Ladies - Hair advice?

ForTheSmile

I'm on MFP for self-improvement, and that goes past just my general health and weight. I want to be more stylish in my clothing and hair as well. I grew up in a private school, so for 18 years I never had to really worry about what I wore, and I just put my hair in a ponytail every day. I've only recently learned how to do my own makeup. But while I was gathering pictures to put in my "Before" folder (I can't wait until I have an "After" folder) I noticed how terrible I look. Right now I'm mostly concerned about my hair.

Right now my hair is medium length. I've never really had a style because nothing really seems to work. My hair is frizzy on the ends and tends toward greasiness at the roots. The individual hairs are thin but there are so many of them I could also be classified as having thick hair. If I put mousse in while it's wet, I can wear it down in a sort of wet-curls, dried up, stiff look, but I really hate that. I live in Florida, and that combined with the frizziness makes straightening something that only lasts for about ten minutes, if that. It's helped in the past to cut it really short and straighten it from there, but it just gets so hot with the hair covering my neck and I would really hate to have a boy-cut.

Sorry if this sounds like a lot of complaining. Mostly, I just get by with a ponytail, but looking at so many pictures of myself in the past few days has made me very self-conscious about it. It really looks awful. If anyone has similar hair that they've conquered or knows some trick, please help me out.

ChristineMarie89

if u want it sorta longer cut it shorter in the back than the front. try straightening it. i have horribly thick hair. everyone thinks it should be so great. ITS NOT!! lol my hairs naturally wavy n goes in all directions so hair straightener is my bff. i have an instyler that works great but if u don't wanna pay that much i'm sure there are cheaper things that work. it just works for me because regular hair straighteners don't straighten my thick hair. if you don't want to go drastic than just try layering it or something simple. if you go to the hair salon they will usually be able to suggest something that will work for your hair type hope it helped a lil lol

mfpcopine

Go to www.naturallycurly.com and read Curly Girl: The Handbook by Lorrayne (?) Massey. The products of her company, Devacurl, are also very good. Go to their website and find a Devachan- (Massey's salon) trained stylist in your area. Schedule a consultation.

Talk to people who do know how to deal with curly/frizzy/kinky hair before straightening it. Permanent hair straighteners (relaxers) may work in the short-term, but they likely will end up ruining your hair. Then when you want to grow them out it will take ages and look very messy.

crimsoncat

I have lots of hair, but my hair shafts are very fine. I get greasy within 24 hours and split ends are my problem. My hair is out of control in high humidity unless I straighten it. There are two very important things you need to make sure of BEFORE you straighten:

1. Adjust the temperature on the iron. The thinner the individual strand, the lower the temp should be. You want it just enough to straighten the hair within two passes.

2. Use a heat protectant.

I really like the miracle 7 leave on mist that Sally's Beauty sells as a heat protectant. It makes my hair super silky and pretty without making it all greasy (like EVERY other one did)
http://www.sallybeauty.com/leave-in-mist/SBS-777777,default,pd.html

Another good one for non-greasy heat protectants is Aquage Beyond Body Thermal Spray. It's meant to be weightless for building body, but that also means it's not greasy. It goes on kinda crusty like a bad hairspray but once you hit it with heat your hair feels like silk.

KMS california has awesome stuff too. I'm obsessed with their "Curl Up Bounce Back Spray" for when I want to curl my hair with a hot iron. Again, it goes on crusty but is soft and silk after heat. The other plus is they are one of the less expensive salon brands.

Also for greasy roots, try using a dry shampoo and a fine toothed comb. I really like Suave's Dry shampoo because it smells like lemons and is light enough in my hair. The price is also very good and it works better than other more expensive one's I've tried. http://www.amazon.com/Suave-Professionals-Shampoo-Beautiful-5-Ounce/dp/B004DBUAGQ

Tresume and Sally's So Gorgeous Dry Shampoo were AWFUL. Both smelled bad (IMO) and they made my hair feel like I had put CLAY in it.

Also, I've heard two different school's of thought on conditioner. My hair stylist told me to only put it on my tips (anything below my chin is fine) if my hair was getting greasy on the roots and spliting/frizzy on the ends. She also recommended using a deep conditioning treatment all over once in a while (like every 2 weeks). I put a bath cap on and let it sit for 1/2 an hour or so. I liked the "One 'n Only Brazilian Tech Keratin Deep Conditioning Treatment" because it smells good but it DOES strip my demi-perm color (despite being "color safe" so be aware. That has worked well for me. My friend's stylist told her to use a balancing shampoo like Biolage Normalizing Shampoo and to condition everywhere. That has worked for her.

Also, I love my straightener iron because it can do synthetic hair as well as regular hair. I have the Mega Hot Smart Heat Nano Ceramics Straightening Iron. I set it to medium for my own natural hair and make sure to use a heat protectant. I have used the cheapo Conair straighters and they all worked fine, but this works noticeably better.

You only want gold/titanium plated if you have black hair or hair that is 100% resistant to any type of heat and SUPER thick at the shaft. If you have any other type of hair, start with ceramic first and return it if it doesn't do the job.

mfpcopine

Florida is very humid and there are times when all you can do is pull your hair back. Try experimenting with different hair elastics. If you have curls, you can try doing a curly hair bun with Goody Spin Pins. The information is on the Naturally Curly site.