The care and keeping of long hair

[Antisocial_Worker]

Male pattern baldness is inherited from your mother's side. Do/did her brothers/father have full heads of hair?

No, but I'm hoping to enjoy my hair for a few more years at least...

[crazylegs]

Most people will be flattered if you compliment their hair and ask what they use on it.

Just so long as you don't get touchy feely with random strangers folks!

[Seshat]

I have the same curl pattern you do, HH. Wavy, but naturally forms ringlets at the ends.
Every day, I fingercomb it and make balls of hair with the results.
Every shower, my ultra-wide-toothed conditioning comb gets this megaball of loose hairs.
It's just the natural loss. It's been happening to me for ten years, and my hair isn't thinning. The shed hairs just get caught in the curls, and have to come out when I brush or comb my hair.

My care process:

* detangling brush (dry only) is a smooth-bristled wooden-bristled brush from the Body Shop. The bristles are widely spaced, and it's like some of those plastic bristle brushes, but the bristles are much, much smoother. The plastic ones always snag and break hairs, this doesn't.

* oil-spreading brush (dry only) is a boar-bristle brush. Not terribly expensive, just expensive enough to make sure it really is boar-bristle and is properly made. Used to spread the natural hair oils from scalp to roots every day. Used AFTER detangling.

* When not doing anything in particular with the hair, I pin it up into a loose chignon. Because my hair is naturally dry and curly, a loose chignon is very low-impact on the hair.

• Pull the hair into a loose ponytail at the base of the head, just above the neck.
• Twist (not tightly enough to break strands, just tightly enough to hold it into place).
• Kind of tuck the twisted hair under the 'upper' side of the twist, if you want a 40s-ish chignon, or don't for a modern chignon.
• Using hairpins - ideally like these hairpins - pin the twist into place.
• If your hair is on the dry side of normal, and the twisted/curled side, you probably won't need any product or spray. Just the pins.
  People with oilier or more conditioned hair, or straighter hair, may find that bobby pins will help.
  Those with very straight, smooth hair shafts may well need product to make their hair 'stickier', or may need a product to 'glue' the hair into place. If this is you, a chignon is probably not as low-impact a style as it is for us curlier, dryer-haired people.

Whenever my hair reaches a certain level of dry-and-frizziness, I know it needs conditioning. If it's limp-and-lank, it needs shampooing. If my scalp is itchy, either I've got to rinse sweat out, or it needs shampooing. (If I've just been doing physiotherapy, rinsing sweat is probably it! )
This usually ends up with me washing it twice a week, and I pretty much schedule it for either the day I do physiotherapy, or the day after, depending on how drained the physio left me.


I have an intensive dry-hair shampoo and conditioner, and because of the length, I use two pumps of the stuff as a quantity.

Shampooing: one pump goes on the top of my scalp, the other pump starts at the base of the hair in the area just above the neck.
I massage the scalp with the shampoo, but always, ALWAYS in the direction of hair growth. Forward and back, never crosswise. Damp hair is fragile.
I keep massaging the scalp until the scalp and scalp hair is well shampooed, then use the shampoo-y hands to finger-comb down the length of the hair. The length most likely doesn't need hair oils washed out, just sweat, perfume, dirt, etc.
Because my hair is naturally dry, I just use one pass shampooing unless the hair is exceptionally dirty.

Rinsing, again, I always go in the direction of hair growth.

Conditioning: one pump in the middle of the hair length, the other pump at the ends. I really work the conditioner into the ends of the hair - and yes, stroking along the direction of the hair.
Fingercombing along the hair length spreads the conditioner, and the scalp gets the leftover conditioner from my hands.
Then I get my wide toothed conditioning comb (a lot like that) and starting at the ends, smooth it through the strands. If I encounter any resistance, I work it very, very gently from the ends, with fingertips and comb. NEVER pull through while the hair is wet, unless you're willing to lose that bit of hair! (Even then, keeping a sharp pair of scissors handy would be better than ripping it.)

Rinse through the direction of the hair growth again.

Drying: I pat the hair length with a towel, pat the hair on my skull with a towel, then put the whole lot inside a hat I made for myself with towelling.
Google search 'towelling turban' or 'hair turban' to see ones made from towelling or microfibre - if you go the towelling type, get a nice thick one.

I probably should sleep with my hair in a sleep hat of some sort, but I don't. I also don't get my hair trimmed - instead, my best friend checks the ends regularly and pronounces herself amazed I don't get split ends or frizzies.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Today I went and bought myself a wide-toothed comb for use when getting out of the shower, plus I ended up buying a 30+ dollar bottle of shampoo from a salon that's supposed to help with this problem. I'm thinking that when I'm done with that, I might just switch to Mane and Tail Shampoo and see what that does.

Really, I dont know how a shampoo will help with hairfall. But a wide tooth comb is great. (We have a collection of afro pics at my house. ) It doesn't sound like your hair is too curly to brush (mine was that curly when I was younger). I'd love a pic so we can see what we are dealing with. If it's spiral curly all the way, though, yeah. don't brush it.

Nobody in my family washes their hair more than once or twice a week. The poster that mentioned over drying and stimulated oil production is right. Your hair can take care of itself suprisingly well. Within reason, you should let it.

You don't say your hair is thinning at the scalp, so I'm thinking you are dealing with simple common everyday hairfall trapped in your curls. How's it look at your scalp?

[ArcticChicken]

I've actually gone shampoo free. I use a mixture of baking soda and water when I need to clean my hair, followed by a mixture of apple cider vinegar and water.

My hair looks and feels great, and it's a soooo much cheaper than shampoo.

I actually need to clean my hair less often now than I did when I was shampooing it, though I did go through a period of about a week when I had to wash it every day. I last washed it monday, and I'm just now getting to the point where I notice it getting a little oily. I'll probably wash it tonight, but I could get away with leaving it 'til saturday.

[Seshat]

One thing to be aware of with long hair that's habitually kept down: keep your back clean.

If it's habitually kept up (like mine in the chignon), your back skin isn't getting any different treatment from the rest of it. But if the hair is habitually down, your neck and back are constantly being coated in hair oils as well as their own skin oil.

[Cazzi]

Following this thread I've gone out & bought a couple of wide toothed combs today, one for home, one for the gym bag. & a bottle of leave in conditioner for the after swim shower

Thanks for all the tips folks, even though it wasn't me that originated the thread

*ends hijack*

[Antisocial_Worker]

You don't say your hair is thinning at the scalp, so I'm thinking you are dealing with simple common everyday hairfall trapped in your curls. How's it look at your scalp?

Over the past three or four years, I can tell that it has thinned a little, but when I went to have it cut short a couple of years back, I mentioned that and the barber said he couldn't imagine it being any thicker. I have a very full head of hair, but it used to be even fuller.

I can tell that this time around it isn't pulling out at the scalp so much as breaking off. Or, even when it does come out at the scalp, it's growing back. I have hair of all different lengths growing out all over my head, which is where the frizziness is coming from.

I'll see about getting a picture.

[Andara Bledin]

A note on long hair: If you wrap it in a towel for a bit, it'll dry more thoroughly after being washed.

I have long hair that holds moisture really well. If I wash it and don't wrap it, it'll still be slightly damp after I get home from work. If I wrap it for as little as 10 minutes, it'll be nearly dry before I leave the house in the morning.

This won't be as effective for you people with curls, of course. My hair, however, is very straight, medium thickness, and fine enough that only tension clips fail to slide.

^-.-^

[McGoddess09]

I have long hair myself and this is what I do:
- I use Tresseme shampoo and conditioner Anti Breakage
- When rinsing out my conditioner, I use a wide tooth comb to comb my hair in the shower
- I air dry my hair and I rarely use straighteners or anything like that.
- When my hair gets frizzy, I put a small bit of lotion on my hand and rub it in. It won't hurt your hair.
-For shininess, I use Garnier Fructis shining stuff. It looks like a small bottle, but you only use one drop or two and it will last you a long time. Plus it makes your hair smell sooo good.

On top of doing that, I eat a pretty balanced diet, which will help your hair. All of this on a college budget and money to spare!