Friday 8 March 2013

Links and stuff

TLC recently had an episode of My Strange Addiction called Extreme hair, covering a woman with 21 ft long dreadlocks.
I didn’t succeed in finding the video of the show, but here is an interview with her showing her super long dreads.


I wonder how many times her hairs have shed off and been caught in the locs? Must be several shedding cycles in there.
I have to admit I do see the “weird” in it. I have always defended long hair as not being “weird” compared to say, super long nails. You can always just put your hair up and get it out of your way, which you can’t do with my example of super long nails.
But even I am having problems imagining you can simply “put away” 21 feet of locs, especially when they are usually thicker and heavier than regular hair.
According to the ladies at UTT who caught the show while it aired, they focussed a lot on how limiting the massive locs are for her and how it might be damaging her neck. Well, 10 pounds of hair is a whole lot, but I’m still amazed that such massive locs only weigh so little.
It was said she drags it along behind her or ties it up in a pouch on her bum, like you'd carry a baby in a carrier or piles it up on her head.
They also showed that she uses massive amounts of shampoo and never conditions, hm!
I did find these pictures from the actual episode: Link
Funnily the first picture didn’t as much make me impressed by her hair, but made me miss the US. My Filipino-American ex boyfriend had a kitchen almost exactly like that. Hah, funny how your mind works.

And speaking of long hair…
At first I was happy with this article: It is so very rare to read a piece on someone with very long hair that is even remotely positive.
I did however find myself confused a few times:
"You have to have patience to be in this house with all of this hair."
Why?
Russel says she once stepped on her own hair so she set some house hair rules which she calls "a big event."
Huh?
All women in the family must tie their hair back while in the kitchen, especially around the stove.
In my 8 years or more on the long hair circuit it seems to me it becomes the norm to wear your hair up after a certain length, so this statement left me very confused.
But all is not for vanity.  Russel and her daughters have donated some of their hair (20 inches, tops) to Locks of Love, an organization that donates hair to children suffering from medical hair loss.
Barf! I am so sick and tired of LoL piggybacking on every. Single. Article. Or. Video. About. Long. Hair. And no one ever, ever mentions the truth: Their “donations” to children are rare in between, most hair is thrown out, the majority of useful hair is sold to extensions for profits for the board and oh, right, the “lucky receivers” have to pay for their wigs. Barf! 

This link led to another link: 
It started off well. For a couple of lines.
Then I read the first gem:
What's the appeal of having a 50 minute shower regiment and a plumber on speed-dial ?
Ehm, who does that?
I paid a visit to the Long Hair Community , a chat room that looks as if it too hasn't been trimmed since the dawn of the internet
*Gigglesnort* Aheum. Sorry.
'Longys', as they call themselves
Huh? We do? When? Where?
Wow, what do you know? 8 years or more in the long hair circuit and I learn something completely new from some random journalist-chick. 
Tailboner: Someone with hair that extends to their tailbone.
What the hell has this chick been smoking?
Maintaining a five foot plus mane requires more than just shampoo and conditioner. Those are "stretched" to a minimum to avoid brittle, dry ends, not to mention drain clogs.
Journalist-chick has a serious fixation on the drain clogs, doesn’t she?
Anyways. Shampoo is stretched, conditioner isn’t. Of course the drain-clog-fixation keeps her from realising such a basic fact.
Vinegar washes between washes to sap out the excess moisture.
What?
A wooden wide-toothed comb is used (possibly for hours) for preliminary detangling followed by a Boar Bristle Brush or BBB which helps remove "greasies" and manages flyaways.
What??
Finally cornstarch and even cocoa powder (for brunettes) is employed to pat out and absorb scalp grease without the hassle of a day-long shampoo process.
Wait, just 3 lines above this, the journalist reports that shampoo is stretched to a minimum so how come people suddenly have the hassle of day-long shampoos?
As a dyed-in-the-wool 'shorty ', with a pair of scissors at the ready in my bathroom and life-long urge to shave my head, peering into the minds of 'longys' is eye-opening.
Wait, I think I get it. She didn’t actually get the information at LHC. That would explain why she insists on longhairs being called “longys” and how completely wrong she is with her basic information.
Another dumb article full of misconceptions.

I really need to stop reading these.

Oh hey, is this drain clog-fixated journalist related to this guy?


Something a little more light-hearted: 
*Chuckle*

Seriously??

Maybe we should use this as a comeback when people push that tired old “You need a haircut!” BS

I trust everyone have seen this delightful fail by now?


The first time I saw it, I kept chanting “Let go of your hair…” inside my head, lol. It felt like she kept the heat on her poor hair forever! That little spiral of smoke that comes off at around 1:07 and 1:10 has me laughing a little too much for my comfort.
And yes, it is apparently a real video! 

I may have to try a few of these.

I also have to try the first one here:


It ends up looking like a flattened figure 8 bun variation.



And maybe some cool headscarf styles: 







Speaking of head scarves: Here is a very cool blog with lots of styling options.
The punny blog name makes me smile too. 

And see if I can get this to work with my length


And finally, silly but worth a chuckle...?

5 comments:

  1. That article with the woman commenting on 'longys' is the WORST journalism I've seen in awhile. No research. Period. And that is where we have problems today--everyone just rushes to get an article out without researching what they are writing about. Drives.me.nuts! Same with effing Locks of love!!! They are a scam, and it's on the BBB. They either throw away most of the hair, but in fact, sell it to maintain their website. The wigs are NOT FREE to people with CANCER---they are free to those with alopecia--a condition in which the hair will not grow back. But, those with cancer, after they stop chemo, hair will return= no wig or you must pay for it. it's really disgusting that people don't know this.

    If anyone ever wants to cut their hair, do your charity of choice a favor: Cut and sell it and use the money to donate to your charitable organization. Skip the middle man, or find a charity you know will use the hair for what it is intended for.

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  2. Oh my gosh... that article about the LHC is really bad. But at one point I agree: "I paid a visit to the Long Hair Community , a chat room that looks as if it too hasn't been trimmed since the dawn of the internet"
    As you had to giggle, I guess you think the same. A problem which occurs not only on the LHC but also on other longhair-boards (in my case I am talking about the German sites).

    Greetz,
    Mai Glöckchen/Heike

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  3. I saw the youtube on that poor girl who fried her hair off. There was another one where a girl used a crimping iron and it completely broke her hair--what people have to realize is that if you have fine hair, you can easily burn it if you hold it on too long. Poor kids!

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  4. Wow Igor you were a busy lady finding all these links.

    Ms. Russell from Chicago USA is a beautiful lady with a beautiful family. That presentation is probably the best you can get from our media as far as NOT making it look like a "freak show".

    Locks of Love gets more FALSE positive publicity than ANY organization I've ever seen.

    The Yahoo Shine article is just a piece of "journalism" from the "fast and cheap" department, trying to fill up their internet pages with stuff.

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  5. Here's a second video on the Russell girls, similarly well presented:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFJtvGhuL7Y

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