Length hairstory - 2014: past mid-thigh and towards knee

This is the fifth in a series of individual posts about my hair growing milestones over the years, featuring a pic spam of length shots xD You can also find an abridged version of my hair journey from 2010 to the present in the 'My hairstory' page.

Previous post: 2010 hair (tailbone length), 2011 hair (classic length), 2012 hair (fingertip length), 2013 hair (mid-thigh).

In 2014 I continued growing my hair with minimal microtrims, surpassing mid-thigh and creeping ever closer to knee 😃 (which I reached in May 2015). I also attended my very first LHC hair meet in London during the Summer 😄, and cosplayed Lúthien for the first time 💙. While 2015-16 would mark my knee milestone, but also the worst  hemline I've had in years due to a harsher shedding resulting from vitamin deficiencies (which are now under supplemental control 😅), in 2014 this shed wasn't as noticeable yet, and my hemline stayed pretty good throughout the year, considering I only went for microtrims as my main goal was to reach knee.  I've had in years  Monthly pic spam incoming!

• January: I reached mid-thigh in October 2013, and in January 2014 I had already surpassed mid-thigh, with the yearly goal of continuing to grow towards knee. These are my fave pics in 2014 regarding the hemline 🤩- I had spent a while first maintaining at fingertip, and then a bit at mid-thigh as well, in order to thicken it up and also even it out a bit (this is completely subjective, and fairytale hair is beautiful as well as I've worn it fairytaled a lot too, but my favourite kind of hemline is the straight, blunt one):

January 2013 (just past fingertip), to October 2013 (mid-thigh), to January 2014 (past mid-thigh).

January 2012 vs January 2014 comparison, from past fingertip to past mid-thigh

January 27 length shot, with a hemline I was really happy with. I also love how red the ends came out in the pic!

I was torn between maintaining here or growing to knee and then maintaining - because it was so close already! So I ended up doing a couple of microtrims, and kept growing to knee.

•  April:  After a microtrim in February, length is still on its way past mid-thigh to knee, and the hemline is still looking good to me 😊. Also, some of these length shots still look darker red because of the remaining dye from my Manic Panic 'Vampire Red' vegetal dyeing adventure back in 2013 xD
  

• May: All lengh shots from May include braidwaves and bendy rollers curls, and most of them accompany my Lúthien cosplay debut 😄💙:
  

And another length pic featuring heatless texture: braidwaves and curls with bendy foam rollers:

•  Summer: In late July-early August I went on a Summer trip to London, and there I attended my very first LHC (Long Hair Community) hair meet 😃:

Length shot group at the LHC meet in London

 Length shot with fellow longhair Piffyanne (I think she's no longer on the forum?). We had roughly the same length, with mine being just a little bit longer xD

•  September: Edging closer to knee! Only have some length shots with a black skirt and a mix of some braidwaves and my natural texture in the ends, though xD 

• December:  More Lúthien length shots for the end of 2014, and also featuring heatless braidwaves and bendy rollers curls. Wavy and curly ends of course make the length look shorter than it actually is, but no actual length shots from either May or December from 2014, I'm afraid xD
  

 

Contrary to rag/bandanna curls, bendy rollers curls tend to make my hemline look less thick than it actually is, with these kind of curls making the hair clump more.

 

So, now quite close to knee, I had the plan of getting there, and then maintainig at knee to thicken up the hemline again, as I'd done at classic, fingertip and mid-thigh. Depending on the state of my ends and the shape of my hemline by then, I was even considering a bit chop from knee back to mid-thigh or fingertip to get rid of most of the damage in the ends (and then either growing to knee again or maintaining at mid-thigh as the goal length) - I did start doing bigger trims in late 2017, after the bid shed of 2015-16 😅. But before that - 2015 and knee-length!

 

SwordWomanRiona / rionashairblog.blogspot.com.es

 

Cosplay hair - Lúthien Tinúviel nature shoot (2020)

 

Length shots and a very simple Elven hairstyle with a half-up and a circlet from a March 2020 nature shoot cosplaying Lúthien Tinúviel🍃🌸 

 Cosplay Instagram

More Lúthien posts

 

SwordWomanRiona / rionashairblog.blogspot.com.es

If you copy-and-paste this post and/or alter it without any permission, credit or link, you're stealing my content. In that case, please stop. Please ask before using my work, or at least share it properly, giving credit to me and my blog.

Cosplay styles - Warrior Lúthien beribboned multibraid

 

I really like the hairstyle I came up with for my ☄️ ⚔️Warrior!Lúthien cosplay variation ☄️⚔️ :D. It's a braided paranda ponytail with side braids and a front pompadour, decorated with leaf ribbon and flowers.

My warrior!Lúthien is heavily inspired by the fanart headcanons that Elven fashion is markedly oriental-inspired, especially in the Silmarillion First Age (and that Elves are often of non-white ethnicities as well, as the 'Elves are all a Caucasian white race' is something we really need to disprove, at least in the fandom areas :S). I found this gorgeous blue-and-black pants+tunic silk ensemble with flower embroidery (I think it might be a Vietnamese áo dài?) at a 2107 convention and instantly thought of Lúthien in a more warrior mode (as opposed to using magic and badassery alone, which is equally amazing, of course). Head over to my cosplay Instagram if you want to see more of my cosplays at @arwendeluhtienecosplay !

 

• For this style I used:

-Backcombing comb 

-Fake hair rats for the pompadour

-Hairspray and/or fixing gel as needed

-Wide-tooth comb and/or brush as needed.

-A metal-free elastic for the initial ponytail

-Open pins, bobby pins
-Paranda for the braid

-Leaf ribbon

-Plastic decorative flowers

-A leaf barrette

• Steps:

1) The front pompadour: 

 

- Separate a front section of your hair, flip it upside-down and backcomb it gently with the comb. You can hairspray the section before teasing for a better hold. This backcombing helps create more structure in the hair so that the shape will hold better and longer. 

You can also create front volume without backcombing, but I find it easier with a bit of teasing because my hair is so straight, fine-textured and slippery.

-I use fake hair rats under that backcombed front section to create the volume I want. Comb the hair over the hair rats very gently (so as not to destroy the teasing we just did xD) and shape the pompadour the way you prefer. Then secure it in place with bobby pins at the back of the head. 

 

-I used a leaf barrette over the place where I secured the pompadour at the back to hide the bobby pins.

-Use hairspray as needed.

About backcombing: I backcomb sporadically for cosplay, and reenactment, and, by keeping it gentle and always in the root area (never the length or tips!), I don't think it particularly harms my hair. I always use a Tangle Teezer to remove the backcombing tangling at the end of the day, and the hair loss is minimal (if any, sometimes). The fake hair pieces/hair rats are the main helper when it comes to achieving the desired volume, so I only backcomb to the point when I can get a bit of structure to hold the hair rats in place without the pompadour loosing its shape. 

Hairspray also helps too keep it all in place, but of course, it's not very good for the hair to use a lot to often. Having greasy-prone roots, hairspray actually doesn't dry my hair overmuch xD, but I get a lot of build up and it's generally not very hair-friendly, so my daily fixator is aloe vera gel, and I only use hairspray, and certainly this amount of it, when I need to have a large pompadour going on and/or a more complex hairstyle staying in place for the whole day xDD

2) Side braids: Separate two side pieces of hair and braid them, adding ribbons (in my case, I used leaf ribbons).

3) Braided paranda ponytail:

-Pull the rest of the hair into a high ponytail - mid-height is my preference. 

 -Add the side braids before securing it with a metal-free elastic.

-Braid the ponytail, with a paranda for added volume (tutorial here).

 

 3) Final touches:

-I use a couple of open bun pics to polish some flyaways at the nape.

-Add the decorative flowers along the side braids, near the base of the ponytail (the flowers can also partly hide the elastic), and/or along the braid as well, as desired.

-Add aloe vera gel or a bit more hairspray to set the style and potential flyaways (if you want), and it's done!

 

Pic gallery:

• May 2018 

 

 

• At the 2019 EstelCon (annual convention of the Spanish Tolkien Society). Featuring Tai Chi, archery, singing and helping out at a conference xD

 

SwordWomanRiona / rionashairblog.blogspot.com.es

If you copy-and-paste this post and/or alter it without any permission, credit or link, you're stealing my content. In that case, please stop. Please ask before using my work, or at least share it properly, giving credit to me and my blog.