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How do you manage thick hair?

From my Irish mother, I inherited thick hair with deep waves. It's like an animal pelt, a seal pelt.

Resists water, and takes a long time to get wet. Kneeling in the shower, I stick my head under the faucet and wait. Then takes forever to dry. It's so heavy, it hurts to stick it behind my ear.

Once a month, I get my hair thinned by my hair stylist. And pull it back with a barrette, just like I did at age 5.

In my 20's, I French-braided it wet. After a long day's hike, the braid was still wet underneath.

To weigh my hair down, I use leave-in conditioner, oils and shine spray. Still, my hair swings forward and and sticks to my lipstick.

My daughter Claire inherited my thick hair. Poor girl has spent her life in a ponytail.

With short hair, the waves winged out wildly. eye roll

Any suggestions?

Photos:

  1. Me working out. 2016

  2. Claire on her 7th birthday.

  3. Claire, 18, was a varsity tennis player for four years.

  4. Stretching before shouldering my 40-lb. pack. Backpacking, age 23.

  5. French twist for Claire's wedding, Sept. 2018

LiterateHiker 9 May 21
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27 comments

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3

Be thankful it's your hair that's thick, not your brain. My hair used to be a thick thatch until I had that incident with a Browning 9mm and a policeman attempting to air-condition me. Then huge clumps started falling out.
So, if you're looking for a drastic cure ....

3

Long hair, do not wash often and wear a beautiful braid ?

@GreatNani

I wash my hair every four days, more if it gets sweaty from hiking.

Don't want long hair. Too much trouble.

2

I shave the lower half of the back of my head. Have been since my late teens. I still have very thick hair. Actually my hair is around 65 inches long, woven into 59 inch long Fairy Locks. I keep it all in a braid, which goes to my calves.

2

You could threaten it with my thinning hair genes, then it might behave 🙂

@Pompey

Hilarious!

2

I have no advice, but I think you and your daughter have gorgeous hair!

dkp93 Level 8 May 21, 2019
2

My hair is super-thick, and super curly.
The best thing I ever did was cut it all off.
I do not miss having long hair. Especially in the summer.
When it's cold out, I wear a hat.

2

(sniff) I remember hair. . .

2

No idea...I wish I had thicker hair....mine is baby fine. You can get yours thinned, I can’t get mine made thicker. I would swap yours for mine any day!

@Mationville

People always want what they don't have. Have always wanted swept-back hair like Jackie Onassis. Instead, my hair grows forward.

I have spent my life with bangs.

@LiterateHiker Absolutely true....the grass is always greener, syndrome! 😂

2

I have no fucking idea! 🙂

Ask Pralina.

2

I swear by It's a 10 products...it controls the waviness, sleeks the frizzies, and makes my ponytail easier to handle...I use the shampoo and spray on keratin...I also get razor cuts to manage the thickness or else it takes forever to dry...I am seriously thinking of cutting the length just to keep it manageable!

Good luck...it is a plus and a minus!

[amazon.com]

@thinktwice

Thank you! I ordered "It's a 10" immediately from Amazon.

This morning, I dried my hair for an hour until my arm got tired from holding the hair dryer.

Four hours later, it's still damp underneath.

@LiterateHiker I have started to use dry shampoo during the week if I don't get too sweaty after my workouts...I hate drying my hair, too...I often wash it at night and sleep on towel on my pillow and then dry my damp hair in the morning...yeah...ugh

1

I had to learn to do braids for my daughter early on make three bunches wet and fold over. you have to be careful not to tie it too tight or she would get headaches Red heads feel more or are more sensitive to pain

1

I managed my thick hair by cutting it off. It was so thick a ponytail was both impossible and painful. I had to have dog ears if I got it off my neck.

@Lorajay

I hear you. When I put my hair up, it gave me a headache.

1

You have beautiful. mine is thick and long, I recently cut it too much and it keeps falling out. I still find thick hair is easy and I wash it and tired it in a knot. It takes a long time to dry, but either a braid on one side with side part or to combs on each side keep it out of my eyes. I have friends whose hair has thinned. So I STFU and don't complain, it is more a blessing than a hassle.I llove your beautiful hair.

1

I got caught up in the expensive Wen products for a while. They packaged the Wen Sweet almond mint Replenishing Mist in one of the monthly boxes, and it is really nice, but it is expensive. Amazon's high rating is justified.

I these days I just put some castor oil on my hair if I want to tame the frizz, but it is pretty sticky and not easy to get good coverage for the mop I have. You can get it in a large size that last for ever. It will last three days if you don't wash the hair during that time.

1

I use Redken All Soft shampoo and conditioner in the shower, then use a leave in conditioner (ABBA has one that’s really good and Redken just came out with one that’s decent) as well as a smoothing heat protecting gel made by L’Anza, then I blow dry completely (this is important if you tend to frizziness), flat iron in layered sections (the more sections you separate your hair into, the better it will come out), and finally spritz with a strong hold hairspray around my face to keep it where I want it for a little while at least. Though it’s incredibly time consuming, the drying and flat ironing are really important to tame it and I have to use more product than most, but it works pretty well overall. I gave up on short hairstyles a long time ago. They take a heck of a lot more work. The products I mentioned are all available at Ulta.

@Leeshi

I do the same thing. It's laborious, especially separating hair into small strands for flat ironing. By then, I'm sick of it and overheated.

Takes at least an hour.

@LiterateHiker Ugh, that’s why most days I end up only doing my bangs and throwing the rest in a ponytail that is flattened and held with lots of hairspray. I wish I could pull off a short style without much effort, but then I’d just look like a mushroom cap. It’s not all bad, though. A couple weeks ago I had an incident with super glue (I shouldn’t be allowed to use the stuff because it always ends with me unintentionally gluing myself to...myself) and had to cut out a chunk of hair, but it wasn’t noticeable because there’s enough of it to hide the short spot.

@Leeshi ha ha I laughed so hard! Like an idiot, I tried spitting out my gum while I was driving...it blew back into my hair...I tried freeziing it to get it out, but that did not work so I just cut a chunk out...no one noticed...ha ha ha...

I also hate to flat iron...my arm gets tired...I bought this while in humid, hot Florida...it works!!!

[garnierusa.com]

1

You should get a tool called a vernier caliper. It's about 30 or so bucks at home depot or amazon. Get a good quality digital one.

With this tool you can accurately measure the actual thickness of your hair - and your family's and friends' hairs. I think this would be a fun project to see how the thickness of scalp hairs varies. I suspect not much. You can also measure along the length of the hair, or hairs from different parts of the body.

But one thing to consider is follicle density on a scalp. You just might have more follicles per square inch on your scalp than most people. 🙂

One thing to consider is looking at your hair under a microscope to see if there is a curl or twist in a single strand. A curly or twisty strand is more likely to repel water in bulk. Additionally there maybe oils coating the strand to prevent water wetting the hair. In order to easily wet you would have to strip the oils and queeze water into the strands or seperate the strands to get water in. Once between the strands, water will wet strongly into the keratin proteins of the hair. Since both water and kerstin are polar (semi-charged) molecules.
The water literally gets absorbed into the hair strand.

One experiment to conduct is to take a strand, oil it, check how water wets it. Then get some acetone, dip and wipe the strsnd with it to remove the oil. Test how the hair wets water. Does it absorb the water; or repel it?

Not sure what to suggest to manage long hair. I used to keep long curly dense hair, and my stylist offered to thin it shears so the hair has breathing room. Not sure if it helped. But I usually use gel or hair spray to lock it in place, usually placing a towel on top on my head to absorb water and force my hair into a shape resembling my skull. After its relatively dry it usually stays in place even in high winds.

Anyways, food for thought!

@MakeItGood

I have more hair per square inch of scalp than most people.

It's luxurious. Love running fingers through my hair. Claire does, too.

1

It sounds like a problem the way you describe it, but to me all photos show a beautiful hair, then,
Beauty is inherited!...

@Merseyman1

Thank you so much. Hugs.

1

Even when I had a full head of hair, thickness was never my problem. As a teen, I used Brylcreem (🎼A little dab’ll do ya🎶) to perfect my pompadour 😂

1

Hon, I got nothin' but love fa ya, and I would love to find myself on the other side of a dinner table from you, or on a hike with you! But complaining about having thick hair is like complaining about being rich! I'm just sayin'! That is not a problem! You said it yourself, it can be thinned! Hopefully one day I can see your beautiful locks personally! Just keeping it real!

@Stilltrying1964

Thanks for your sweet message. I appreciate you. Hugs.

1

Flat irons are the only thing my hair understands.

1

I am of Irish descent as well but my hair comes primarily from my roots in Africa. I have dreadlocks now, which makes managing much easier. Before that water and leave in conditioner were my best friends. Water was essential for combing and styling. No way I could do either without it. A good leave in conditioner makes it more manageable and less frizzy. I prefer home made over off the shelf by far. Oils tend to make my hair heavy and a bit unmanageable unless it's really light. Ive had good results with coconut and jojoba. Less is better IMO

1

I don’t 🙂 But when given the opportunity …I mess it up 😉

Varn Level 8 May 21, 2019
1

I wish I had that problem....

1

Enjoy while you can thins out with age

bobwjr Level 10 May 21, 2019

@Bobwjr

At 65, my hair is still thick as ever.

1

Be a baldie ! 🙂

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