Sigh. Every time I go and get something different done with it, I come home and my boyfriend says “It looks exactly the same!” and I explain to him all the ways in which it’s different and he just sighs. But I’m starting to think he’s right.
I’ve got a hair girl I like, finally, and when she does it it looks great. Frankly, she’s probably giving me styles that look great on me, too, I’m just bored. Partly it’s my fault, too - I’m pretty unwilling to do a lot to it at home. I’m inept at blowing it straight, and I haven’t practiced enough with all that other stuff to make it look good, so it looks bad and I don’t do it.
Also, forever I was Growing It Out, partly because Himself thought it would look good and partly because I’d had really short hair for a long time. I’ve been waiting for ages for it to Finally Grow Out partly because I’ve been running and it would be so nice to just put it in a damned ponytail and not have to clippy all the little bits in. I grew my bangs out, too, which took forever so I don’t want to do it again, but… I’m bored.
Doesn’t help that the winter is making it all flat, too.
Last time I got well and truly bored with my hair, I shaved my head. It’s made coiffing in the morning much easier. (And running a pair of clippers over the fuzz once a week is a hell of a lot less time consuming than brushing long hair. Not to mention getting the slick, sleek look for special occasions.)
Commiserations on your boredom. Maybe a new color? Also, if you don’t just hate them, the cloth headbands that go all the way around your head can be really good for holding back the little frizzly bits at the front when you’re working out.
I recently felt like you did and then I discovered a salon which changed my whole approach. The difference is they specialize in curly hair (which mine is) so not only could they cut it properly, but they could show me how to make it look good on my own. (Every other hairdresser I have ever been to either blow dried it straight, or made me look like a TV presenter, altho I am stridently against hairspray and blow dryers.) Very worthwhile.
How about being a model at one of those trendy salons? They’ll do something completely ridiculous to your hair at a bargain price. If it’s change you want, they can help! And you can always change it again if you don’t like it.
Also: I’ve never met a straight man who actually notices women’s hair. After extensive interrogation, I have discovered that this is because they usually don’t care. If your feller is anything like the ones I know, if he fancies you he really doesn’t care what your hair looks like, and doesn’t fully understand the question. Whatever your hair looks like, it should look the way YOU like it.
Sounds like me! Most of my life I’ve had long straight hair with bangs. A couple of years ago, my husband suggested I should grow the bangs out. To help me get there, I had it cut to around shoulder length, with long layers…didn’t look half bad.
Finally, after forever, the bangs grew down to the bottom and it was all the same approximate length. That lasted literally about two weeks, when I just hated it so much I couldn’t stand it another moment. My husband picks this time to tell me he hates bangs on everyone! If I had only known he was insane before I married him…
So anyway, I had the hairstylist put me back in long bangs and long layers, but somehow I’m not loving it so much this time around.
I’ve been a color model tons of times for this girl I go to now - it’s fun and free color, wot. I’m bored with my color now too. I’ve been various shades of red for years now, I’m considering actually revisiting my… natural hair color. I’ll have to ask her what that is.
It’s straightish and kind of fine, but there’s a lot of it. (Which is weird, because when I was in high school it was that seaweed-on-a-rock fine hair, and now it has a lot more body, particularly when it’s short.) It has a surprising amount of wave to it if I try and use that curl intensifying stuff, but it looks a lot better when she does it.
I might post some pictures when I get home. I hate that, though - I don’t take good pictures. Even Himself grudgingly admits that I don’t look like that in real life. He doesn’t understand it - he runs a video production company and a camera shop and he can’t make me take a good picture.
I sympathize. It’s been two months since my last hair cut, and I’m thinking of becoming more actively in pursuit of a job. Both signs that maybe I could use a hair cut. Ugh.
February’s cut and style (to a picture I picked out)was great, but way too product heavy. Just before Easter’s trim didn’t thrill me. June’s trim thrilled me even less.
September’s cut and style to a picture intended to look like February’s sucked bigtime. Although my sister-in-law thought it was cute. In addition to not being appealing, it required too many products–and different one than February’s.
November’s trim with plea of “I don’t know what I want but I don’t like what I’ve got and maybe I’d like bangs and to let the rest grow out” was a success–although I’m so out of practice in dealing with bangs, I think I’ll let them grow again.
And I’m scared of what the results might be the next time I get it cut.
First, I heartily recommend one of the many virtual hairstyle web sites that are out there. Daily Makeoveris one. For a nominal fee, you can upload a picture of yourself and try on hair – styles and color. After you’ve had a good laugh trying on purple dreadlocks and the like, you can start focusing in on a handful of styles that you think look good on you.
Second, ask people you know whose hair styles or color you like where they get their hair done. It doesn’t matter if it’s someone whose hair is very different from yours in texture or length. If you think their cut is flattering, ask them. When I did that, there was one particular salon that kept popping up.
I made an appointment and printed out a bunch of my experiments from the virtual hair style site. I told the stylist what my parameters were – I didn’t want a style that needed more than a blow dryer to look good. No curling irons, etc. I didn’t mind using product, though. She looked through the styles I picked and told me which ones would work with my hair AND fell within my parameters. (“You don’t want this one. You’d have to use a straight iron to get your hair to do that.”)
Work with your particular type of hair. Long, flowing sexy locks sound great, but for some people, those with fine hair, it’s just not feasible. Fine hair can have a ton of shine, bounce, and body, but it’s not going to happen if it’s long. Fine hair needs to be cut and shaped to look really good.
The right product. For years and years I searched high and low for the right product for my hair. I honestly believed that there was a product out there just for me, and when I found it, my real life would begin. I would be good-looking and successful, all because I found the right hair product. And it’s true- I did find the right hair products, and I’m enjoying my best life ever. Coincidence? I think not. I have fine hair and keep it fairly short, and you’d think that wax or Mudd would be too heavy and greasy for my hair, but I recently tried it after being advised for years to use it, and I love it. It’s a very firm but soft and brushable hold. Plus I use a thickening spray before blowdrying.
As for the color, the problem with haircolor is almost every one turns brassy, which is a real problem, and doesn’t work with most skin tones. If you can afford to have it done professionally and keep it up, that’s best. If not, still ask your girl what color would be best for you and do it often. If you are going to grow it back out to your natural color, don’t be surprised to see tons of gray that you didn’t know you had!:eek:
One thing I recommend is going just once to a high-end salon- here it’s Gadabout, where the moneyed go. If you can get one masterful haircut, and get some advice from a real pro, it can carry over very well with your regular stylist and be invaluable.
It is almost impossible to tell from that picture what your actual skin tone is, so what is it? From the picture, I think going darker might look nice. However, I’m no good at hair, so I’m no real help.
I’m very fair. One of those blue-eyed attenuated people who you can’t figure out how the hell their ancestors hacked a living from the unforgiving soil because they don’t look like they could stand up to a stiff breeze. A bird-boned folk.
I always get my color done professionally (the one time I didn’t, well, you know.) The thing is, I do like the reds, and they fade so much. You don’t really realize how bad it’s faded, and then one day you look in the mirror and realize that it’s the same value as your skin and it just doesn’t look good.
I was so spoiled in college - I went to a really, really fancy place that was super-good and I always loved my hair (and it was always different!) But that was in Atlanta - I’ve tried a billion swanky places here and they don’t really thrill me. I really like my current girl’s hand at color, and I like that she’s been really willing to try new things - before her I had no idea I could wear my hair curly. But every time I go in and say I want a change it’s kind of the same.
I guess I need to go in and say “I want a DRASTIC CHANGE. I am going into Witness Protection and if I look like myself out there my car will blow up.”
I don’t know, I was considering a really structured angled bob, but my face is kind of sharp.
I felt like you about a year ago. I was going to a place and paying a bit of a premium, but I was never satisfied. So I googled some places and finally just picked one and walked in with some questions. I guess I got lucky, but I just said, 'please, I need to find a stylist. I’m tired of my mommy haircuts (28 going on 35 do’s) I just want to look like a hot momma.
The first lady that was available just sat down with me and was very blunt with her questions. I told her I wasn’t look for anything that took more than 10 mins, wash/wear on some days would be even better. How often do I shampoo, do I need a lot of product. She kept running her fingers through my hair while we talked too!
I went for a real drastic change recently. I’ve been wanting to get red in my hair for what seems like forever (hubby likes red too), so we compromised on a color. I went from a mousy light brown hair, to this gorgeous auburn color. I really LOVE the color - even though she said it took like 2 tubes of color to get there! (Plus I’m pregnant and have really thick hair now). I’m glad I went for it, but I trusted her to do the right thing and not give me crazy color!
OK - from reading your post and looking at your pic, you seem REALLY low maintenance. I blame your stylist for giving you something super-cute in the salon, but it’s also something that you can’t re-create at home. Once you get home, and try to get it to look the way it did when you left your salon and fail, it’s frustrating. :smack:
You need to communicate to your stylist that you really are no good at handling a blow-dryer for blowing out your hair. And I agree with the poster that said that the right product is like finding a gajillion dollars in a sack on the side of the road. However, if you have great product and don’t know how to use it, you may as well toss that money into the toilet.
As soon as I looked at you, I thought to myself, “short n’ sassy!” You have a great face-shape for a longish-pixie haircut. And the plus side of that is, it’s wash and go! Slap a little pomade or something in it, work it around, and off you go!
If short isn’t and option, I recommend letting the layers grow out and getting a clean one-length haircut until you decide the best style for you. Or maybe find a new stylist. Sometimes tiny variations of the same haircut are a sign of boredom on the hairdresser’s part.
Well, I did short-pixie and longish-pixie for a long, long time (college and grad school), which is why I started growing it out in the first place. I guess maybe you shouldn’t fuck with what works, though. It just feels so crappy to spend all this time growing it out just to whack it all off, you know? (Even if that’s the best thing.)
(And running a pair of clippers over the fuzz once a week is a hell of a lot less time consuming than brushing long hair. Not to mention getting the slick, sleek look for special occasions.)
I’ve been various shades of red for years now, I’m considering actually revisiting my… natural hair color. I’ll have to ask her what that is.