too short then, and I'm just not super coordinated with it, but it seem to work okay now. (Although it is kind of messy.)

I think I'm going to post some pictures in the hair photos thread at this point. Thank you for all of the tips... I've utilized some this week. See you around!