Any finehairs out there who also have THIN hair find that your hair starts to seem a bit thicker once you start treating it carefully?

Because my hair was already so thin I would always pull it and wind it really tightly whenever I needed to wear it up...ballet, marching band, anything. Sometimes I'm amazed that I didn't end up bald with all the stress I put on my hair. Every time I took my hair DOWN again I would end up tearing hair because I had to twist things into it so tightly to make it stay in the first place. Eventually I would wrap two ponytail holders around my hair, winding each one five or six times, and then two scrunchies, winding each one two or three times. I pulled the ponytail so tightly it hurt. And still it would slip. When I think of how little hair I must have had at that point I shudder. In ten years the only time I "saw the light" was when I abolished rubberbands in my hair forever and switched to cloth ponytail holders despite the fact that they didn't hold as well.

Even once I cut it shorter it was still ponytail length and I continued to do this to my hair until I got to college and cut it so short I couldn't put it up anymore. Now, for the last two years, I haven't worn it up once because it has never been long enough. By the time I permed it it was already looking thicker (and this KILLS me when I think about it)...and after I chopped the perm off and started over suddenly I kept squinting in the mirror, wondering if I was imagining things or if I suddenly seemed to have more hair.

My dad is bald and my mom has thinning hair, and since I already started out with thin hair, I had pretty much convinced myself I was always going to be pitifully lacking in the hair volume department. But I swear it looks and feels thicker suddenly. No more yanking at it with a brush, pulling it into insanely tight updos or tearing it when I try to get it OUT of the updos...and I think the "prematurely thinning hair" look is starting to go away.

Might I end up with a more normal volume of hair one of these days?

*grins*

Ella

My hair isn't thin, but neverthless, after I started to treat my hair well (no brushing, no piling it on top of the head in the shower, night braiding etc.) my shedding decreased a lot. I used to get my brush full of hair every morning, but now there's only few hairs in my comb (except when I have shedding season). I hope that in time, this will make my hair thicker. 

Another thing is, that in my country, my hair is already considered thick, though it's only ii. Most people have thin hair, and I have to say, that also well cared for thin hair looks good when it's long. So even if you won't gain as much thickness as you wish, your hair will still probably look great when it grows.

Wow. Can you actually get your hair to HOLD in loose styles like that? Because I don't want to leave it down all the time and leave the ends vulnerable, either, when it gets longer.

But my hair is fine, thin, straight, and oily. All four together. And flyaway when I try to leave it poofy near the scalp. When you're trying to create updos, that's like the kiss of death. How do you get it to stay? ???

Granted, these problems are getting a little better, but I still foresee some difficulty finding good styles.

Ella

My hair is still too short for updos anyway, to answer your question. The longest layer is barely past my shoulders. I'm at the "clip stage" now. But you just got me thinking because I know leaving hair down all the time can leave it vulnerable but I was never able to get my hair up without practically wringing the life out of it with tight stretchy bands.

It's getting less oily, at least...I'm actually doing a CO wash every other day and shampooing on the days in between. But it will remain fine, thin, and straight forever, I think.

Ella

Enameled surface?

What's that about and why does it make a difference?

*curious*

I remember people doing two little french braids in my hair once when it was a little past shoulder length my senior year in high school. It was cute but I knew I could NOT do that myself.

But people say it's possible to learn!  *ponders*

Ella

Is there some sort of technique to it?

Or do you just start braiding and figure it out as you go?

???

Ella

When I first decided that I wanted to learn to braid, I first checked braiding instructions from Dreamweaverbraiding.com (though I don't think that I really follow those instructions anymore). Just to get the general idea of what I was trying to do. Then I just started braiding (and discovered that there are quite a few little tricks that the instructions didn't mention... ). One important thing is, that though its ok to check final result from mirror, looking to the mirror while you're braiding is only confusing. But, I started to make my first French braids as night braid. They worked as such though they were uneven at first, and in short time I gained quite a lot of experience.