I use the historically inspired hair care called “I have chronic fatigue yet having long hair is the only way to keep my sanity“. It consists of constantly wearing my hair in braids, never washing it and brushing it every day or two. Surprisingly it’s less uncomfortable than you‘d expect!
fellow CFS spoonie here. I wear the scrunchie ponytail daily and washing depends on energy levels, but mine gets itchy at the end of 3 days. Styles best on days 2 and 3, though! I have "river otter just climbed onto the bank hair", shiny but drippy-flat and fine. I miss having braiding energy, especially when travelling.
Toughest lesson in haircare? Possibly the sad fact that sometimes, when you find (totally by chance) your perfect shampoo that allows for the almost once a week washing that you've been used to as a child and provides the right amount of care to keep your hair in the state you like them being in, you can happily use it only for as long as the manufacturer decides to make and sell it. True, I had some fifteen happy years with that shampoo. But now it's been gone forever for almost five years and my hair is sad.
I had the same experience. Plus I have many scent allergies. It took me years and quite a bit of money to experiment with the expensive horrible shampoos that were scent free. I finally found a shampoo bar that worked for my hair, scalp and nose
This is my experience ( though I wash my waist length hair twice a week). Manufacturers keep discontinuing the simple inexpensive shampoos that work for my thick, not too oily, not too dry hair, and replacing them with more expensive "nourishing" or "volumising" or "clarifying" shampoos.
This, hands down. I had one shampoo that worked absolute wonders for my mixed type hair with seborrhoeic dermatitis sprinkled in for a good measure, but they have stopped selling it somewhere soon after the main waves of COVID came to an end. I have not managed to find a shampoo that works right for me ever since, and am honestly this close to just trying to recreate the recipe from a saved photo of the ingredients...
This seems to be cycling faster and faster now, too! Even established brands are rotating out old formulas to keep up with the latest fads only to have to replace *those* in like 6 months 😢
I think a big part of this conversation is the frustration people feel about their hair, wandering around in the dark trying to find their perfect regimen, bumping into a bunch of random stuff along the way
I was in my teens and early twenties when fantasy media featuring women with butt length hair and braids thicker than my arm was all the rage. As someone with very fine and thin hair, it definitely gave me a bit of a complex, especially when all of the hair influencers who had won the genetic hair lottery kept on telling me that it was because I wasn't taking care of my hair correctly. If I don't wash my hair for two days, I can plaster it to my scalp with its own grease. No, it does not magically self adjust if I wash it less frequently. Anyways, I think one of the best messages I ever heard from someone who did hairstyles on UA-cam was that women frequently used hair pieces to achieve historical hairstyles and that women with really long and full hair were just as much the exception then as now.
@kirstenpaff8946 BIG time, that! A complex. I have always had a decent amount of hair on my head, but when I tried doing the intricate styles (like Padmé from Star Wars), it was sorely lacking! Then I see people with GORGEOUS amounts and able to so it without needing extra. 😭 We all have varying amounts of hair on our heads, just like our bodies. Though, when I lost a lot after my emergency appendectomy 2 years ago, I definitely cried! But no matter what, there is no product out there that will drastically affect how much we grow. 🩷
you know the twins with like past their butt curly hair on ig yeah thats fake because their hair would some how still be past their butt in a high ponytail and still be the same when down or straightened and people still believe thats their real hair
My biggest haircare lesson of the past few years was learning to keep it under a hat when I'm in the sun. I go outside a lot and it was getting bleached and fragile from sun exposure. Historical hats and bonnets were also functional haircare, turns out.
After I sunburned my scalp badly last year I've also been discovering hats for summer, Honestly such great inventions for protecting the hair and scalp. Historical people knew what was up
When I had hip length hair, I learned from the long hair community online how to use a natural bristle brush and braid my hair at night so it wouldn't get too tangled. One notable thing about that method is that it tends to remove natural curliness for many hair types. The long defined-curls look relies on getting the hair wet regularly and not brushing it afterwards. I missed having hair volume around my face.
That’s what I didn’t like too! My hair’s thick so I also had to section my hair to brush it with a bristle brush. Now I have a plastic detangling brush that can brush all my hair without sectioning and it’s easier to clean than a bristle brush. It doesn’t redistribute the oils but I don’t mind, I just use an oil on my ends more often
Might be worth seeing if you can comb, then get the curls/waves to come back by getting your hair only minimally wet. I can usually get a reasonable amount of curl back into mine by running water on my hands, and then gently scrunching my hair with my hands as wet as possible. It doesn't get too wet, no need for towels, and fine to leave the house immediately unless it's really cold. In summer I'm happy to let my hair get soaked when I shower for the cooling - wearing it wet to high school was how I learned I have curly hair. A friend saw it and asked why on earth I wore it so sad and fluffy all the time - when it's CURLY and gorgeous! As you noted, combing it when it's wet, or brushing, erases the curls and leaves you with fluffy hair. Braiding it wet after combing will also put some waves back into it, but I don't happen to like the look, or the logistics as much.
I tried historical hair care promoted by an influencer and my hair started falling out. I have super fine hair and I have come to the conclusion I need to wash my hair with a clarifying shampoo every other day. My hair can’t tolerate any oil added to it or dry shampoo. Any build up causes damage!
Same. I have fine hair and need to wash it every day or else my scalp gets SOO itchy and greasy. No amount of training can be done to it, because I have seborrheic dermatitis, and letting it get greasy for days on end would literally make me feel like there's a fire on my head. I do suppose however, that covering my hair with a linen scarf and braiding it away from my face could allow me to go 2 days instead of one without washing, but I'm not sure that would really make my hair grow healthier or faster, as it grows very fast even without that, and is shiny and healthy. If you're looking for an oil that aborbs well into fine hair, I would suggest "Argan Oil of Morocco" by the brand OGX. The oil comes in a spray form that you apply while your hair is damp. I suggest you wait 15-20 minutes after applying before blow drying your hair (or let it air dry, up to you). I use this oil sparingly, it's cheap, and it works wonders. Glad someone like you understands my struggles! 😅
Fun note: seeing this video pop up reminded me that I needed to "wash" my hair, ie apply my custom hair powder (which I mixed together after researching several different commercial hair powders and dry shampoos specifc for redheads and then made my own) because it's something I can do while already dressed since it's the middle of the week and my hair is too long to take less than an hour in the shower with a full washing and conditioning cycle. And yeah, my biggest haircare lesson was twofold: one, that I really didn't need to wash my hair with that full cycle more than once a month if I'm using the hair powder and the wooden combs and boar bristle brush the rest of the month, and two, buying the ingredients to those hair powders (arrowroot flour, ashwagandha powder, guarana powder, cocoa powder, cornstarch, and Indian red clay) to mix up my own custom blend in a big glass jar that lasts two years was a lot more cost effective than spending $30 on a small jar on Amazon that would only last a month before I have to buy more. My hair is a lot stronger and softer now than it was with the "wash daily for oily hair" routine that was pushed on me as a kid. 😂
about the only historical-adjacent thing I've bonded with is sewing it up with ribbons. it spreads the weight of long, thick hair that I want up in hot weather/on the dancefloor. it's much more comfortable, even if I'm doing it in what looks like a modern bun. doing actual historical haircare feels like a lot more work. either you've got to take on a whole alien-to-us system of haircare OR you'll need to experiment a hell of a lot to build a personal hybrid routine
I learned the hard way after a move that solid shampoo bars (or at least the ones I used to get) and hard water do *not* mix. I went two months wondering why my hair was getting more and more grungy despite changing nothing about my routine, until it was literally matted so solid I couldn't brush it. Then I "gave up" (taking care of yourself is *never* a bad thing, but it's how my brain framed it at the time) and bought a more acidic clarifying shampoo, and that plus a couple of hours of brushing fixed the issue literally overnight.
Yup, same. The hard water buildup makes my curly hair look absolutely fried after a while (even worse with solid shampoos) and I had somehow forgotten that I need a good clarifying/chelating shampoo to keep those locks bouncy for, like, a year! Literally took one wash (I put the shampoo on dry hair as a mask for a bit before showering) for the horrible matted looking non-curling clumps to go back to their normal curl pattern.
Lush has one bar that is supposed to be good for hard water. I found that hard water and soap bars don't mix while studying abroad. I didn't take lush because it wasn't accessible until I was abroad. With a lot of fragrance allergies I was afraid to try anything new for a while until I broke and did a diy method because stores were already closed 😅.
Yeah. I really wanted to love soap-based shampoo bars, but I live in a hard water area and it was awful, even with vinegar rinses. That said, there are solid shampoo bars (i.e., detergents, not actual soap) out there. One from Ethique has been working well for me.
My daughter has her hair to mid thigh, she never had a real haircut, I cut the ends maybe once a year, when the ends get too scraggly. I brush and braid her hair every day, no way I would let her go to school with loose hair that long, and she also sleeps with a braid. She just started to wash her hair with shampoo a few months back. She does it maybe once every 2-3 weeks, she is 11 years old. Before that water in the shower and brushing was enough with a no-poo washing every 2-3 months. Teenage hormones made her hair more oily. Not the same thing will work for the same person depending on the period of life you are in so you have to adapt your methods to that too.
When I let it grow long, I have very curly, but very dry, hair. In the past I've tried so many routines to "manage" it, trying to find the magic that would give me a style that I was satisfied with, but wouldn't take a significant part of my day. What I've learned is that my favorite style is the near pixie cut of my photo, occasionally colored, washed with an inexpensive baby shampoo a couple of times a week, combed, and allowed to air dry. No products. No heat. If needed, I'll spritz it with a little water before running my brush through it. I love the look of long hair on others, just not on me!
I brush every day with a modern hair brush, multiple times a day. I wash once a fortnight. I oil my hair as it needs it, plus extremely oil it the night before wash day, then use a purple shampoo and a regular conditioner on wash day. Then i use a heat protector and leave in conditioner and blow dry. I wear it in an English braid and protect with headscarves. I also work manual labour as a luthier, basically I make and play violins, violas, cellos and basses.
The "exotic ingredients" angle gets interesting when they're African origin and markted to Black diaspora. Madam CJ Walker promoted her hair growing formula as something she got in a dream, and containing African ingredients. A more recent brand, Shea Moisture, uses a similar marketing and product tactic, only inspired by a trip to Africa. I think the idea is the ingredients are supposed to both be exotic and nostalgia inducing.
I think their sales tactic was less exoticism and more returning to/ embracing ethnic roots. They were catering to people who were neglected when it came to readily available products on the basis of race.
Where I live we have yearly shutdowns of central hot water supply for 2 to 3 weeks. Usually people get around by labourously heating pots of water and washing hair in basins (like, flatter bowls for washing stuff?). I used to do it too but as I have relatively long hair (around my waist long, never grew longer) doing it really becomes a chore. So, a few years back I stumbled upon your video about hair routine and maybe some similar from Abby Cox - and I decided to try out meticulous brushing, constant braiding and and covering at the very least the top of my head with bandana. The no-hot-water period was upon and I started the experiment. It worked perfectly! I didn't had any fancy occasions during that time, but otherwise my hair looked very good. I washed it once or twice during that time as far as I can remember - and it was enough to look and feel good. Since than I've doing brushing and headcovering for every summer (headcover also helps against heat stroke). I believe once I went through the whole no-hot-water period without washing my hair and my hair was fine! Yeah, it's completely personal how to care for your hair (I, for example, found my perfect shampoo and conditioner combo and keep using it) and adding some historical or foreign practices just can help greatly! So, thanks for your original video, SnappyDragon!
My husband recently brought me really expensive shampoo and conditioner from a „top-stylist“. he was a little sad, as i told him, that it was unprofessional of the stylist to just ask about my hair colour and then „know“ what my ideal Shampoo would be.
My biggest aha-moment was in your haircare video when you talked about how brushing/combing distributes the oils throughout the hair, making it look less oily (which you again mentioned here). I had long wanted to get away from having to wash my hair every 2-3 days and this is what finally did it! Regular brushing, and dry shampoo after 4 days or so. I still use modern products but OMG my hair *loves* not being washed so much ❤
I discovered that my super fine, thinning hair really like being combed out and braided, especially for sleeping. Also that it seems to have an unlimited appetite for protein, and doesn't care for soap or detergent. So now it stays mostly braided, gets combed and brushed out regularly, and gets washed every 7-9 days with a homemade clay and egg wash of my own concocting. It's very happy with this arrangement, and has gotten significantly fuller (I'm not sunburning my scalp anymore.), and longer - at least 3-4" longer than I've ever managed to grow it before. And since I love fancy braiding, I'm pretty happy too!
My hair is mid-back and thick/dry/3B. I work in a MIG welding factory. It would be neat to learn how women in factories in the 18th century kept their hair nice.
My guess would be that women worrying on the factory floor in the 1700s would not be able to afford to have long hair in nice styles, either financially or safetywise. Children in factories in the 18th and 19th centuries had their hair cut short to avoid it being caught in the machinery, and I think women would too. Hats and scarves cover a multitude of hair issues, including the shortness or absence of hair. Better safety conditions over the 20th century, and more photographs and filming in the factories meant that Rosie the riveter scarves were popular in the mid 1900s. I tie my hair up like that while gardening to keep it cleaner.
I use a combination of modern and historical hair care methods. I’d already been stretching out my time between hair washes for 8 years when I watched the PrettyShepherd’s video about how she washes her hair once a month. And then I started doing that and pretty soon I was stumbling upon all sorts of historical hair care videos and I started incorporating some of the things that fit my hair care needs.
This made me laugh so hard, in a recognise this so hard good way. 🙂 I've got the curls, out a ruler straight hair family. Been through years of my mum trying to treat it the same as hers, the no-poo method when little kid me rebelled (itchy scalp and all), and daft exoticism of her shoving afro care products at me. Thank god I got sent to my Nanna's to a wee while, because her hair was dead short mum forgot it's curly. Fixed at sorted from looking like sheep dragged backwards through a hedge to ringles in 2 goes. (Still probably wasn't brilliant, but was first time I ever loved my hair). Sometimes family knowledge is this missing step.
@@vickymc9695 I had a similar experience, though my mother’s hair is very curly. She’s spent her whole life trying to brush/iron/bend it straight. It would look great (natural curls) when she came out of a salon, but would immediately brush it out when she got home. She even bought a diffuser, then proceeded to use the spacer nubs to rake through her hair while blow drying. It literally took me until my 40s and a whole lot of very generous Black women on UA-cam to learn how to care for my 3C curls. I’m forever grateful for them for sharing knowledge that my family just never developed. ❤️
Thanks for another cool video, Vi! Perhaps it's because I am a senior now, but I noticed that the only thing you didn't talk about was the fact that your hair care needs can change as you grow older. I have baby-fine hair but have always had a lot of it. It's also wavy in a time when straight is the 'thing' to be. I finally embraced the way my hair is in my thirties. However, as I've started to age, it became more and more clear that the ways of caring for my hair as well as the styles themselves had to change, or I'd lose it all! I appreciate your many videos of hair care, both historical and modern methods, as you try to help your viewers attain their dreams of perfect hair. They've helped me more than you know. But the truth is, there is no such thing! We are human and women, so we will play and experiment with it until we no longer can. I no longer wash mine every day or have long hair because I want to have healthy hair. I've finally found a style I can live with too. It is possible to look in the mirror and be happy! Thanks for helping me get there! 😊
Things that work well for my hair are: using an old-fashioned (and old!) bristle brush, gently, and being sure to brush my scalp as well; washing as infrequently as I can get away with (luckily I don’t have greasy hair); and wearing it braided most of the time. I just wish it hadn’t got thinner as I aged!
I honestly just use Jamaican black castor oil. I use a wooden comb to scratch some of the sebum off my scalp, brushes to get more sebum off, and just leave my hair in braids for a week or two. I don’t really wash my hair often, maybe once every few months.
As someone going through menopause, trying to understand how my hair changes is crazy, like it is suddenly developing a wave. I have come to realize part of always having flyaway static hair is it is super dry, my needs are definitely different to others hair care.
I think a lot of people don't realize how much you hair will change as you age. My somewhat oily hair in my mid 20s, at 60 is now quite dry - and post menopausal it has become wavier since hormone changes also impact your hair. You need to evaluate your hair care routine every few years to see if what you are doing is still the best choice.
This. I've gone the opposite way--my hair used to be curly, but now it's mostly just wavy. My hair isn't dry, but my scalp is noticeably less oily and I'm certainly not going to complain about that aspect of menopause!
I’m learning how to do good things for my curly hair. It’s a journey. My hair is fine, thick, and very elastic so the curl pulls out when I comb it. Things that work for a lot of other people do not work for me. But I’m doing better now than I was last year or the year before, or ten years ago. I’ll take it.
Learning that I could use corn starch instead of dry shampoo was a game-changer for me. And learning about protective hair styling for white people was definitely a game-changer for my mom, but it worked TOO well and she stopped being able to take care of her hair because it became too long and too full for her because it stopped thinning out through breakage.
@_oaktree_ SnappyDragon actually did a video about it! Historically there were a lot of ways Europeans styled their hair to protect it. Most of it comes down to braids, knots, and covering, but honestly leaving it there is like someone asking about afro-texture protective styling and someone saying "just braid it." Styles utilized things like hair taping (Morgan Donner did a video about that a while ago as well) and hair sticks. A common method for knots is literally just tying your hair in a knot and securing it with a hair stick which keeps most of the hair protected on the inside of the knot and distributes the weight more evenly across the many strands. Hair taping does something similar by braiding and then essentially using cords or ribbons and a tapestry needle to sew the braids the way you want them to lay on your head so the weight of the hair isn't pulling down all day. Stuff like that.
I use a minimum of modern product (shampoo, conditioner worked in well, light gel). I wash every two weeks, dry halfway in a wrap (or with a '70s helmet-style dryer when I need it done quickly) and I rarely brush it. I detangle with my fingers. It works for me and it's so much less expensive than using all the recommended products every day.
I've been going to a hairdressing school weekly for perhaps 3 years (and was having my hair done by apprentices for a good 10-15 years prior to that). I go every week except during term breaks/school holidays, and each week, a student will practice washing & setting my hair. My starting point is usually a photo of Elizabeth Taylor in the 50s. During term breaks, I try to set my own hair, and sometimes it comes out looking ok. Every 6 weeks or so, apprentices practise scalp bleaching and colouring my hair as it's all purple now. I go once a year or so, usually in winter, to my old salon to get a qualified hairdresser to trim my hair. This way, by summer, it's long enough again to easily put up in a bun or french braids.
I for sure find that my hair stays long and more healthy when I end up wearing my hair in my helmet at competition. I also get really really lazy and just don’t spend much time washing it with more than just water until I am done since I am just going to wear it up and it is easier to keep it neat if it has a little bit of natural oils etc. But really when people always ask me how I grow my hair so long I just answer “ I don’t cut it?” It is that simple for me. I just let it grow and maybe trim it when the ends look like they need it. If my hair isn’t up, I try to wear it in a braid so it is less tangled.
Something that has really surprised me over the years (I'm 51, fwiw) is how much my hair has changed as I've gone through different periods of my life. Shockingly curly when I was pregnant, straighter and finer now that I'm older, etc. Products and styles and even tools change as my hair has changed.
Keeping my hair pinned up and covered the majority of the time has definitly made it lengthen more quickly with a lot less damage (it's now almost thigh length and very healthy)
I concur on that frustration with difficulty in doing braided styles with layered hair.... However, with shorter hair I can wear it down more.... I just need to find more ways to do the updos with this new hair of mine!
One thing that I hear gets touted often is "the longer your hair gets, the less you have to wash it." HA! The amount of sebum my scalp produces has not changed since my hair is now down to my lower back. I still have to wash it fairly frequently. I will say dry shampoo (home made and commercial) has helped me artificially extend periods between washing. The only truly helpful advice I've found were 1) Find out if your home has hard or soft water, and B) See if you have low, medium or high porosity hair.
Thank you for this video! ❤I’m a licensed esthetician and I feel like this relates a lot to the skincare industry as well. I’ve been educating my clients for years on these topics. Especially with marketing and pop culture.
Realistic expectations are key. I have fine, slow growing hair. I wanted thick, long, shiny waves for my wedding. So I did the realistic thing and got extensions.
Hair care recepies from my grandmother: Brush your hair well every day (100 slow strokes recommended) and use a natural cow or buffalo horn comb or an animal bristle brush (boar, goat or badger). Wash hair before the weekend and use a pot of chamomile tea with la squirt of lemon juice to rinse. Eat well, sleep well. Get enough vitamin D by getting enough light and good oils. Eat eggs and dairy only from free-range animals, they need sun, to produce vitamin D, too. For minerals, eat millet.
I have very fine hair, washing it more than twice a week strips away all my natural oils and it becomes a fly away mess. Actually every 5 days is about perfect. Also twice daily brushing with a natural bristle brush.
I started growing my hair since I want to see it at its longest before my health and meds ruin it, so I really like protective techniques a freaking lot.
I started using bar of shampoo from a lady who home makes them. She does SCA and had a class on how to make your own soap. My hair is fine and thin, gets oily quick. The bar of shampoo has worked so well for me thus far. The only problem I have is growth. My hair grows as slow as a snail. Have not found a method to help grow it faster, but I am learning to live with what I have.
I started doing historical hair care and I learned my hair is not straight at all. It's actually curly, but all the modern products I've used in my life have been damaging my pattern. I'm still figuring stuff out, but I've learned a lot about my hair and what my lifestyle can accommodate in the mean time. Maybe one day I'll figure it out 😂
When i was growing up people were telling me washing my hair was bad for it and i should do it as rarely as possible, so i washed it once a week. This was terrible for my hair and i was never happy with it until i started gradually washing it more frequently in my 20s. Now i rinse it with water every day and shampoo every other day, and comb and blow dry. No other products. Works great for me!
Boy Pajama V is on a roll today! 😂😂 maybe you should throw a pillow at her.😉😂😂 So a little over a year ago my daughter watched a video on victorian hair oiling and wanted to try it out. I have to admit as someone who has always had bad hair, always breaking and stubbornly straight and always frizzy, all the pictures of the gorgeous long locks was pretty enticing. Still I went into this experiment with her seriously doubting it would do any good. So down the rabbit hole we went and did our due diligence in researching oils and their properties. Since I had already started making soap at this point it gave me a good idea of what to look for. It lead to some interesting cultural research too. Specifically things like black women oiling their hair with castor oil. Very cool I didn't know that. Not too many black ladies that I know that have don't have their hair relaxed and straightened for them. Never occurred to me to ask them about their hair since I had vastly different hair. I have a dear friend who was more than happy to tell me about her weekly hair oiling routine for her and her little girl. I dove deeper since this was a homeschool project and after finding various recipes and other things we finally settled on trying out a ayuvedic hairl oil recipe we wanted to try. Since I was starting to get back into herbology I figured we would give it a go together. As the year went on and I studied more I added certain oils and adding light weight oils to my tips. Together we did our weekly oiling routine and after about 3 months I started noticing my hair was different. It was no longer stubbornly straight frizzy and everywhere with no hope of keeping it tamed outside of a bun or French braid. Even those couldn't keep my hair tamed. My hair became softer and more manageable. I didn't skip the shampooing but I did add in a conditioner. After shampooing all that oil out of my hair, it needed the conditioner. My hair has also developed a soft wave and feels softer. I started measuring my hair length at the end of the summer as my hair has felt longer and my husband noticing that it looked longer. I have since grown about 6 inches in length and my braids have become noticeably thicker. What started out as a fun homeschool experiment, turn into part of my hair routine. But I have to say when it's 115 out having oil in your hair feels gross and you look forward to washing it out. I can honestly say that o learned a lot about haircare since. I think I missed your viking hair video so I think I'm going to watch that video next. I'm sure to learn something new about my hair. 😉
My hair is long and wavy/curly (humidity makes a difference), but also very fine and thin. My scalp has become visible in the last few years, thanks to menopause and PCOS. I cover it because I'm an Orthodox Jewish married woman, which I did for decades before it got this bad. I currently wash my hair once a week with modern shampoo, followed by conditioner, and a lightweight leave-in conditioner for curly hair. I let it air dry, occasionally scrunching and shaking it. I also sleep on a satin pillowcase. The satin pillowcase keeps the tangles down, but otherwise, I really haven't seen any change in the curls. They exist however they choose. Not washing my hair does make my shower routine much faster, though. Good for work nights. :)
Biggest thing I've learned about my haircare was about my hair becoming curly after menopause. I tried all sorts of products, talked to a lot of folks with curly hair about how to take care of it and I finally figured out that how I've always had my hair in front (brushed straight back until dry) is still how I want it. I let the back go curly crazy, but cannot stand it curling around my face. So sticking with how I've always done my hair still works for me.
I wash my hair once a week and keep it in braids and buns pretty much all the time. If my scalp gets oily or itchy I do an oil treatment. It's not perfect but it works.
I appreciate the discussion on getting pulled in by marketing, starting at 8:36; it's always important to be aware of how easy it is to believe bullshit simply because a familiar face is repeating it, and now with AI flooding the zone, it's requires more effort to fact check things--but we absolutely must be on our guards, and put forth that effort. /tangential rant
My biggest moment of self-knowledge caveat a fairly. early age: I was in Middle School when the whole French Braid fad was all the rage. I bought into it with a passion. Two problems, though: 1. I have curly, frizz-prone hair, so to make it easier to French braid it required blow-drying it straight, and braiding it tight. Which leads us to problem 2. I suffer from migraine headaches. Those super tight braids may have been stylish, but they triggered the migraines like nobody's business. I gave up on the tight French braids pretty quickly. Just the memory is painful. My biggest self-care these days is shampooing just the roots and scalp of my hair as needed (maybe once a week), and using a good conditioner on the rest of my hair. Depending on the weather and my hair's needs, I will use different products on my hair to style it. Sometimes I will style it straight, sometimes I will just let it curl. And I love my long, beautiful, feminine, wavy, sometimes slightly frizzy hair.
My most notable self awareness moments were when I realized that I needed to "clean off"/groom my scalp more often, and that it helps my hair if I either protect it from dust & debris in the environment, or, rinse it out regularly (both came from the points you addressed in your no wash for a month video)
My biggest thing has been finger combing instead of using a brush and sleeping with it tied up/in a bonnet. I have fine thin hair with a big loose wave to it. Gotta protect it where I can so it stays on my head as long as possible! I also went from washing every day to every other day. If I go more than 2 days I look like a wet rat and my scalp is unhappy.
For me and my dead straight hair, I wash it once a week, shampoo and conditioner, but use a fine spray of argon oil on my boar bristle brush once or twice a week. I brush my hair every day and use a wooden comb to help control the frizz from brushing my hair. It works and keeps my hair from feeling greasy and dirty!
My biggest mistake is both too much and too little washing!! Got thick pin-straight hair. My hair and scalp gets super dry and gross at either end of the spectrum, so the max I can really do is what I do now, roughly every 3-4 days. As I am growing it out, I've been keeping it in a bandana to keep it out of my face and it's helped keep it cleaner/hides when I miss a wash!
braids. single braid, single braid pinned up, or braided pigtails (soooooo much easier to brush). I wash my hair once or twice a week. When I blow dry, I keep it on cool and focus on my scalp, only squeezing the ends with a towel and letting it air dry. Trying to find a comb I like, considering covering it edited to add: biggest hair care lesson I learned was not to bleach my hair twice in one day. ow. that hurt!!!
I learned that brushes/combs are just as important as products! I used to use one of those plastic brushes with the dots on the end of the tines. It was so hard on my hair; I always had breakage and discomfort. Then a friend gave me a traditional Japanese wooden comb and it changed my hair so much! It never catches on my hair and it helps distribute my scalp oil. It's honestly perfect for my fine, static-prone hair that is only washed once a week.
I use a combination of modern and historical hair care methods. I’d been stretching out my hair washing time for 8 years when I watched the PrettyShepherd’s video about how she washes her hair once a month. And then I started doing that and pretty soon I was stumbling upon all sorts of historical hair care videos and I started incorporating some of the things that fit my hair care needs.
I needed this video years ago, because it took me a long time on my own to come to the same conclusions. As someone with a long beard I've become frustrated with reading arcticles about ancient hair care only for it really to be an ad for the author's beard care line which was not directed related to the ancient hair care (such as an article about Ancient Greek beard care and a beard oil with a jojoba oil base, an oil unavailable to the Ancient Greeks). And then when I did the research and would use actual products and techniques and it still not work... because I used modern dyes and had a modern diet with modern water, modern issues like air pollution and air conditioning and global warming, and I live in a land very far away from Greece (or Scandinavia, or Babylon, or India, or Persia). I do find benefit from some things but also had to adapt it to myself while also realizing my goals were likely different in some ways not only to ancient people but even to modern day people with beards.
The blend of historical and modern haircare is so good. I have dry, low porosity hair by nature so I typically wash it once or twice a week with shampoo and conditioner bars (I also use a leave-in conditioner), and I use a fine tooth comb to clean it every night. It works marvelously
My biggest hair care lesson was learning the curly girl method and then letting go of about half of it. I had smooth wavy hair as a child but it turned thick and frizzy as a young teen. My mom had straight hair and had no idea what to do with it (other than make me brush it and not believe that I did because it looked worse) The curly girl method was the first time I truly learned how to appreciate and style my curly hair and not just straighten it. I did later learn that it’s not all or nothing and that if no - poo activates my dandruff then I need sulfates.
My hair used to be long, straight, oily and highly resistant to curling of any kind. Mom tried home perms on me a couple of times, but it was gone by the second washing. I suffered as one of the few teenage girls in the early 90's that didn't have that "satellite dish" hairstyle 😂 Then I hit 30 something. It switched from oily to dry. I stopped washing it my usual once a week because it makes it even more brittle. I'm sure it's also affected by my current local water supply. I currently use the comb twice a day method. Also: got an ad for dermaplaining, whatever that is...
My best learned hair thing is that my own oils work better than anything else. I will never go back. It takes longer with all the combing---but, that in itself is amazing as I was never able to get a comb through my hair previously.
I picked up tips from historical haircare so I would need to was my hair less often since it's too tiring to do it more than once a week. I switched all my plastic brushes and combs for wooden or horn ones and I constanly wear my hair braided, brushing it once a day. I noticed just how drastically this method helped me with all the fatigue generated by haircare and now I can use that energy doing other things. Also keeping my hair long requires so much less care than when I briefly had short hair, I was very surprised.
My biggest hair lesson? My hair HATES silicone, after I went silicone free, my hair got curlier (a lot like V's), thicker, and less frizzy. However, no poo is not for me, I wash every every 4 to 7 days, usually use a sulfate-free shampoo, however, occasionally I'll use a clarifying shampoo with sulfates. That's been my routine for 6 or 7 years, but now that my grays are coming in my hair texture is changing and I need to use more products and add moisture, and I shortened up to a shoulder length layered bob. Bonus on that one: My hair is even curlier now! Still more exploring needed on the ideal routine for my *NEW* hair... IT'S A JOURNEY.....
Toughest haircare lesson. Combing my curly hair is good for my scalp. With a wide tooth comb and good gel and day two products I can keep modern curls for a least a few days. And with my u shaped cut after the first few days a good combing and brushing gives me vintage waves
I have VERY LONG hair(past my bum) and it takes so so so long to dry so I started looking in to dry cleansing methods for my winter hair care because it is too cold to have wet hair. Thank you for the amazing vids
Another chronic fatigue patient here and honestly I had to just learn to let my hair be most of the time to suit my current energy levels. It has adapted pretty well to being washed only once a week, I keep it up for the last 2-3 days of the week. But I'm still looking for ways to keep my scalp less irritated, I think my hair could easily go longer than a week but my scalp gets itchy by day 6-7 so I have to wash the whole thing. Still, so much better and easier than every other day which is what I used to do!
I use a mix of historical and modern hair care. I have fairly curly hair, but since I'm trying to grow it out to see just how long my hair can get (currently just past my butt!), my hair is heavy enough to mess up my curl pattern. So I wear it up all the time, usually in a milkmaid/braided crown style, since it's fast, looks nice, and doesn't cause headaches from the weight of my hair pressing the pins into my scalp. My scalp tends to be quite dry, so I only need to wash about every week to week and a half, using a double-sided wooden comb and ligntly oiling the ends most days, but when I wash, that's when I go modern. I double shampoo, brush the conditioner through, and finish off with a leave-in conditioner with uv protection (among other benefits). I also go over my ends pretty regularly and trim any split ends that I catch.
I looked to historical hair care briefly because chronic illness has made it difficult for me to shower more than once a week. So far I haven't really found anything easy to do that isn't super labor-intensive (which for me means fatigue), but I did start using dry shampoo to occasionally get me through the week after I learned that it actually does sort of clean your hair of excess oil the way historical powder did. So it helped a little, but I still haven't found a way to care for my hair that doesn't wear me out. 😕
I’d be really interested in knowing what your routine is during low periods. Since my low energy routine is to just about give up on hair care, it’d be great to know some practical tips for haircare when raising my arms to my head is excruciating.
Don't know if would help, a gal I knew did French braids by lying down on a bed, with her hair cascading down boyh sides of one corner. (Her body was across/diagonal on the bed. Her head in the corner) You'ld still be raising your arms, but maybe it would be less ?
I learned that as handy as dry shampoo is, I can't use it without experiencing itching, particularly around my eyes, even though I was careful to keep the spray in my hair and not in my face. I do better with regular brushing and washing my hair a couple times a week. I also leave it braided most of the time. I like the way it looks loose, but my hair is hip-length at this point, and it's just too inconvenient down.
I have made a lot of interesting discoveries as of late. Probably the biggest is that you don't need a brush or a comb to detangle your hair. Finger detangling takes longer, but it's more cathartic and gentler on your hair. This works well for me as a busy person who was frustrated by always keeping a brush in my bag. I can use my frickin' fingers! Also, that there is a difference between hair growth and hair retention
I've learned how my hair and scalp are happiest in a desert, but if I ever move somewhere with humidity I'll have to completely relearn my hair! The fact that my desert routine is extremely low maintenance, which works with my disabilities, means that I can have fingertip length hair, but I'm pretty sure I would have to cut it shorter if I lived elsewhere.
the main thing i've done since learning about historical hair care is i've started brushing my hair with a boar bristle brush. when i use it depends on a bunch of other things too but it's been a really nice addition to my toolkit. i have wavy hair so i usually use product to form waves and brushing through disrupts that. but i wash my hair once a week and usually around day 5 or sometimes day 4, my scalp starts feeling a bit itchy and my ends get SUPER dry, so i'll start brushing my hair then. some weeks like this week i don't do any styling at all and just brush my hair every day. i helped my aunt move house recently and i wasn't able to get enough time to wash my hair for 2 weeks (also we lost the shower curtains so i couldn't wash it anyway) and the boar bristle brush helped SO much. i thought i would look like a greaseball when i realized on what was supposed to be my wash day that i didn't have time or a proper shower to wash my hair. but i just brushed and my hair did get a bit too oily for my taste but it looked sleek and shiny and my scalp felt fine too. historical haircare has some gems. you just need to figure out what works best for you
What’s worked the best for me is Dove bar as a bar shampoo weekly. My hair used to tangle so terribly when I used a modern liquid shampoo. I have low porosity straight hair that not chemically treated in any way.
I didn't cut my hair off before I had chemo. When some people have chemo, all their hair falls out, I only lost most of mine. My hair is very fine and I'd grown it to about 12 to 15 inches long. When it's that long, it tends to have a distinct curl towards the ends. Unlike some people who end up with "the pillow looking like a German Shepherd slept on it" with their chemo hair loss (it all falls out at the one time), a lot of my dropped hairs slid down so that the curly ends got caught on the curly ends that were still attached to my scalp and I'd end up with Gordian knots. In the end I gave up and got a buzz cut (at no. 6 or about 3/4 of an inch long). My hair is so fine that the cutter pushed some of the hair out the way, rather than catching it and cutting it, and so the hairdresser had to deal with some of it with scissors. I am somewhat surprised that the regrowth is coloured (I'm elderly and most of my hair was white before chemo, although I dyed it) and not nearly as curly as I expected. I still don't have anything resembling a full head of hair.
I’m kind of in the process of figuring out my ideal hair care routine as someone who has taken to covering my hair with a snood (or more accurately, a snood-like crocheted veil), trying to balance health, comfort, and the neglect I can "get away with" because my hair is not visible and thus not subject to outside judgement. Some of this involves trying to favour linen and other natural yarns for my head covering and using a boar bristle brush, but I’m still working on it.
I wash my hair every two weeks with "gentle" products, and yes, my hair is becoming oily. Probably a bit like in the past. With combing every day (twice a day if I have enough energy) it's fine: it looks reasonably clean, it does not itch..., but it looks "oilier" than what modern hair is supposed to look like. But since I wear my hair most of the time braided or in a bun for work or everyday life (like women have been doing in the past to go to work...), it's fine. Oily hair works perfect with these hair styles (I have the impression that the oil protects my hair when braided). It looks a bit silly when I get my hair loose at the end of the 2 weeks period, but it's fine. You just have to keep in mind the context: historical haircare was for *their* context, and you have to understand it if you want to apply then today (what I partially do, in my own way).
I tried all historical hair care for two years and it damaged my hair even more. What I learned afterwards, is that my hair is slighty porous, though it's very curly. Because of the curls I always thought it's high porous and added a lot of rich oils and exactly that was the problem. Now I'm back to washing once a week with a sensitive shampoo and using a light leave-in half of the time and sometimes vinegar rinse. But my curls seem to be better off without adding anything.
My hair is so fine and thin, and grows so slowly… I don’t even have to brush or comb it, I can run my fingers through it, and not hit a single snag, and it’s nearly down to my bra strap (it’s only taken about two years to get it there, from just below shoulder length). Meanwhile, my daughter’s hair grows so fast and so thick, she has to get it cut every 3-4 weeks to maintain the shorter style she prefers. She had hair down to her waist at one point, but has been in love with her short hair for years now. lol
thank you for this!! my hair type looks a lot like yours--long, thick, curly, color-treated. i recently saw videos by a historical sewist extoling the virtues of washing with clay for growing the hair very long (waist-length? hip-length?)...but there was so much extraneous talking that i just didn't have the patience to watch the whole video. have you ever tried clay-washing? if not, would you consider researching and trying it, maybe for a month, for a video? (edit: i want dramatically longer hair, but i have malassezia and am looking for a simpler weekly routine with less washing but also less oily itchy scalp with the hair itself being dry!)
I have very thin, straight hair. I used to have so many tangles! But when I started using Rhassoul clay to clean it instead of shampoo, the tangles almost disappeared! I do that and then a rinse of water with a bit of applecider vinegar and a few drops of rosemary essential oil. With modern shampoo I was washing my hair everyday, now I'm able to have a day of no-wash in the middle, which had my weekly number of wash going from 7 to 3, max. 4. When my hair grows longer and I can braid it again, I would like to try 2/3 times a week. My biggest lesson is that short hair is not the thing for me, if I want to keep my hair healthy and don't want to wash it too often (and that my grandma was right doing the water and vinegar rinse to my hair when I was a child and had extra long hair)
toughest haircare lesson trying to find the right shampoo, conditioner and products for my post menopausal curly hair, which I'm still struggling with today
My biggest haiir care lesson was that I can't/shouldn't use heated hair care items on my hair. They either break my hair off (curling irons) or don't really shorten waiting times (hair dryers - it took a professional stylist 2 1/2 hours to dry my hair with a salon/professional hand dryer (I watched the clock) - I told him not to, but he smirked and "he knew best".). If I let my hair air dry it'll take about 5 hours for it to fully dry, but I can be surface (visibly) dry in an hour. Another one was that using shampoo for oily hair causes me to need to wash my hair every 2 days (I have an oily scalp), but using normal hair shampoo makes my scalp happy and I can space out washing my hair to once a week.
here's a truth I began to think would never apply to me because I saw others experience it so many years before I did I that I thought I was exempt. Hair strands thin as our hormone levels lower . I was 73 before it happened and have now accepted that it is part of being an animal lucky enough to live a long luxurious life. I do wonder about the shells of 100 year old tortoises though ?
I tried daily shampoo, not washing at all, washing with water only, at various frequencies - and in all those attempts, my scalp was greasy, flaky and itchy. The only thing that seems to really help is something I never expected - putting oil directly on my scalp. So, for the curious, here's some details about my hair and my hair routine: - I have straight hair which is both fine and thin. Currently it is about chest length. - I comb daily with a very fine comb. I often use a metal lice comb but I also use a very fine-toothed wooden comb. The lice comb gets washed with dish soap every time I use it. All my combs get cleaned with old toothbrushes regularly. - I wash my hair about once a month. I'd like to do it more but I just don't have the energy. My washing routine is exhausting! - I make my own hair oil. I infuse olive oil with cloves, bay leaves, and sometimes rosemary or cardamom. Then I mix it roughly 50/50 with castor oil. - I use that oil on my nails too. I apply it to my hairline whenever it seems a bit itchy or flaky. - The night before I wash my hair, I apply hair oil liberally all over my scalp. I also put jojoba oil on the length of my hair. - After that, I wrap my hair in a silk scarf to sleep. I had a lot of trouble with the scarf falling off until I found a method that works for me. - In the morning, I take a shower. I first rinse my hair out with warm water. Then I apply rhassoul clay (about 50/50 clay to water) to my scalp with a hair dye bottle and massage it in. Then I put my hair up with clips and wait about 30 minutes (I usually shave at this point) - Then I rinse the clay out very well. I put a splash of vinegar in a bottle and fill it with water, then I rinse my hair with that. Then I rinse some more with shower water. - (I use a shower filter to get rid of chlorine but honestly I can't tell if it makes a difference.) - Finally I put a splash of jojoba oil in my hair and work it through the length. Sometimes I wait another 30 minutes, sometimes I rinse right away. But the last rinse is always with cold water. - I usually braid my hair. I often use ribbons to keep the braid(s) in place a la Morgan Donner, but I've found that my hair can stay in a braid for several hours with nothing holding it, so sometimes I just rebraid it when it does come out. I've tried homemade dry shampoo a few times, and while I liked it, I suspect that it damaged my hearing aids, so I stopped doing that!
Biggest hair care lesson: Not brushing or combing my hair. Ever. Have not done it in years and it just works. Combing destroys the structure of my curls and this structure keeps my very fine fluffy hair from tangling. Washing my hair and then conditioning is enough detangling for me usually.
I used to wash my hair every other day with a strong dandruff shampoo.... I limit how often I wash my hair and try to stick to gentler shampoo bars. It has helped my dandruff, but occasionally, I still need to break out the strong stuff.
I have very fine, thin hair and at times I’m still trying to find things that work for me. One major thing that has improved my hair is only washing it twice a week and the fact that all our water is filtered straight from the faucets in the house. I’m so worried my hair isn’t going to be as healthy when I find my own place and they have unfiltered water 😢
I use the historically inspired hair care called “I have chronic fatigue yet having long hair is the only way to keep my sanity“.
It consists of constantly wearing my hair in braids, never washing it and brushing it every day or two.
Surprisingly it’s less uncomfortable than you‘d expect!
_never_ washing it?
Maybe. Depends on the hair and scalp type.
@@marialouise3450 probably a hyperbole
fellow CFS spoonie here. I wear the scrunchie ponytail daily and washing depends on energy levels, but mine gets itchy at the end of 3 days. Styles best on days 2 and 3, though! I have "river otter just climbed onto the bank hair", shiny but drippy-flat and fine. I miss having braiding energy, especially when travelling.
Brushing must definitely be a major component of the that routine.
Toughest lesson in haircare?
Possibly the sad fact that sometimes, when you find (totally by chance) your perfect shampoo that allows for the almost once a week washing that you've been used to as a child and provides the right amount of care to keep your hair in the state you like them being in, you can happily use it only for as long as the manufacturer decides to make and sell it. True, I had some fifteen happy years with that shampoo. But now it's been gone forever for almost five years and my hair is sad.
I had the same experience. Plus I have many scent allergies. It took me years and quite a bit of money to experiment with the expensive horrible shampoos that were scent free. I finally found a shampoo bar that worked for my hair, scalp and nose
This is my experience ( though I wash my waist length hair twice a week). Manufacturers keep discontinuing the simple inexpensive shampoos that work for my thick, not too oily, not too dry hair, and replacing them with more expensive "nourishing" or "volumising" or "clarifying" shampoos.
This, hands down. I had one shampoo that worked absolute wonders for my mixed type hair with seborrhoeic dermatitis sprinkled in for a good measure, but they have stopped selling it somewhere soon after the main waves of COVID came to an end. I have not managed to find a shampoo that works right for me ever since, and am honestly this close to just trying to recreate the recipe from a saved photo of the ingredients...
This seems to be cycling faster and faster now, too! Even established brands are rotating out old formulas to keep up with the latest fads only to have to replace *those* in like 6 months 😢
this is why i started phasing out storebought products and started making my own haircare stuff. can't lose access to something only i make!
I think a big part of this conversation is the frustration people feel about their hair, wandering around in the dark trying to find their perfect regimen, bumping into a bunch of random stuff along the way
I was in my teens and early twenties when fantasy media featuring women with butt length hair and braids thicker than my arm was all the rage. As someone with very fine and thin hair, it definitely gave me a bit of a complex, especially when all of the hair influencers who had won the genetic hair lottery kept on telling me that it was because I wasn't taking care of my hair correctly. If I don't wash my hair for two days, I can plaster it to my scalp with its own grease. No, it does not magically self adjust if I wash it less frequently. Anyways, I think one of the best messages I ever heard from someone who did hairstyles on UA-cam was that women frequently used hair pieces to achieve historical hairstyles and that women with really long and full hair were just as much the exception then as now.
@kirstenpaff8946 BIG time, that! A complex. I have always had a decent amount of hair on my head, but when I tried doing the intricate styles (like Padmé from Star Wars), it was sorely lacking! Then I see people with GORGEOUS amounts and able to so it without needing extra. 😭 We all have varying amounts of hair on our heads, just like our bodies. Though, when I lost a lot after my emergency appendectomy 2 years ago, I definitely cried! But no matter what, there is no product out there that will drastically affect how much we grow. 🩷
you know the twins with like past their butt curly hair on ig yeah thats fake because their hair would some how still be past their butt in a high ponytail and still be the same when down or straightened and people still believe thats their real hair
My biggest haircare lesson of the past few years was learning to keep it under a hat when I'm in the sun. I go outside a lot and it was getting bleached and fragile from sun exposure. Historical hats and bonnets were also functional haircare, turns out.
After I sunburned my scalp badly last year I've also been discovering hats for summer, Honestly such great inventions for protecting the hair and scalp. Historical people knew what was up
When I had hip length hair, I learned from the long hair community online how to use a natural bristle brush and braid my hair at night so it wouldn't get too tangled. One notable thing about that method is that it tends to remove natural curliness for many hair types. The long defined-curls look relies on getting the hair wet regularly and not brushing it afterwards. I missed having hair volume around my face.
That’s what I didn’t like too! My hair’s thick so I also had to section my hair to brush it with a bristle brush. Now I have a plastic detangling brush that can brush all my hair without sectioning and it’s easier to clean than a bristle brush. It doesn’t redistribute the oils but I don’t mind, I just use an oil on my ends more often
🧀 😊
Might be worth seeing if you can comb, then get the curls/waves to come back by getting your hair only minimally wet.
I can usually get a reasonable amount of curl back into mine by running water on my hands, and then gently scrunching my hair with my hands as wet as possible. It doesn't get too wet, no need for towels, and fine to leave the house immediately unless it's really cold.
In summer I'm happy to let my hair get soaked when I shower for the cooling - wearing it wet to high school was how I learned I have curly hair. A friend saw it and asked why on earth I wore it so sad and fluffy all the time - when it's CURLY and gorgeous!
As you noted, combing it when it's wet, or brushing, erases the curls and leaves you with fluffy hair.
Braiding it wet after combing will also put some waves back into it, but I don't happen to like the look, or the logistics as much.
I may have a modern, dyed, straight pixie cut, but i will always get excited when you post a new historical hair video!
@@Sewcial-Anxietea me too!
I tried historical hair care promoted by an influencer and my hair started falling out. I have super fine hair and I have come to the conclusion I need to wash my hair with a clarifying shampoo every other day. My hair can’t tolerate any oil added to it or dry shampoo. Any build up causes damage!
Same. I have fine hair and need to wash it every day or else my scalp gets SOO itchy and greasy. No amount of training can be done to it, because I have seborrheic dermatitis, and letting it get greasy for days on end would literally make me feel like there's a fire on my head.
I do suppose however, that covering my hair with a linen scarf and braiding it away from my face could allow me to go 2 days instead of one without washing, but I'm not sure that would really make my hair grow healthier or faster, as it grows very fast even without that, and is shiny and healthy.
If you're looking for an oil that aborbs well into fine hair, I would suggest "Argan Oil of Morocco" by the brand OGX. The oil comes in a spray form that you apply while your hair is damp. I suggest you wait 15-20 minutes after applying before blow drying your hair (or let it air dry, up to you). I use this oil sparingly, it's cheap, and it works wonders. Glad someone like you understands my struggles! 😅
Fun note: seeing this video pop up reminded me that I needed to "wash" my hair, ie apply my custom hair powder (which I mixed together after researching several different commercial hair powders and dry shampoos specifc for redheads and then made my own) because it's something I can do while already dressed since it's the middle of the week and my hair is too long to take less than an hour in the shower with a full washing and conditioning cycle. And yeah, my biggest haircare lesson was twofold: one, that I really didn't need to wash my hair with that full cycle more than once a month if I'm using the hair powder and the wooden combs and boar bristle brush the rest of the month, and two, buying the ingredients to those hair powders (arrowroot flour, ashwagandha powder, guarana powder, cocoa powder, cornstarch, and Indian red clay) to mix up my own custom blend in a big glass jar that lasts two years was a lot more cost effective than spending $30 on a small jar on Amazon that would only last a month before I have to buy more. My hair is a lot stronger and softer now than it was with the "wash daily for oily hair" routine that was pushed on me as a kid. 😂
about the only historical-adjacent thing I've bonded with is sewing it up with ribbons. it spreads the weight of long, thick hair that I want up in hot weather/on the dancefloor. it's much more comfortable, even if I'm doing it in what looks like a modern bun.
doing actual historical haircare feels like a lot more work. either you've got to take on a whole alien-to-us system of haircare OR you'll need to experiment a hell of a lot to build a personal hybrid routine
The biggest thing i learned was that my 2C hair would not, could not, will never take 3C oils.
I learned the hard way after a move that solid shampoo bars (or at least the ones I used to get) and hard water do *not* mix. I went two months wondering why my hair was getting more and more grungy despite changing nothing about my routine, until it was literally matted so solid I couldn't brush it. Then I "gave up" (taking care of yourself is *never* a bad thing, but it's how my brain framed it at the time) and bought a more acidic clarifying shampoo, and that plus a couple of hours of brushing fixed the issue literally overnight.
Hu think you've just solved a mystery
Yup, same. The hard water buildup makes my curly hair look absolutely fried after a while (even worse with solid shampoos) and I had somehow forgotten that I need a good clarifying/chelating shampoo to keep those locks bouncy for, like, a year! Literally took one wash (I put the shampoo on dry hair as a mask for a bit before showering) for the horrible matted looking non-curling clumps to go back to their normal curl pattern.
Lush has one bar that is supposed to be good for hard water. I found that hard water and soap bars don't mix while studying abroad. I didn't take lush because it wasn't accessible until I was abroad. With a lot of fragrance allergies I was afraid to try anything new for a while until I broke and did a diy method because stores were already closed 😅.
Yeah. I really wanted to love soap-based shampoo bars, but I live in a hard water area and it was awful, even with vinegar rinses. That said, there are solid shampoo bars (i.e., detergents, not actual soap) out there. One from Ethique has been working well for me.
My daughter has her hair to mid thigh, she never had a real haircut, I cut the ends maybe once a year, when the ends get too scraggly. I brush and braid her hair every day, no way I would let her go to school with loose hair that long, and she also sleeps with a braid. She just started to wash her hair with shampoo a few months back. She does it maybe once every 2-3 weeks, she is 11 years old. Before that water in the shower and brushing was enough with a no-poo washing every 2-3 months. Teenage hormones made her hair more oily. Not the same thing will work for the same person depending on the period of life you are in so you have to adapt your methods to that too.
When I let it grow long, I have very curly, but very dry, hair. In the past I've tried so many routines to "manage" it, trying to find the magic that would give me a style that I was satisfied with, but wouldn't take a significant part of my day. What I've learned is that my favorite style is the near pixie cut of my photo, occasionally colored, washed with an inexpensive baby shampoo a couple of times a week, combed, and allowed to air dry. No products. No heat. If needed, I'll spritz it with a little water before running my brush through it. I love the look of long hair on others, just not on me!
It's super lovely and your glasses compliment it well :)
I brush every day with a modern hair brush, multiple times a day. I wash once a fortnight. I oil my hair as it needs it, plus extremely oil it the night before wash day, then use a purple shampoo and a regular conditioner on wash day. Then i use a heat protector and leave in conditioner and blow dry. I wear it in an English braid and protect with headscarves. I also work manual labour as a luthier, basically I make and play violins, violas, cellos and basses.
Yeah, for female luthiers ! I've only ever met male luthiers !
Noticed you didn't mention mandolins? My favorite stringed instrument!
The "exotic ingredients" angle gets interesting when they're African origin and markted to Black diaspora. Madam CJ Walker promoted her hair growing formula as something she got in a dream, and containing African ingredients. A more recent brand, Shea Moisture, uses a similar marketing and product tactic, only inspired by a trip to Africa.
I think the idea is the ingredients are supposed to both be exotic and nostalgia inducing.
I think their sales tactic was less exoticism and more returning to/ embracing ethnic roots. They were catering to people who were neglected when it came to readily available products on the basis of race.
Where I live we have yearly shutdowns of central hot water supply for 2 to 3 weeks. Usually people get around by labourously heating pots of water and washing hair in basins (like, flatter bowls for washing stuff?). I used to do it too but as I have relatively long hair (around my waist long, never grew longer) doing it really becomes a chore.
So, a few years back I stumbled upon your video about hair routine and maybe some similar from Abby Cox - and I decided to try out meticulous brushing, constant braiding and and covering at the very least the top of my head with bandana. The no-hot-water period was upon and I started the experiment. It worked perfectly! I didn't had any fancy occasions during that time, but otherwise my hair looked very good. I washed it once or twice during that time as far as I can remember - and it was enough to look and feel good. Since than I've doing brushing and headcovering for every summer (headcover also helps against heat stroke). I believe once I went through the whole no-hot-water period without washing my hair and my hair was fine!
Yeah, it's completely personal how to care for your hair (I, for example, found my perfect shampoo and conditioner combo and keep using it) and adding some historical or foreign practices just can help greatly!
So, thanks for your original video, SnappyDragon!
My husband recently brought me really expensive shampoo and conditioner from a „top-stylist“. he was a little sad, as i told him, that it was unprofessional of the stylist to just ask about my hair colour and then „know“ what my ideal Shampoo would be.
My biggest aha-moment was in your haircare video when you talked about how brushing/combing distributes the oils throughout the hair, making it look less oily (which you again mentioned here). I had long wanted to get away from having to wash my hair every 2-3 days and this is what finally did it! Regular brushing, and dry shampoo after 4 days or so. I still use modern products but OMG my hair *loves* not being washed so much ❤
I discovered that my super fine, thinning hair really like being combed out and braided, especially for sleeping. Also that it seems to have an unlimited appetite for protein, and doesn't care for soap or detergent.
So now it stays mostly braided, gets combed and brushed out regularly, and gets washed every 7-9 days with a homemade clay and egg wash of my own concocting. It's very happy with this arrangement, and has gotten significantly fuller (I'm not sunburning my scalp anymore.), and longer - at least 3-4" longer than I've ever managed to grow it before. And since I love fancy braiding, I'm pretty happy too!
My hair is mid-back and thick/dry/3B. I work in a MIG welding factory. It would be neat to learn how women in factories in the 18th century kept their hair nice.
If you look at any "Rosie the riveter" type of posters, most wore kerchiefs on their hair !
Braids or pinned curls wrapped up in a scarf and possibly powdered the scalp like dry shampoo.
My guess would be that women worrying on the factory floor in the 1700s would not be able to afford to have long hair in nice styles, either financially or safetywise. Children in factories in the 18th and 19th centuries had their hair cut short to avoid it being caught in the machinery, and I think women would too. Hats and scarves cover a multitude of hair issues, including the shortness or absence of hair.
Better safety conditions over the 20th century, and more photographs and filming in the factories meant that Rosie the riveter scarves were popular in the mid 1900s. I tie my hair up like that while gardening to keep it cleaner.
I use a combination of modern and historical hair care methods. I’d already been stretching out my time between hair washes for 8 years when I watched the PrettyShepherd’s video about how she washes her hair once a month. And then I started doing that and pretty soon I was stumbling upon all sorts of historical hair care videos and I started incorporating some of the things that fit my hair care needs.
This made me laugh so hard, in a recognise this so hard good way. 🙂 I've got the curls, out a ruler straight hair family. Been through years of my mum trying to treat it the same as hers, the no-poo method when little kid me rebelled (itchy scalp and all), and daft exoticism of her shoving afro care products at me.
Thank god I got sent to my Nanna's to a wee while, because her hair was dead short mum forgot it's curly. Fixed at sorted from looking like sheep dragged backwards through a hedge to ringles in 2 goes. (Still probably wasn't brilliant, but was first time I ever loved my hair). Sometimes family knowledge is this missing step.
@@vickymc9695 I had a similar experience, though my mother’s hair is very curly. She’s spent her whole life trying to brush/iron/bend it straight. It would look great (natural curls) when she came out of a salon, but would immediately brush it out when she got home. She even bought a diffuser, then proceeded to use the spacer nubs to rake through her hair while blow drying.
It literally took me until my 40s and a whole lot of very generous Black women on UA-cam to learn how to care for my 3C curls. I’m forever grateful for them for sharing knowledge that my family just never developed. ❤️
Thanks for another cool video, Vi! Perhaps it's because I am a senior now, but I noticed that the only thing you didn't talk about was the fact that your hair care needs can change as you grow older. I have baby-fine hair but have always had a lot of it. It's also wavy in a time when straight is the 'thing' to be. I finally embraced the way my hair is in my thirties. However, as I've started to age, it became more and more clear that the ways of caring for my hair as well as the styles themselves had to change, or I'd lose it all! I appreciate your many videos of hair care, both historical and modern methods, as you try to help your viewers attain their dreams of perfect hair. They've helped me more than you know. But the truth is, there is no such thing! We are human and women, so we will play and experiment with it until we no longer can. I no longer wash mine every day or have long hair because I want to have healthy hair. I've finally found a style I can live with too. It is possible to look in the mirror and be happy! Thanks for helping me get there! 😊
Things that work well for my hair are: using an old-fashioned (and old!) bristle brush, gently, and being sure to brush my scalp as well; washing as infrequently as I can get away with (luckily I don’t have greasy hair); and wearing it braided most of the time. I just wish it hadn’t got thinner as I aged!
I honestly just use Jamaican black castor oil. I use a wooden comb to scratch some of the sebum off my scalp, brushes to get more sebum off, and just leave my hair in braids for a week or two. I don’t really wash my hair often, maybe once every few months.
As someone going through menopause, trying to understand how my hair changes is crazy, like it is suddenly developing a wave. I have come to realize part of always having flyaway static hair is it is super dry, my needs are definitely different to others hair care.
I think a lot of people don't realize how much you hair will change as you age. My somewhat oily hair in my mid 20s, at 60 is now quite dry - and post menopausal it has become wavier since hormone changes also impact your hair. You need to evaluate your hair care routine every few years to see if what you are doing is still the best choice.
This. I've gone the opposite way--my hair used to be curly, but now it's mostly just wavy. My hair isn't dry, but my scalp is noticeably less oily and I'm certainly not going to complain about that aspect of menopause!
I’m learning how to do good things for my curly hair. It’s a journey. My hair is fine, thick, and very elastic so the curl pulls out when I comb it. Things that work for a lot of other people do not work for me. But I’m doing better now than I was last year or the year before, or ten years ago. I’ll take it.
Learning that I could use corn starch instead of dry shampoo was a game-changer for me.
And learning about protective hair styling for white people was definitely a game-changer for my mom, but it worked TOO well and she stopped being able to take care of her hair because it became too long and too full for her because it stopped thinning out through breakage.
"protective hair styling for white people" - say more about this, please!! all of us with non-afro-textured hair could probably learn a thing or two!
@@_oaktree_ I assume braids and covering - that’s how a lot of people dealt with their hair before daily washing was possible
@@_oaktree_ I’m curious too. Just commenting so I get notified if there’s any more answers!
@_oaktree_ SnappyDragon actually did a video about it! Historically there were a lot of ways Europeans styled their hair to protect it. Most of it comes down to braids, knots, and covering, but honestly leaving it there is like someone asking about afro-texture protective styling and someone saying "just braid it." Styles utilized things like hair taping (Morgan Donner did a video about that a while ago as well) and hair sticks. A common method for knots is literally just tying your hair in a knot and securing it with a hair stick which keeps most of the hair protected on the inside of the knot and distributes the weight more evenly across the many strands. Hair taping does something similar by braiding and then essentially using cords or ribbons and a tapestry needle to sew the braids the way you want them to lay on your head so the weight of the hair isn't pulling down all day. Stuff like that.
I use a minimum of modern product (shampoo, conditioner worked in well, light gel). I wash every two weeks, dry halfway in a wrap (or with a '70s helmet-style dryer when I need it done quickly) and I rarely brush it. I detangle with my fingers. It works for me and it's so much less expensive than using all the recommended products every day.
I've been going to a hairdressing school weekly for perhaps 3 years (and was having my hair done by apprentices for a good 10-15 years prior to that). I go every week except during term breaks/school holidays, and each week, a student will practice washing & setting my hair. My starting point is usually a photo of Elizabeth Taylor in the 50s. During term breaks, I try to set my own hair, and sometimes it comes out looking ok.
Every 6 weeks or so, apprentices practise scalp bleaching and colouring my hair as it's all purple now. I go once a year or so, usually in winter, to my old salon to get a qualified hairdresser to trim my hair. This way, by summer, it's long enough again to easily put up in a bun or french braids.
I for sure find that my hair stays long and more healthy when I end up wearing my hair in my helmet at competition. I also get really really lazy and just don’t spend much time washing it with more than just water until I am done since I am just going to wear it up and it is easier to keep it neat if it has a little bit of natural oils etc.
But really when people always ask me how I grow my hair so long I just answer “ I don’t cut it?” It is that simple for me. I just let it grow and maybe trim it when the ends look like they need it. If my hair isn’t up, I try to wear it in a braid so it is less tangled.
Something that has really surprised me over the years (I'm 51, fwiw) is how much my hair has changed as I've gone through different periods of my life. Shockingly curly when I was pregnant, straighter and finer now that I'm older, etc. Products and styles and even tools change as my hair has changed.
Keeping my hair pinned up and covered the majority of the time has definitly made it lengthen more quickly with a lot less damage (it's now almost thigh length and very healthy)
I concur on that frustration with difficulty in doing braided styles with layered hair.... However, with shorter hair I can wear it down more.... I just need to find more ways to do the updos with this new hair of mine!
One thing that I hear gets touted often is "the longer your hair gets, the less you have to wash it."
HA!
The amount of sebum my scalp produces has not changed since my hair is now down to my lower back. I still have to wash it fairly frequently.
I will say dry shampoo (home made and commercial) has helped me artificially extend periods between washing.
The only truly helpful advice I've found were 1) Find out if your home has hard or soft water, and B) See if you have low, medium or high porosity hair.
Thank you for this video! ❤I’m a licensed esthetician and I feel like this relates a lot to the skincare industry as well. I’ve been educating my clients for years on these topics. Especially with marketing and pop culture.
Realistic expectations are key. I have fine, slow growing hair. I wanted thick, long, shiny waves for my wedding. So I did the realistic thing and got extensions.
Hair care recepies from my grandmother: Brush your hair well every day (100 slow strokes recommended) and use a natural cow or buffalo horn comb or an animal bristle brush (boar, goat or badger). Wash hair before the weekend and use a pot of chamomile tea with la squirt of lemon juice to rinse.
Eat well, sleep well. Get enough vitamin D by getting enough light and good oils. Eat eggs and dairy only from free-range animals, they need sun, to produce vitamin D, too. For minerals, eat millet.
ugh all those people who told me (a person with very greasy hair and scalp) that I just need to "train" my hair
I have very fine hair, washing it more than twice a week strips away all my natural oils and it becomes a fly away mess. Actually every 5 days is about perfect. Also twice daily brushing with a natural bristle brush.
I started growing my hair since I want to see it at its longest before my health and meds ruin it, so I really like protective techniques a freaking lot.
I started using bar of shampoo from a lady who home makes them. She does SCA and had a class on how to make your own soap. My hair is fine and thin, gets oily quick. The bar of shampoo has worked so well for me thus far. The only problem I have is growth. My hair grows as slow as a snail. Have not found a method to help grow it faster, but I am learning to live with what I have.
Odd question but how do you get bar shampoo off again? I can never get it to rinse out when I've tried lol
@@vickymc9695maybe a diluted vinegar rinse?
I started doing historical hair care and I learned my hair is not straight at all. It's actually curly, but all the modern products I've used in my life have been damaging my pattern. I'm still figuring stuff out, but I've learned a lot about my hair and what my lifestyle can accommodate in the mean time. Maybe one day I'll figure it out 😂
When i was growing up people were telling me washing my hair was bad for it and i should do it as rarely as possible, so i washed it once a week. This was terrible for my hair and i was never happy with it until i started gradually washing it more frequently in my 20s. Now i rinse it with water every day and shampoo every other day, and comb and blow dry. No other products. Works great for me!
Boy Pajama V is on a roll today! 😂😂 maybe you should throw a pillow at her.😉😂😂 So a little over a year ago my daughter watched a video on victorian hair oiling and wanted to try it out. I have to admit as someone who has always had bad hair, always breaking and stubbornly straight and always frizzy, all the pictures of the gorgeous long locks was pretty enticing. Still I went into this experiment with her seriously doubting it would do any good. So down the rabbit hole we went and did our due diligence in researching oils and their properties. Since I had already started making soap at this point it gave me a good idea of what to look for. It lead to some interesting cultural research too. Specifically things like black women oiling their hair with castor oil. Very cool I didn't know that. Not too many black ladies that I know that have don't have their hair relaxed and straightened for them. Never occurred to me to ask them about their hair since I had vastly different hair. I have a dear friend who was more than happy to tell me about her weekly hair oiling routine for her and her little girl. I dove deeper since this was a homeschool project and after finding various recipes and other things we finally settled on trying out a ayuvedic hairl oil recipe we wanted to try. Since I was starting to get back into herbology I figured we would give it a go together. As the year went on and I studied more I added certain oils and adding light weight oils to my tips. Together we did our weekly oiling routine and after about 3 months I started noticing my hair was different. It was no longer stubbornly straight frizzy and everywhere with no hope of keeping it tamed outside of a bun or French braid. Even those couldn't keep my hair tamed. My hair became softer and more manageable. I didn't skip the shampooing but I did add in a conditioner. After shampooing all that oil out of my hair, it needed the conditioner. My hair has also developed a soft wave and feels softer. I started measuring my hair length at the end of the summer as my hair has felt longer and my husband noticing that it looked longer. I have since grown about 6 inches in length and my braids have become noticeably thicker. What started out as a fun homeschool experiment, turn into part of my hair routine. But I have to say when it's 115 out having oil in your hair feels gross and you look forward to washing it out. I can honestly say that o learned a lot about haircare since. I think I missed your viking hair video so I think I'm going to watch that video next. I'm sure to learn something new about my hair. 😉
My hair is long and wavy/curly (humidity makes a difference), but also very fine and thin. My scalp has become visible in the last few years, thanks to menopause and PCOS. I cover it because I'm an Orthodox Jewish married woman, which I did for decades before it got this bad. I currently wash my hair once a week with modern shampoo, followed by conditioner, and a lightweight leave-in conditioner for curly hair. I let it air dry, occasionally scrunching and shaking it. I also sleep on a satin pillowcase. The satin pillowcase keeps the tangles down, but otherwise, I really haven't seen any change in the curls. They exist however they choose. Not washing my hair does make my shower routine much faster, though. Good for work nights. :)
Biggest thing I've learned about my haircare was about my hair becoming curly after menopause. I tried all sorts of products, talked to a lot of folks with curly hair about how to take care of it and I finally figured out that how I've always had my hair in front (brushed straight back until dry) is still how I want it. I let the back go curly crazy, but cannot stand it curling around my face. So sticking with how I've always done my hair still works for me.
I wash my hair once a week and keep it in braids and buns pretty much all the time. If my scalp gets oily or itchy I do an oil treatment. It's not perfect but it works.
I appreciate the discussion on getting pulled in by marketing, starting at 8:36; it's always important to be aware of how easy it is to believe bullshit simply because a familiar face is repeating it, and now with AI flooding the zone, it's requires more effort to fact check things--but we absolutely must be on our guards, and put forth that effort. /tangential rant
My biggest moment of self-knowledge caveat a fairly. early age: I was in Middle School when the whole French Braid fad was all the rage. I bought into it with a passion. Two problems, though: 1. I have curly, frizz-prone hair, so to make it easier to French braid it required blow-drying it straight, and braiding it tight. Which leads us to problem 2. I suffer from migraine headaches. Those super tight braids may have been stylish, but they triggered the migraines like nobody's business. I gave up on the tight French braids pretty quickly. Just the memory is painful. My biggest self-care these days is shampooing just the roots and scalp of my hair as needed (maybe once a week), and using a good conditioner on the rest of my hair. Depending on the weather and my hair's needs, I will use different products on my hair to style it. Sometimes I will style it straight, sometimes I will just let it curl. And I love my long, beautiful, feminine, wavy, sometimes slightly frizzy hair.
My most notable self awareness moments were when I realized that I needed to "clean off"/groom my scalp more often, and that it helps my hair if I either protect it from dust & debris in the environment, or, rinse it out regularly (both came from the points you addressed in your no wash for a month video)
My biggest thing has been finger combing instead of using a brush and sleeping with it tied up/in a bonnet. I have fine thin hair with a big loose wave to it. Gotta protect it where I can so it stays on my head as long as possible! I also went from washing every day to every other day. If I go more than 2 days I look like a wet rat and my scalp is unhappy.
For me and my dead straight hair, I wash it once a week, shampoo and conditioner, but use a fine spray of argon oil on my boar bristle brush once or twice a week. I brush my hair every day and use a wooden comb to help control the frizz from brushing my hair. It works and keeps my hair from feeling greasy and dirty!
My biggest mistake is both too much and too little washing!! Got thick pin-straight hair. My hair and scalp gets super dry and gross at either end of the spectrum, so the max I can really do is what I do now, roughly every 3-4 days. As I am growing it out, I've been keeping it in a bandana to keep it out of my face and it's helped keep it cleaner/hides when I miss a wash!
braids. single braid, single braid pinned up, or braided pigtails (soooooo much easier to brush). I wash my hair once or twice a week. When I blow dry, I keep it on cool and focus on my scalp, only squeezing the ends with a towel and letting it air dry.
Trying to find a comb I like, considering covering it
edited to add: biggest hair care lesson I learned was not to bleach my hair twice in one day. ow. that hurt!!!
I learned that brushes/combs are just as important as products! I used to use one of those plastic brushes with the dots on the end of the tines. It was so hard on my hair; I always had breakage and discomfort. Then a friend gave me a traditional Japanese wooden comb and it changed my hair so much! It never catches on my hair and it helps distribute my scalp oil. It's honestly perfect for my fine, static-prone hair that is only washed once a week.
I use a combination of modern and historical hair care methods. I’d been stretching out my hair washing time for 8 years when I watched the PrettyShepherd’s video about how she washes her hair once a month. And then I started doing that and pretty soon I was stumbling upon all sorts of historical hair care videos and I started incorporating some of the things that fit my hair care needs.
I needed this video years ago, because it took me a long time on my own to come to the same conclusions. As someone with a long beard I've become frustrated with reading arcticles about ancient hair care only for it really to be an ad for the author's beard care line which was not directed related to the ancient hair care (such as an article about Ancient Greek beard care and a beard oil with a jojoba oil base, an oil unavailable to the Ancient Greeks). And then when I did the research and would use actual products and techniques and it still not work... because I used modern dyes and had a modern diet with modern water, modern issues like air pollution and air conditioning and global warming, and I live in a land very far away from Greece (or Scandinavia, or Babylon, or India, or Persia). I do find benefit from some things but also had to adapt it to myself while also realizing my goals were likely different in some ways not only to ancient people but even to modern day people with beards.
The blend of historical and modern haircare is so good. I have dry, low porosity hair by nature so I typically wash it once or twice a week with shampoo and conditioner bars (I also use a leave-in conditioner), and I use a fine tooth comb to clean it every night. It works marvelously
i love your videos so much. thank you for creating content ♥️
My biggest hair care lesson was learning the curly girl method and then letting go of about half of it. I had smooth wavy hair as a child but it turned thick and frizzy as a young teen. My mom had straight hair and had no idea what to do with it (other than make me brush it and not believe that I did because it looked worse)
The curly girl method was the first time I truly learned how to appreciate and style my curly hair and not just straighten it. I did later learn that it’s not all or nothing and that if no - poo activates my dandruff then I need sulfates.
My hair used to be long, straight, oily and highly resistant to curling of any kind. Mom tried home perms on me a couple of times, but it was gone by the second washing. I suffered as one of the few teenage girls in the early 90's that didn't have that "satellite dish" hairstyle 😂
Then I hit 30 something. It switched from oily to dry. I stopped washing it my usual once a week because it makes it even more brittle. I'm sure it's also affected by my current local water supply.
I currently use the comb twice a day method.
Also: got an ad for dermaplaining, whatever that is...
My best learned hair thing is that my own oils work better than anything else. I will never go back. It takes longer with all the combing---but, that in itself is amazing as I was never able to get a comb through my hair previously.
I learned I love Pantene and washing three times per week!
I picked up tips from historical haircare so I would need to was my hair less often since it's too tiring to do it more than once a week. I switched all my plastic brushes and combs for wooden or horn ones and I constanly wear my hair braided, brushing it once a day. I noticed just how drastically this method helped me with all the fatigue generated by haircare and now I can use that energy doing other things. Also keeping my hair long requires so much less care than when I briefly had short hair, I was very surprised.
My biggest hair lesson? My hair HATES silicone, after I went silicone free, my hair got curlier (a lot like V's), thicker, and less frizzy. However, no poo is not for me, I wash every every 4 to 7 days, usually use a sulfate-free shampoo, however, occasionally I'll use a clarifying shampoo with sulfates. That's been my routine for 6 or 7 years, but now that my grays are coming in my hair texture is changing and I need to use more products and add moisture, and I shortened up to a shoulder length layered bob. Bonus on that one: My hair is even curlier now! Still more exploring needed on the ideal routine for my *NEW* hair... IT'S A JOURNEY.....
Toughest haircare lesson. Combing my curly hair is good for my scalp. With a wide tooth comb and good gel and day two products I can keep modern curls for a least a few days. And with my u shaped cut after the first few days a good combing and brushing gives me vintage waves
I have VERY LONG hair(past my bum) and it takes so so so long to dry so I started looking in to dry cleansing methods for my winter hair care because it is too cold to have wet hair.
Thank you for the amazing vids
Another chronic fatigue patient here and honestly I had to just learn to let my hair be most of the time to suit my current energy levels. It has adapted pretty well to being washed only once a week, I keep it up for the last 2-3 days of the week. But I'm still looking for ways to keep my scalp less irritated, I think my hair could easily go longer than a week but my scalp gets itchy by day 6-7 so I have to wash the whole thing. Still, so much better and easier than every other day which is what I used to do!
I use a mix of historical and modern hair care. I have fairly curly hair, but since I'm trying to grow it out to see just how long my hair can get (currently just past my butt!), my hair is heavy enough to mess up my curl pattern. So I wear it up all the time, usually in a milkmaid/braided crown style, since it's fast, looks nice, and doesn't cause headaches from the weight of my hair pressing the pins into my scalp. My scalp tends to be quite dry, so I only need to wash about every week to week and a half, using a double-sided wooden comb and ligntly oiling the ends most days, but when I wash, that's when I go modern. I double shampoo, brush the conditioner through, and finish off with a leave-in conditioner with uv protection (among other benefits). I also go over my ends pretty regularly and trim any split ends that I catch.
I looked to historical hair care briefly because chronic illness has made it difficult for me to shower more than once a week. So far I haven't really found anything easy to do that isn't super labor-intensive (which for me means fatigue), but I did start using dry shampoo to occasionally get me through the week after I learned that it actually does sort of clean your hair of excess oil the way historical powder did. So it helped a little, but I still haven't found a way to care for my hair that doesn't wear me out. 😕
I’d be really interested in knowing what your routine is during low periods. Since my low energy routine is to just about give up on hair care, it’d be great to know some practical tips for haircare when raising my arms to my head is excruciating.
Don't know if would help, a gal I knew did French braids by lying down on a bed, with her hair cascading down boyh sides of one corner. (Her body was across/diagonal on the bed. Her head in the corner) You'ld still be raising your arms, but maybe it would be less ?
I learned that as handy as dry shampoo is, I can't use it without experiencing itching, particularly around my eyes, even though I was careful to keep the spray in my hair and not in my face. I do better with regular brushing and washing my hair a couple times a week. I also leave it braided most of the time. I like the way it looks loose, but my hair is hip-length at this point, and it's just too inconvenient down.
I have made a lot of interesting discoveries as of late. Probably the biggest is that you don't need a brush or a comb to detangle your hair. Finger detangling takes longer, but it's more cathartic and gentler on your hair. This works well for me as a busy person who was frustrated by always keeping a brush in my bag. I can use my frickin' fingers!
Also, that there is a difference between hair growth and hair retention
I've learned how my hair and scalp are happiest in a desert, but if I ever move somewhere with humidity I'll have to completely relearn my hair! The fact that my desert routine is extremely low maintenance, which works with my disabilities, means that I can have fingertip length hair, but I'm pretty sure I would have to cut it shorter if I lived elsewhere.
I love this conversation, it makes so much sense to me!
the main thing i've done since learning about historical hair care is i've started brushing my hair with a boar bristle brush. when i use it depends on a bunch of other things too but it's been a really nice addition to my toolkit. i have wavy hair so i usually use product to form waves and brushing through disrupts that. but i wash my hair once a week and usually around day 5 or sometimes day 4, my scalp starts feeling a bit itchy and my ends get SUPER dry, so i'll start brushing my hair then. some weeks like this week i don't do any styling at all and just brush my hair every day. i helped my aunt move house recently and i wasn't able to get enough time to wash my hair for 2 weeks (also we lost the shower curtains so i couldn't wash it anyway) and the boar bristle brush helped SO much. i thought i would look like a greaseball when i realized on what was supposed to be my wash day that i didn't have time or a proper shower to wash my hair. but i just brushed and my hair did get a bit too oily for my taste but it looked sleek and shiny and my scalp felt fine too.
historical haircare has some gems. you just need to figure out what works best for you
Corn starch and a stiff brush makes a great dry shampoo for anyone else who'd like to stop buying so many cans and help save the planet.
What’s worked the best for me is Dove bar as a bar shampoo weekly. My hair used to tangle so terribly when I used a modern liquid shampoo.
I have low porosity straight hair that not chemically treated in any way.
I didn't cut my hair off before I had chemo. When some people have chemo, all their hair falls out, I only lost most of mine.
My hair is very fine and I'd grown it to about 12 to 15 inches long. When it's that long, it tends to have a distinct curl towards the ends. Unlike some people who end up with "the pillow looking like a German Shepherd slept on it" with their chemo hair loss (it all falls out at the one time), a lot of my dropped hairs slid down so that the curly ends got caught on the curly ends that were still attached to my scalp and I'd end up with Gordian knots.
In the end I gave up and got a buzz cut (at no. 6 or about 3/4 of an inch long). My hair is so fine that the cutter pushed some of the hair out the way, rather than catching it and cutting it, and so the hairdresser had to deal with some of it with scissors.
I am somewhat surprised that the regrowth is coloured (I'm elderly and most of my hair was white before chemo, although I dyed it) and not nearly as curly as I expected. I still don't have anything resembling a full head of hair.
Thanks for more hair info.
I’m kind of in the process of figuring out my ideal hair care routine as someone who has taken to covering my hair with a snood (or more accurately, a snood-like crocheted veil), trying to balance health, comfort, and the neglect I can "get away with" because my hair is not visible and thus not subject to outside judgement. Some of this involves trying to favour linen and other natural yarns for my head covering and using a boar bristle brush, but I’m still working on it.
My biggest takeaway is using a fine tooth comb on my scalp. I have a very itchy scalp, and washing is not the solution, I hope this works
I wash my hair every two weeks with "gentle" products, and yes, my hair is becoming oily. Probably a bit like in the past. With combing every day (twice a day if I have enough energy) it's fine: it looks reasonably clean, it does not itch..., but it looks "oilier" than what modern hair is supposed to look like.
But since I wear my hair most of the time braided or in a bun for work or everyday life (like women have been doing in the past to go to work...), it's fine. Oily hair works perfect with these hair styles (I have the impression that the oil protects my hair when braided). It looks a bit silly when I get my hair loose at the end of the 2 weeks period, but it's fine.
You just have to keep in mind the context: historical haircare was for *their* context, and you have to understand it if you want to apply then today (what I partially do, in my own way).
I tried all historical hair care for two years and it damaged my hair even more. What I learned afterwards, is that my hair is slighty porous, though it's very curly. Because of the curls I always thought it's high porous and added a lot of rich oils and exactly that was the problem. Now I'm back to washing once a week with a sensitive shampoo and using a light leave-in half of the time and sometimes vinegar rinse. But my curls seem to be better off without adding anything.
Hi, I did have a good time and I love the sass. I can hardly wait for the next helping of it. Yours, Ann
My hair is so fine and thin, and grows so slowly… I don’t even have to brush or comb it, I can run my fingers through it, and not hit a single snag, and it’s nearly down to my bra strap (it’s only taken about two years to get it there, from just below shoulder length).
Meanwhile, my daughter’s hair grows so fast and so thick, she has to get it cut every 3-4 weeks to maintain the shorter style she prefers. She had hair down to her waist at one point, but has been in love with her short hair for years now. lol
thank you for this!! my hair type looks a lot like yours--long, thick, curly, color-treated. i recently saw videos by a historical sewist extoling the virtues of washing with clay for growing the hair very long (waist-length? hip-length?)...but there was so much extraneous talking that i just didn't have the patience to watch the whole video. have you ever tried clay-washing? if not, would you consider researching and trying it, maybe for a month, for a video? (edit: i want dramatically longer hair, but i have malassezia and am looking for a simpler weekly routine with less washing but also less oily itchy scalp with the hair itself being dry!)
I have very thin, straight hair. I used to have so many tangles! But when I started using Rhassoul clay to clean it instead of shampoo, the tangles almost disappeared! I do that and then a rinse of water with a bit of applecider vinegar and a few drops of rosemary essential oil. With modern shampoo I was washing my hair everyday, now I'm able to have a day of no-wash in the middle, which had my weekly number of wash going from 7 to 3, max. 4. When my hair grows longer and I can braid it again, I would like to try 2/3 times a week. My biggest lesson is that short hair is not the thing for me, if I want to keep my hair healthy and don't want to wash it too often (and that my grandma was right doing the water and vinegar rinse to my hair when I was a child and had extra long hair)
toughest haircare lesson trying to find the right shampoo, conditioner and products for my post menopausal curly hair, which I'm still struggling with today
very cool, thanks!
My biggest haiir care lesson was that I can't/shouldn't use heated hair care items on my hair. They either break my hair off (curling irons) or don't really shorten waiting times (hair dryers - it took a professional stylist 2 1/2 hours to dry my hair with a salon/professional hand dryer (I watched the clock) - I told him not to, but he smirked and "he knew best".). If I let my hair air dry it'll take about 5 hours for it to fully dry, but I can be surface (visibly) dry in an hour.
Another one was that using shampoo for oily hair causes me to need to wash my hair every 2 days (I have an oily scalp), but using normal hair shampoo makes my scalp happy and I can space out washing my hair to once a week.
here's a truth I began to think would never apply to me because I saw others experience it so many years before I did I that I thought I was exempt. Hair strands thin as our hormone levels lower . I was 73 before it happened and have now accepted that it is part of being an animal lucky enough to live a long luxurious life. I do wonder about the shells of 100 year old tortoises though ?
I tried daily shampoo, not washing at all, washing with water only, at various frequencies - and in all those attempts, my scalp was greasy, flaky and itchy. The only thing that seems to really help is something I never expected - putting oil directly on my scalp. So, for the curious, here's some details about my hair and my hair routine:
- I have straight hair which is both fine and thin. Currently it is about chest length.
- I comb daily with a very fine comb. I often use a metal lice comb but I also use a very fine-toothed wooden comb. The lice comb gets washed with dish soap every time I use it. All my combs get cleaned with old toothbrushes regularly.
- I wash my hair about once a month. I'd like to do it more but I just don't have the energy. My washing routine is exhausting!
- I make my own hair oil. I infuse olive oil with cloves, bay leaves, and sometimes rosemary or cardamom. Then I mix it roughly 50/50 with castor oil.
- I use that oil on my nails too. I apply it to my hairline whenever it seems a bit itchy or flaky.
- The night before I wash my hair, I apply hair oil liberally all over my scalp. I also put jojoba oil on the length of my hair.
- After that, I wrap my hair in a silk scarf to sleep. I had a lot of trouble with the scarf falling off until I found a method that works for me.
- In the morning, I take a shower. I first rinse my hair out with warm water. Then I apply rhassoul clay (about 50/50 clay to water) to my scalp with a hair dye bottle and massage it in. Then I put my hair up with clips and wait about 30 minutes (I usually shave at this point)
- Then I rinse the clay out very well. I put a splash of vinegar in a bottle and fill it with water, then I rinse my hair with that. Then I rinse some more with shower water.
- (I use a shower filter to get rid of chlorine but honestly I can't tell if it makes a difference.)
- Finally I put a splash of jojoba oil in my hair and work it through the length. Sometimes I wait another 30 minutes, sometimes I rinse right away. But the last rinse is always with cold water.
- I usually braid my hair. I often use ribbons to keep the braid(s) in place a la Morgan Donner, but I've found that my hair can stay in a braid for several hours with nothing holding it, so sometimes I just rebraid it when it does come out.
I've tried homemade dry shampoo a few times, and while I liked it, I suspect that it damaged my hearing aids, so I stopped doing that!
Biggest hair care lesson: Not brushing or combing my hair. Ever. Have not done it in years and it just works. Combing destroys the structure of my curls and this structure keeps my very fine fluffy hair from tangling. Washing my hair and then conditioning is enough detangling for me usually.
Super helpful video, thanks!
I used to wash my hair every other day with a strong dandruff shampoo.... I limit how often I wash my hair and try to stick to gentler shampoo bars. It has helped my dandruff, but occasionally, I still need to break out the strong stuff.
My hair has decided it's dandruff and split ends season now after being well behaved all year.
I have very fine, thin hair and at times I’m still trying to find things that work for me. One major thing that has improved my hair is only washing it twice a week and the fact that all our water is filtered straight from the faucets in the house. I’m so worried my hair isn’t going to be as healthy when I find my own place and they have unfiltered water 😢
You can buy filter attachments to put on the shower hose.