Hello everybody!

I've been lurking around the forums for the last week or so, and decided to register and introduce myself.

I'm in my mid twenties, and I live with my husband in Western Pennsylvania. We are both long haired, but only recently have I gotten past my husband in terms of length of hair. I started reading the forums after buying a few of Rapunzel's hairsticks. They're very lovely!

I have 1b/1c F/M iii hair. If we go by measurement alone, I'm at 33" of length, but it's layered heavily, so the shortest layers are apl and the longest are just brushing hip length.  It's that shade of dark brown that all of my Caucasian friends say is black and all of my Asian friends say is light brown (I'm half and half). It seems to be mostly straight, but my hair is highly impressionable and will gladly mimic anything from 1c to 2c if I leave it braided/coiled for any length of time. My goals are to get down to tbl (or maybe even classic!) in a healthy manner.

About me:
I'm a computer geek, and I work in the computer industry. I get to chill with the guys, and more than a few of them have long hair themselves. Unfortunately, when I am not wielding my mad linux-fu skills at my desk, my job often involves crawling around behind the machines in the lab, climbing on ladders with whirly fans blowing all over the place, etc, so I don't get to wear loose hairstyles that can get sucked into CPU fans and such. Since I'm ducking under cableing often, I'm sometimes scared to wear my LL hairsticks. I don't want them damaged!
I also do martial arts. This usually isn't a hair problem, but it does get tromped on a bit when we're doing groundwork, and I end up pinned on the floor, or manhandled when we're doing neck-grappling maneuvers. I once tried braiding it into a braided bun with bobby pins, but it was itchy and the pins kept working their way out of the bun.

Hair care (or lack thereof)!
Up until now, my hair care regime has mostly been benign neglect. I shampoo'd two to three times a week with Herbal Essences. Never blow-dried, never styled, mostly just rolled it up with a claw clip or tied it back with an ouchless hairtie, only brushed my hair out in the morning when I got up, and at night before going to sleep. On the flip-side, that also means that I wasn't trimming, wasn't oiling, slept with my hair loose, let my martial arts partners tromp all over my hair, and a bunch of other bad habits.

In high school, I let it grow out to sit-on length, but then cut it off partially due to headaches from the weight and because my mother hates long hair. In college, I did everything a self-respecting college girl feeling her freedom would do. I tried all sorts of fun dyes and had a brief fling with perming. Fortunately, my hair grows pretty fast, and all of that has been grown out and cut off, and my hair is virgin once more.

I've recently changed my shampoo from Herbal Essences to Organix. I'm trying out the SLS and ALS free shampoos, because my skin is allergic to everything, and I'm trying to isolate what makes my scalp raw and itchy feeling. I've also, since reading here, have started using a comb and BBB instead of my beloved paddle brush, and I've even dabbled recently with oiling. Aside from oiling (and I'm still experimenting with that), I still don't use any products in my hair. My favorite hair accessory to date is the first beautiful hairstick I got from Longlocks.

Whew, that was rather long, and I think I'll leave it at that. Thanks for having me here, and I look forwards to learning lots more!

Welcome, KNS!  Your hair sounds lovely.  My own hair has just barely reached shoulder length so I am envious!   

I'm currently using Karen's Body Beautiful Moisturizing Mask.  I apply it, put a shower cap on and sit under a low heat bonnet dryer for approx. 25 mins.  You could slather on oil and use heat, however I personally find it too heavy a treatment.  We have the same hair texture f/m, and my is dry 'cause its wavy.

I'm sorry to hear about your scalp problems.  My scalp gets very itchy sometimes.  I can't use products with sulphates, silicones or more than 2 parabens.  I did regular ACV rinses for quite a while and now I only do them once a week.  I suggest a shampoo/conditioner with neem oil.  You can also use straight neem oil directly on your scalp.  It smells kinda like goreng bawang putih, deep fried shallots.  I don't mind the smell.  You'll find neem oil and neem shampoo/conditioner at a health food store and online.

Also, be sure you're not using hot water on your scalp-that will dry it out quick!

Good luck!!!

Thanks, Curlgirl!

Sakina: I'll have to look around for that. Do you get your mask from a beauty store, or online?

I just did an ACV rinse for the first time yesterday. I'm not sure I did it quite right, since I'm not sure I saturated my entire head (note to self, try a bigger water bottle next time), but my hair does look shinier today!

Do you recommend doing these once a week? Or more or less often?

Very nice to meet you Kitten

KNS, please accept our apologies regarding your account.  The de-activating of your account was not intentional.  We have been experiencing some difficulties with the software which has caused a number of newer members to be de-activated/deleted.  As you probably know, we have just upgraded the forum software and we hope this will prevent the unwanted deletions from occuring again.

robin

kns,
I sincerely apologize for the deletion.  Things got alittle hairy!   With the new sysstem in place,we are planning that this type of problem will be avoided in the future. Again, sorry for the problems and welcome back!!!