hair

[emily_in_nc]

This is why I look forward to turning 50. That's when I think I'll be close to 100% gray and when I plan to do this exact thing to my hair!!

Me too! I'm hoping to retire at 50, so I think that's a good time to do something as drastic as going naturally gray and cutting all my hair off, since I've been coloring my hair for years. Won't my family and friends be shocked to see the new me! I started getting my first gray hairs at 25 and am probably at least 50% gray now.

Oh, and shampoo isn't all it's cracked up to be. I have shoulder length curly hair and I haven't used shampoo in almost a year. My hair is soft, touchable, frizz-free and it does not stink. It's all about proper care and maintenance!

Interesting! What do you do to keep it clean and "maintained" if not shampoo? I'm really getting an education here on TE, and not just about cycling!

Emily

[Bad JuJu]

I'm dying to stop dying my hair.

My mom had beautiful natural salt-and-pepper and if my hair looked like that, I'd kiss the hair-dye good-bye in a heartbeat. But my own hair, which started going grey about 8 years ago, is still a patchy, unappealing grey at 54. I don't mind looking my age--in fact it pi$$es me off when people imply that I should be lying about or otherwise hiding my age. But I am vain enough to want my hair to look good, to me at least. So to those of you who have a nice-looking grey going on, enjoy it! I'm envious.....sigh.

[GLC1968]

Interesting! What do you do to keep it clean and "maintained" if not shampoo? I'm really getting an education here on TE, and not just about cycling!

Emily

Emily - I'm probaby about 50% grey as well (at 38). I've been dying my hair since I was 20!!

To keep my hair clean, I use a number of different things...lemon juice, conditioner (I 'wash' with conditioner and then rinse it out), some natural mixtures, and then every 4 weeks I color it and the color I use actually works as a cleanser as well. It's amazing how much softer and smoother my curls are now that they aren't stripped and constantly trying to absorb moisture from the air!! I happen to have very thick hair that when left natural, tends toward big 'botticelli' type curls. This technique doesn't work as well for girls with fine or straight hair (I've had friends who tried).

[KnottedYet]

I have a fried with curly thick hair who doesn't use shampoo either. Her hair is GORGEOUS. She just rinses it, and once a week does a sugar-scrub with plain sugar.

Bad Juju - I feel your pain. I have thin baby-fine hair, which is gray on each temple and in my forelock. Unfortunately, if I leave it I end up looking like I have mange (as my hair-cutter-chickie said) because the fine white hair is invisible. Henna is what I use. Haven't used henna in a couple months now, just wanna see if I still look mangy.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

When I was a girl I had very light blonde long hair. Then as a young woman it urned a mousey dishwater ash blonde. With my light skin, I looked very pale and dull with this color scheme. So when I hit 30 or so I started coloring my hair red and cut it very short. Everyone loved it, and it looked pretty natural with my light skin and freckles. I felt good with it, and kept it short and red for 20 years.
But then I began to get more and more silver threads... as you know, red fades very quickly in the sun and I had to keep coloring often. The silver threads kept wanting to fade to pink! Not good. I hit 50 and realized that I was starting to look more "mature" and it become more odd looking to have dark hair with my older face. I don't want to be one of those old ladies on the street with shocking dark dyed hair!! The softer face with the harsh shocking hair color looks bad.
So, over a few years, I switched to more golden lighter shades of red, then to just golden warm blonde. The lighter I went the more natural I looked and I liked that. I started biking and walking and went out in the sun more and my hair looked nice as it faded. Finally I saw last year that I had about 30% silver mixed with my natural ash blonde, and the silver was very pretty the way it sparkled amongst my "dishwater blonde" hair. The silver gave me pretty highlights and real depth for the first time.
So about 9 months ago, I totally stopped coloring for good, still have very short hair, and I just love all my silver highlights. Now I'm slowly and happily gliding into my natural silver look. I'm finally "free" and it's great! My friends and DH all love it.
I have "finally" come to terms with aging gracefully, especially now that I have lost 25 pounds of flab and have a new biking body!

[missymaya]

My mother used to dye her hair years ago and one day my sis and I convinced her just to leave it be. Now, at 54, she has beautiful silver and black hair. I myself, have found grey (I'll be 24 in July) and refuse to do anything to hide it. Since my mother and I have pratically the same hair type (thick,black, and curly), why prevent the inevitable; just embrace it!
I joined the short hair club 3 years ago (I cut about 20 inches off!) and have never gone back since. Long hair is great but can be a real pain sometimes. Also, I would like to think that I have the confidence to not rely on my hair too much for my beauty (but yes, I am vein enough to make sure it looks good ). Don't be intimidated by societal stereotypes of women with short hair; they are just that, stereotypes. If a man doesn't like me because my hair is too short, then too bad for him and any other person who doesn't like me b/c of what I look like!
As for dreds, if you can pull it off and pull it off right, then go for it! It is just hair and if you don't like it, you can start over again!

[Kitsune06]

I have a fried with curly thick hair who doesn't use shampoo either. Her hair is GORGEOUS. She just rinses it, and once a week does a sugar-scrub with plain sugar.

Bad Juju - I feel your pain. I have thin baby-fine hair, which is gray on each temple and in my forelock. Unfortunately, if I leave it I end up looking like I have mange (as my hair-cutter-chickie said) because the fine white hair is invisible. Henna is what I use. Haven't used henna in a couple months now, just wanna see if I still look mangy.

Your hair's pretty, Knot- I like it. The henna complements it quite well.

[logdiva32]

I have done it all. Now I have plain shoulder length hair. In college I had dreads, not sure how white people with thin hair do it. But only 2 ways to go with black thick hair. Either the true rasta way, wash, beeswax and no comb for years. Or separate, twist, tease, and bond with bees wax all in an alternating fashion. And these are only removable by cutting. I dyed my dreads light red and they were gorgeous.
I cut all my hair off into a caeser style crop cut. The German guys all loved it. They would come up to me and ask, what country are you from and were surprised when I said US. They thought I was african. So they left, LOL. They love african women, despise american, haha. Now, due to my Military Career as an Officer if your boss doesn't like it, he'll just tell you to cut it and that is it, so I just stay nuetral for now.
But I will not let my hair, dress, or career define my womenhood.... So do what pleases you. If you are a true and real person, a proven producer in your field, people will make a wise choice when interacting with you. Think on it, meditate a bit, and go with your spirit.

[emily_in_nc]

To keep my hair clean, I use a number of different things...lemon juice, conditioner (I 'wash' with conditioner and then rinse it out), some natural mixtures, and then every 4 weeks I color it and the color I use actually works as a cleanser as well. It's amazing how much softer and smoother my curls are now that they aren't stripped and constantly trying to absorb moisture from the air!! I happen to have very thick hair that when left natural, tends toward big 'botticelli' type curls. This technique doesn't work as well for girls with fine or straight hair (I've had friends who tried).

Interesting! Thanks for the information. I used to have to shampoo daily since I had oily hair in my teens, but as I've gotten older (and started coloring in my late 20s), it's gotten dryer, so I shampoo less often. Still, after riding, running, or any other heavy sweat-inducing activity (gardening, etc), I do feel the need for a shampoo, so that usually means every other day or at least every third day. I color every five weeks and notice that I don't have to shampoo for several days afterwards as my hair stays very nice then. I also do the "conditioner wash" thing; that is, I use conditioner every time I shower, even when I don't shampoo. My hair is wavy but not very thick; it's gotten thinner as I've gotten older. I think I'll try decreasing shampooing to every third day and see how it goes....

Emily

[Dogmama]

About 2 months ago, some TE'ers might remember I cut & colored my hair drastically. Went from long, straight brown to short, messy, blonde-red. The color became brassy & I went back to have it toned down - only to come out with MORE red-blonde tones. Failure to communicate. It became straw colored within a few weeks. NOT a good color for me.

A few days ago, I went back to short, dark, neat hair and I love it. The "messy" look actually took longer to style! Best part - I went to a new stylist who charged me $52 for the whole thing, as opposed to $150 from my former stylist!

Regarding dreds - I personally do not like them at all on anybody. That's just me, but I don't like hair that looks like it is a colony for fleas.

[KnottedYet]

Today I was at the grocery store (buying GLUTEN FREE BEER! Party!) and stood behind a woman with male-pattern baldness. She was quite attractive and while the bald-on-top was very noticable it wasn't distracting. Anyway, I was reminded of my plans to sew myself a bunch of wild-print pill-box hats back when I thought I might be headed for chemo and radiation and end up losing my hair. (Before I learned there was NO effective chemo, and radiation only worked 20% of the time. Things are different now. Thank goodness.) Back when women wore hats you didn't have to mess with your hair so much, you just plunked a hat down on it. There are certainly days when I'd like to just pop on a hat and leave it be. (and not a baseball cap, either)

Maybe I'll start doing up some pillbox styled hats. (actually, scrub hats are pretty much the same thing) We need elegant "bad hair day" hats!

Oh, lookee: http://www.jkayedesigns.com/

[mary9761]

Today I was at the grocery store (buying GLUTEN FREE BEER! Party!) and stood behind a woman with male-pattern baldness. She was quite attractive and while the bald-on-top was very noticable it wasn't distracting.

I'm one of those women who is balding and it's quite embarassing. I actually look better WITH a helmet to cover my bald spot. I also had very baby fine blond hair when I was much younger and as I aged it went mousy ash blonde. When these photos were taken, I'd been coloring my hair with a red I fell in love with, but upkeep was a pain AND between the coloring (did my own) and sun FRIED the hair that was/is exposed to the sun and now it matts unless I put it up UNDER the helmet in a dewrag.
I've stopped coloring my hair again and it's getting quite long down to the middle of my back again, and the silver/grey is starting to show big time (just in the last couple years has it started) Of course if it meant I could/would have a FULL head of hair, I would gladly deal with silver/grey