How to Grow a Great Mane of Hair

When I was born I had thick black hair and gray eyes. As the years went by, my hair turned dark brown as did my eyes, and when I stood outside it looked like I had red hair. Of course, that wasn't enough for me, I wanted to be a blonde. My mother let me dye my hair when I was in my teens, but she would only let me use browns or black, no blonde.

Once I got out on my own, I went nuts. My hair has been every color there ism and some there aren't, like the time I went to a shop with dark blonde hair and asked the beautician to tone it down a little. Well, she used something she described as a cellophane' and the only thing is people of Irish descent have a weird thing happen to their hair when certain chemicals are put on it, and when she got done I had nice green hair. She must have used an ash color, because ash turns blonde colors green, like red colors over blonde turn your hair pink. So, she used another color with some red in it to get rid of the green, and reassured me it would not be pink or orange. Bad idea. My hair came out looking like Ronald McDonald's. It was a bright red with the shiny texture of doll hair, and I had to start a new job with a CPA firm as a staff accountant the next morning. Talk about being embarrassed, and there was nothing I could do to fix it. I held my head high and pretended my hair was brown.

The things I have learned about hair over the years are amazing. Last year several companies came out with pills that are supposed to increase the growth rate of your hair. I took those for three months since my hair grows slow, and it did grow, but not the way they said it would. Then I discovered their secret ingredient; biotin. That is the ingredient that makes the hair grow, and if you buy straight biotin you are getting the same results. I always get the hair, skin, and nails gummies in the store because they have other good vitamins in them too. Argan oil was recommended by the hair growth companies, and it works really well if you get the pure argan oil, which has a definite odor of its own. Beware of products that say they are made 'with' argan oil and look for the pure stuff. Sallys carries it at a decent price. Keep the oil on the ends of your hair as it starts to grow, and that will help keep the ends from drying out and breaking off.

As for hair dye, well, I quit dying my hair about six years ago, and had my sister cut it off really short. Then I made it the lightest blonde I could find and decided that was the last time I would dye my hair, but would let it grow in naturally. Six years later my hair is halfway down my back, and it grew in blonde! That made me laugh, I was expecting grey. I was fairly blonde for a couple of years, and now I see it is a silver-blonde and getting whiter by the day. But it is healthy and thick again and I don't have to worry about roots showing! Of course, I just turned 67, so my hair should be getting a little silver!

I just wanted to say a few words about hair extensions. I could not afford to go to the shop and get permanent extensions braided or sewn or glued into my hair, so I went to Sallys' and bought the longest hair extensions I could find, and got the little clips you sew onto them to clip them into your hair. I got quite good at it, and was even able to put them in my hair with a broken arm. The problem was that I wore them in the shower, wore them to bed at night and wore them every day. My hair did not grow for three years, not until I took them out for good and cut my hair off. A friend of mine has been getting permanent extensions for a good number of years and I saw her the other day between the old and new extensions. Her hair was dry and still not even shoulder length. I would not recommend extensions full time to anyone, be they clip-in or permanent.

That's my hair advice for the day ladies! I hope you found something here that interested you.