Haircuts are one of the things I am willing to pay good money for. I <3 my hair guy. I have very fine, straight hair that really needs help to not be 100% flat and boring. If only I had been alive in the early 70s! My hair would have fit right in. My hair guy can make even my hair look interesting and to me that’s worth $40 every three months. Also, my hair grow s-l-o-o-o-w-l-y, so a bad cut would take its time about growing out.
My worst cut: my entire childhood. My mom has some crackheaded notion that if my hair was kept very short, it would get thicker. No clue. I remember being so jealous of my best friend in kindergarten, who had beautiful long hair. I wanted to grow mine out too, but my mom wouldn’t let me for another couple years. I had boy hair! And there’s nothing a five year old girl wants less than boy hair, I tell you what.
I overcompensated though, and eventually became creepy and neurotic about my hair, refusing to even get it trimmed for an entire year at one point. In high school it hung down to my waist, and about the last foot of it was all split ends. Awful! What the hell was I thinking?
What, may I ask, do you do to give it body? I have the same, very fine, very straight hair-which, when I go out, I curl it with a wide barrel curling iron, set it on sponge curlers for no less than two hours, and then, even then, it gives it SLIGHT lift.
I’m desparate.
Oh, and how I once dealt with a bad perm-my stylist had given me a GORGEOUS spiral perm the year before, so I went back to her. Only my hair was a bit shorter this time, and even though I told her NOT to cut, she did it anyways, I and looked awful. AND this was right when I had started college and was going through a major depression. So, what I would do is:
When I got out of the shower in the evening, I would slick it back into a tight tight ponytail, and sleep in it. THEN, in the morning, I’d do my curlers and iron thing, and smooth it down. It gave me sort of a big 20s bob look, but it was an improvement.
Guinistasia, The Costumer’s Manifesto suggests that you use a silicone gel on your hair, set it on hot rollers, and then comb it out, after letting it hang without combing for awhile – teasing it is optional.
This is basically what I did when I was in charge of hair and makeup in drama in high school and I had to put someone with the same super-fine straight hair in a '40s/'50s pageboy style. We didn’t have silicone gel, so we used lots of mousse on hair that was a nice middle ground between sopping wet and damp and blew it almost dry while hanging upside down. We then put it up in medium-sized hot rollers on bottom and smaller ones on the top and around the face. The largest sizes were used in the back, where it didn’t matter as much. Since it was for a play, we also used a ton of AquaNet once we had everything brushed out and styled, but you could definitely use a lighter hold hairspray for everyday. (I suggest something in an aerosol, as it has a finer mist and less tendency to clump and weigh down your hair.) We actually got quite a lot of nice, bouncy curl with this method.
I find it helps to slowly unwind and ease the curl from the roller, rather than yanking it down and out. I also have lots of fine, curly/wavy hair that refuses to hold a curl caused by a curling iron. I use a very light conditioner and a thickening shampoo, along with some pomade or gel developed specifically for holding curl. When I style it straight, I use a mousse designed to help hold shape without giving too much volume and blowdry with a round brush.
Good luck!
And my parents said I didn’t learn anything in my extra-curriculars.
This is the story of a friend’s bad haircut. I will call friend Wife and her husband Guy.
There is a woman who cuts Guy’s hair perfectly. One day, Wife went with Guy and had her hair cut immediately after Guy’s was cut. Woman says “Same Haircut?”. Wife, assuming this means same as she had before, says yes. Woman gives her same haircut that Guy has. She left it a little longer than she had left his, but it was still a classic guy haircut, longer on top than on the sides. Cute and sylish on him, not so much on her. Not as bad as some of those described in this thread.
He layers it, especially around my face. It’s too long for really serious layers, but he does a great job. I use volumizing conditioner (I’m a total snob and buy salon products only - they cost more because they’re better) and sometimes mousse too. And then I blow dry it. It’s still totally straight, but at least it has character. This is more of a winter thing, though, in the summer I usually just let it air dry and then tie it back in a ponytail.
I don’t do any kind of curling stuff because my hair cannot hold it. At all. I once got a perm, back in 5th grade and you couldn’t tell AT ALL. Like, the very day I got it, my hair was still straight.
According to my dad, he invented the Flobie back in the day. :rolleyes:
The story was related to me over the phone by my father, who I am 99.9% sure was drunk at the time (because 99.9% of the time he’s drinking/drunk):
When I was around 12 or 13 my dad calls the house (parents have been divorced years at this point) wanting to speak with my mother. I inform him that she’s out of the house, so he wants me to take a message.
The conversation was something like this:
Dad: “Years ago I came up for the idea for that Flobie!”
Me: “Ummmm, what?”
Dad: “The Flobie, the Flobie! That thing they’ve been advertising on TV, the vacuum hair-cutting machine. Years ago, I came up with that idea. I attached an electric razor to a toilet paper roll that was hooked up to the Rainbow vacuum and used it to trim my hair and your mother told me that was the dumbest idea ever.”
Me: “Ummmm, ok.”
Dad (exasperated at this point): “Now that guy is making money off of something I invented!”
Me, rolling eyes as only a teen can: “Yeah, ok, I’ll tell her.”
I can’t even remember now if she knew what the heck he was talking about.
My dad is one of the few white men I know with a 'fro, so even if the story was true, I don’t think he would’ve sold many of them using himself as a model.
: shrug :
My own horrible haircutting experience left me wearing bandanas for about a year.
Don’t ever cut your bangs when they are wet.
Especially don’t cut your bangs when you’re 2 and ½ sheets to the wind and you haven’t worn bangs in 9 years and they’ve grown out to about 10 inches in length and they are wet.
It doesn’t matter how much length you think you are leaving, your bangs will shrink a good 3 inches once dry. It’s a matter of science or sumpthin’.
Plus I wasn’t aware of my hairs natural tendency to curl. :rolleyes:
Oh yeah. My friend JavaMaven brought some fabulous styling paste with her to ChiDope that I used to make my hair 80s Big for gundy’s Dead Man’s Party. I went totally overboard cause it was a costume party, but I want to go out and get that stuff! Alas, it was really expensive (Java got it from a friend who’s a stylist).
Thanks for the advice! I’ll have to try this! (Figures though-I love the Costumer’s Manifesto site and I never noticed this!)
Since I colored it, my hair does look better (I don’t know why, but when it’s dull and dark brown, it makes me look like a drudge, but when it’s red it just brightens up my whole face).
The Flobie thing reminds me of those Cabbage Patch Kids that used to “eat” little foods you gave them, but where taken off the market when kids got their hair caught in the mouths.
Age 10, my mother decided I’d be aborable with a short haircut. I was already upset enough that my color had darkened recently, but she said it would be easier to manage if it was short.
I got the PTA mom mushroom head pouf. At age 10. As it grew out, I hit puberty. My hair went curly. I had a mini-fro going on, then a Sideshow Bob, and finally it settled a little at 13. Except for the barest minimum of trims necessary, I didn’t get it cut again until it got so heavy and long the curls were pulling out.
At which point I had 19 inches cut off at once, and it actually turned out well. But I compounded that with a bleach job. After 6 months of blond and then two-tone hell, I had my stylist dye it back to my original brown.
No more experimenting. Ever. I like the chin length. And the color. Not messing that up.
