Jessicurl

My blog about all things curly hair related.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

More thoughts, one week after the cut.

It's been almost a week now since I did the big cut, and I'm slowly getting more used to it. The reactions have been ... interesting. Some people genuinely seem to really like it and prefer it for various reasons. Others say something like "it's cute" and move on, making me wonder if they really mean that. Others are a little more blunt - one friend looked at me in shock and said "what have you done to your beautiful hair?" :-) None of this really matters, because what's done is done, it was for good reasons, I do like the cut and it will grow back. But it's just interesting to see all the different reactions people have when someone does a major hair cut. :)

I don't have any more recent pictures, but I'm still having success using Too Shea for in-shower conditioning, not using any leave in, and styling with Gelebration and Confident Coils. I've also been using the Oil Blend a lot, as it makes it nice and soft without being over conditioned and cotton candy-looking, and it's useful as a way of smoothing the curls out a bit. Now don't get me wrong - you KNOW I think that when it comes to curls, the curlier the better! :) But, my hair is SO much curlier now, and so short, I'm liking that I can smooth them out just a bit. It has the added bonus of seeming to define them even more and adds a bit of nice shine.

One positive "side effect" of having this shorter hair is that I can't put it up. I know I said before the cut that I wanted to still be able to, but since I can't, I decided to find the positive aspects of that. :) When my hair was long, it would take a while to blow dry, wash, etc. So there were LOTS of days I just wore it up in a bun or a braid. Pretty boring for someone who owns a hair company! :) So now that I can't wear it up, I'm wearing my hair curly every day and, well, that just makes more sense! :)

I also plan on playing around and seeing if I can wash and style it with one hand. (read my former post about how I might not be able to do my own hair for a month due to possibly getting a pacemaker:
http://www.jessicurl.com/blog/2008/07/impulsive-decision-well-kinda.html

I have 3 weeks until my surgery so I'm going to give that a shot, just to see. :)






posted by Jessicurl @ 7:03 PM  4 comments

Monday, July 21, 2008

Playing around with products and amounts.

So I'm having some fun figuring out what combo of Jessicurl products works best for this new short cut. I'm finding that if I use my old standby combo of RR + CCSS, I get SUPER curly hair. Which typically would be good! :) But since I'm feeling this cut is a little shorter than I'd hoped, I'm now aiming to elongate the curls a bit to get a little more length.

On Monday, I didn't wash it, I just conditioned with Too Shea. I used a little Aloeba as a leave in and styled with RR and CCSS, scrunched with towel and diffused for 5-8 minutes. Once it dried and I had scrunched out the crunch, I smoothed a little Oil Blend over and scrunched it in a little to soften it up and add some shine. My hair was kind of fluffy but very soft. I don't think I need as much conditioning as I did with my longer hair, so I'm guessing the leave in was not necessary, and I might be better off using Aloeba as my daily rinse out for a while. I LOVE my Too Shea, but maybe it's just too conditioning for my now super healhty hair. It was SUPER curly, thus making it really short. It was nice and shiny though, which I attribute to the Oil Blend, but over all pretty much looked like the last pic I posted.

Today I tried a different tactic. I washed with Hair Cleansing Cream and conditioned with Aloeba. I didn't use a leave in and instead of RR, I used Gelebration Spray, since it's lighter and thus, less curl enhancing. I scrunched into wet hair about a quarter sized puddle of CCSS and sprayed all over with Gelebration Spray. I scrunched with the microfiber towel and diffused. Once it dried and I scrunched out the (very little) crunch, I again smoothed over some Oil Blend. This time I didn't scrunch after adding the Oil Blend, I kind of just smoothed it all over. I think I like this better. It SEEMS a little longer and less curly, but obviously, still VERY curly and well defined, which I love. I wonder what your perception is - is there actually a difference, or is it all in my head? :-) Here's a pic, and I welcome your input. I will say, I'm loving how SHINY it seems. Again, I think that is because of the Oil Blend. It doesn't feel greasy to the touch, just nice and soft, but SO shiny.






posted by Jessicurl @ 11:08 PM  3 comments

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Hair cut, take 2

I was really feeling like the cut from yesterday was too round, so I went back today and had her do some re-shaping. I like it a LOT better. Here’s a pic:



I’m REALLY liking how much faster it is to do my hair now! I used two quarter sized puddles of RR, a nickel sized puddle of CCSS and diffused for about 5 minutes then let it air dry the rest of the way. Showers are faster, hair styling is faster – I’m diggin’ it! :-)




posted by Jessicurl @ 6:45 PM  0 comments

This cut is going to take some getting used to.

Yesterday after getting the cut I went home later and re-did my hair. I had a fundraiser to participate in later that night for the community currency project. I set up my Joke Box! :) That is so fun. You can see the pics in my Fotki album – it looks like a juke box, but instead of playing music when you put money in, I tell you a joke! :) It was really fun and everybody at the event really enjoyed it.

Anyway, when I first re-did my hair, I totally liked it. But then, as the night progressed, it seemed to just get rounder and rounder, and after a while I didn’t like it anymore. I think today I’m going to try just using Confident Coils and not Rockin’ Ringlets, and I’m going to try air drying and not using the hair dryer. Maybe those two changes will elongate the curls a little and keep it from getting quite so round. We’ll see. And maybe this “roundess” problem is all in my head. (ha, or ON it.) I want your honest input here people! :) I mean, if you actually like it, then sure, tell me. But if you agree that it’s pretty darn round, lemmie know your thoughts on what I can do to fix that. It’s been 5 years since I’ve had short hair, so maybe it’s just that I’m more used to the weight of my long hair pulling it down, and I just need to get used to it. I’m hesitant to ask my stylist to re-shape it, because I don’t want it to end up any shorter than it already is. Ah well, at least I know someone will get to use the hair I cut for a wig! :)

Here's a a pic I took from inside the Joke Box of how round it got:


Here’s my fotki link again if you want to see the pics from the Joke Box. http://public.fotki.com/Jessicurl/the-big-chop/

I'll keep updating the blog as I figure this all out. :)




posted by Jessicurl @ 9:19 AM  0 comments

Friday, July 18, 2008

It's done. I now have short hair!

Well, it’s done! I’m a little in shock and it’s going to take a few days to get used to it, but it’s a good cut. Just shorter than I’d hoped. Oh well. Like I said, hair is a renewable resource! :)

Below are a few pics from the process, but I added a few more to my fotki album here:
http://public.fotki.com/Jessicurl/the-big-chop/


I knew the hair needed to be clean and dry, so that morning I washed it twice with Gentle Lather Shampoo, conditioned with Weekly Deep Conditioning Treatment, let it air dry and put it in a braid. This pic is in the salon, right before she re-braided it and chopped it off.



This is after she re-braided it and cut it:


This is Noelle, my stylist, making the first big cut. She looks a little too into it, don't you think? :-)


This is after the first cut and before she re-wet it and did the shaping portion of the cut:



This is after I styled it myself at the salon:



I had NO idea how much Rockin’ Ringlets and Confident Coils to use, because, as you can see, it’s SO MUCH SHORTER! :-) So the final pic in this posting is when it was still a little wet and without the right amount of product. Over the next week or so I’ll post updates as I learn how best to style this new short do I have! :-)

posted by Jessicurl @ 2:39 PM  3 comments

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Impulsive decision – well, kinda.

You may know that since Sep of 2003 I've been growing out my hair to donate it to Locks of Love or some other worthy organization that makes wigs for kids and women with medical hair loss. I first thought I'd do it Jan 2007…well that date obviously came and went. Then I thought I'd do it last Spring. Well, I obviously didn't do that either.

BUT. Today I called and made an appointment to have it done TOMORROW!! I have to have more heart surgery next month and this time they will likely give me a pacemaker. If that happens, I'm not going to be allowed to lift my arm above my head for a MONTH! That means, GASP, no washing of my own hair! How difficult is THAT going to be??? (answer: VERY ) So I figured, if I'm going to have to be asking friends to help me wash my hair, it might be nice for them to have less of it to deal with. :-) Like, 11 inches less. :-) So that's that. Tomorrow at noon I'm doing the Big Chop. I'm totally excited, and a little nervous too. I'm not sure how much hair that will leave me with, but I figure it will at least be long enough to still put up, and that's all that really matters.

Just for comparison purposes, here is a pic of where it was when I started growing it out in 2003. (That's pretty much my natural color.)


Here's what it's like now (please excuse the super shiny face. :-) )


And I HOPE I'm left with at LEAST this much when she's done tomorrow:


(That's me with one of my favorite musicians, Michael Franti, in 2005)

I'll of course post pics after it's done. Eeek! I'm stoked and nervous at the same time. :) But hey, hair is a renewable resource, right? I'll just start the process all over again and do another donation in a few years. If you have any suggestions of other organizations besides Locks of Love who accept hair donations, let me know. :)

posted by Jessicurl @ 5:55 PM  3 comments



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