the hair thread

JaneNY

roar wrote:

i share a bathroom with two other girls and people laugh when they walk in and see three flat irons, five various sized curling irons, and two blow dryers.
the other day, i noticed that we have 13 bottles of hair products in our shower. i'm really afraid to count the hair sprays, gels, amplifiers, smoothing creams, curl boosters, pomades, etc. i have a salon account, so it's just too easy to buy product.
ridiculous? probably -- but i love my hair.

Heh - when my daughter and I went to Lolla last year, between us we brought 2 hair sprays, 2 flat irons, a hair dryer, CHI polishing spray, Silk serum, and my Lush Trichomania shampoo, Jungle conditioner, and her shampoo conditioner. My hair is a chin length bob, undercut, black colored, no bangs. I just bought a CHI straightener yesterday and it is awesome. I usually wash my hair 2-3x per week - its on the dry side (what a surprise), and tease it up a bit with product in between washes. Hair is a serious thing!

Urban Hiker

I guess I'm breaking some hair rules.

I wash EVERY day. If I go camping, even backpacking in cold weather, I will find a way to wash my hair. If I don't wash my hair daily I get very, very cranky.
I even add some baking soda to my shampoo at least once a month, so my hair is (literally) squeaky clean.

I also blow dry my hair any time I wear it down.

Yet, my hair is not dry and does not have many split ends. However, it is not as shiny as I'd like.

Does anybody know of any good vegan hair serum?

dangeringravity

Urban Hiker wrote:

I guess I'm breaking some hair rules.

I wash EVERY day. If I go camping, even backpacking in cold weather, I will find a way to wash my hair. If I don't wash my hair daily I get very, very cranky.
I even add some baking soda to my shampoo at least once a month, so my hair is (literally) squeaky clean.

I also blow dry my hair any time I wear it down.

Yet, my hair is not dry and does not have many split ends. However, it is not as shiny as I'd like.

Does anybody know of any good vegan hair serum?

if you have a whole foods market around you, you should be able to find something there...depends on how big the market is though, some have really elaborate hygiene/health sections, some have so/so sections.

HushBull

I'm cursed with the hair of a jew. I have given up on it! The weather dictates what it will look like, I have come to peace with this fact.

Urban Hiker

dangeringravity wrote:

if you have a whole foods market around you, you should be able to find something there...depends on how big the market is though, some have really elaborate hygiene/health sections, some have so/so sections.

Thanks, we have a relatively new one in downtown Seattle. I'll peruse their shelves a little more closely on my next trip.

decides2dream

Urban Hiker wrote:

I guess I'm breaking some hair rules.

I wash EVERY day. If I go camping, even backpacking in cold weather, I will find a way to wash my hair. If I don't wash my hair daily I get very, very cranky.
I even add some baking soda to my shampoo at least once a month, so my hair is (literally) squeaky clean.

I also blow dry my hair any time I wear it down.

Yet, my hair is not dry and does not have many split ends. However, it is not as shiny as I'd like.

Does anybody know of any good vegan hair serum?

i think it depends entirely on your hair. seems a few have posted have similar hair...curly and thick. both these attributes can easily lead to dryness if not cared for properly. now my husband, he has very fine blonde hair and if he doesn't was his hair every day, it looks greasy! funny too, b/c to look at his hair - clean of course - you'd never guess that at all. he does not have greasy or very shiny hair, just normal. so yea....really depends on your hair.

as for shiny, they do have lots of products that hlp promote, or fake , healthy shine. dunno if they are vegan or not though.

libragirl

well mine is colored and highlighted. So washing it 3 times a week is best. Plus it's fine.

Jeanie

I've been growing out my meticulously maintained salon blonde highlights and only having my hair trimmed. It's going well and a lot of my natural colour is back and the blonde is slowly going. Trouble is it's now time to do something so I'm not wandering around the Northern Hemisphere with a monstrous regrowth showing. I was planning to go to the hairdresser and get her to add some highlights and do it all pretty before I go but in all honesty I'm tired of playing salon and I'm tired of dying my hair. I'd like for my hair to just be natural and regularly cut and that's the end of it.

So because I have this dilemna with the growing out the colour, I think I want to just dye my hair as close to my natural colour as possible and I'm not really wanting to spend up large at the hairdressers to do it.

Has anyone coloured their hair at home OVER blonde highlights and how successful was it and what color/dye did you use? Figured I should ask and see what my options are before I go back to the salon. I'm worried that just putting a dark colour over the top of the blonde will make the blonde pink or red or heaven forbid some other hideous colour.

GraySaturday

Jeanie wrote:

I've been growing out my meticulously maintained salon blonde highlights and only having my hair trimmed. It's going well and a lot of my natural colour is back and the blonde is slowly going. Trouble is it's now time to do something so I'm not wandering around the Northern Hemisphere with a monstrous regrowth showing. I was planning to go to the hairdresser and get her to add some highlights and do it all pretty before I go but in all honesty I'm tired of playing salon and I'm tired of dying my hair. I'd like for my hair to just be natural and regularly cut and that's the end of it.

So because I have this dilemna with the growing out the colour, I think I want to just dye my hair as close to my natural colour as possible and I'm not really wanting to spend up large at the hairdressers to do it.

Has anyone coloured their hair at home OVER blonde highlights and how successful was it and what color/dye did you use? Figured I should ask and see what my options are before I go back to the salon. I'm worried that just putting a dark colour over the top of the blonde will make the blonde pink or red or heaven forbid some other hideous colour.

Me me me!

I currently dye my own hair (light blonde) but its been all colors from dark dark brown to red, to blonde and back and forth. Salon and me doing it. A dark color will take over the blonde. It will be more vibrant than putting it on a darker section. If you go say, red, the blonde parts you covered will be brighter red, go brown and the brown will be lighter and brighter.. etc..

I always use L'oreal. Its in a silver box here in America. I have no idea if you have it, or what you may have. I refuse to pay a salon every 3 weeks to touch up color! I pay 7.99 and have really pretty hair! Take it from me, you can do anything with your hair.

BUT.... PLEASE REMEMBER. When going dark, ALWAYS pick a warm tone, or you will end up ashy and greenish. Nothing looks worse over blonde then a cool brown. You'll be like brownish seaweed!

Jeanie

GraySaturday wrote:

Me me me!

I currently dye my own hair (light blonde) but its been all colors from dark dark brown to red, to blonde and back and forth. Salon and me doing it. A dark color will take over the blonde. It will be more vibrant than putting it on a darker section. If you go say, red, the blonde parts you covered will be brighter red, go brown and the brown will be lighter and brighter.. etc..

I always use L'oreal. Its in a silver box here in America. I have no idea if you have it, or what you may have. I refuse to pay a salon every 3 weeks to touch up color! I pay 7.99 and have really pretty hair! Take it from me, you can do anything with your hair.

BUT.... PLEASE REMEMBER. When going dark, ALWAYS pick a warm tone, or you will end up ashy and greenish. Nothing looks worse over blonde then a cool brown. You'll be like brownish seaweed!

Thanks S.

I'm going to try to see if I can find something close to my own hair color, I'm not so worried about the ashy greenish look, on account it might even out my reddish cheeks. See?

We do have Loreal, I might get some and put a little on what's left of the blonde in a few spots and see what that does before I commit to doing my whole head. The old spot test.

I used to color my hair blonde at home years ago, but I guess I got stuck in the salon thing while I was working and to be honest I find the whole idea of colouring my hair pretty tiresome now. I'd love to be able to just leave it to let the colour grow out but I don't want a bunch of photos of me all over the US and Canada with regrowth hair!

MyHandsBound

I'm growing out my perm...yep I'll be all naturale...I've been thinking of doing this for a very long time - since Britney shaved her head, I'm glad she did it and not me. But I'm sure her hair has grown quite a bit since then.

This is going to be so new to me because I've had some kind of perm for so long I'm not sure I know how to handle my natural hair so this will be a learning process for me...I've been skimming hair magazines but nothing had a really good article that focused on this need....right now I have about a half inch of new growth .....I just hope it grows in nicely and quick:)

Jeanie

MyHandsBound wrote:

I'm growing out my perm...yep I'll be all naturale...I've been thinking of doing this for a very long time - since Britney shaved her head, I'm glad she did it and not me. But I'm sure her hair has grown quite a bit since then.

This is going to be so new to me because I've had some kind of perm for so long I'm not sure I know how to handle my natural hair so this will be a learning process for me...I've been skimming hair magazines but nothing had a really good article that focused on this need....right now I have about a half inch of new growth .....I just hope it grows in nicely and quick:)

I must admit when Britney shaved her head I had a really hard time not doing it too. I've always wanted to. Just shave it all off and start again, but I've only ever shaved off parts of it, and that was way back in my Cyndi days.

The growing out takes ages. Least I think so anyway. I think I've been doing it for over a year and still there's blonde. But if you get your hair permed it's probably stronger and faster growing than mine. Reckon it'll back to naturale in no time.

MyHandsBound

Jeanie wrote:

Reckon it'll back to naturale in no time.

Oh Lord I hope so:)

MyHandsBound

Jeanie wrote:

I must admit when Britney shaved her head I had a really hard time not doing it too.

When she did it, I was thinking of doing just that......it's like she did it for me:)

Tone

I've never dyed my own hair, too scared to screw it up. I've been black, red, dark brown with purple and then back to blonde (well, my naturally dark ash blonde with highlights). I now work in a salon (which certainly helps with the costs of things).

As for products, I use Biosilk to protect my hair when I use the flatiron (which is practically every day, cause I still wash my hair everyday, even though I know I shouldn't). I tend to get up as early as possible so my hair can air dry as much as possible. If you're using a flatiron, go for one that's 100% ceramic (not ceramix) and hairdryers with ions are great to make your hair shiny too. You can get great ceramic flatirons with rounded edges that create fantastic soft curls too.

KMS has a good "Flat Out" spray which helps to seal the hair and combat the humidity. I also use KMS Volumizing shampoo and conditioner. I hate volume in my hair, but all it does is not coat the hair (it doesn't create volume), it's a light shampoo and conditioner and doesn't make my hair oily like other shampoos and conditioners, which are just too intense for my hair. KMS Clarifying Shampoo is fantastic too.

Graham Webb products are great. The Velvet Soft shampoo and conditioner are just beautiful. Makes even the most damaged hair silky smooth and soft. Ice Cap is great for guys (has a minty scent). Avoid supermarket shampoos and conditioners as much as possible, which are full of detergents and mess up your scalp and hair. I know salon products are more expensive but they're so much better for your hair and scalp.

Jeanie wrote:

Has anyone coloured their hair at home OVER blonde highlights and how successful was it and what color/dye did you use? Figured I should ask and see what my options are before I go back to the salon. I'm worried that just putting a dark colour over the top of the blonde will make the blonde pink or red or heaven forbid some other hideous colour.

A single process colour isn't that expensive at a salon, way cheaper than highlights and really moisturising for the hair, makes it look glossy, healthy and beautiful. As GraySaturday said, be careful if you're doing it yourself cause you have to take into consideration the type of colour currently in your hair. If you're unsure, I wouldn't do it yourself... you'll wind up paying way more at a salon getting it corrected... just my 2 cents

Jeanie

MyHandsBound wrote:

Oh Lord I hope so:)

The good thing about it being a perm is that the more your natural hair grows back the more it seems to weigh down the permed hair or something. Least that's how it seemed to me when I was growing out my perm a long, long, time ago. The other good thing about perms is, you can often times, depending on your hair, use a round brush to style dry it and the perm will actually dry quite straight if you section it off. If you're not going anywhere one night, why not try and see how you do?

Jeanie

MyHandsBound wrote:

When she did it, I was thinking of doing just that......it's like she did it for me:)

It's very tempting, I must admit.

Jeanie

Tone wrote:

A single process colour isn't that expensive at a salon, way cheaper than highlights and really moisturising for the hair, makes it look glossy, healthy and beautiful. As GraySaturday said, be careful if you're doing it yourself cause you have to take into consideration the type of colour currently in your hair. If you're unsure, I wouldn't do it yourself... you'll wind up paying way more at a salon getting it corrected... just my 2 cents

At my hairdressers I'm looking at around $200 and I'm not really all that wrapt in what they've been doing. It's ok but I'm not feeling that it's worth $200 anymore. The girl that did my hair for years has gone off to work on cruise ships or something and I've been going to a few places regularly ever since but nobody does my hair as good as she did and I find all the fussing around my head is not something I enjoy anymore. I just can't sit in the chair for that amount of time anymore. I can't be bothered and actually find it exhausting sitting there while all the cutting and drying and styling goes on. Not to mention, ultimately I want to stop using all those chemicals.

I know what you're saying though Tone, I've had a few hair disasters over the years, and I know that trying to get good color over bleached hair is near on impossible, like trying to get good color over grey. We'll see. Perhaps I'll play a little more with my patch tests? The worst that can happen is I'm a little more tortoiseshell than I am now.

Tone

Jeanie wrote:

At my hairdressers I'm looking at around $200 and I'm not really all that wrapt in what they've been doing. It's ok but I'm not feeling that it's worth $200 anymore. The girl that did my hair for years has gone off to work on cruise ships or something and I've been going to a few places regularly ever since but nobody does my hair as good as she did and I find all the fussing around my head is not something I enjoy anymore. I just can't sit in the chair for that amount of time anymore. I can't be bothered and actually find it exhausting sitting there while all the cutting and drying and styling goes on. Not to mention, ultimately I want to stop using all those chemicals.

I know what you're saying though Tone, I've had a few hair disasters over the years, and I know that trying to get good color over bleached hair is near on impossible, like trying to get good color over grey. We'll see. Perhaps I'll play a little more with my patch tests? The worst that can happen is I'm a little more tortoiseshell than I am now.

$200!? For a single process!? Yikes! I wouldn't pay that either!!!!! Maybe you should jump on a plane and come to NYC... it's only $75 (for a single process) at the salon where I work... sure, you've got the flight to consider but... Spending hours on end at a salon does get frustrating. It's funny, I love my old hairdresser back in Sydney, but I was always looking at 5 hours when I went there... for some reason, it's so much faster over here. Not sure why, but I'm out in around 2 hours with highlights and a cut.

A girl came into the salon last week and went from blonde to brunette, it looked awesome. If you're familiar with hair colour numbers (we use Goldwell), I believe she had a 4 and a 5 mixed... really warm, cause the highlights will start to show through after a few weeks regardless. Alternative to supermarket products, if you're in Sydney, on the 7th floor of the Gowings building is a professional hair products place (I hope it's still there). They generally won't help you, cause you're supposed to know what to get, but they have all the stuff salons use, including all the colours and products you can imagine and it's way cheaper. Otherwise Price Attack in Centrepoint (if it's still there, it's been 4.5 years since I've lived there) is good for cheap salon products (and they'll help you) and probably Priceline too. Good luck

Blanche

My hair has been much more manageable since I got a great haircut - lots of layers to weed out the frizz.
I have to see my hairdresser every few months for a trim and so I can see where I'm going (my bangs tend to get shaggy).

I shampoo and conditioner every few days, using Klorane products. My hair dye doesn't contain ammonia. Every now and then I apply a hair mask and rinse profusely. When I sleep with wet hair, it's shinier than when I air dry it. Except there are lots of strange kinks I have to relax with more water and a scarf and I pray my hair looks normal by the time I get to work. Of course, this only happens on before a workday.