It's SO Good To Be Back!!!

Hello, my friends. Well, a few day's vacation from blogging turned into a few weeks, which then turned into a few months, which ended up turning into 21 months! Life just got crazy busy in so many ways, and the Internet wasn't on my mind, I'm afraid. Time does fly though. It doesn't feel as though I've been away from you for that long.

Since I last posted, I turned 50 and this year I turned 51. I like it! I still feel young, but I feel that I have more wisdom (I hope). I still have so much more to learn, though. I said to a friend recently that I wouldn't go back to being 18 for ANYTHING. I mean it. I wouldn't even go back to being 40, or 30. Truly.

I've trimmed more hair than I've grown since I last blogged, but it was to remove the thin ends caused by what I now know was a pre-menopausal shed. I'm back in growing mode. My hair is now 28 inches/71 cm long, just about three inches from being well at waist length. I don't regret the trimming at all. This is the thickest that my ends have ever been at this length.

 I no longer have a particular goal in mind, but I'm just going to see how long my hair will grow and still look decent at the ends. As I've said before, fairytale ends look beautiful on some people, but not on me, with my very fine, straight, hair. I really would like to get to tailbone if possible, but we'll see.

 My hair is in good condition. I've really got my hair care regimen simplified though. I pretty much just wash it with conditioner, put a few drops of olive, coconut or jojoba on it, bun it when dry, and that's it, these days. When I'm feeling ambitious, I do a deep treatment of some sort, but not often enough. I'm happy to say that I don't have any split ends, even when I look with a magnifier.

So much has changed since I was last here, but I'll get into that in later entries. For now, I'll leave you with my latest length shots and my comparison photo (All photos clckable for larger viewing).

I have missed you all so much! Love to all, and extra hugs to anyone feeling ill today. xoxo

December Update

Here are my December length photos. This month my hair grew 1/2 inch, but I also trimmed 1/2 inch, so there has been no visible growth. For quite some time, actually a few years, my hair was growing 3/4 inch per month, but I've noticed that for the past few months, I'm only gaining about 1/2 inch per month. I don't know why I'm experiencing slower growth, but it's been pretty constant since early this year.

Nonetheless, I'm pleased with my progress.

As a reminder, here is a length photo from February of this year.

It's probably needless to say that I'm not thrilled with the thin ends (do I ever stop whining about that?), but I know that eventually they will be removed.

Also, I'm starting to think that since the slower growth has become a regular thing, I may not be at waist length for my 50th birthday next July. If that's the case, so be it. I'll get there eventually.

All in all, it's been a pretty good year so far for growth and trimming away damage, so I'm good with it.

'Til tomorrow, my friends. Much love to all, and extra hugs to anyone feeling anxious today.

xo

Oh Dear

Well, my daughter left for home early this morning, before the sun even came up. We were supposed to take some photos of her hair last evening, and also, she wanted me to give her a trim.

All of that came to a crashing halt when a simple toilet repair turned into a plumbing disaster.

To make a long story short, a pipe that should have been threaded into the main pipe was soldered in by the workers who built this house. There was no way to expect that, because in this particular case, every plumber would tell you that soldering is a no-no. So the shut-off pipe was broken right at floor level when my daughter and my husband were trying to remove and replace it.

Fortunately, the main water was shut off in the house, but once the pipe was broken, there was no way to turn the water back on in our home without a geyser shooting out in the kids' bathroom, which would have caused a major flood.

We had to call in a professional at 8:00 P.M., and before I went to bed, the pipe was fixed, the toilet was working, and we were a few hundred dollars poorer.

Everything was in chaos, and we didn't get around to taking photos of my daughter's hair, nor did I get to give her the trim she wanted.

I guess we shouldn't have waited until the last minute. Well, live and learn.

In any case, I realized that I have a length photo of my own hair that was taken exactly one year ago tomorrow. I took another photo today. Because the shirt has lettering on the back, it's another good one to establish the amount of growth I've had in a year. (Photo is clickable for a closer view.)

Since last year's photo was taken, I have trimmed off  3 1/2 inches, which is about a half of a year's worth of growth, so I'm fairly pleased with the amount of progress I've had in this one year.

I am still embarrassed by the thin ends, but once again, I have to remind myself that I need patience and eventually, my hair will be longer, and all of the thin ends will be trimmed away.

I wonder how many times I've had to remind myself to be patient in this blog. I don't know exactly how often, but it's been a lot. I have to keep reminding myself that I don't need to be perfect, and this is a journey, not a race. Okay, I am duly reminded.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

'Til tomorrow, my friends. Much love to all.

Hairstyle Photo: Loose Wavy Curls

As I mentioned on Monday, I curled my hair that day with large foam rollers to create very loose wavy curls. I used the method outlined in this blog entry, but this time I made smaller sections and used more curlers in the set  for more defined waves than what you see in the photo in that previous entry.

It still only took a few minutes to set my hair with just a spritz of water and my favourite hair-friendly Morrocco Method styling gel, which allows shine, but also holds extremely well without being crispy or sticky.

I wonder if any of you know how much fun it is for someone with such straight hair to have even a bit of volume.

If I had wanted tighter curls, I would have used smaller rollers, but really, I just wanted a bit of bend to my hair as well as some body.

For even longer lasting curls, I would go with a wet set and keep the rollers in until they dried, but even with this method, my hair was still wavy the next morning after taking my hair out of my bedtime bun.

I appreciated the comments to yesterday's entry and I have replied to all in the comments section. I seem to be getting much better at doing that.

Anyway, that's it for today, short and sweet.

'Til tomorrow, my friends. Much love to all.
xo

Hairstyle: 3 Knot Updo

Today, I'm wearing another messy/casual updo. It's made from three knots pinned down with the ends sticking out. This style tends to look slightly different every time I do it.

To make this updo, I divided my hair into three. I made a part on each side of my head from the crown to the ear. The back section was the largest.

I took the back section, wrapped it around my fingers, then pulled the ends through the loop that was created by the wrapping. Essentially it's a slip knot. I then just pinned the knot into place.

Then I took the loose hair from the right side, crossed it over the pinned knot and then created a second knot, which I then pinned into place on the left. Finally, I took the loose hair from the left, crossed it over the two knots and created a third knot on the right side, and also pinned that into place.

The reason I crossed the left to the right and the right to the left is so that the parts wouldn't show.

If I wanted to make this style more polished, I could take the ends of each knot, wrap them around and pin them under. I could also use a smoothing hair-friendly gel or spray if I wanted to reduce the flyaways.  However, for a casual summer day, I like the flyaway, ends-sticking-out look.

I can do a step-by-step of how to make the knots in a future entry if anyone is interested.

I hope that everyone is enjoying a lovely weekend. Myself, I'm feeling a bit better than I was yesterday.

Love to all.

Thank You, Readers, and Sun Protection

I was looking at some statistics from my hairstyle website, which I've had for about 2 years, and I was amazed that my little site has been viewed by thousands of visitors from 119 different countries all over the world. I was also pleased to notice that I continue to see new regular readers here on this blog. 

I really do appreciate all of you who read, and I want to also thank those of you who take the time to leave comments. It's always nice to know for sure that there is someone out there who reads what I write. AutumnLeaves and SchnauzerMom; you ladies are so kind and rarely if ever fail to leave a comment. I can't tell you how nice that is. I would never be able to think up a comment to write for every blog entry I read, but you gals do, and you are sharing a real gift.

I myself am not the best at commenting on blog posts nor at replying to comments, although I do read them all, and they mean a lot. I just find that often the comments speak for themselves, and I am at a loss as to how to comment in response. I hope everyone knows that every comment is read and appreciated.

Rarely do I write comments on the blogs that I read, often because I'll have read a previous comment that says so much more articulately than I what I feel after reading an entry. I do keep up on the blogs to which I am subscribed, although on occasion, I may read a weeks' worth of a given blog's entries at a single sitting.


Yesterday was a lovely Canada Day, and the weather was perfect. We had a lovely week, sunny, but not too hot, with light breezes.  Today is much hotter and more humid once again, but the sun is still shining in a largely cloudless blue sky.

Now that the sun is so direct, it's a good time for a reminder to protect our hair from the sun. The sun really can cause damage to hair. Obviously protective updos are helpful, but if you're outdoors for a long period of time, the sun will weaken your hair, so do keep your head covered during the peak sun hours if at all possible.  Try a pretty scarf, a buff, a head wrap, a sun hat, even a baseball cap--whatever it takes to protect your hair and scalp from sun damage is really important.

Myself, I wear a sun hat that I've had for years. I picked it up at KMart. We haven't had KMart stores in Canada for years, so I know that hat is old, but it's very comfy and it does the trick.

Here's a secret. You can pick up a nice sun hat in the men's department of a store for much less money than you'd pay in a woman's department.  My hat was purchased in the men's department, but I think it's quite feminine, at least when a woman wears it.

In this photo, that was taken in the Spring, I'm wearing my hair down. The sun was bright but not too intense that day. At this time of year, low updos worn at the nape of the neck are really ideal for wearing with hats.

I hope that everyone enjoys the weekend, that you have lovely weather, and don't forget to protect your locks from the sun.

Love to all.

July Progress Photo

Well, today is Progress Photo Day.  My progress is not as stunning as it was from February to May, as I cut almost two inches off part of my hair earlier this month, in order to be rid of my deep "v". However, only the very middle of the back lost length. The sides have indeed grown and I am pleased with the progress. I am about 2 inches away from BSL right now, and I won't be having any more large trims in the next year or two.  

I just needed to start to straighten out my hemline, as the deep V was unwieldy, and I prefer a slight U-shape to a deep V.

Since my big trim in early June, my hair has grown 5/8 inches. I'm pretty happy with my length, and I'm really looking forward to the next few months when my hair will really begin to look long.

Here is the photographic evidence. Unfortunately you can see that the light conditions are different. I wish I could always reproduce the same lighting, but it's just not possible.

To AutumnLeaves, it is not your imagination. My hair really is thicker than it used to be. In fact it's much thicker than it was before I cut my bangs, and bangs do take away from nape thickness. I attribute this to less breakage due using coconut oil on my hair before I touch up my roots. I don't have scientific proof, but the hair that's grown since I've started using coconut oil is much thicker. For me, that's proof enough.

To ShamRock, I wish you a happy Canada Day too, and thank you SchnauzerMom and Hairstorm for your good wishes on the day.

'Til tomorrow, my friends. Love to all.

My Daughter's Hair and Benign Neglect

Here is a photo of my daughter's hair that has just reached BSL. Her hair is very much like mine; fine, and very straight. Her hair colour was very light blonde as a child but now it's a dark blonde, occasionally covered with a temporary red shade.  I think it looks lovely.

As for me, with the hot weather and having been busy, I've just been practicing benign neglect on my hair this week.

That simply means that while I haven't been going out of my way to do deep treatments or anything in particular to enhance my hair's health, I've just been putting it up, forgetting about it, and doing it no harm.

Since I touched up my roots on Sunday, I've been able to go three days between washings, as seems to be the norm immediately after colouring.  After about a week and a half, I do find that I need to wash every other day, as I've mentioned before.

It's actually quite nice to be in a benign neglect phase, because it means I'm not thinking about my hair's length, progress, or its condition.  At the same time, just putting it up in a protective updo is making sure it doesn't get damaged.

When it gets hot and humid like this, I am very thankful that I don't live down south in a place that has this weather for much longer than we experience it.  I know that a lot of people love the heat, but while I love summer, heat and humidity really does make me wilt.

I do love the changing seasons, as well.  I wouldn't give it up for anything.

I wish everyone a lovely and happy weekend.

Retail Therapy

Sometimes, when waiting for your hair to reach that next milestone, it's nice to get a new hair accessory for your hair. You can just put your hair up and forget about it for a while when you're getting impatient, and a beautiful new hair accessory makes it that much more fun.


Even if you're on a budget, as I am, it's a good idea to save a bit of money (even a dollar) each week, to save up for a good quality hair clip, hair sticks or any other accessory that you might like.


Drugstore hair accessories can be pretty, but they are often not very sturdy and don't always hold the hair well.  Some of the higher end accessories are products that will last a lifetime.  Ficcare hair clips are a really good example of this.  They are extremely well-crafted, they have extra strong springs that won't give out, and they're strong and sturdy.


While some people refer to their hair accessories as "hairtoys", I consider Ficcares, and some other accessories that I will discuss in future to be "Hair Jewelry".


Most recently, I purchased a Ficcare Maximas in the small size.  It's part of the now-defunct "diamond" collection.  The colour is Antique Silver with Aurora Borealis coloured crystals.  


After quite a search, I found it online at a reasonable price and it just arrived today!  I was so excited to go to my mail box and receive this parcel that had come to me all the way from Germany.

So here is a photo of my new Ficcare Maximas, another esteemed member of my hair jewelry collection.  Forgive the lack of much style, I just wanted to get that clip in my hair and show you right away!