So, I'm growing my hair long (again).  Again, you say?  Why yes.  You can see what my hair looked like in 2002 (there's a pic of my sister and I at my wedding on Rapunzel's customer gallery) and in August of 2004 it was at the small of my back.

In a fit of annoyance after a very bad day with it, I went to the salon and had about 14 inches donated to Locks of Love, and had the rest cut off in a super short 'do.  Out of lazyness, and a couple of moves, I haven't had it cut since.

Now, I'll confess - I've never been a long hair person.  I always had short hair - in fact, I had a CREW CUT at one point.  When my hair was long, I had to learn how to braid, how to put it up in something other than a ponytail, and how to take care of it.

Even now (after 3 years of long hair) anything more advanced than a pony tail, simple braid, french twist or a bun is pretty much beyond me.  Complicating that is the fact that I have A LOT of hair.  When it was at the small of my back, the tip of the braid was almost as thick as my wrist.  Very heavy.

So, not only am I going to grow out the hair, I'm going to learn how to keep it nice, and do nice things with it.   

Glad to see you started a journal.  I think journals help those who are growing out their hair so that they can look back and see the progress they have made over time.

Your trim sounds like a good one - keep up the good work.

I did mention this was going to be about my *trials* as I do this, right?   

I had a horse show this weekend, it was hot, it was humid and it was gritty.  When my hair was long last time, I wasn't riding very much, and I wasn't competing at all, so this is a new wrinkle in the long hair thing.

I now have to deal with hairnets.  They are the devil incarnate, and I hate the tricksy things.     I can't put my hair into my helmet, or it won't protect my head, but I need it up and out of the way.  A braid or low ponytail aren't really options, as my hair is just long enough now that it sticks to my neck and falls into my collar (which was the final straw back in 2004 causing me to cut it all off) and as it gets longer, it wouldn't stick to my neck, but it will obscure my pinny, and that's a no-no.  I fought with my hair (and the hairnets) during the entire show.

So, I now get to try to figure out how to deal with it before the next show, or this'll be one of the shortest journals out here.

This idea may be way off, but what about consulting with a wig place?  I have a lot of hair and needed to wear a wig for a recital I was doing so I wanted help on how to get all of my hair under a wig without it looking silly.  So, the lady was extremely helpful and I was able to wear the flapper wig which may be a bit like your helmet.

Good Luck and let us know how you solve the problem.

Hey!  In digging about looking for those pictures, I found the only picture that exists of my long hair (mostly) down!

This is May of 2004, holding a horse while my sister gets ready off camera.  My hair is in a scrunchied ponytail and through the hole in my baseball cap.  The ends are about chest-length in this picture, so all down it was probably 4 or so inches longer at the time.  Oh, the horse is Artie, my clydesdale cross who I sold to a wonderful family in October of 2005 - my sister was showing him for me.  That's her husband with me - we're watching my sister put on her tall boots.



I almost forgot, showed that day too!  I wore my hair in a snood, but it's really hard to see in this picture.  You can see it hanging past my collar, which is not really 'acceptable' in the horse show world, but it was a last minute decision to compete and I had to do something with my hair!  The horse here is the same one you can barely see in my previous post - Allie, my off the race track thoroughbred mare.



And finally - this is October of 2004, two months after I cut all my hair off, and what I've been growing out ever since.  Oh, and the falcon is Lucky.  He's not mine, but he was fun to work with!  

Thanks for sharing the pictures.  A co-worker of mine went nuts over the horses - she LOVES horses.  Do you work with falcons?   You look very comfortable with him on your hand.  

Your short cut is what I will probably go to when I decide to cut my hair.  No plans for that just now, but I know when I do it , it will be drastic.

But back to your question.  I'd suggest a french braid with the end tucked back under.  You can wear your hair like this for quite a while.  As it gets longer, you can allow a little loop to show.  A nice black bow clipped on to hold the end up always looks nice.  Let me see if I can find a picture - I know I've seen them around..

Here's a hairnet that might work...
Petsmart Hairnet

Here's a hairbowor flat bowthat also has a small snood.

Here's a pic of the tucked french braid.

This is a pic of me with side twists going to the back and looped up and held with a bow.  The same thing can be done with a french braid.

Good luck with figuring out your hair. Allie and Artie are both  beautiful horses!

Braiding, especially french braiding does take practice.  When I was learning, I would french braid my hair every night before going to bed.  Neatness did not count when I was sleeping.     It didn't take too long before I could do it well enough to be worn in public. 

So...... practice, practice, practice!

Quote:


WHY NOT? ? ? ?  I wear my LL sticks when gardening, hacking new trails in the woods, whenever...

However, I do have some water-safe plain sticks for when I am putting my hair in a bun while still wet.  My favorites for this are made of a resin impregnated wood laminate that is best known for use on knife handles, archery bow grips, and turned pens.  I've bought them off eBay.  There are a couple of "regular" sellers of these types of sticks.

How abour cheap chopsticks?  Just sand 'em and maybe put a clear coat on them.

Tell hubby to get you nice things, and then tell him to take you nice places where you can wear them. 

Good Luck!

OK, I'll relent to the possibility of breakage.  LL hairsticks are just too pretty to put at risk to breakage.  I guess I've been lucky to have never broken any.  I have bent a few of the pins with the beads, but I've never broken one.  ::crosses fingers::

Good luck on the audition.  The American Idol auditions are going on right now here in Minneapolis - what a zoo!  I hope all auditions are not as crazy. 

Keep practicing your french braiding, before you know it you will have braids worthy of public viewing. 

No part in P&P for me, although my husband got Mr. Collins.  Yay for him!

But, that means he needs to cut off all the hair he'd grown for his last part - Rev. Witherspoon in 1776.  AND, he has to shave off his beard AGAIN.  Boo to both.

Not getting the part is a mixed blessing, actually.  There was a horse show on one of the performance weekends that I really wanted to do - so, now I can do it! 

On the hair side of things - nothing new to report!  I let it go for a while, today was the first time in 4 days that I washed it.  I forgot how much oil my scalp produces.   

Whoops - spoke too soon.

Turns out someone who'd been cast had to drop out, so I was brought in as a replacement.  I'm the 3rd daughter - Mary.  There are two problems with this - I'm in EVERY SCENE, so I've got rehearsal almost every night and I'm not going to be able to do the horse show.

Ah well - that unused entry fee will allow me to buy some fun stuff for my hair, right?  

Speaking of which - the costumer would like me to go red (well, redder than my natural color) so I'm thinking of henna, instead of Lady Clarol.  I've got 2 months, so I may try it soon, and see how it turns out.  

Hi Berkanna!

Lovely to see you've got a journal of your own going, I wish you the best on your hair growth journey.  Your horses are so beautiful, I've never had a chance to ride, but I would love to some day.  Geez, there's only about a hundred farms within a 10 mile radius here, you would think that this is something that I would have done by now.  Not to mention the fact that I have a friend who's family has their own farm and plenty of horses to go with it!

Your hair looks beautiful and thick, and it seems as though you don't have too much struggle when it comes to the gaining length part, sounds like your hair grows pretty fast.  I think that the red henna would be a great idea for the play, it would be so much better for your hair than regular hair dye.  Congrats on the role in the play!

Quote:


LOL!  Don't feel too bad.  My daily routine consists of, combing out my sleeping braid, putting my hair into a bun.  Taking my hair out of my bun, oiling the ends a bit if they need it, combing my hair and braiding it for sleeping.  I wash and condition my hair about once a week.

Congrats on taking first in the horse show! 

Trimming up the layers will certainly help with neater braids.  Also - when braiding if your hands are wet/damp, it will dampen the hair which will keep the sticky-outie hairs more in place.  If water doesn't do the trick, try some aloe vera gel or a light oil like jojoba.

Ooooo,  Susan just put more of your hairsticks in your Collections folder.  I love the red, black and white pairs - I could see wearing one of each with a black outfit, white blouse and a hint of red somewhere, like a scarf!

Ah - henna is fun!     Messy, but fun!

One heck of a mess in the kitchen, 6 hours with a saran wrap cap, and a fully installed closet organization system later, and I have quite the mass of red hair!  I was daring and didn't even do a strand test.  My husband was more worried than me!

I've never had copper hair before - but I do now!  Thankfully, the director likes it, which is a good thing, cause I really didn't want to try to do a synthetic color over the henna.

I've actually got before and after pics, if I ever get around to uploading them to the computer, I can show it off.

Oh - I also bought two new pairs of sticks to celebrate. 

Please, pardon both my very messy bathroom AND my sad attempts to take a picture of my own back.  

8/31/2006:



Today:



HEY!  I just realized, I'm now a chestnut, just like my mare!



Yeah, any excuse to show off my beautiful horse.  I admit it.  

I love the color of your henna'd hair!  (It matches your horse!)

Godyssey wrote on Sep 28^th, 2006 at 7:36pm:


Erm, yes.   

It depends on the mat and the cat, really.

I can brush most of Sidian's out, but she's 17 and I've been de-matting her since she was 4 weeks old.  She's an old hand at the whole process, and I think she just enjoys the attention really.  I use a metal comb and just start at one end of the mat and gradually pull it apart.  When they're really big, (we're talking about 2 inches in diameter) I use a sharp pair of scissors (my split end scissors, actually) to either snip the mat in half to then comb apart or to just snip the whole thing out.  She's got a super thick undercoat and a thinner, oily topcoat, which makes using a slicker brush impossible on her - so I try to comb her out at least once a week, but even so, she still gets small mats.

Visa is our retired barn cat, also a longhair.  He gets smaller mats, but he's such a pig about mat-combing that I cut all his out.  It's best just to take the slicker brush to him weekly (which he loves) to avoid the mats in the first place.

Ferdinand, our third longhair has a PERFECT coat - he doesn't mat at all, even though I hardly ever brush him.  It's almost impossible to brush him, because he thinks it's playtime and tries to attack the brush.   

And just for completeness' sake - Memre is a shorthair, but I take the slicker to her about once a week.  She enjoys it, and it keeps the shedding down. 


Also, since this is supposed to be my HAIR journal - I thought I'd just say that henna is a great conditioner, my ends have been super easy to deal with since the henna.

Well, I figured out why I didn't have any drying issues with the henna.  I used henna from a company called LUSH - and they mix cocoa butter and clove oil into the henna and sell it in blocks.  So, I actually did both a henna and conditioning treatment when I colored.  :p  I just need to remember this, if I ever do use a different henna.

However, I'm noticing a bit of drying on about the last half inch of my hair - I found a bottle of jojoba oil and have started oiling the ends.  My hair likes it very much.  Unfortunately, I'm not very good at getting the oil on that last bit that needs it.  I'm supposed to get a trim on Monday, to start trying to even out the evil layers, I figure that'll help a good deal.

I got my LL display case on Friday, but I already need a second tray.     With my case, I got my two new sets of LL sticks - the first I've bought in two years.

The first pair is Frozen Summer - the first all green ones (all my other 'green' sticks have had green gems or crystals, but the stick itself was another color)  They're also my first ArtiStix - so vibrant!  I need to remember that the pictures tend to be just at tad darker than the actual sticks!

The second pair is Montanna Stardust - they're more in line with my 'standard' type of sticks.  I'm wearing them today for the first time.  These are my first Holostix, sparkley!

Lastly, I've figured out why I'm having so much trouble getting my hair up in a bun, twist or braid when I really had no trouble before.  It's the layers!  Yes, it's taken me this long to figure it out.

Well, I chickened out and cancelled the hair trim appointment.  My excuse was I've not yet met with the woman who is doing hair for P&P, but in reality I think it's because I'm not quite (mentally) ready to lose another 1/2 inch of hair.    Even if losing that 1/2 inch will start getting rid of the evil layers that are keeping me from doing a decent bun.

Bock... bock... bock!

My wonderful husband was out shopping Friday and picked up a nice Burt's Bees shower gift set for me.  Full sized bottles of Grapefruit & Sugar Beet shampoo and conditioner and a full sized bottle of Citrus and Ginger body wash.

I tried it all yesterday - and I think my hair liked it, but it's so UNRULEY!  Basically, when I can't give my husband a kiss without hair getting in the way, it's just a little crazy.  He's been calling me the wild woman of Borneo.  

Lastly - proof that Allie and I match!



This was Sunday (two days ago) before our XC school.  We're both the same shade of red!    

Yep, you and your horse are a matched set.    I love the color.

Cones do weight the hair down.  I've found I use more oil on my hair since giving up on the cones.  I prefer the oil over the cones.

As for the hair net - have you thought about a crocheted snood?

Not only is it final dress rehearsal for P&P tonight - it's also our 4 year anniversary!  Yay to me and my husband, we haven't tried to kill each other yet!   

As of last night, my hair is at 24 inches.  I locked the cats out of the bathroom so I could measure in peace.  Depending on if I was at 21 or 23 inches in early September, that's either a GREAT deal of growth, or not so much.

I hope to get some pictures of me in my P&P costume, makeup and hair so I can share them with everyone.  It's pretty darn impressive, and I really don't look like me at all.   Which, I suppose is the point. 

berkanna wrote on Nov 13^th, 2006 at 10:22am:

Long time no post!   

Life came at me hard the end of last year.  Moved Allie to the new farm and started working there 3 nights a week to defray the cost.  Found out our condo was transitioning back to apartments, so we sold it back to the builder and had to find a new place to live.  My job got crazy busy as two people left and I took on most of their responsibilites.  My 18year old cat was diagnosed with cancer, and my 15year old cat was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism.  Add in the normal insanity that seems to happen with the holidays and I felt like I was drowning some days, but life seems to be calming back down.

Both kitties are doing very well - we haven't had to put the hyperthyroid kitty on meds, although we probably will eventually.  The cancer kitty is responding SO well to a very low dose chemotherapy, you'd never even know she was ill. 

We did find a place, and were able to sign a month-to-month lease at the current place (apartment now, I guess) while we wait for the new house to finish being built.  Very exciting there!

Another exciting bit is that Allie and I have moved up to the next level of competition.  Unfortunately, we've had an outbreak of a virus called EHV-1 here, so most of the barns in the area have started self-quarantining, and competitions have been pushed back to later in the season.  Thankfully, the state vets seem to have caught and contained it quickly, so I think this will be all over in a week or so.

I did break down and cut 4 inches off early last month.  While that may seem like a lot, I'm already back at 24 inches.  The breakage from the show hair-do isn't as noticable, and my hair is healthy along the whole length.  Since all my hair is the same length now, it's easier to braid and put up.  I decided my hair actually is more manageable with 'cones, so I use the Garnier Fructis regularly and use the Burt's Bees as a clarifying system.  It's working REALLY well.

Now that I can put my hair up in a french twist or bun, I'm not having to deal with the headaches so much.  Also, when I'm relaxing in the evening reading, I just let it down, and occasionally talk my husband into a scalp massage.  Tension headache?  What's that?   

We had a bit of a kitty scare.  Memre, our tortie shorthair had to go to a specialist yesterday.  The word 'cancer' was floated about a bit, but our regular vet recommended the specialist for a definitive diagnosis.  Seven hours at the specialist, and we find out it's most likely NOT cancer, but we'll have to do a follow-up in 4 weeks to confirm that.  My husband and I are so happy - we were downright despondent when we got the initial word.

We're both beyond sick, as well.  He came down with the creeping crud on Thursday, and I succumbed on Sunday.  I feel like a stretch of bad road.   

Glad to hear your kitty should be OK.  Hope you and hubby are feeling better quick as well!

berkanna wrote on Mar 15^th, 2007 at 11:06am:

I haven't cut my hair yet.

I prefer the look of my hair down with the glasses.  Even so, I've been putting my hair up because I really can't stand the feel of my hair on my face or neck.   

I've got hairsticks in for the first time in over a week.  My hair just doesn't behave in sticks when it's dry, and I tend to wash my hair at night (since I shower after coming home from the barn).  My friend calls my hair "slickkery" - it's so thick and healthy, it's slick and just slips out of most hair toys.  If my hair is EVER so damp, it sticks together a bit, and behaves in toys.

I have my first horse show of the season on Sunday!  New hairnets are in order.  Yet another season of fighting to contain my hair for shows!  Whee! 

I hope your horse gets better soon!

Allie is improving - she's no longer lame at the walk, just barely lame at the trot.  I re-wrapped her foot, and noticed a reddish color in the wrap (the medicine is green) so I think there was an abcess that finally popped yesterday.  But, since her shoe is still ON, I can't be sure.  Regardless, I'm very relieved that she's improving.

Sakina - I've just recently begun to research Reiki for myself.  I've decided that it's time to take care of myself as well as I take care of my animals!   

Allie gets a monthly massage.  The massage therapist always comments that she's one of the best horses she works on - relaxed, flexible, fit, healthy and with a super shiny coat.  This is only the second time in 5 years that she's been lame.  A VERY good thing.

On the hair front - the broken hair (from my play hair-do) has grown out enough that it's starting to curl.  Very odd looking!

I was looking forward to my first SPRING weekend taking care of the barn, but a combination of 40 degree weather (and snow Saturday morning) AND Allie popping a SECOND abcess means it was a bust of a weekend.  Soaking Allie's foot and packing it with ichthammol salve has drawn out most of the infection, and I expect her to be completely sound (again!) around Tuesday.

In other animal news - 3 of my cats went to the vet Friday.  One was re-tested for hyperthyroidism (he was exhibiting behavioral symptoms, and had been borderline back in November) one for excessive vomiting (after every meal!) and the last is my 18 year old who hadn't actually been to the vet in almost a year (whoops!)

The two boys are 100% healthy - the boarderline hyperthyroid has stabilized in the perfectly normal range, and the vomiting was hypersensitivity to the new food, which was easily resolved with a steroid shot.

Poor Sidian is now in the beginning stages of kidney failure, in addition to having alimentary lymphoma (intestinal cancer).  Switching to the new food was the best thing I could've done for her.  Since we caught it so early, that's the only treatment for now.  Eventually, we'll have to explore other options.  Oh, and she's exhibiting no side-effects from the chemo.  Excellent news, and I must remain optimistic.

So, Allie is sound, we've been riding in preparation for a clinic with a BIG name rider next week.  It'll be fun, a whole two days of just horse stuff.  We're not at all ready, but I'm sure the instructor will understand, since Allie was lame for so long recently.

All 4 cats are doing well, although we had to switch our vomiting boy back to Iams kibble, his little tummy couldn't handle the healthy new food with peas.  Now he's 100% back to normal.  Yay!

Our new house has drywall up, trim installed and all the painting is done!     They're moving so fast.  We haven't even begun the pre-moving purge yet, much less getting boxes to start packing!

I was messing with my hair the other day, and I saw some minor split ends.  How annoying.  If I'm going to have to trim every other month or so, I'm never going to get any longer than 24".     Of course, then I remember, I'm not the kindest to my hair.  It's tough to do so when you're a tomboy like me.

Bah.   

How exciting for you!  Spending so much time with such an expert must have been fantastic.  My riding experiences are quite limited, but I certainly understand how much your level of confidence affects your riding.  You must be floating on cloud 9 after receiving such a compliment - congratulations.

Well, after cutting another 2 inches off, my hair is at 22" exactly.  I suppose I'm destined to never have hair longer than 24" ever again.   

I've got a horse show this weekend.  I think we'll do well, especially since Allie is behaving again.  Last weekend she was VERY bad during my lesson - bucking and kicking out and tossing her head.  I figured out it was simply because my instructor had moved the bit up in her mouth (to the proper position, mind) and I guess Allie found it too restrictive.  Once I dropped it back down, she was happy and behaving again.  I suppose I have a horse that is a bit clausrophobic about her mouth - she acted the same way when I put a flash noseband (which holds the mouth closed) on her last year.

So, wish me a happy horse and a good time this weekend!

That is a "great" picture!  I know it would have been nicer if it was of the two of you gracefully clearing the fence, but you show good form and your horse is a beautiful horse.

BIKE!  Yes!!  I've lost another size from my biking - so go for it!

My head itches terribly.  I'd cut my washes down to two or three a week, but with the warmer weather I think I'll have to bump back up to daily or every-other-day washes because my scalp needs it, and honestly, I think barns are dirtier in the summer than in the winter.     We shall see what this does to my hair.

Allie was an absolute puppy dog last night, she was just PERFECT with everything I was asking her to do.  I'm not sure what was up (and I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop!) but I'll take days like that over days of her misbehaving!

My head feels like an over-inflated beachball.  Every open space in my head (sinuses, ears, etc) are packed solid.  It's terribly feeling, and nothing seems to be stopping it.  My eyes are watering constantly, and I swear it's because my tear ducts are being squeezed by my over-full sinuses.

We did our new-home orientation yesterday!  WHEEE!  We settle on the 30th, and then we get to paint and install chair rail & crown molding.  Then we get to continue the cull, pack and move process.  We've contracted the movinc company for the 21st of June.  That gives us 3 days (Friday - Sunday) to unpack and get organized.  Hopefully, we'll be so SMART about the packing and moving that 3 days will be more than enough!

Oh, I've been interviewing for a new job.  I need to find a job closer to home - I'm commuting over 1.5 hours to the office, then 2 hours to the barn, then 30 minutes home.  It's exhausting, and with the increased gas prices, it's terribly expensive, even with our fuel efficient Honda.  I've got good leads on two jobs - they've called references and told me they're sending offer letters, but I haven't gotten them yet.  Please keep your fingers crossed for me!

berkanna

*whew*

The major painting is DONE.  (finally)  There are some touch-ups to do, because I am a messy painter, but no more roller wielding is necessary.

Packing has barely started, and we move in 8 days.  Rush, rush, rush!

Allie has been allowed to become a 'wild pony' over the past few weeks.  With the house stuff I just haven't had time to ride.  I'm sure she's thrilled, since this means she's on vacation.  I just hope we don't have lots of fireworks when I get back on and ask for some work.

Speaking of Allie - there's talk of moving her to a new farm.  This is a good thing.  I found a lovely barn with a trainer on-site that's just 10 minutes from our new house.  It's a bit more expensive, but with the salary increase of my new job, it's well within our reach.  This is an exciting thing, and I'd love to have her some close to home!

And speaking of the new job - it's going well.  I've been in research and learn mode for the past 2 days, and I'm now gearing up to dive into the day-to-day operations of my program.  Wheee!

I've been wearing my hair down all week.  It's behaving and staying off my face.  It's a bit poofy, but overall it's looking pretty good.  I'm washing/conditioning it about 3 week (the nights I work at the barn, actually) and that seems to be working really well.

berkanna

Move is (almost) complete!   

We had everything packed up and ready to go Wednesday night.  Early Thursday morning, we moved the cats into the new place (locked safely in the spare bedroom) and were ready and waiting for the movers, who showed up right on time at 9am.

They were done getting (almost) everything into the new place at 6:45pm.     Lots of stuff, and moving out of a 4th floor apartment and into a 3rd/4th floor condo means a LONG TIME is needed to move!

The reason I keep saying almost is that there was one piece of furniture that they couldn't get up the stairs - our china cabinet.  Today the builders are going to use a crane to lift it up to our 3rd floor balcony so we can bring it in the sliding glass door.  My husband is home to supervise that - I didn't think it was right to take an additional day off of my brand new job.

Allie is lame - she showed up Wednesday morning with yet another abcess.  *sigh*  The vet was able to dig it out, and the barn manager has been wonderful about soaking and wrapping her for me, since I really haven't been able to get out there.  We've decided NOT to move Allie - she's happy at the farm she's currently at.  I think I'm going to cut back on my hours working there, though.  That'll give me more time to spend with my horse instead of taking care of everyone else's.

Hair is still there - my new shower is LOVELY, the water is just a touch softer at our new place, and my hair loves it very much.  I love soft water.

berkanna

hope your Grandma is ok!!  That older stock is strong!!

berkanna

Curlgirl64 wrote on Aug 7^th, 2007 at 8:59pm:




berkanna

I've had a pretty bad time of it recently.  Bad enough to consider going back to a counselor for a while.  The new job is not working out, I have hardly ridden at ALL in the past few months, and I've really been unhappy about how I look and feel.

Time for a change, and a change was made.

Yesterday I went from this:



To this:



You can see how tired I've been recently in that second picture - believe me, in the first one I have the same bags under my eyes, I just hid behind the camera. 

One of the hairdressers knows a woman who makes wigs - so the hair is going to her.  I'm happy with how it looks and feels.  I figure if I want long hair again, I just have to wait a couple of years, and it'll be back at BSL.  I really got the luck of the draw there.

My resume is out and about, my husband thinks a good portion of this (latest) depression stems from the crappy job, and I think he might be right.  I feel guilty about not riding, but it's just been about impossible for me to get out to the barn.  Not due to time, but due to motivation.  *sigh*

I'll still swing by on occasion - make sure everyone else is doing well and not following my example!  

i like your new look. very pretty. i hope things work out for you in the job department. take care.