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, kittennoodlesoup!  That's a great introduction you wrote.

I have amassed a pretty big collection of LL hairsticks and my first pair are still my fav, just because they were the first.

Sounds like the only other things you need is regular deep treatments, and some Amish hairpins!

So, which kind of Asian are you?  My husband is Chinese Indonesian.

Lovely to meet you, Kittennoodlesoup. ;D What a screen name! How about KNS for short?

Sounds as though you're already picking up some helpful tips here. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. Chances are you'll get a variety of answers.

And yeesh, I don't blame you for switching shampoos if Herbal Essences was making your scalp raw. :o It always used to give me chemical burn on the back of my neck so I stopped using it years ago. Hope the new stuff works better for you.
Oh, and have you tried wearing just a single braid when practicing martial arts?

Anyway, welcome aboard. :)

Thanks!

Sakina: I'm half Chinese. The other half is mostly Norwegian. A bit of German here and there. All of my father's clan have gorgeous curly golden locks, well, the females do at any rate. Jealous! :D

Do you have recommendations on heat treatments? Is it like a regular oil treatment but with heat, or are there special heat-treatment type oils that should be used?

Midnight Angel: KNS is fine! I actually use that sometimes as a sig on some other mailing lists I follow.
I don't really blame the Herbal Essences for the scalp problem. I've had my doctor and my allergist look at my hair, and they didn't have much comment. I've had the problem for as long as I can remember. I've tried prescription hair shampoo, Garnier Fructis, Tresemme, Head and Shoulders, Shiseido Tsubaki stuff, Herbal Essences, and so on and so forth. I'm cursed. I really hope ACV rinses will help once I start those.  :'(

I have tried braiding before, for Martial Arts, but I've had mixed results. I usually don't have time to do a full french braid, which seems to work the best. When I just do a regular English braid, since my hair is layered, it starts falling out halfway through the more vigorous sessions. Maybe Amish pins are the answer, like Sakina mentioned? I've also been eyeing those bun covers at coverthatbun.com. Does anybody have any experience with these?

Thanks. ^_^

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

Michelle: Well, you know that the grass is greener on the other side. I've always been sort of smack in the middle of the Nordic and Asian hair types, that I long for either of them. No falls of gleaming black silk my Asian cousins have, nor do I get the tousled golden locks of my Nordic cousins. :'(

But I have had above shoulder length hair quite a number of times. Like you, I chopped it all off previously since it was so heavy. But, as cool as I found it to have 2 inch long hair, when it finally hits shoulder length and you can put it up in a ponytail, ah, that feeling is just wonderful.

Plus, there are a bunch of styles that look really great with shoulder length hair! I've always thought that there was something really cool about french braids around that length, especially tucked ones. I used to do cute little "puppy ear" ponytails and odango which go really well with that length, too. I wish I'd known about french twists back when I still had that length. Part of the reason I actually got layers to begin with was to retain some of that shoulder length look in the front, while retaining my length sort of "hidden" in the back.

I also really like your avatar. Did you draw it yourself? I should scrounge something up for myself.   :-/

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!!!

Welcome! :)

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?

I buy it online at www.karensbodybeautiful.com

I shampoo, then vinegar rinse, then rinse out the vinegar after about a minute and then condition.  I use a 32 or 44 oz plastic cup from the gas station.  I put about a cup of vinegar in the bottom and fill the rest in the shower just before carefully pouring it over my head.  I try to get my whole scalp.  Sometimes I dunk my ends in the cup for a bit and then pour it over my head.

When I first started doing them, I did them 2 or 3 times a week, after every shampoo.  After a while I didn't need to do them as often.

Very nice to meet you Kitten :)

Just to let you know...

My account got cancelled over the weekend?
Any idea why this would happen?

I can't really say that I am looking forwards to this happening with any kind of regularity. :(

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

Thanks. I hope that the new software will help!

kns,
I sincerely apologize for the deletion.  Things got alittle hairy! :o  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!!! ;)

Thanks Curlgirl!

It is great to be back.  ;D

It's also great having the forums back! Still trying to get the hang of all the new stuff.