I thought I might start this diary off by reminding myself of what I`ve been doing to my hair in the past just so I can look back later when I`m feeling down about hair problems and see how much better I`ve got about caring for my hair.

12 months ago.
Hair cut in short chin length bob. No chemical treatments. Shampoo with Pantene 2-in-1 shampoo/conditioner, pile ends on top, untangle fairly ruthlessly with wide toothed comb (shedding broken-off bits everywhere in the process) and then blow drying with nylon bristle brush and hot hairdryer. Every single day.

9months ago.
Go on holiday for five weeks of camping. Decide not to get my hair cut beforehand. Routine as above except have started to use my daughter`s Pantene spray in conditioner before combing out my hair after washing.
Vivid memories of sitting on beach during this time combing tangled, salty and sand-laden hair out. In handfuls....

6months ago.
Hair like frizzy straw. Nice sun highlights though! Daughter and I start using Garnier Fructis Repair&Shine leave in conditioner after washing. Wow. What a difference.

3months ago.
Discover Fructis Long & Strong shampoo and conditioner. This is the first time in about ten years I have used seperate shampoo and conditioner. It makes an amazing difference almost immediately. I`m still scrubbing  my hair into a giant knot on the top of my head every daily shampoo though. So I`m still combing out tons of knots and breaking the ends off.

2 months ago.
Think that hair is looking better, so I make a decision to grow hair rather than just not cut it. Went to hairdresser and got trim, rather than bob. Hair looks considerably better for this.

Seven weeks ago...Google for advice on growing hair longer. Discover Ultimate Guide to Growing Long Hair. I go and buy a hair scrunchie and stop putting my hair on top of my head to wash it. Wow. What a difference this one change makes.

Now.....
Daily shampoo and condition with Garnier Fructis Long&Strong shampoo and conditioner. Use shampoo on roots onlyand rinse through length.Trying to reduce the amount of shampoo I use and dilute it more before it goes on. Lots of conditioner on ends, comb through with fingers while rinsing. I no longer put hair up on top to wash it.  Cold rinse. Fructis Repair and Shine leave-in conditioner  to finish. Comb out using wide toothed comb and allow to air-dry, except for the bangs which I still blow-dry at a cool setting.

ACV rinse once per week.
Jojoba oil on ends of hair twice per week before bed.
Braid hair at bedtime.
Tie hair up with scrunchie when going out to prevent wind tangles.

Summary.
The two main things that have made a difference to the condition of my hair is preventing tangles as much as possible and using a lot of conditioning products. This has cut down on comb breakage of hair by a considerable amount. I used to find handfulls of broken bits of hair from the front of my clothes after combing out my wet hair and after I had been outside. Now I still find hair, but it is shed hair mostly.

Current condition of hair.
Shiner and silkier than has been for years. From crown to base of neck it is strong and healthy, then there are layers of broken ends, dating back to last summers holiday judging by the length. My hairdresser (who has hair down to her waist and who is older than I am) has patiently trimmed all these layers of their split ends. So while I still have layers, the damaged ends are gone.
Wispy layers around face, product of bad self trimming of bangs and pillow breakage, I think.
Length at longest point is 20", fine and thin. However I can see that hair is a great deal thicker above the damaged areas which makes me think that once the rate of breakage is slowed down then my hair will thicken up quite a lot once all the layers catch up with each other.

Things I have going for me.
1) I don`t colour or perm my hair.
2) I have a good diet and don`t smoke or drink.
3) I`ve pinpointed (I hope) the bad habits that most affected my hair growth and am working on improving them.

Things I have going against me....
1) My age, and the fact that I`m going into the menopause.
2) Very weak and brittle hair.
3) The amount of time I spend outside...gardening, cycling, camping etc etc. Lots of wind and sun and rain.

Sybilla, thanks for starting a journal.  It is good to have a record to look back on, especially when you get to the ugly stages that all growing hair experiences.  I look forward to reading your future posts!

Welcome to LongLocks!

Sakina

Today I have a foul cold and cough. I feel sniffly and flu-ish, though I don`t think it is the flu, thank goodness. My daughter had this last week and it blew over in three or four days, so I`m assuming it`s the same bug that I have.

I`ve decided I don`t like the Fructis Repair & Shine Mask much. It feels extra slippy in the shower, which is nice, but leaves the ends drier than the ordinary Fructis Long & Strong conditioner. It will join the basket of rejected hair products that I use for...wait for this...washing sheep fleece. Yes, I`m a spinner and often buy raw sheep fleece which needs washing before spinning, of course. Shampoo is ideal for this, and a little conditioner in the final rinse works wonders of softness. Waste not, want not!

So back to the usual routine of Fructis Long & Strong shampooo and conditioner, plus the Repair & Shine leave-in. I tried putting a tiny drop of almond oil on the ends last night as well. Hmmm...the side inbetweenies looked a bit dry this morning, despite that. Wonder why? The only other change I can think of besides the cold is that I finally tracked down some Aloe Vera gel on Friday and have been using it to hold down the sides when putting my tail up in a scrunchie. It is an American brand (we don`t grow aloe vera in scotland) called Lily of the Desert  and has 99.5% organic aloe vera, vitamins A, C &E and Carbomer 940. Wonder what this last is? And if it`s been drying out the sides?


(Edit = for spelling!)

Still have the foul cold. 

Today I tried an ACV rinse on my hair as suggested by Bikerbraid, to see if the dry sides were indeed caused by gel buildup. It seemed to have helped quite a lot, so thanks for the suggestion. 

Perhaps my hair is just too fine to react well to lots of products? My gut instinct is to keep it simple and not to try too many things at once.

Today my hair is looking a bit flyaway and the top is greasy despite the ACV. But my period is due and my hair always goes a bit peculiar then, as if it wasn`t bad enough having PMT!

I wore my hair down quite a bit today which was bad because I went to the zoo with my kids and another family and it was windy. I had a headache because of my cold and I just couldn`t tolerate the scrunchie in my hair for some reason.

However when I got home I found that my hair untangled much more easily than I`ve been used to in the past, with little or no breakage. I think this must be due to the improved condition and shine. It seems reasonable to me that rough split hair with a damaged cuticle layer must catch more easily onto itself and tangle? While shiney hairs would slip past each other. That`s how it works when you`re choosing sheep wool for felting, anyway!

I`d sold some stuff on Ebay yesterday (I`m clearing out my yarn stash a little) and had some spare cash in the Paypal account, so I decided to buy the long overdue satin pillowcases and a couple of saw cut Matador combs which seem to be the No! quality brand across here. Two combs cost me £16, which is about $28 .   I do hope my Hubby doesn`t spot that one! He`s not mean about money but his hair is so short I don`t think he`s used a comb in twenty years.

Hmmm, nearly two weeks since I last updated this thread. What have I been doing?

Well, it`s been the kids Easter school holiday here and in addition the evil virus absolutely pinned me to the sofa for a week, so not much time to play around with hair care. I`ve just been doing all the usual routine things. And my hair looks pretty okay...well, okay for this current point in the five year master plan, lol. Obviously I`d prefer it to be growing at three inches per week and have gone curly, red and have no split ends, of course.

One thing I have been noticing is how much time I save in the morning now that I don`t have to wait for it to blot dry enough in a towel to be able to blow dry it. Now I blow-dry the bangs, damp-bun it, use a couple of hairgrips to keep the pesky inbetweenies under control and I`m out.

I do a lot of gardening at this time of year and spend most mornings on my allotment. (Allotment = community garden in the USA?) This always used to play havoc with my hair and usually I`d save washing it till I came home, which wasn`t always convenient. But now I find after a morning pinned firmly into a bun my hair has dried into shiney soft waves. WAVES!! My hair is straight...not poker straight, but limp and straight. Now I get body and uplift and waves. Wow....and all that from doing far less to it than I used to. Amazing......

And it`s getting thicker too. Wonder how? New hair doesn`t grow in that fast. It`s as if each hair has plumped up a bit. Is this possible just with a bit of care and attention? If so, my granny was right...a little care goes a long way.