more than you ever wanted to know about moonatic_'s hair
i'm really feeling the need for some change in my life. and, while i am well aware my hair is not the most important change i need to make, it's an easy starting point so...can we talk hair for a minute? i don't often brag, but i have really nice, healthy hair. it's undoubtedly one of my best physical features. it's long and strong and silky and shiny. alright, i'll admit it might be too long for my age, but i ain't giving up length at this point. last year it was the longest it's ever been in my life, down to the middle of my butt. well, i have to admit that was too much, even for me. but, you see, it was kinda an experiment to see how long it would grow. i've always had long hair (except for maybe twice in my life when i got a little weird and got it all chopped off). as a teenager and young woman, the longest my hair would grow, though, was mid back. now that i'm older, it will grow and grow and grow. anyone know why that is? is it hormonal? finally, when it got as long as it did last year, i thought, "enough is enough with this crystal gayle shtick." i cut it to shoulder length and donated the rest to locks of love. now it's back to mid back length again. also, when i was younger my hair was super thick. i couldn't really wear barrettes to hold all my hair then because they wouldn't work, my hair wouldn't all fit in even the biggest barettes. it's thinned some as i've gotten older. and, after my second major surgery in a year's time in the early 90's, it got really thin there for a while. but now it's pretty thick again. another thing that's changed with age for me is texture. it was always pretty wavy when i was young. however, when i first started using birth control pills it became very straight, and remains really straight now.
one thing i feel compelled to do now is to pimp this conditioner. i've been using it since the mid 80's when my stylist used it once to condition my hair after an (eek!) PERM. nowadays i buy it at sally's beauty supply. (i didn't realize until googling just now that sally's started in new orleans.) anyway, the wella's in-depth is cheap (and, believe me, i've tried many really expensive products in my day) and the best thing i've ever done for my hair. seriously. i hate, hate, hate any leave-in product. it always seems to make my head itch and my hair feel yucky. i refuse to even use hair spray. i'm a no leave-in product kind of girlie. i use good shampoo, and i condition with wella in-depth after every shampoo or hair color. period. hooray for all you who use and love gels and sprays and foams and de-tanglers and mousses and serums and leave-in conditioners, etc. but i just hate them. i have a sensitive scalp that dries and itches easily, and i just don't like leave-in gunk.
for a while i was unable to find wella's in-depth (it used to be called something else, and then for a while it was unavailable, and then it resurfaced with a new name). during that time i had a problem with tangling. even using coated very wide and big toothed combs after washing, i ended up tearing out a lot of hair and getting split ends. (i honestly don't have a tangling problem or get split ends with the wella.) during that time i came across this brush at sally's that was touted as being designed to avoid tangling. the head of the brush swiveled on its base. it certainly helped with dry hair brushing and avoiding tangling, but i still had problems with wet hair tangles. (i think this is especially a problem for me because of the length.) i used that brush for years until finally it broke. and i can't find one like it anywhere now. the people at sally's look at me like i'm from mars when i tell them i bought this swiveling brush at sally's before. none of them have any recollection of carrying it. googling has turned up hot air brushes that swivel or rotating round brushes. but this was neither a hot air brush nor a round brush. it was a regular brush that just swiveled on its base. well, i finally bought a cheap goody cushion brush for thick hair at wal-mart and that's been a suitable replacement for my beloved swivel brush.
so what i'm wondering about now is color. my hair is naturally pretty dark. for years i've used henna and/or dyes. for a long time i had this professionally done. but when home colors became so improved and easy to use in the 90's, i started doing it myself. it's a really dark auburn now. and i'm thinking i should start lightening it some. i really do believe that very dark hair becomes too harsh on ummmm, middle-aged women. when i'm in really bright sun the red can be seen and my hair looks like this
but, most of the time, it just looks like the color on this cool beatnick coffeeshop chick here
.
so now you, yes you, can help decide my next hairy direction. (guess who just got a paid account and is trying to learn the poll feature?) vote here and add your voice to the decision making process:
Poll moonatic_'s hair future
one thing i feel compelled to do now is to pimp this conditioner. i've been using it since the mid 80's when my stylist used it once to condition my hair after an (eek!) PERM. nowadays i buy it at sally's beauty supply. (i didn't realize until googling just now that sally's started in new orleans.) anyway, the wella's in-depth is cheap (and, believe me, i've tried many really expensive products in my day) and the best thing i've ever done for my hair. seriously. i hate, hate, hate any leave-in product. it always seems to make my head itch and my hair feel yucky. i refuse to even use hair spray. i'm a no leave-in product kind of girlie. i use good shampoo, and i condition with wella in-depth after every shampoo or hair color. period. hooray for all you who use and love gels and sprays and foams and de-tanglers and mousses and serums and leave-in conditioners, etc. but i just hate them. i have a sensitive scalp that dries and itches easily, and i just don't like leave-in gunk.
for a while i was unable to find wella's in-depth (it used to be called something else, and then for a while it was unavailable, and then it resurfaced with a new name). during that time i had a problem with tangling. even using coated very wide and big toothed combs after washing, i ended up tearing out a lot of hair and getting split ends. (i honestly don't have a tangling problem or get split ends with the wella.) during that time i came across this brush at sally's that was touted as being designed to avoid tangling. the head of the brush swiveled on its base. it certainly helped with dry hair brushing and avoiding tangling, but i still had problems with wet hair tangles. (i think this is especially a problem for me because of the length.) i used that brush for years until finally it broke. and i can't find one like it anywhere now. the people at sally's look at me like i'm from mars when i tell them i bought this swiveling brush at sally's before. none of them have any recollection of carrying it. googling has turned up hot air brushes that swivel or rotating round brushes. but this was neither a hot air brush nor a round brush. it was a regular brush that just swiveled on its base. well, i finally bought a cheap goody cushion brush for thick hair at wal-mart and that's been a suitable replacement for my beloved swivel brush.
so what i'm wondering about now is color. my hair is naturally pretty dark. for years i've used henna and/or dyes. for a long time i had this professionally done. but when home colors became so improved and easy to use in the 90's, i started doing it myself. it's a really dark auburn now. and i'm thinking i should start lightening it some. i really do believe that very dark hair becomes too harsh on ummmm, middle-aged women. when i'm in really bright sun the red can be seen and my hair looks like this
but, most of the time, it just looks like the color on this cool beatnick coffeeshop chick here
.
so now you, yes you, can help decide my next hairy direction. (guess who just got a paid account and is trying to learn the poll feature?) vote here and add your voice to the decision making process:
Poll moonatic_'s hair future