Why Long Hair?

Long hair needs to be very well cared for. How you wash your hair and what you use on it matters quite a bit.

There’s no one right answer for which shampoo you ought to use, however. I’ve always had the best results from switching my shampoos regularly. This keeps the buildup to a minimum.

Overall, I use Pantene the most. It just really seems to work well with my hair. I’ve never liked the 2 in 1 varieties with any brand - they just don’t seem to condition all that well, and you really need a good conditioner when you have long hair.

I’ve also heard great things about Mane ‘n Tail. I’ll have to give it a try one of these days soon. (There is more where this came from … )

When you read about caring for long hair, you’ll generally hear that a boar bristle hairbrush is the best choice. This is certainly true. Boar bristle hairbrushes are far more gentle to your hair. However, they can also be much harder to use because they are so very gentle.

Boar bristle brushes have a great reputation for polishing and caring for hair. They do a great job of distributing the natural oils in your hair. When I use a boar bristle brush I can really feel the difference. However, if I have a lot of knots for some reason, boar bristle just isn’t that great at getting out the difficult knots.

At the moment I’m trying out a combination boar bristle and ball tip brush. I tried the plain boar bristle and simply found it too frustrating. I just switched to the new brush and I love it! It gives much of the feel of the plain boar bristle brush while fighting knots like my old brush. I found mine at Target, but there’s no sign of it on their website.

I’m not giving up on plain boar bristle. I know the one I bought was a cheap one. A more expensive one simply is not in the budget at the moment. A high quality one can cost more than $40, and I’m not quite at the point where I feel free to spend that kind of money on my hair.

If they don’t cut their hair in pregnancy, many women cut their hair shorter after the baby is born. The reason, as always, is that it’s easier to deal with.

If you think about it, though, long hair may not require that much extra effort when compared to short hair. You’ll spend less time getting it cut at the salon, which can be nice when you have to fit that in around your children’s schedules. Brushing your hair only takes a little longer for well-maintaned long hair than it does for shorter hair.

Pulling the hair back in a ponytail is easy and practical for any hair that is long enough for that style. I’ve always been fond of braiding my hair when I need a lot of control. (There is more where this came from … )

Many women start to think about cutting their long hair when they get pregnant. Why? It’s practically traditional, I suppose. It certainly isn’t necessary.

Pregnancy is wonderful for your hair. Hair falls out less during the pregnancy, so it will look fuller.

There are some times that you do have to take extra care of your hair during pregnancy. When I delivered my kids, it was important to have my hair braided because I knew I’d be spending hours and hours in bed, and the knots would be miserable to undo. With my second I wasn’t able to do this, as I went to a regular OB appointment and ended up at the hospital for an urgent C-section. Had to have my sister help me get the knots out since I wasn’t up for getting the knots out myself the next day. (There is more where this came from … )

One of the challenges of having long hair is coping with it when you have to take a long trip. My hair, which rarely tangles badly most times, knots up something fierce on a long trip if I don’t take precautions. So what do I do?

It’s pretty simple really… I braid it!

A braid keeps it out of the way and certainly prevents tangles. Of course, I also make sure to use something hair-friendly to keep the braid in. No point ruining then ends of my hair for sheer lack of proper care.

The fun part is that then you have lovely, wavy hair when you undo it at the end. You can release your hair at the end of the trip,give it a quick brushing, and look like you spent time working on it before you started. I love looking good at the end of a grueling trip. It makes me feel better about the whole thing.

Those trips in which I haven’t braided my hair I’ve always regretted it on arrival. My hair will look terrible, and fixing it is difficult and time consuming. A braid may look a little frazzled by the end, but undoing the braid and brushing the hair takes much less time than if it had not been braided.