Growing out and actually taking care of it this time

**Undomesticated** · May 10th, 2018, 09:20 AM

For years my hair care technique was buzz it then grow it out until it mats(no routine dentangling) and repeat. I have been WO for 6 years or longer but beyond that I have never really cared to care for my hair. This time, since a no guard buzz in January 2016 is different I have actually been taking care of it and over the past month I have weened off elastics in favor of wood and brass thingamajigs and learned how to braid.

I don't know exactly why this time is different but I can only figure it has to do with what I have learned in the past couple years but I feel the need, the obligation to grow it out as far as it will go. Being that I live by what I feel, that's what we are doing

So far I am about 4" past bottom of shoulder blade but without ever having been trimmed it starts to peter out a while before the longest ends. Right now the goal is to let it do it's own thing until terminal. I'm going to have to do some hairtyping because I don't even know what color my mop is let alone any of the other classifiers.

I look forward to learning more from the community here, Thanks for having me.

**bparnell75** · May 10th, 2018, 10:44 AM

Congratulations on deciding to care for yourself/hair. If that is your hair in the avatar you have amazingly thick hair and it should be your pride and joy. You might want to start with some mild shampoo and conditioner to make it easier to detangle.

**Undomesticated** · May 10th, 2018, 02:06 PM

Gracias, as for the detangling I have switched from brushing daily to doing more finger detangling before brushing. Seems to work well with a lot less shedding, I need to get my hands on a proper comb. In the mean time I have learned that braiding really helps minimize the upkeep needed though which is great considering I spend over 90% of my time in the wilderness, where plants like oak brush are not very hair friendly and it doesn't take an hour with my hair down for it to turn back into a rat's nest.

This is the first time I've made it much past shoulder length because that's where my hair always wound up getting too tangly for me to bother with it anymore and I am glad that things seem to get easier as it grows and I learn new methods to work with it rather than fight it.

Most definitely my joy, my connection to those who came before me. I try not to let pride in on it though. There's been a couple times where pride of hair got in the way of humility.

**lapushka** · May 10th, 2018, 02:31 PM

You have pretty thick hair judging from your avatar! And it's a nice color. Love it.

Welcome to the forum.

**Undomesticated** · May 12th, 2018, 07:10 PM

Thanks, lapushka

**spirals** · May 12th, 2018, 09:05 PM

It looks like the texture of your individual hairs might be a tad coarse. Mine are. I can't recommend enough getting a brush that's made for detangling and then spraying the brush itself with detangler so as not to get greasy spots on your hair. The best brush I've gotten is from Swissco. As for detangler, I have no specific recommendations. I'm currently using just a silicone shine spray. I will have to do this process tonight before I braid for bed because I washed it this morning and it has been down all day: knot city.

**Undomesticated** · May 13th, 2018, 05:47 PM

Thanks, I did some measuring and testing and yeah it seems I am right around the medium-coarse threshold. I will keep my eyes open for a detangling brush like that Swissco or the Tangle Teezer I see a lot of positive comments about, I checked the grocery store while I was there today and they only had a huge Conair detangling brush for about the same price as amazon has the Tangle Teezer.

This morning I was being lazy and rebraided my hair without any detangling, so that will be fun next time it's unraveled. On the bright side I shouldn't have many flyaways with this braid, hopefully

**spirals** · May 13th, 2018, 06:16 PM

I've done that, the re-braiding. It actually helps because it straightens the hair further. I guess specific to curly hair, though.

**Undomesticated** · May 14th, 2018, 04:15 PM

I pulled that braid out today since I was in town(shower with unlimited hot water!) I expected it to basically start turning to dreads but it was easy to get out and wasn't too tangled. I took your recommendation of getting a purpose built detangling brush a little Wet Brush detangler. I knew there was differences between different brushes I just didn't know there was such big differences in going to specialized brushes, Thanks again.

I think I am 2a some waves but not curly, if brushed it straightens out a lot or if left in pigtails it goes full blown curly when unbraided