I need haircut help!

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m going in for a haircut tomorrow evening, and I don’t even know what I want! I have a **very big ** job interview next week, and I need to look good. right now, I hate my hair, so something has to change, which is why I made the appointment.

I don’t have a very recent photo of myself and my hair, but here’s one from last year. It’s about the same now, but about two inches longer. No style, nothing. Blah.

It’s very fine hair, and poofs up at the slightest hint of humidity. I have a straightening iron but it never really stays as straight as I’d like. I can get a pretty decent curl/wave with some mousse, but its natural state is a wavy puffy mess.

I’ve been Googling haircuts and hairstyles for a couple of days, but I’m having a hard time coming up with anything I can bring to a hairdresser and say: do this! So, I need your help. Make me over - post pics of any hair you think would work for me. Low maintenance hair is best, but I’ll put in an effort if it can look good. I want to look sharp for that interview!

2

Frankly, your hair looks a lot like mine, though mine has bangs and less natural wave. I also have an aversion to spending much time on trying to fix it (besides, I’m not good at it). I wore it loose for my wedding, partly because it annoys me to have things in my hair, partly because I knew my hair would not cooperate.

However, on the rare occasion when I want to appear a bit more polished, I put it in a ponytail and give it a nifty little twist with one of these. It’s not too hard for me to do, and it’s actually more comfortable than a regular ponytail.

I hear good things about anti-frizz serum, too, though I haven’t gotten around to trying it. Every time I start thinking of ways to improve the appearance of my hair, I remember that I can’t even be arsed to brush it most days! :slight_smile:

3

Why do you need the suction cup it comes with? :eek:

4

It comes with a what? checks link

Now that you mention it, it did come with a lot of little odds and ends to enable them to charge a bit more money for it. After all, it’s basically only a plastic stick with a loop at the end. I kept the elastic bands and told my daughter to do as she liked with the rest.

In other words, I don’t have any idea what’s to be done with the suction cup. Maybe it’s to hang the instructions up where you can see them while you fool with your hair.

5

Just the plain stick-with-loop can be bought at most stores, for 3 bucks or so. It is a nifty thing if you have long hair and want to chic it up a bit. Very easy to do.

6

Somewhere between chin and shoulder length. Offset part and caramel highlights. It’ll look great.

7

Don’t try the topsy tail if your hair is thick. I had one of those buggers stuck in my hair for about half an hour, afraid the whole time that I was going to have to cut it out. From then on I called it “the Hair Weasel.”

8

I don’t know what to tell you to do with your hair, but I know what to tell you NOT to do. Do not for any reason get a drastically different haircut from the one you have now. Don’t get anything that involves cutting off more than a few inches. If they mess it up really badly you will be stuck with really bad hair and there will be no fixing it before your interview. I brought a picture to the woman who cut my hair last time and said, “do this.” It was fairly simple but she still managed to give it a hint of mullet. Luckily because it was still long enough to pull up I had no problem hiding it for 3 weeks while it grew out, but if I had set up an interview right after that haircut not only would my hair have looked weird but I would have felt very self consious about it.

9

Well, I’d take off a couple to a few inches, because that always makes the hair nice and healthy. Do you know your hair dresser? If not, make sure you’re going to someone who has a handle on fine hair- I too have fine hair and I learned that lesson the hard way! Layers can be the greatest blessing to fine hair in the world, but they have to be done right. Done wrong, laywers will make your hair poof and lay flat all at the same time, in some magical hair dance of doom.

I would ask for some layers because they add quite a bit of versatility to hair. If your hair has a natural wave, some layers will make those waves. . . wavier (or some might even pop into loose curls). Also, on the off chance that you do decided to bust out the round brush and do a little styling, there’s a ton that can be done with layered hair. But if nothing else, layered hair will have a bit of movement throughout it, even if it’s just hanging down straight.

Have you ever considered darkening up the base? What your hairdresser would do is go one or two shades darker than what your hair is now. For thin hair, this adds a ton of dimension and the illusion thickness. Then, if you want to be wild, you can have your hair dresser work in a few natural looking highlights through the top. If you want them to look natural, don’t go more than a shade or two lighter than what your hair is now and make sure that your hair dresser weaves them in fairly loosely (so you don’t get big ol’ streaks). I’d go for a few highlights through the top, focusing particularly around your face. I think some darkening at the base, along with a few well placed highlights will give you an entirely new look that will look great.

As far as flat irons: are you using a ceramic one? For the love of goodness, please don’t mutilate your hair with a metal plated flat iron. If you are getting puffy mid day or frizzies at all, I suggest investing in a good flat iron. The top of the line is the Chi brand, but those can be costly. A nice ceramic plated iron can be bought at any beauty supply store for pretty cheap- a worthy investment at any price!

And frizz syrums are great, you just have to be VERY careful about the amount you use. I’m not fond of the ever touted “Frizz Ease” brand, but I do like BioSilk. In fact, I HIGHLY suggest a nice big bottle of Biosilk (hell, if you have too much you can use it on dry skin). Just make sure you use this stuff as sparringly as possible. Quite literally, a single drop rubbed between your palms will be more than enough to smooth out your hair for the entire day. This stuff is GREAT for when you’re being lazy and just pull your hair back into a pony- it takes care of all those pesky little hairs that stand up on the sides of your head.

If you really want to be wild, you can invest in some good quality shampoo and conditioner. Matrix Sleek Looks is a great way to combat the frizzy. Also, there’s any number of great volumizing shampoo sets that might interest you (I know my fine hair flattens out pretty quick).

Anyway, I hope this helped! :slight_smile:

10

Aside from the horrible spelling errors—
When I say darkening the base, I mean she will dye only the bottom half of your hair. Then there other half will be the color it is now, with a few highlights worked into it.

11

Well, the deed is done and here’s the result. It’s not the greatest picture, but it’s about two inches shorter than what I had (so it’s the same length as the photo I posted upthread, I guess) and it’s got lots of layers, even in the back. This way when I wear it wavy or curly it will have a shape and not just sit there.

I’d like to get color done but didn’t really have time last night. My friend often does highlights for me and I might go see her this weekend to get highlights. While the hairdresser was cutting last night, I noticed that the line between my old dye job and my natural color is painfully obvious. I’d tried to dye it back to my natural color a while ago but it lightened over time and was put over red, so it didn’t work so well. I think caramel highlights will camouflage the split pretty well.

I’m scared of frizz serums, probably because I tried Frizz-Ease a while back and found it left my hair feeling greasy and sticky. I know I need a better quality one, but when I see bottles for sale at the hairdresser’s for $30 I’m worried I’ll spend a lot on something I’ll end up hating.

But one thing I am going to look for and buy is what she used on my hair last night - a round brush with a hair dryer built in. I’m too uncoordinated to use a hair dryer and round brush properly (need a third hand) but this thing is perfect. I’ll be shopping this weekend!

12

Looks great! (I have that same “Third Hand” problem. I saw a gizmo on tv that holds the dryer while you round-brush the hair.) Good luck on the interview!

13

Also, regarding the Frizz-Ease products: You’re using too much! If you just barely coat your hands and fluff your fingers through your hair, you’ll notice a huge difference in the product’s performance. I have very fine, thin hair and I use about half a dime’s worth. Just enough to make my hands shiny.

14

Looks good from what I can see.

15

Frizz Ease is pretty much crap, so that’s probably part of the reason you disliked it. Of course, I know people who like it, so maybe that’s just me. But I do agree that you may be using too much- like I said, one single drop is more than enough. If you do put too much on, grab the baby powder. No seriously- part your hair off to the side and dump in some baby powder. Brush it and play with it with your fingers until the powder is mixed in, then your hair should be better. This trick works for any greasy hair product.

Biosilk. I know that 2 ounces doesn’t sound like a lot, but it takes me a couple months to go through that much (and I put it in my wet hair, as well as my dry hair). I recently bought the 11 ounce bottle at Costco for $12.

16

Do you know what brand she used, or do you have a recommendation? My hair is utter frizzy crap, and I’d like to try this. Diosa, I am also going to look for BioSilk. It’s nice to have recommendations. I spent money on the Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum and found it crappier than FrizzEase (some of which I actually like but not the serum).

I really like how your hair turned out, Antigen. Mine is thicker than yours, prematurely grey (and resistant to color, so my roots are always lighter than the rest of my hair), and is pretty much the bane of my frigging existence.

17

I bought Biosilk today. And I am in love with it. I put the tiniest amount into my hair and just dried it normally without any fancy brushes or irons, and it’s smooth and unpoofy!

I’ll tell the world!

lorene, I’ll ask the hairdresser about the dryer next week and get back to you, but it looked very much like this one. She said to be very sure to get one that doesn’t spin because you’ll end up with a horrible mess and probably pull half your hair out.

18

Aw! I’m glad I could help! And when your skin is really dry, you can use a little Biosilk on it- works wonders! I really love the Biosilk and I’d pay just about anything for that stuff.

If you want to be wild, put some in your hair while it’s still wet (use more than you normally would, like double) then blow dry it. Everything will be all silky smooth!

Oh, don’t use the Biosilk shampoo and conditioner- it’s surprisingly bad and dries out your hair.

19

Then you’re coming to the wroooong place, my dear.

Luckily, my hair responds very well to the humidity. It was a flyaway mess on the prairies.