Protein follicle existentialism

[blackwater1110]

OK, this is my first thread, so here goes.

I need a bit of advice. Right now, I have long (between shoulder blades) black hair, which is somewhere between wavy and curly. I've been growing it out for about a year. I like it, but the complete lack of a style to it other than "still growing" is a bit frustrating. Having to deal with it during the impending summer is not looked forward too, and I want to lose some of it, and soon.

I either want to get a deathhawk, mohawk, or simply buzz my head down to maybe a quarter of an inch, unless I can think of something better. The only thing stopping me from rocking the hawk is that I'm really tall and live in basically a prison cell, so it might be really hard to sleep with it up, and I wouldn't want to change the glue on that thing daily (speaking of, what kind of glue do they have here in Europe for that? Can I just use Elmer's?). Also, I've kind of grown attached to my long hair despite my increasing frustration with it, so I don't know if I'm ready to chop it all off.

My questions are: should I go with the hawk, or is there an intermediate (shorter) hairstyle that could be pulled of that would make the hair thing less frustrating in the heat? If I do cut it all off, should I go with the hawk, which is more work, or just buzz it all, which is drastic but really easy to maintain? Tell me your hair stories if you've ever been in a similar situation so I have a yardstick from which to judge this dilemma.

[KontanKarite]

Don't chop all your hair off. You can still have wicked long hair and rock a hawk. Not only that, but you don't have to always rock the hawk in a traditional way.

Look up Rogue from The Cruxshadows. He has an undershave. But a hawk is pretty much an undershave without a naked back end.

If you want to go wicked old school, you can style your hair like Rogue and then dred up the back part of your hair and let it hang naturally.

Your hair doesn't have to go all the way up.

[KontanKarite]

Like this, but with a dreaded back end.

http://a600.ac-images.myspacecdn.com...e0015b4c97.jpg

[electrosexual]

That would take a lot of upkeep though :/

But I suppose you could just wear it down when you're not bothered ^-^

All this business of glue and eggwhites ... I really don't think it's neccessary nowadays. I've had many a gravity defying hairstyle in the past few years (including a mohawk) and I've found that tresseme freeze hold hairspray (it comes in a white can) is the best. And (with a bit of effort) you can brush/wash it out at the end of the day

Hope that helped ;p

[electrosexual]

Oh and I've also found that, ironically, too much hairspray can actually weigh your hair down and make it less prone to standing up. I've always found that the best way to make your hair stand on end is to to turn your head upside down and spray the roots and allow them to dry.Then do a light mist over the ends and refine into spikes with your fingertips.

[Lolly PopMuzik]

Originally Posted by KontanKarite

Like this, but with a dreaded back end.

http://a600.ac-images.myspacecdn.com...e0015b4c97.jpg

wut, Cruxshadows are old school? :/

With that said, why not try ringlets if you're of the flouncy goth variety, some late 40's styles, or the Poison Ivy Rorschach/Wanda Woodward of Crybaby route?

[KontanKarite]

I do the same thing, Electro! Sometimes I make a huge thick base at the roots and then proceed to tease the shit out of it after a light spraying all over.

[KontanKarite]

Originally Posted by Lolly PopMuzik

wut, Cruxshadows are old school? :/

With that said, why not try ringlets if you're of the flouncy goth variety, some late 40's styles, or the Poison Ivy Rorschach/Wanda Woodward of Crybaby route?

No, I wasn't exactly referring to Rogue. Sorry, bad communications.

There was this video I saw of The Batcave where a deathrocker had a death hawk, but the back was all dreaded up and hanging down naturally.

[blackwater1110]

KontanKarite,

UNDERSHAVE! How I wish I had heard of this concept before, thanks for bringing it to my attention. I don't think I'm gonna do the dred thing since it wouldn't look too hot on me, but I could shave the sides and then have a thicker swaft that I could either leave down, hawk up, or do some fun styling stuff life Rogue there's got going on.

Just hairspray and a flat iron?

[Minyaliel]

Originally Posted by blackwater1110

KontanKarite,

UNDERSHAVE! How I wish I had heard of this concept before, thanks for bringing it to my attention. I don't think I'm gonna do the dred thing since it wouldn't look too hot on me, but I could shave the sides and then have a thicker swaft that I could either leave down, hawk up, or do some fun styling stuff life Rogue there's got going on.

Just hairspray and a flat iron?

You could just go for a goth hawk and leave out the flattening iron (not good for your hair). I used to do the same thing - I've got pretty much the same hair as you; very wavy to the point of being curly - and that gave the hawk a very interesting texture when teased. Flat irons really don't help much and ruin your hair. I didn't think it was worth it (but then I kept teasing my hair every day too, so there was already enough damage done), but of course that's your decision.

Just so that you've been warned, if your hair is like mine you'd better go stock up on hairspray. You'll be consuming bottles of it every week. Oh, and you'll probably be high on hairspray every morning. But that's the fun part of it.

[blackwater1110]

@ Lolly: Hmm, not a fan of the flouncy thing. It wouldn't look so good on me.
@ Minyaliel: goth hawk, eh? I might give it a try, though I think the flat-iron will be my mainstay. I had better get a job though, or I won't be able to afford that much spray. Though, I had a much shorter mohawk once, and I don't remember it using all that much.

[blackwater1110]

Does anyone know if it's possible to bleach and/or color your hair white?

[Haunted House]

Hmm. I don't know about white, but if your hair is strong enough you could bleach it multiple times. I bet if you search around you could find something for that purpose.

[Lolly PopMuzik]

Originally Posted by blackwater1110

Does anyone know if it's possible to bleach and/or color your hair white?

Here: https://www.gothic.net/boards/showthread.php?t=8563 and *insert annoying butthurt sentiments* http://www.deathrock.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=5685

And buy your own weight in heat defense sprays, they're worth more than gold if you must use heat styling tools every day.

[Cicero]

Originally Posted by blackwater1110

Does anyone know if it's possible to bleach and/or color your hair white?

I just did. Mind you it was only the one-inch-long sides of my deathhawk and not all of it went perfectly white. From my light brown natural hair colour it took two (extremely long) bleachings and Manic Panic's virgin snow toner at the end.

Speaking of hairstyles, a deathhawk is perfect if you want something easy to maintain (aka not having to put it up all the time to look good) without getting rid of too much hair. Also if you want to sleep with it up it won't require perfect rigidity to stay 'alive'. An extra tease and hairspray in the morning can remedy most damage it receives after a good night's sleep.

[blackwater1110]

Originally Posted by Lolly PopMuzik

Here: https://www.gothic.net/boards/showthread.php?t=8563 and *insert annoying butthurt sentiments* http://www.deathrock.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=5685

And buy your own weight in heat defense sprays, they're worth more than gold if you must use heat styling tools every day.

THANK YOU for the heat spray advice. I did not even know this existed! And thanks for the links...A lot of good tips there.

Originally Posted by Cicero

I just did. Mind you it was only the one-inch-long sides of my deathhawk and not all of it went perfectly white. From my light brown natural hair colour it took two (extremely long) bleachings and Manic Panic's virgin snow toner at the end.

Speaking of hairstyles, a deathhawk is perfect if you want something easy to maintain (aka not having to put it up all the time to look good) without getting rid of too much hair. Also if you want to sleep with it up it won't require perfect rigidity to stay 'alive'. An extra tease and hairspray in the morning can remedy most damage it receives after a good night's sleep.

Cicero, we have the same hair now. I shaved the sides of my hair off a couple days ago. So far I've only managed to get it to do liberty spikes, but the hawk doesn't seem to be happening, despite many youtube how-to videos, mainly because those were related to mohawk, which are a lot thinner and therefore easier to put up (one would think). Also, since I had been growing my hair out for a couple years, it's about a foot and a half long when straight--can you DO a deathhawk that big??

[Cicero]

A foot and a half doesn't sound too easy to me, but could be possible with a lot of work. Just remember to tease it to near death with no mercy whatsoever, and don't be afraid to saturate your hair in enough hairspray to blow a sizeable hole in the atmosphere. It also helps in putting it up to turn your head downwards, give it a heavy spraying, then smooth it all together with your hands. Before defying gravity, work with it.

If you want a hawk that can survive a night out without collapsing to one side though I'd suggest cutting off a few inches. Tall hawks are just plain frustrating to keep alive.

[KontanKarite]

I've got my death hawk up right now. Took me about 6 minutes of effort.

My hair is 8 to 10 inches long.

All I did was hang my head upside down, sprayed the base like I was making a foundation for a house and then lightly sprayed the rest, combed and blow dried it all.

Death hawks are not supposed to look pretty and perfect.

[Minyaliel]

My death/ goth hawk was huge. Huge as in extremely tall. I admit, it was hard to keep it up at times, especially since the city I lived in at the time got rather windy during late winter/ spring season, but I always took a can of hairspray and a comb with me so it wasn't that much of a problem. The only thing about tall hawks is that they can be hard to tease properly because you'd need gorilla arms to reach up that high :P

[GratefulGrunger]

If you want it short, I think you should dye your hair jet-black and do a buzz..

[blackwater1110]

OK OK, thanks all for the advice and tips.

I went through with the mohawk shave and kept my long hair, and bought the strongest spray I could find. My first attempt at doing a standard mohawk was a failure, most probably because I left it really wide on my head so it couldn't support itself. So instead I put it in foot and a half liberty spikes, two rows going back, about 8 spikes total. These lasted most of the first night out with 'em, and when they started to fall over I just pulled them down and made a sort of 'jester's cap' with em that didnt look too bad.

The next time I did my hair I went with Kontan and Cicero's advice, teased my hair mercilessly (I had to watch a Youtube vid to figure out what this was), and put it in a decent foot tall deathhawk. I left this in for about five days, and then today I washed my hair...which is when I came upon a major, major problem.

From the teasing and the hairspray, my hair seems to be forming dreads where I teased it before, and not in a good way. The only way to describe it is that it reminds me of those hairballs you see in the middle of a long-haired cat's fur. I'm hoping that when my hair dries I can either comb it out or just put it back in place with hairspray, but if that doesn't work, I've got a head of nappy hair to deal with here. To you who have had the deathhawks, has this happened to you before and is it normal? To everyone in general: how do you get rid of hardcore nappy hair?

[Lolly PopMuzik]

Originally Posted by blackwater1110

To everyone in general: how do you get rid of hardcore nappy hair?

If you have naps (I'm talking bunched up waves at the roots) that even a wide toothed comb can barely get through (aka like mine), you may have to get a relaxer if John Freda serums/Soft Sheen oil products + pressing comb/flat iron + heat defense sprays don't do anything for you.

WARNING: If you get a relaxer, take care not to scratch any part of your head for a week prior to treatment because this shit eats any exposed scalp alive and will cause scabbing.

However, if it's just humidity related frizz, then John Freda's serums and humidity battling related products should take care of it and be vigilant with the flat iron (make sure it's ceramic).

[Cicero]

To get all the majorly knotted bits out of my hair I work about a handful or so of conditioner through it all after washing all the hairspray out with shampoo, gently pulling apart the matted bits with my fingers. It gets the worst parts mostly detangled - the rest I brush out when my hair's dry.

[LaBelleDameSansMerci]

Remember, too: the longer you leave the conditioner in, the better it'll work. Shampoo, condition, do all your other shower stuff, and then rinse the conditioner out. I've heard that they recommend leaving it in for at least 3-5 minutes.