05 June 2011

Hair Diaries 2011 Part I

To all you people who have hair that isn't super thin and straight, praise the heavens right now. I've been wanting to do something with my hair for years. Truly! I snuck this picture of one of my students at the Universität Leipzig almost two years ago:

Hairstyle in Leipzig

(I love that intense German swoop.) But have I done anything? No. People probably presume that I just like having long hair. The truth is, the thin, straight, bland-colored nature of my hair discourages me from moving in any direction.

Then, in January, a friend told me about something called a digital perm. After I discovered this picture on Google Images, the wheels wouldn't stop turning:

Digital Perm

The process was invented by a Korean company. Doesn't it look great?

I finally called to schedule a digital perm for myself a few weeks ago, after finding some care tips and another great results picture here. But, sadness. They told me on the phone that it usually works only on rough Asian hair. They told me to come in anyway and they'd take a look at my hair's texture. One look and they said, "Sorry, not gonna work." (I kind of knew that. I do have super fine hair.)

So I went for the second-best thing. I decided to get a body wave. These are the pictures I brought with me:

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But no matter how much I insisted that these images were labeled as body waves, the beauticians told me that hair will only look like that after being dried and curled with an iron. Boo hoo.

They said it would look more like the following, which I labeled "grody":

Gross Body Wave

I decided to get a body wave anyway, if only to use it for body and not for the curl. What an interesting experience. The place I chose was a most diverse beauty college. Two girls were assigned to work on my hair. One of them had trouble understanding me, and the second girl couldn't understand me or the first girl.

It took forever. And I don't like what it did to the coloring of my hair--the contrast between my roots and the darker ends seems (to me at least) even more extreme and spotty. A Chinese teacher started combing out my hair after the whole process, and I thought, "Yikes, I don't think she's supposed to be doing that." Luckily, another teacher leapt across the room and said, "Don't comb it, you'll loosen the curl!"

But at least I didn't pay as much as I would have anywhere else, my hair does have more body in it, and I got two shampoos/head massages.

My hair kind of feels like hay now, in a positive way, of course. I haven't even tried doing it curly, because I don't want to look disgusting. Maybe the next step would be some cutting options, like these:

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Even so, I often think I'm almost done with the long hair thing. How about one of the following?

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One thing though: bangs don't work with me. And even these hairstyles (with or without bangs) wouldn't look the same with my kind of hair and my lazy hair-doing habits. Meh. My sister Amy does a pretty great job with her similar hair, though. Sometimes I think I need to stop lusting after the green grass on the other side and just accept what I have. After all, Ellen Page can pull off thin hair, and I think she's cute.

Ellen Page Hairstyle

But before I reach that point, let me go write part II . . .

4 comments:

  1. Hmmm... Been there, done that, and then some!

    As a fellow Long, Fine Haired Person of Meager Styling Capabilities (LFHPMSC), I must warn you that the cute, short haircuts require MANDATORY styling, EVERY day, whether you feel like it or not. There is no going back to a pony tail. Never! You also have to get your hair cut much more frequently to maintain a short 'do.

    IMHO, long hair is easier. If it gets stringy when you wear it down, ask your stylist about the clip in hair extensions. I bought a little strip of hair, maybe 8" wide, with three tiny clips that attach it, kind of sandwiched in between my own hair.

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  2. What you need is a Chi ceramic straightener. I know, you're wondering why you need a straightener to get body, but that is probably what the 2nd picture used. You kind of start at the top and twist as you go down your hair, and it will look like that. My sister has hair texture like yours and it works great for her. But you have to spring for a nice straightener. :) Goodluck!

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  3. I have that very same picture of the girl with the short blonde hair!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE it, but I'm too chicken to go that short again! I love the coloring though! I'm still trying to get that look!

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  4. I think you should go short. I'm going to talk to my friend with fine hair that has had really short hair in the past and ask if she had to style it everyday. I don't think she did and it was always cute. I'll keep you posted on what she says. Also, do you want to try my clip in extensions sometime? They're probably too dark for you, but fun nonetheless!

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