If you’ve been reading my blog for you’re probably quite well acquainted with the pink bundle of fluff attached to my head. I’ve told you my curl secrets, and today I want to tell you a little about long luscious hair.
HISTORY
A little hair history won’t hurt, I’ve always had voluminous, curly hair and throughout my teens was highly unhappy with the way that it was, this was 2006 where I was going through my angsty emo/scene kid phase, to which I’m still haunted by images of those years still on google images, even some with black hair that is going to take me a while to publish on the internet, I’m still a little sore about that phase, but most of us went through it. The ‘in’ thing was to straighten your hair, backcomb it like Robert Smith, and attach ridiculous extensions that didn’t match, even some with racoon tail stripes (who thought this looked good?! Me apparently!)
So I, rebelling from society and my school rules abused my hair, with every colour under the sun, slept in hairspray and rubbed bars of soap into my hair to make it waxy and stand tall (somewhat the worst advice my dad ever gave me from his teen-hood).
You can probably get the picture, my hair was royally destroyed and fucked in every way. Even worse I wanted blonde hair, luckily I have thick strands that just about survived this, so I went from black to blonde and all the gorgeous (not) shades of yucky bleach ginger in between. After 2 days my hair was ice white (yes). Thankfully I never looked back but my days of experimenting were young and with a blank canvas to all the colours in the rainbow I tried every last one of them!
COMPROMISE
After a few years I learned that extensions were damaging my scalp, leaving me slightly thinner patches above my ears from where they clipped in. I was upset and desperate to try anything. It only occurred to me after years of friends and family telling me that my natural curl was beautiful and gave me character, that I decided to give it a chance, it was the best thing I ever did!
I’m quite aware that a lot of the people that read my blog are teenagers, people of the same age to when I would be on the internet looking at hair tutorials, you’re no doubt still experimenting and finding what you like. I just want to scream this advice from the rooftops and I want it to sink in early before things get too late! Compromise with your own hair! If you have curly hair, let it curl, don’t like the way it shapes? Let it grow a bit, my hair spirals tighter when my hair is shorter and the weight and thickness of mine turns curls into waves. (No tongs, no styling, nout!)
If you’ve got straight hair, let it be straight, you can get away with edgier styles and choppiness. Your hair is that way for a reason, and probably suits you and your face a lot more than what you think!
I managed to salvage mine before it split at the root (hair has to be shaved to start again) and I took great care of my hair ever since, Remember, you always think the grass is greener on the other side!
MAINTAINENCE
I don’t straighten, curl, blow dry or use harsh chemicals in my daily regime. The only things I put on my hair are products to nourish its current condition, tailored to my follicle. Here are previous posts where I’ve talked about products I’ve used here and here! I’m a big believer in natural based products and although you’re probably thinking ‘hang on, but you bleach your hair?!’ The days of intense box bleaching are behind me and my existing roots from now onwards are being catered for in a hairdressers using a high lift, a weaker bleach to strip a small amount of pigment with less damage involved, same colour, less damage, it’s a win-win. My advice to people wanting to explore bleached hair, is to let a professional or someone who knows what they’re doing touch your hair, always do strand tests!
Dye wise, I use Fudge Urbans PaintBox ‘Flamingo Pink‘ which is available to buy here which also is a much more nourishing dye than most high-street brnads, my hair comes out silky soft. I’ve never been so satisfied with a colour, price and overall brand. So much I bought 9 bottles to last me at least a year!
I get a lot of questions and compliments on my hair, more than I ever have, which makes me happy because it shows I’m doing something right, my hair defines me and I wouldn’t want to let others ruin theirs. Hair is beautiful and I really wish I had the guidance growing up to just go with the flow, so stay as natural as you can and be a mermaid with fabulous locks!
How do you have your hair?
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