Hello all. Nice to meet you. I love your place here, it has been most helpful the past couple of days. I have always wanted long hair ... however somehow, someway, sometimes not my fault, I might add, I found a way to screw it up or find a "professional" who was happy to screw it up for me. Until around 8 years ago, my hair had never made it past the center of my neck. Nearing 11 years ago I made a sound promise to myself, this was it, I was going to have long hair, no if's and's or but's ... I did screw it up a time or two , here and there, but nothing too extreme. The last perm I had was around 5 years ago. I so wish I had found your place prior to last Friday  :( Oops, I did it again! I thought I needed a change. My hair is oh so very straight. It is also thin, however I have been told I have alot of it. I just wanted a nice, soft, healthy curl. Why could I not leave well enough alone?? My hair January 2004: http://home.rmci.net/lionessrose/hair1.jpg http://home.rmci.net/lionessrose/hair4.jpgMy hair day after perm January 2005. The photo nor the photographer do the damage justice. It is pretty sad. After the perm I lost around 2 inches of length from the dry, cracking wave my hair had become and the next day I lost another 2 inches from the dead end trim. In less than a 48 hour period I managed to lose 4 inches of hair. Did I mention I had a professional give me the perm?? GRRRR!! I should have known better, but I thought "this time will be different, it will be better, it will turn out".  ??? What was I thinking  ??? Oh well, live and learn ... the BIG point here I hope to teach myself is the LEARN part  :P And, "It will grow back" doesn't make me feel any better, but thanks again Mom  ;) So looking for help on the www, I found you guys and tons of great info. I have been giving myself conditioning treatments every other day wrapping my head in grocery sacks, getting laughed at by the kids  :P I have gone with a hemp seed oil shampoo and conditioner. Not sure if it is working yet or not. Time will tell. I hope you don't mind me joining in.  A lioness working on her mane  :P The Lioness

hello ... i am sorry to hear about that perm ... i think it's such a bad idea, not only is even bleaching better for the hair, my straight hair is usually wavier than yours after the perm when i sleep with a braid! maybe you should try that too. i think a bun gives more natural waves even, but i can't sleep with it but some people do.
to minimize extra damage, you could try oiling and co-washing (conditioner only). check out the long hair care board, there are several topics about it.

anyways: welcome!!! hope your pretty hair will go back to it's good old self  :)

((((Hugs)))) to you and welcome.

Keeping the hair moisturized will help.  Have you tried oiling it yet?

Hello and good morning. Thank you for your replies and (((Hugs))) A good hug is a great fix for any bad hair day  :)  I have not yet tried a hot oil treatment. I thought I might try it today using my hemp seed oil with a little tea-tree oil and see how it feels. I think it is starting to look and feel a little better already. Yesterday I used the hemp seed oil conditioner, wrapped in a plastic grocery bag for approx. 2 hours. Rinsed in cold water, combed out with wide, smooth tooth comb, then placed hair in a bun, used night sleep cap worn over hair ... woke up, removed sleep cap, took out bun, used my new boar brush giving hair a good brushing, here are the results:photo from 3 days ago http://home.rmci.net/lionessrose/hair4.jpg http://home.rmci.net/lionessrose/hair3.jpgtodays photo. The lenghth difference you see is not really that much different, it is the photographer once again  :) Todays photo I was a little closer to the mirror. I normally sleep with my hair in a braid, however until last night have never worn a cap. My normal daytime hair-do is a braid or a bun. My hair is so thin it will not hold a wave from a bun or braid. The wave will hang on for a couple of hours and then it is gone. The wave seen in my hair, shown in first photo in my first posting is what my hair will hold after sleeping in a braid all night. My hair is a curl/wave boycotter  ;D My normal shampoo and conditioner is Aussie Moist, 33.8 FL OZ size. I add a cap full of pure tea tree oil and eucalyptus oil to the shampoo. I tried it with the conditioner once, but it turned out to be a bit too much to have the oils in both of them. I also use the shampoo as a body wash. I have found it works great on my skin as well as on my hair. I decided to try the hemp seed oil products due to research. I read via the www, the elements found in hemp seed are responsible for the formation of keratin. How much truth there is to this, I don't really know. I thought with the condition my hair is in now, what could it hurt? I have used hemp seed oil in the past, in my home made lotions, body soaps and lip balms, it seems to be pretty good stuff. Thank you again for your replies. And I love your hair biker. I hope to have a photo to send one day of my hair that length  :) Even half that would be awesome  ;) Have A Grrrrrreat Day All!! The Lioness

despite the difficult experience, your hair still looks very beautiful - and nicely thick at the ends! (I suppose one benefit of the trim).  

I'm so sorry about your bad experience - I know we all literally cringe when hearing such tales.  

I look forward to future postings!

nightowl

I can see the difference already.  Keep up the good work!

wrote on Jan 28^th, 2005 at 5:01pm:

My normal daytime hair-do is a braid or a bun. My hair is so thin it will not hold a wave from a bun or braid. The wave will hang on for a couple of hours and then it is gone.

do you use conditioners with tons of silicone cuze those prevent waves to stay in my hair too.  not all of them, but some do.

I know how you feel--I bleached my hair, then regretted it almost immediately.  But even w/ all the damage I've done, my hair hasn't fallen out.    :o  Your pictures look good, I'm sure w/ the conditioning treatments your hair will stay in good condition.