Right. Well. Mandatory boring background post.

Hair History and Status

I have curly hair, I can never remember how to classify it but it's somewhere between Madeleine Stowe and Julia Roberts. I always thought it was wavy until I started air drying it a few months ago. The color is honey blonde with a touch of red, it used to be a lovely strawberry blonde when I was younger. I hated it at the time - my estranged father has red hair, so I used to pluck out those reminders of him.

Otherwise, I have standard curly hair. Dry as sand, and generally dull unless I 'cone-ify it. I have had short hair most of my life, but have had it as long as BSL once. I always shampooed every day (and conditioned most days, unless I'd run out, which happened frequently) and blew dry my hair. This becomes tedious at shoulder length, so I usually cut my hair short at that point.

Current Hair Routine

Or more accurately, lack thereof. I started COing in March (when I found LongLocks) and my hair has responded well to it. I do not use any heat appliances. I deep condition maybe every 2 weeks. I do a vinegar rinse once a week or so. Mostly, I do these things when my hair reminds me. My hair has always been low-maintenance, so for me long hair requires more time than short. So far the most annoying aspect is the 2 hours my hair takes to dry. I can't style it before I leave the house, but I don't want to be one of those women who fools around putting her hair up at the office.

I'm currently using John Frieda's blonde conditioner and the Swedish pharmacy's conditioner (whichever bottle is nearer my hand). I style with Citré Shines's curl booster or nothing. I'm planning to switch to Citré Shine's conditioner and John Frieda's Frizz-Ease + Citré Shine's shine serum when I run out of products. My hair likes -cone's, and by the end of the day I need help shining.

That'll do for now, I'm off for a cuppa char.

June 1: 17.5"
July 1: 17.7"

Bah. The pitiful growth might have something to do with the fact that I quit taking hormones at the end of May - everything else has been topsy-turvy so why not my hair too? We should find out next month.

Yesterday I looked for tiny butterfly clips so I could try doing twisties, but the selection here is ridiculously limited. I found black, clear, brown and colored metallic. Half of those had rough edges. All I want is some pretty colored clips (preferably green), but everything here either blends into your hair, stands out way too much, or is designed for 10 years olds.

/Kate

I used gel with alcohol in it the other day, and I have really felt the difference. I haven't washed my hair in 4 days (I usually wash every 3), and I'm only just starting to get some sheen back. I'll CO and clarify tomorrow.

I'm also learning that I look like a moron unless I part my hair. One of the few things I can do without a mirror is a French braid, so I did one right quick while watching a bad movie this evening. I just caught my reflection and it was not a pretty sight! I look better with 2 French braids and a slight side part. Also a half-updo is terribly unflattering on me, it works better if I just pull back the hair from the sides (maybe twisting as I go). Otherwise I get this round-headed, pre-pubescent look.

If anyone has suggestions for an appropriate half-updo (keeping in mind what I wrote above), feel free to post here! Pebbles-cat is trying to walk on the keyboard so I think I'll go to bed. Seeya!

/Kate

Yes, well, my doubts concerning myself with a half-updo were confirmed yesterday when my boyfriend said he didn't like my hair that way, it "made me look like Darth Vader." I do so cherish honesty in our relationship.

I tried greasing myself up with shea butter, since I've got about a gallon of the stuff. The results were less than inspiring. Used on wet hair, it basically clung to my hands. On dry hair, it just made me feel greasy. I might use it for deep conditioning the night before washing, at least it seems to have an indefinite shelf life.

The most exciting thing today is that I've ordered my first pair of LongLocks hairsticks!! I'm already anxious to receive them! ;D I ordered the "Sweet August" original LL hairsticks, they are white with green lampwork beads. I've been salivating over them for weeks now, but money has been tight so it took a while to justify the purchase (especially with overseas shipping). I really wanted green for my first pair, as it suits me, plus I actually have a pair of bead earrings very similar to the hairstick beads.

Time for a cuppa and perusal of the boards, seeya!

I got my hairsticks today, and they are everything I expected and more! The packaging was so beautifully precise (although somewhat child-proof) and the sticks themselves to die for! My boyfriend rolled his eyes at least 10 times at my child-like glee (he wasn't allowed to touch my (MY) hairsticks).

Unfortunately I can only do a half-updo bun so far, but even that looked great. I can't wait to go the US in October, I'll be sure to order more sticks while there. Yay!

In hairstyles, I can now do a perfectly straight French braid without a mirror. I'm using that as my most convenient half-updo now, even though I worry about the Darth Vader Syndrome.  ::)

I think I may have to shampoo soon, my hair has been frizzy and unusually greasy lately. I haven't 'pooed since early May, when I had my trim. I thought I'd try and do a deep condition tonight and see what happens - I've been lazy about doing that lately. I also need to be better at taking my vitamins. But now I'm going to make mushroom soup for dinner, ciao!

And August measurements are in! Let's just do it in cm, that way I don't have to fiddle around converting numbers.

Jun: 44.5 cm
Jul: 45
Aug: 46

Unfortunately, I don't reckon that means 1 cm growth over the past month. In July I measured my hair wet with a natural (albeit loose) curl, while today I pulled the curl straight. I figured that would be a more accurate way of measuring. So let's start anew, shall we?

August
Back: 46 cm
Front: 28 cm (from center part)

I found a bottle of almond oil in the cupboard, so tonight I'm going to get good and greasy, then do the whole shebang CO tomorrow morning. In the meantime, I smell a latte brewing. Cheers!  ;D

I've finally got around to buying some hair vitamins. I usually take a generic multivitamin but I thought I'd see if extra biotin, silica etc. make any difference in my rate of hair loss.

I feel like I'm losing more hair than normal lately. Not more than 100 hairs a day, but more than *I* usually lose.

Anyway, this hair vitamin (Hårkontroll bionutrin) is based on yeast, kelp, nettles and horsetail (which has the cutest name in Swedish: meadow freckle). It's got a bunch of additional nutrients and amino acids as well, goodness only knows what they do. Maybe I'll start being scientific and count the numbers of hairs I lose in the shower every day. If I count once a week I might see some interesting results over time. Am I obsessed? Perhaps a tad. ::)

I WISH I could do two french braids, I can barely do
one.  I think that is such a cool style.  

Thanks, Babyfine! I only incorporate hair into the braids from the outside, then I clip the rest of my hair together in a short ponytail. I can't wait for my hair to get longer so I can do 2 proper French braids that hang down to my shoulders!

I'll have to get practicing.   My hair just touches my
shoulders now, so I have a ways to go.  My goal/fantasy
is to have one long braid hanging down to my waist(or
longer).

Babyfine-

I saw a woman shopping the other day who had a classic-length braid that was about 3/8" thick for most of its length!

Hopefully my hair will get that long-I've heard people
with fine hair have shorter terminal lengths.  I just hope
I can stay the course before I get frustrated and chop it
off.  When I visit this site it encourages me to keep
growing.

Me too, Babyfine - although I have the opposite problem to you - my hair is bushy and always in the way. I keep thinking about a post Bikerbraid made elsewhere, about synchronized swimmers painting their hair with gelatin to keep it in place. In the summertime at least, I could *easily* convince myself to go for the "wet look" every day, just to make things easier!

eKatherine, the other day I saw a policewoman with a hip-length blond braid. It looks so elegant and professional when you ponytail first (in the middle of your head) and then braid. And she got to carry handcuffs around!

/Kate

I haven't had a chance to keep up with the boards lately, but hopefully I can remedy that next week.

I am officially obsessive-compulsive. Today I actually carried out my threat to count the number of hairs I shed in the shower. This morning I rinsed my hair with water, and lost about 30 hairs or so (usual). This evening I CO'd, and I counted 138 hairs shed! That means a daily total (today) of probably around 200 hairs! Is this normal? I only shed this much when I CO, the other days I guess I lose 30 or so in the shower, and not much more during the day. It looks like a heck of a lot when the hairs are all plastered on the shower wall (yet another way in which I endear myself to my sweetie).

I had an epiphany yesterday. A friend of mine is getting married tomorrow, and I was put in charge of doing her hair. I still see myself as having too short hair to be able to put it up, but when fooling about with Therese's hair I realized that mine is actually longer than hers! And she has *many* more short layers than I do. And we *still* managed to do a great job putting up her hair in romantic curls and corkscrews. I'll see if I can bribe her to let me take a picture of her hair tomorrow. :-)

I tried to do this style as well: http://www.hairboutique.com/tips/tip3510.htm but let me tell you it was an absolute nightmare. She looked like something off Tatooine.

Anyway, I'm off to bed now. I'll be wearing my hairsticks tomorrow, in the hairstyle known nowadays as the famous ol' half-up bun. Nighty-night!

Oooo, I'm excited. When I was home in the US back in April, I bought one of those Scünci herringbone braid thingies. I tried it out for the first time today, and although lopsided, the results were promising! The sides of my hair are still a bit short to stay in the braid, and it did take *ages* to do, but I'm sure is going to look fantastic once I get the hang of it. The braid looked so chunky and classy. If I can manage a decent one I'll take a pic soon.

I'm going back to the US in a few weeks, I'm so looking forward to tracking down new hair toys. We just don't have that much variety here.

/Kate

I think I had one of those.  I think it was called a Sport Braider??  It worked pretty neat when my hair was shorter  (my goodness, that was a looooonng time ago).  Keep practicing and you'll get the hang of it quickly.

Oooo! My friend Therese gave me a banana clip yesterday, and it's absolutely gorgeous!

http://medlem.spray.se/kakiec/images/hairclip_sm.jpg

I'm such a newbie to long hair, I have never used one of these clips in my life. Can anyone suggest some good hairstyles? The clip is 8.5 cm long, so it's too short to put all my hair up in it. Is there an updo that can be done with such a small clip?

/Kate

Finally, I get to measure! :-) Contrary to appearances, the front of my hair seems to be growing more or less as quickly as the back. I'll just have to bite the bullet and start evening the layers out soon.

August
Back: 46 cm
Front: 28 cm (from center part)

October
Back: 50 cm
Front: 31.5 cm

I'm pushing off tomorrow at the crack of dawn for a vacation with my family in the US. I'm so excited! I saw my Mom and Granny back in April, but I haven't seen my brother & family since 2001. They live in Florida, so I'll be displaying my snow-white gams to all and sundry. I just hope they're not blinded by the glare.  8)

On a hair note, I'll be picking up some LongLocks sticks I ordered as Xmas presents for various people. For myself there will be (sadly) no sticks for a while, maybe I can make some requests to Santa Claus.  ;D I'm going to try and find some French twist combs, small, hair-friendly banana clips and elastic bands. I might pick up some Redken products as well, they're cheaper in the US and I was planning on making a "hair Xmas package" with the sticks for my friends.

I'll get to do my Granny's classic length hair every day too (well, for the week and a half we'll be with my Mom). I think I'll try the style eKatherine has in her current avatar - Granny wears a similar style as it is.

I'd better slap on a coat of sunless tanner. See you in a few weeks!

Have a great time!!

Miracles never cease. I got a job today! Sweden was hit hard by the recession and things are only now starting to improve. I've been off-and-on out of a job for more than 2 years, and it was starting to feel pretty hopeless. I've been waiting to hear for a month now and finally got the call today. I'll be starting Monday Nov 22. It still feels a bit unreal to be honest.

On the good side, I'll finally have some cash to spend on hairsticks. However, I won't be here as often anymore. I'll have to catch up on the boards in the evenings. :-) Just had to share!

Congrats Kate! ;D That's wonderful news, best of luck to you!  The empoyment situation is not the best around here, either.  Jobs are hard to come by these days, especially skilled jobs that pay above minimum wage.  My husband has been out of work for close to two years now also, and we've been trying to get by on our artistic talents, it's worked so far, but you're never quite sure where the next dime is coming from that way!  I wish you the best!!!

-maggie

:D Ah that's brilliant Kate! Congrats to ye! I hope it all works out for you!  :D

Kate,
Just wanted to say what a charming journal you have!
strawberryfine

Thanks, Strawberryfine.

I know I've been incommunicado for a while. On Monday I got a call from my Mom to tell me that my Granny had passed away. She was 94 and had a fantastic life, living through all manner of hard times and yet thinking only of others. I've never known such a purely generous and loving person - she was one of the last of the old school English ladies, innocent and good in all things. She came to live with my family after my grandpa died a few years before I was born, so she raised me just as much as my mom did.

Even though I knew I'd get the phone call one day soon, it hit me a lot harder than I expected. She's just always been there. She never doubted that she would be reunited with my grandpa in heaven, and I know that they're both smiling down on me now, and always will be.

I've been here reading from time to time, but I just haven't had the energy to post. It's hard to find the energy to do anything actually.

Anyway, I just wanted to get that out of me. I'm going to go redeem a massage gift certificate now - I'm sure that will put some spring in my step.

Kate! :'( I'm tearing up right now. ((((HUG))))) Your Grandmother sounds like a wonderful person and you're in my prayers.

Anais

Kate, I'm so sorry to hear that. My deepest sympathy for your loss.

xxxx
Rua

:'(

Kate;
I'm so sorry to hear of your loss.  Yes, we all know it will happen eventually, but it is still hard to deal with the emptiness.  With time your heart will only remember the happy memories you obviously have of your grandmother.

Here's a [{ hug]} for you (and a tissue).

Thanks for the sympathy, everyone. I'm doing a bit better now, mostly because work is keeping me so busy.

Anyway I measured on Dec 1, but forgot to post so here is an updated growth table.

August
Back: 46 cm  
Front: 28 cm (from center part)  

October
Back: 50 cm
Front: 31.5 cm

December
Back:  52.5
Front: 31.5

My growth seems to be slowing down a bit (I actually measured 31 in the front, but I thought I'd err on the side of generosity). Strangely, my hair feels like it's grown a LOT in the last couple of months. I now feel like I have long hair, rather than in-between, unmanageable hair. Blame my slapshod measuring.

I am sorry to hear about your grandmother. I lost alot of people too last year :(.
I am curious though, whta part of the body (or back) is 46 inches up too?