Can we talk about hair?

[Ardency]

Not a thru-hiker, but I strongly sympathize! Am planning to discuss going natural with my stylist next week. One suggestion is "low lights" of your current shade to downplay the lighter roots. Good luck with your planning!!

[Dogwood]

Mohawk Mohawk....died blue blue blue.

When your natural color comes back in it will blend in more. Have pics taken of yourself on trail and send them in Christmas cards next yr with the caption "What did you do this yr?"

Seriously Kjb, the trail can be a great time to not hold on so tightly to established cultural norms. This can be a GREAT aspect of your hike...letting go of holding on so tightly. A hike can be a vehicle for you to explore being you having less need to be what you perceive society wants you to be.

[shelb]

I agree! As a person who is over 50 percent grey according to my hairdresser, if I were to hike the trail, I would either:
- cut is really short and dye it lighter
- dye it grey and let it grow in a slightly different grey (Interestingly enough, there was a pic in a current hair salon magazine of a 30-something girl who died her hair grey).
- color it every 2-3 months when in town... this is not a big deal. The average thru=hiker is usually in town much more often than that!

GOOD LUCK!!! I wish this was a problem for me!

[Pedaling Fool]

Traffic Jam, I only wash my hair once a week and I shed a lot in the shower. ...

Have you ever tried to brush your hair before you wash it? I always run a brush thru my hair before getting in the shower, so that I get the bulk of the loose/entangled hair out.

[RockDoc]

I used to be a little shameful to enter a town, where the locals stared at you disapprovingly. Lately, you are a celebrity hiker and they want to meet you.
But let's face it, you ARE HOMELESS.

[Sheriff Cougar]

I buy over the counter, myself and will just color it at a hotel or hostel when I stay there when it needs it. Probably about once a month or so. I don't worry about just doing the roots. I put it all over. My hair is layered and shoulder length. Just a suggestion.

[BonBon]

I cut all of my hair off in Damascus and shed a couple of pounds in the process. Long hair is heavy! Lost the weight of the comb too, and the little lightweight travel mirror. Who cares!! it is wonderful to let go of all of that stuff and just be. My hair grew in very dark, which it never has been, so that was a surprise. It is nice to have short hair when it gets really hot, but the back of the neck gets sunburned. I am sure I still looked homeless, regardless of the length of my hair, when I sat under overpasses in the rain at road crossings and fired up my stove. And I guess I was homeless for 6 months, but with many comforts-like shelter and food. Gee, I sure do miss that.

[Bronk]

Most of the shelters have hair salons built right into them.

[Traffic Jam]

Most of the shelters have hair salons built right into them.

Thanks, that was helpful and I'm sure made the OP feel real welcomed to WB.

[BirdBrain]

Thanks, that was helpful and I'm sure made the OP feel real welcomed to WB.

Your follow up helps the OP understand the quality of Bronk's post... or the lack thereof. Take note Kjp.

[TinyLegs]

Have you ever tried to brush your hair before you wash it? I always run a brush thru my hair before getting in the shower, so that I get the bulk of the loose/entangled hair out.

That is an excellent idea! I use a wide tooth bamboo comb instead of a brush, but I think it would probably still get out loose hair. I'll try it this week.

[Beltainelady]

Personally, I'll be a shavee for St. Baldrick's Foundation against childhood cancers. http://www.stbaldricks.org/

I have waist-length blue and aqua hair right now, with both sides shaved. I don't want to deal with my hair at all while hiking so I might as well shave it all off for a good cause and let it grow back in on the trail.

I'll get to see just how gray I've become, how much of my natural red has faded to BLEH and not worry about washing and conditioning it. LOL - Since the fundraiser is in Feb and I don't plan on hiking until May/June, I'll have a couple of months' worth of growth already, but it'll still be really short. It only took 3 years for my hair to grow past my shoulders; 4 to reach my bra strap.

This will be third time I've completely shaved my head. It's only weird at first, a few awkward growth phases (load up on hats, scarves and bobby pins!) but the virgin hair that grows in is wonderful.

Of course, not everyone will want to shave their head but I also figure it's less difficult to check for ticks

[NJdreamer]

I let my hair go back to natural gray two years ago. I was working full time while I did it. First I started getting partial highlights, so the hair underneath was getting no color, just the top parts. Then when I stopped the highlights, I already had gray hair showing and it looked OK. Now that I am all natural, it is so much easier and on me, looks good. I have not thru hiked, only done sections, but can't help thinking if i did thru hike, sleep and food would be a much higher priority than finding a hair salon. Good luck with the thru hike.

[Miel]

I've searched the archive & not found this discussion. I'd like input from current & past thru-hikers. I color my hair to cover gray. I have for many years. It is clear to me that maintaining my hair color will be impossible while on a thru-hike.

It is an opportunity to get to whatever the natural color is but what are all the options? My hairdresser seemed to be on board with taking my color to what we think it's color is just before starting & letting new growth grow in without the stark line. Likely it is gray with white streaks under there. Now that I'm sure I'm going, she seems to have lost her nerve to change the color.

Letting it grow out against the current color and having a 6 month growing stripe at the hair-line makes me anxious. It seems like there should be a way to do it without looking horrific & being mistaken for a homeless woman every time I come off trail.

How have others handled this issue? Am I the only one sweating it?

I understand your concerns. I have crappy teeth and good hair, and now on the other side of 55 I am surprised I have very little gray hair but that my dental problems began when I was in my mid-30s.

However, I don't like comment about homeless women. They lead hard lives. A hard life can take its toll on hair, skin, etc. And I do know a couple of women who were homeless addicts who maintained their hair color by L'Oreal or Clairol. Some women look absolutely stunning with gray hair or a streak of gray - Emmylous Harris; Bonnie Raitt.

Please do not shame women whose lives have taken a difficult turn. Thank you.

[Miel]

As said you're hiking the AT not bushwacking through Siberia. Plenty of towns where you'll can find acceptable places for a DIY or salon dye job. I like Lynette's suggestion, if one get over the self consciousness, make it a fun small group dyeing affair.

BTW, Kjp it's not that unusual to be mistaken for being homeless when LD hiking. Don't let what others think totally decide your self esteem. Even though I do keep a rather more neat appearance as a LD hiker than the avg person I totally agree with BirdBrain and QHShowoman, "you really do have to accept a lower level of maintenance than you would off-trail."

More shaming of the homeless. Sigh.

In any event, two more thoughts:

Someone mentioned body odor. Cheryl Strayed had that problem, wrote about it, made a mint from that memoir and film adaptation. Let's face it, we tend to limited in what we can carry, but ...

... some have other priorities. Catherine Greig, longtime GF of Bosto gangster Whitey Bulger, purchased her own hair color and brought it to salons with her when the two of them were on the road and one the run. She knew not every town would stock her preferred hair color. (She had her hair go white in subsequent years as they settled down under the radar, and looked absolutely fabulous; she was a natural blonde.) Of course, they traveled in cars, not on foot.

So, figure out if you want to carry hair color with you or have it shipped ahead if you think you might be hard-pressed to find a color formula that towns along the ay won't stock.

[Miel]

As a SAHM, I can assure you that other stay at home parents, male or female, also can look untidy. PJs to pick up the kids etc.

[RumpusParable]

I'm going through a somewhat similar hair issue that makes me uncomfortable but will just have to accept as there's no way of fixing it in-town, even, at any time.

My hair is unnatural colors usually (98% of time, and is now) and even when a natural color it's not actually grown-out natural. This has been for over 30 years now. The only person to see my purely natural color besides maybe an inch of roots was my husband after we'd been married 15 years... And that was for three weeks before I cracked and dyed it again (I had to shave it all down to the same length of about an inch or two to let sides catch up evenly with the mohawk I was removing).

Ill be be out on the trail around 6 months... That'll be about 6 inches of natural hair with, as time goes on, a demarcation line of the last colors I had fading out to near nothing pastel-white. Already told my Delta family "support team" that I'll be getting to their house with bleach and dye already delivered there and fixing it asap.

Itll be be uncomfortable for me, just for my personal image and preference of my looks. But I'm not gonna fret. It bugs me now to think of it, but I haven't and won't be thinking on it when I'm prepping gear and I doubt I'll notice it much except when someone comments on it.

Once in the field hair quality falls out of the brain pretty quick, in my experience with myself and others. You'll probably forget about it once out there and if not you can maybe do rinses like others have mentioned.

[Riocielo]

I owe a great "Thank-you" to the women on this forum.

When we first started backpacking three years ago, I read everything I could on WB. I was especially interested in the "women's" issues. It was there I read so many women tell that, as a direct result of backpacking, they had stopped using shampoo on their hair. Unsatisfied with my hair at the time, I tried this and it proved to be the best thing I ever stopped doing!

My hair is now longer, fuller, softer and shinier (is that a word?) than it has ever been. Thank you for this, and all the many wonderful pieces of advice I have received here.


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