 |
| I have been using Carey Mulligan's hair as inspiration for my own hair growth process. |
So I was just in the garden trimming my bangs, and thought of this idea for a blog post! I don't usually do beauty related posts - there are so many of those already, but there is one that I have never been able to find a really solid example of - and trust me, I've tried. This elusive instructional/supportive blog post is about how to grow your hair from a pixie [or in my case, shaved] to your desired length [mine being extra super long. Possibly to my ankles. I'm not quite there yet.]
I recognize that some people don't think that hair and beauty are particularly important things - gosh, I have been through stages of that myself, even going as far to shave my head to prove that a girl doesn't have to have long hair to be beautiful - but I think that, no matter what your ideas are on beauty, it's important to be presentable and comfortable in your own skin!
As I've grown out my shaved head, I've tried to keep it looking nice at each stage of growth, instead of just looking like a 14 year old boy who is letting their hair get too long. I've sheared off my hair many times before and have always had a tough time figuring out how to do so gracefully, but I think I've almost got it downpat! So here are some tips and tricks I've picked up in the hair growth process:
1a. Make a growth plan. Like anything else, it's good to have a plan of how you're going to go about things - even if it's just a general idea that's subject to change as trends and your mind changes. I made a Pinterest board of hair styles that I like in a variety of different lengths - longer styles to remind me of my goal, and shorter styles to make stops at on my way to my target length.
1b. Whether you cut your hair yourself, or your roommate cuts it on boring nights in your dorm room, or if you pay $200 for a fancy salon, use your growth plan to get your hair styled. Take in a picture of how you'd like your hair to look as it grows out, and get your stylist to cut it so it will grow into that style.
2. Once you hit ear length-ish you'll be able to change up your style a fair bit. Lie to yourself and make a tiny ponytail complete with 100 bobby pins, or even try to fake an updo! Most of the time, my urges for long hair happen when I have an event [formal, party, etc.] to go to and I want to do an updo. My favourite way to fake it is to give it some curl with my itty-bitty travel straightener, pin pieces back until it looks like a messy updo sort of thing, then spray the heck out of it with hairspray.
3. Bangs. I swear by bangs! They make your hair look so much longer. I decided the night of my house's formal that I was going to have bangs, so out came the scissors et voila! Bangs. I like to do a fairly heavy full bang that, as it grows, becomes more side-swept. Just remember, if you're cutting them yourself, don't lop off all your length right away! Gradually cut away length using straight across and diagonal cuts. I like to straight across cut in the general shape [longer at the sides so the bangs flow nicely into my other hair, getting progressively shorter towards the middle of my forehead] then use angled cuts to make it so they're not all one perfectly straight line, then just take my scissors and run them along the bottom of the fringe to get rid of any straggling hairs.
4. Don't trust those magazines that seem to think the only way you can "dress up" a short hairstyle is with a "funky headband". I'm so done with everyone saying that. It drives me nuts.
5. Dye isn't a terrible option, as long as you use your brain. Here are my dying rules:
- use a semi-permanent dye. Roots suck, so if you decide to dye your hair a shade that is significantly different than your own, use semi-permanent so it will fade before your roots really start to show. You can always touch it up. But paying $150 to get it colour corrected if you want to go back to your natural hair colour isn't super fun. Trust me. I know.
- I wouldn't recommend straying more than two shades from your natural colour, particularly if you're on either the blonde, or brunette extreme of the hair spectrum. There aren't many things that look weirder than blonde hair with black eyebrows, or vice versa.
- never go any more than one or two shades lighter from a box. Darker is okay, because you're adding colour to your hair, and that colour can be removed. When you lighten your hair you are stripping your hair of its pigment, which makes it super hard to darken it again as there is no pigment for the darker dye to cling to. I spent a very uncomfortable day with very patchy, very orange hair, and an $150 on emergency colour correction after an unfortunate bleaching incident. I was lucky because we got the bleach out of my hair before it entirely stripped my hair of all its pigment - so they were able to get my hair back to pretty much it's exact natural colour.
- if you want to go lighter [I love the idea of a platinum blonde pixie cut!], go to a colourist. But, as with any more high maintenance hair cut or colour, be prepared to spend a fair bit maintaining your golden locks!
- if you do make a mistake and have to get colour corrected, don't be afraid to ask your colourist to mix two different shades to get as close to your natural colour as possible. Also, always ask for someone that knows colour. Your stylist may not be an expert with colouring - you want someone who knows how to compensate for brassy undertones, mix dyes to get to the correct shade, etc. You don't want your new hair to be just as orange as your old hair.
- also if you have to get your colour corrected and you can't get the colour to perfectly match, go with the lighter option as versus the darker. This way when your roots start to show it will just look like you got a bit of sun on the bottoms of your hair, or even like you got it ombred. I currently have this look going on, and it actually looks pretty good! I might even ombre my hair when it gets a little longer...
6. Start growing before you get utterly bored with your shorter style. If you wait until you hate short hair to start growing it out, you're going to have a long road ahead of you. If you start growing it before you're bored you can really start to embrace all the cool in between-length styles! I am currently at the short bob length, and am loving it! It's not something I would have done if I went to my stylist with long hair - I'm usually a long or short kind of girl - but through all my growing out days, I've really started to like the look of bobs!
7. Stay fabulous! I know y'all already are, but sometimes we as individuals can forget how fabulous we are if we don't feel entirely comfortable in our own skin. I took my short hair as an opportunity to play up other parts of my face and wardrobe. I have now perfected winged liquid liner, smokey eyes, bold lips, etc. since I decided I needed to wear makeup with a shaved head in order for people not to mistake me for a boy [I'm pretty sure that whole complex was entirely in my head...]. I also took the same approach to clothing, dressing in more feminine outfits in order to contrast my more masculine haircut. Play with long earrings [I am a fan of feathers and chains... sort of embarrassing, I know.], wear bold makeup, dress up lots, and most importantly: let your beautiful personality shine through!
