I have a new addiction, my hair. I have been actively trying to grow it out healthily. Not that I had many bad habits before as I used heat on it maybe three times a year if that. The things that most negatively impacted my hair would be dye, tight ponytails, and combing wet out of the shower.
I have switched to henna for dyeing it because I can’t imagine giving up the red. And I have to say, I am much happier with the henna. It doesn’t fade at all! I just took a break between that last sentence and the one before it to go mix up a batch so I can do my hair later… I have roots showing.
As for tight ponytails, I try not to, but I am still struggling with any other way to keep my hair up for running. I can’t stand the feel of sweat soaked hair beating on my back. But I’ve switched to fabric only hair scrunchies, no more tight bands, so hopefully that is minimizing the breakage.
For the combing while wet, I have stopped combing my hair after I get out of the shower. Instead I head out to work and detangle with my fingers as I drive then use a comb after I arrive. The other day I needed to stop two places on my way so I put a Buff on and let my hair fill out the tube.
Thanks to the Long Hair Community forums I have been reading the ingredient lists on shampoo and conditioner and paying attention to the after effects of their use. One thing you hear about often is “cones” meaning silicone variants. When I don’t use a conditioner with silicones you see much more frizz and when I search my hair I find splits. The silicones hide the damage better! Of course, that is why if a conditioner is marketed as “repairs dry and damaged hair,” you can often find high up in the ingredient listing either dimethicone or amodimethicone. I use both silicone containing and “cone-free” conditioners but it’s good to go without the cones occasionally to get a good idea of the non-hidden condition of your hair…
And so, here is my hair yesterday. The pictures are taken after drying. The first picture is before any combing. The second is after combing and brushing. No silicones for three days before this so all the frizzies were flying free.
I have this crazy goal of waist length hair. I’ve been doing some woodworking and making fancy wooden hair forks for updos. Like I said, new obsession.
In other news… I did my treadmill 5K yesterday before I washed my hair. LOL! No land speed records were set but I upped the running vs walking minutes a bit. Nothing major, just a bit of enough to make me feel like a running goddess warrior princess.
Today I think I am going to do a bit of sewing. My brother-in-law dropped a coat off to me a while back to put in a new zipper. I’m not charging him but he is giving me a new coat that he got from his work as payment so I’m cool with that. Also, I got some Thanksgiving fabric that I am going to use to make a skirt for work. Next Wednesday is our residential dorm’s Thanksgiving party and I’ll wear it for that. Then probably again the Wednesday right before Thanksgiving. I had one I had made for Halloween a number of years ago (and never wore) that I found and finally did wear this year. Made me decide I was going to make a theme skirt for all the holidays. Though the Halloween one was a bit fancy (for some reason when I made it, I put in a waistband and a zipper for a skirt that has a useful season of about one week a year) the rest I plan to make more basic with just elastic for fit. They will, however, have pockets!