Post: #26

^^

Have you cut your hair in the last two years to keep it at a constant length or are you still growing it out?

Post: #27

Again, everyone on this forum seems to praise ACV, for good reason. Once a week, rinse your hair with it and rinse with cold water. Hair was glossy as a horse's coat.

Post: #28

I'll try out the idea of going without shampoo more often and rinsing with cold water instead. I've used coconut oil to moisturize my hair when needed, but this obviously would reduce the need for that.

Post: #29

I've been growing my hair out for 1 and a half years now, my hair is black and thick too, but as akward stages go, I just went with it and changed my hair style constantly, using hair bands, bandanas and stuff like that. Now I am at a stage where I can put the hair behind my ears, but I still have to wait untill my front catches up with my backhair. I tried going no shampoo too but It didnt work so well, I like feeling clean, so now I use black natural soap from africa, which works but Im still looking for better alternatives. Lastly I have to say I never would have thought growing out hair would take so long, you really need a lot of patience and discipline. Keep it growing, its worth it!

Post: #30

^Yeah, it definitely doesn't happen overnight. The rate of hair growth is about 1-1.25 cm or 1/2 inch per month, so obviously it takes years to have really long hair (depending on your starting point). Sleep and a nutritious diet helps you attain the upper limit of the growth rate. One more reason to stick to a healthy diet, though this should be second nature to anyone here anyway.

Post: #31

Having hair is definitely high maintenance. It takes much longer to get ready in the morning, and you can't take any shortcuts with your hygiene / hair brushing routine. I like to brush my hair when dry, but if I'm running late and need to head out in a snap I use a wet brush. You shouldn't brush when wet, but if you do, use a wet brush. It is less likely to break your hair strands. I like using a small amount of coconut oil to moisturize my hair and scalp. I use the wet brush just for the ends and to get the small tangles out. I have a bamboo brush I use for the scalp and it works good to gently massage the oils and spread them throughout your mane.

Does anyone ever get knots in their hair? Few weeks ago was out in a boat and it was windy as hell, and my hair was blowing all over the place. I came back with a huge tangled knot on the back of my neck. It took forever to get untangled, and I had to break quite a few hairs just to get it out. I almost considered using scissors and just cutting it out. Never will make that mistake again of letting the hair fly around! Next time I went out I kept all my hair wrapped up and it wasn't a problem.

Post: #32

Ive been told quite a bit I have great hair. Sometimes I get stopped randomly and asked about it/complimented (no humblebrag)

According to the OP's descriptions id say its Charlemagne status. Dark brown, thick, slightly wavy and at its longest it fell down just slightly over my shoulders.

My method to keep it looking great was:

-Due to the thickness of my hair, I almost never shampoo. Maybe every 1.5 weeks MAX, if that. And my hair feels like telephone wires afterward, so not a fan at all

-Dont get it wet/wash every day. Wash every other day with conditioner, not shampoo

-Use a very light, sulfate free conditioner. This is crucial. I use V05, its so cheap that there are hardly any truly harmful chemicals present. If its got sulfates of any kind, toss it.

-Towel dry in a patting, back and forth motion. Never move the towel in a swirling motion, this causes horrible knots.

-Leave the hair to air dry slightly after that while you do your other steps of getting ready for the day.

-When there is a minimal amount of dampness left, Flip your hair down so that the end of the stands points to the floor. Grab a coin sized amount of coconut oil and go from root to tip. I like to go heavy with the oil because my hair is thick and I think it looks great. Not only does it give my hair shine and strength, but it gives the appearance of darkening it a shade or two as well. If the hair is bone-dry while you do this it won't have the same effect

-I don't use a brush. I just use my fingers as a comb as I prefer locks over fine strands

This has been the ideal formula for my hair after lots of trial and error with different variations of these methods.

The cons of having Barbarian hair:

-You look like a Barbarian. This works great at a dive bar/rock show. You're one of the cooler guys there.
But when you walk back to your car at night after exiting Whole Foods, I noticed old women would clutch their purses tighter and avoid my side of the lot.
-You get taken less seriously in professional situations and environments. People make snap judgements of you.

-As mentioned in OP, getting ready in the morning takes forever. There's no real shortcut either, you will look like shit if you don't handle it.

-It takes so long to grow that it becomes a bit of a commitment. I just saw Tom Hardy in "Legends" the other night and really wanted that slick '60'shaircut. But then id lose ~9 months worth of growth. I decided against it.

-It becomes an easy target in a fight. Also obscures your vision.

These are my thoughts on long hair. I still think its definitely worth it if you have the right jawline and facial structure.

Post: #33

I have hair down to about my shoulder blades. Very thick.

I think it's easier to get ready this way than it was when I had shorter (but not extremely short) hair. When I had shorter hair, if I had a cowlick or anything like that I literally could not fix it without taking a shower. Now? Just comb it with a wide tooth wood comb and it looks good. My hair calms down very easily and the weight of the hair keeps it from looking crazy. My hair is somewhat wavy, and the more I get it wet without washing it the wavier it gets, but the more likely it is to get tangled at the ends and be a bitch to comb out.

I don't use shampoo, ever. I use a baking soda solution (2 tbsp in 1 pint of water) to wash (focusing on the roots of the hair and my scalp), rinse that out somewhat, then rinse my hair with a bit of apple cider vinegar in water (again, 2 tbsp in 1 pint of water), then rinse the ACV solution out. Ideally I wash my hair every week to 10 days. I just pat my hair with a towel, then air dry it as much as possible, which usually takes hours. Not convenient if you're on a schedule, I'll grant you that.

After washing and fully drying it, my hair is super soft and feels very clean. Doesn't smell like vinegar at all. Shampoos used to make my head itch and gave me terribly dry skin. As soon as I switched to baking soda and ACV both problems vanished.

I haven't tried putting any oil in it yet, but I should. I just usually keep it in a low ponytail, or combed back like this:



I have a thick full beard, too, FWIW. I get more comments about my beard than my hair.

I've been growing my hair for 2 years and change. My last haircut was in June or July of 2014. I'm going to need a pretty damn good reason to cut it at this point, because it really sucked for months 8-14. That's when it was long enough to be pretty annoying, but too short to tie back. I'd rather not go through that again.

Post: #34

How do you keep your hair from smelling bad after ACV? Just rinse with water?

Made my hair look great but for all I washed and washed I couldn't get the vinegar smell out.

Post: #35

I have long straight hair about 65 cm in length.

Before I shower, I use coconut oil and this to detangle my hair:


It's much better than a comb for detangling. With a comb it would take me over 10 minutes to detangle a week's worth of tangles and it would be pretty painful even with coconut oil and I'd dread doing it. It would get to a point where the tangles got too heavy and would be a real nightmare. With a Tangle Teezer like that even without using oil it's a breeze to use even on moderately tangled hair. Highly recommend. I still tie my hair up in a low ponytail(to prevent tangles) unless I want to look cool and have it down.

Washing routine: Once a week, I would wash it with baking soda. Then I'd do a rinse/conditioner with white vinegar. To finish, I'd mix some lavender or peppermint essential oil, depending on what I feel like. The other times I shower, I either keep it as dry as I can holding my hair up in my hand or I wet it and simply use the essential oil at the end.

I don't really do "anything" to my hair but if I detangle it and oil it it looks really shiny and healthy and girls often compliment how good it looks. I'd say that's the wonders of a good strict diet. That being said it doesn't really grow any longer so perhaps I'd need to look after it better for it to grow out.

Also, does anyone know any good masculine styles other than low ponytail and down?

Post: #36

(09-20-2016 12:34 AM)HonantheBarbarian Wrote:  How do you keep your hair from smelling bad after ACV? Just rinse with water?

Made my hair look great but for all I washed and washed I couldn't get the vinegar smell out.

I just rinse it pretty well. It's only a light solution of ACV (1 part ACV, 15 parts water), and I've had other people smell my hair a few hours after it dried and they said they couldn't smell anything odd. I do rinse for quite awhile though, several minutes usually.

I used a significantly stronger solution of ACV for awhile and I didn't have issues with smell then either. The worst part was accidentally getting that shit in my eyes.

It may just be an individual thing, perhaps some people have hair that retains the smell and some don't. I don't know why that would be, but I've read comments from other people online who say they can't get the smell out either.

Post: #37

Quote:Also, does anyone know any good masculine styles other than low ponytail and down?

Other than putting my hair in a bun for safety reasons sometimes, the only other style I wear is variations on this sort of look:



Comb back the top and some of the sides and tie it back. It's not easy to make it look neat in back, actually, way easier to have a girl help get everything smooth. But it gets my hair out of my face, and there isn't the annoying lump on the back of my head that a ponytail would have when I'm lying down or sitting in a recliner.

I haven't tried braiding my hair yet, I'm going to wait until it's longer. I suspect it will look pretty fucking gay, though.

Post: #38

(09-20-2016 02:14 AM)weambulance Wrote:  I haven't tried braiding my hair yet, I'm going to wait until it's longer. I suspect it will look pretty fucking gay, though.

This style is cool, if it's too much work to braid the ponytail, leave it as a half ponytail, you will look like Legolas.

Coconut oil once a week and eat a lot of aguacates (avocados), hair will be perfect.

I'm at 2 years with 7 months since last hair cut, hair below shoulders, but not yet where i want it (half my back), probably need at least 2 more years since hair is wavy , this long hair thing is a commitment and you need to have your niche/style well established, guys who don't, end up cutting it, they don't know what they want.

Also agree about working out and beard/heavy stubble, you don't want to be the skinny/fat clean shaven dude with long hair...

Post: #39

My long hair journey has finally come to an end. You go through many phases, and some look better than others. I liked some of the shorter long hair phases, but when it got real long I didn't like it as much, just too much maintenance.

When I got it cut I felt no regret. I kept looking up and thinking who is that in the mirror?? Could hardly recognize myself.

It is fun to experiment, and I think everyone should try it, but that's it for me, I'm done. It is so awesome being able to take quick showers, quick hair washing, and quick drying.

Post: #40

Ah yes, this thread.

I finally got around to trying a bit of coconut oil in my hair after showering. Huge improvement in frizz reduction for the 24 hours following the shower. I've started using it in my beard daily too, and it's really helped out there. I used to get some kind of mild beard dandruff and that's gone, and it makes my beard less bushy. My beard is about the same size as Roosh's, for reference. The downside to the coconut oil treatment is my dogs try to lick my beard a lot more now.

I'm still using the baking soda / ACV solutions for hair washing. No issues.

I'm not even going to trim my hair for at least another year. I wish I'd grown it out years ago.

Post: #41

I chickened out last time around once I was deep in the awkward stage. I am back in the awkward stage now and trying to power through. It's a brutal process - my hair is incredibly thick and all grows forward. Hence why I want to try wearing it longer, as I'm hoping the extra length and weight will make it manageable. Usually, I either have to go for the full on greaseball, slicked-back look, or accept that it's going to fall down in my face. I have the wrong face structure & hairline to shave my head. Pray for me, that this time I make it through!

Post: #42

Hades still has his long hair.

He has also fully recovered from his episode this last summer and is doing much better as a result.

His hair is long enough at this point that he resembles a Viking.

Post: #43

(11-16-2016 03:55 AM)H1N1 Wrote:  I'm hoping the extra length and weight will make it manageable. Usually, I either have to go for the full on greaseball, slicked-back look, or accept that it's going to fall down in my face. I have the wrong face structure & hairline to shave my head. Pray for me, that this time I make it through!

Yes, hair will be getting heavier with time and manageable, my hairline is horrible with short hair too, in my case it makes me look like if im going bald.

Stay strong bro you won't regret it, in a couple of months you will pass that stage and then the real fun starts.

Post: #44

(11-16-2016 04:45 AM)Hannibal Wrote:  He has also fully recovered from his episode this last summer and is doing much better as a result.

This is great to hear!