look ma, no hair

[freckles_and_doubt]

It transpires that one of the side effects of Warfarin is that it renders your hair unfit for human consumption. My hair has taken grave exception to my current regimen, marking its displeasure by becoming straw-like and brittle, and in addition prone to oiling up in about twelve hours flat after being washed. Since I've been patiently growing it out for over a year and it was down to my shoulderblades, that's a fair amount of hair to be lank and unspeakable; it's been driving me bats for weeks.

It was thus strangely cathartic to be able to wander into the hairdresser's on Thursday and wail "it all has to go!" when having, for once, a cast-iron reason for the decision rather than the usual vague and formless angsts which tend to prompt a sudden change of image. My lovely hairdresser has been rescuing me at intervals from said angsts, as well as tangles with henna, a resolute refusal to blowdry, assaults on my own fringe whenever it got into my eyes, and that one time I had a late-night fit of self-loathing and hacked it all off myself, for about eight years now, and he agreed that the hair itself was in worse condition than he's ever seen it. ("That's quite an adult decision, to simply get rid of it like this.")

The weird bit, though, wasn't the sudden acquisition of a jaw-length bob. That was rather fun. The weird bit was having the hairdresser, informed of the whole DVT/pulmonary embolism/10 days in hospital/Warfarin debacle, calmly cap it by telling me all about the parallel experience he's just had in hospital after a heart attack, at approximately the same time. We spent a happy hour playing hospital odious comparisons while straw-like hair drifted in sheaves to the ground. Apart from the odd fact of the synchronicity it does seem a bit unfair, though. He's one of those slightly stereotypical gay hairdressers who's an ex-dancer, and is slim and gym-toned and health-conscious. I can quite firmly blame my own experience at least partially on my own current complete lack of fitness, but he really shouldn't be having heart attacks. It holds out so little hope for the rest of us.

Comments

[stacey chamberlain (from livejournal.com)]

Yay for haircuts, boo for hospitals. I'm very glad you made it through - like a parallel universe, only considerably less fun.

[extemporanea.livejournal.com]

Thank you! it has, indeed, been something of a Month. I felt the need for a break from work, but not flat on my back in the ICU.

On my return I found in my office, wedged happily into the L key, which it proceeded to type about fifty times when I booted up, an extremely nifty Save the Date communication, now with added confetti. Thank you! have duly inscribed said Date in my diary, and plan to be there with bells on. Pls to indicate gift registry wossnames, thx bai.

Hair!

[woollythinker.wordpress.com (from livejournal.com)]

I imagine you weren't looking for haircare tips, but... you might want to try ditching shampoo, or at least shampoo with sulphates in, which is harsh on the hair and scalp. This will also mean you'll have to ditch conditioner and styling products containing silicones (any ingredient ending in -cone, -conol or -xane), since they're not water soluble and so will build up without sulphate cleaning.

Instead of shampoo, scrub your scalp really vigorously with just water, or with (cone-free) conditioner, or with brown sugar (!) for extra scrubbiness. If you can't find silicone-free conditioner easily (not sure what's available in SA but look for Tresemme Naturals maybe, or Garnier Fructis?) then rinse with apple cider vinegar. You might also want to dry your hair using an old t-shirt, or muslin cloth, or anything without nap, which dries out the hair.

This is called the Curly Girl method - Google for waaaaay more info – and it's been working really well for me. Hair softer and less frizzy, and scalp *instantly* much, much healthier.

Yay for dramatic cuts, though, what fun. I'm probably going to chop a fair whack off my own (waist-length!) hair some time soon – under the new hair system, now that my hair is generally much healthier and shinier, it's become clear that the bottom half of it is pretty damaged from some highlights many years ago. While it was all a bit dry and frizzy, not so noticeable. I can't quite decide whether I'm excited about Change, or very very sad to see it go...

Re: Hair!

[extemporanea.livejournal.com]

I dunno, I certainly asked the nice hairdresser for hair care tips. I don't know if I'm brave enough to go the No Shampoo route, but the Nice Hairdresser is rather fierce on the subject of No Sulphates, which means I've been using herbal hair-friendly stuff for months. Doesn't lather worth a damn, but my hair likes it.

Any decent haircut has a combination of Excited and Sad, it's just a question of which outweighs the other. Sad was very low in this one. It really has been driving me bats long. And it sounds as though you'll have lots of lovely consolation in terms of really good condition, which to me is the holy grail of hair care way above any actual froufrou about cut.

[dicedcaret.livejournal.com]

Ah, the "no 'poo movement". For once I feel qualified to contribute to a personal hygiene discussion, Curly Girl methods and all.

I went the baking soda / apple cider vinegar route a few months ago after years of battling annoying scalp problems no matter what products I used. My hair is still a mess and would be shorn off by anyone less stubborn, but my scalp is much better. I won't be going back to shampoo.

So, um, yeah, more haircare tips for lazy blokes, please :)

[extemporanea.livejournal.com]

At this stage of mutual lock-treatment I certainly think you are more qualified to talk about hair care than I am! I'm lucky in that I don't seem to get the scalp problems, it's just the quality of the hair itself which takes sharp nosedives under specific conditions.

I fear the no-shampoo route because my hair tends to oil up quite fast, and I can't bear the feel of it. The current Expensive Organic Shampoo regimen the hairdresser recommended is, however, working quite well.