Talking About My Hair

I'm pretty sure anyone who has ever seen me, either in person or just in photos, will probably agree that I have pretty long hair. Most people call it very long, although I hesitate to say that because there are women out there with hair that is much, much longer. I dream of the day my hair stops breaks when it reaches tailbone length and gets to be mid-thigh length. But I like it the way it is now too. Right now it is about 2.5 feet (30 inches) long from the crown to the ends.

I wear my hair down 95% of the time. I put it up for cleaning, cooking, and when I workout. Otherwise, I really like it down. I don't ever really style it any more, but when I was younger I used to do little accent braids and sometimes in the summer time I will braid it just to keep it from sticking to my bare skin. I know other people are dying to put their hair up in top knots and whatever else once the weather is warm, but I like to stick to my boring styles ^_~

I've actually really only had my styled on a couple occasions. When I was a little girl, maybe 5 or 6, I had a birthday party at a salon and they curled my hair. And I don't think my hair was "done" again until I started modeling a few years ago. That must sound really odd to people who go to the salon all the time, especially when I add that my hair has never been cut, at least not since I was old enough to remember. It's been trimmed, of course, and I had bangs for a while as a kid, but what you see now is pretty much how my hair has looked for my forever, color excluded. My natural hair color is a medium sort of ashy brown but with red tones at certain times of year. It hasn't been that color since I was probably 20 or so.

I've been dying my hair myself at home for quite a while. First I went burgundy. Then a dark chocolate with chestnut streaks for a couple days, and then dark chocolate, and finally black, then blue black. I stuck with the blue black for the longest.

Me with my burgundy hair and one of my dogs, since passed

Styled by my little brother, the first time I dyed my hair black, I think

Yes, I was definitely goth, or trying hard to look like it anyway. My mother and my little brother used to take my photos before I started modeling. My mother took the top photo, and my little brother shot and styled the second photo. Drink that one in because that is the one and only instance of me ever wearing that type of hat, and a rare instance of me in a hat period.

So I had blue black hair for a pretty long while, into my start of modeling, and then about two years ago I started having allergic reactions to the hair dye. There is a chemical called PPD (I think) in most hair dyes that I believe was causing the reaction. So I started looking into natural hair dyes. I finally settled on henna and indigo aka henndigo where the henna serves as a base to help the hair take the black color of the indigo. I tried what is called a one step process first where the henna and indigo are mixed together and applied at the same time, but I didn't really get black. So then I tried the two step process. This entails mixing the henna with water, letting it set for a few hours, applied it to my hair, letting that set for at least an hour, rinsing that out, mixing the indigo, applying that to my hair, letting that set for at least an hour, and then rinsing that out, which takes about half an hour. Then I usually have to wash my hair again the next day to get the remaining indigo residue out. It's kind of a chore, but it's all a ritual and I enjoy it. Plus it fades into my roots and the rest of my previously box dyed hair really nicely.

And once I got into the henndigo I decided maybe I should try natural shampoo and stuff too. I'd already been using a sulfate free shampoo and conditioner, but I wanted to go even more natural. So I tried shampoo bars which are cold processed soaps created using oils, butters, and essential oils, etc. It took a couple times to get used to rubbing the bar on my hair, especially since my hair is so long, but they are amazing! My hair breaks less and has been getting just a little bit longer, too. They don't lather as much as regular shampoo, mainly due to the lack of chemicals, but they do get your hair clean, they smell nice, and I think they've strengthened my hair (probably by helping the cuticle to lay better). Also, I don't have to condition any more because they don't strip all the oils out of my hair and leave it dry. Just enough of the natural oils stay in and if I need to moisturize the ends I use a little sweet almond oil.

Earlier I said I don't style my hair, which is true, but I also try not to blow dry it either. I do have a blow dryer because I've found that sometimes I have to either blow dry my hair or go out with wet hair, and that causes me headaches and neck tension, so if I have to, I will let it dry about halfway and then blow dry it. I use a natural brand of heat protectant as well.

I suppose really the last thing to talk about are my hair brushing tools. I have a wide tooth comb, a boar bristle brush, and then one of those pod looking things with the plastic bristles. I was skeptical about the pod, but it's ended up being pretty nice. It doesn't snag, and it doesn't just brush over the tangles like the boar bristle one does. I do hope one day to have a really nice boar bristle brush that looks pretty that I can do videos with and show off ^_~ The one in the photo above is a vintage brush, but I don't feel comfortable really using it in my hair and the bristles are too soft anyway.

Sometimes I feel like my hair is super complicated and sometimes I feel like I do a lot less than other women.

One more hair photo:

You can get this a print on Etsy ^_~