Long Hair Poll

[baconqurlyq]

I like to keep my hair short normally, but it is super super thick. I'm going to get it thinned out by my miracle worker hair stylist before I leave and keep it covered mostly by bandannas.

Anyone have any experience with dry shampoo? I was thinking of using that between washing to keep the mop from getting too grody.

[Bay Bridge Sue]

My thick, curly mop? Like Diane's, my hair's natural state seems to be "split", tho TG not that curly!! I came up with this one in... 06 or 07. Works for me.

2 weeks before I start hitting it with hot olive oil. Not hot enough to sizzle the scalp, but not lukewarm, either. Every other day until launch. I've tried other things, but that seems to work best.

Week before, I'll hit it with conditioner on the non-olive oil days, and comb it out. (Thank you, Robbidobbs... I saw you do that once, and became a convict, er, convert!)

Day before launch - Condition. Combed out but not rinsed out totaly. Same launch morning.

During the event - I will wash my hair about every 3 days. A little Conditioner combed IN and OUT (again, leaving some behind) Saves water, gets it into my hair, keeps it from dustballing out. NO OIL - it won't evap, leaves an icky nasty mess in the evap unit.

Other stuph - I usually wear some sort of hat, but the biggie for me is not leaving playa dust in the hair more than 3 days - THAT wreaks havoc.

I'll play with it now that I have a place to wash my hair on playa (that isn't a drizzle bottle) but it works well enough not to worry about it too much!

[kman]

My wife always swore by the braids. I don't recall what she does during the week to maintain it (not much, I think), and she spends much of the long ride home taking them out, but the braids have always worked out REALLY well for her. She has very thick hair that would be a nightmare in no time without a good way to manage it.

[bs bob]

water trucks!!my first year i suffered with a spray bottle and brush but the water trucks blast the playa dust right outta your scalp-wakes ya up too-i conditioned my hair and everything!!!

[bs bob]

water trucks!!my first year i suffered with a spray bottle and brush but the water trucks blast the playa dust right outta your scalp-wakes ya up too-i conditioned my hair and everything!!!

[thedarbydoll]

my first year we had a camp shower..so i washed my hair with dr. bronners or rinsed it everyday..i have waist length fine blonde hair and a lot of it. i used a leave in conditioner and let it air dry...usually kept it pulled back in braids or a bun in a hair tie. it was super dry and took a couple weeks to restore it after we got home. no camp shower this year so i'm debating on what to do. it really helps at least being able to rinse it and add conditioner so it doesn't knot up too badly.

[xXxSerenityxXx]

So..I have long, very curly hair and have no idea what to do with it at Burning Man. Any suggestions?

[TomServo]

Curley hairs not allowed at Burning Man!

But, if you can sneak in, wash it daily!.....with any hair...and use conditioner

[drucake]

i was just wondering what all you girls do to keep your hair from becoming a complete wreck? trust me, im not afraid of getting dirty but my hair is very brittle and thin. last year a bunch of it fell out after i got home cause it was so damaged. just wondering if anyone has tips. i did see some girls with it completely wrapped up and i thought that looked really cute. :)

[AntiM]

Bumping because we don't need more new hair threads.

[sputnik]

Here's what you do. Take a long sleeve cotton shirt, cut off a sleeve to a about the length of your hair. Have someone else stick their arm in and then grab your hair and pull it through the sleeve. It should look something like this:

[theCryptofishist]

Dang, that hair-yanker is having some sort of desert epiphany...

[lightgraywolf]

Last year was my first on the Playa, taking a mop of waist-length hair was one of my first concerns in my planning. It's taken so many years to grow, I didn't want it to get destroyed in just one week at Burning Man!

I kept it braided all the time, except when I washed it... which was about every other day. When I would venture out of camp for extended periods of time during the day, I wore a turban made of about 10' of light gauzy fabric. The turban tripled as a hair protectant, portable shade, and as a dust mask when the storms kicked up. Worked great and I found breakage was minimal.

Stay away from gels and most hair care products. The more "sticky" your hair is, the more playa dust it will accumulate. I used a combination of Bronner's and a light leave-in conditioner.

[julesonthefly]

Sooo I have pretty long, super thin, straight hair. My hair gets super knarley even at over night events..Im thinking braids? with some fabric or yarn in it?? A couple questions though...what are some ways to relieve the itchiness? Should I still put conditioner on the roots? Anyone know of any local San Diego peeps tight on cash who can braid?? I really appreciate anyones input and can NOT wait to be out on the playa with you beautiful people!! owowwowowowow
<3

[gaminwench]

braids are great ...tea tree oil in a spritz bottle is great for keeping your scalp happy...

[jofezasa]

Regarding braids in long hair, in the desert, for a week: be mindful that the hair can still break (particularly at the top of your head) so wearing a bandana or kerchief (or head scarf for that matter) is helpful. The first year I went, I did tiny braids for the week that were super easy to care for and when I took them out, I seemed to lose half of the volume of my hair (shoulder-blade length) to breaking.

Nowadays, I generally do two side braids, wash my hair two or three times over the course of the 10 days, then have someone rebraid it for me, and it seems to do fine. Some people recommend leave-in conditioner though I found this to be a playa-magnet.

[Magpie]

So..I have long, very curly hair and have no idea what to do with it at Burning Man. Any suggestions?

Isn't this a 3 page thread answering that exact question? Read it, woman!!!

[AntiM]

Mod note: This is that thread, I merged them.

[ladywednesday]

Last year I kept my hair up in buns and covered them with hair falls. This year, since my hair was past my butt, I cut off 13 inches and donated to wigs for kids.... but I will still probably cover with hair falls and wash every other day. :)

[Edana]

Based on Janet Planet's suggestion, I got myself a Buff today. Fabulous! Exactly what I was looking for, and will double as a mask for dust storms when needed. I've always had problems keeping things on my head when I try and cover it. Bandanas etc just slide right off. The Buff stays put, covers my hair, and is cool to boot!

My dear husband did say I looked a little like the mom in Fiddler on the Roof with one of the styles you can do with it, so I'll need to do something to jazz it up somewhat!

[foofurr]

I have longish (about 3" below shoulders) straight fine hair. I also have a super sensitive scalp, my hairdresser has gotten to the point where she hands me the brush because she doesn't want to make me cry. I have to keep my hair up at the burn every year because the dust, wind, and dry environment turn it into a rat's nest of brittle straw.

I part my hair and just put in two reasonable neat and tight braids before I leave the house. And use a bandana/scarf/headband/whatever to keep the top in order and protected. I redo the braids every morning with careful combing (wide tooth only) on playa. Having two braids makes it easy when I want to put it up in buns and put in falls.

I have never washed my hair on playa and don't intend to, I know it would be a nightmare for me and my particularly sensitive scalp. I do deep condition it before I leave.

The biggest thing that has helped me out was something I actually use to detangle my horses' manes and tails. Pink Lotion. It's available in the African American section of most grocery stores, target, even costco. Would probably work on playa too but I use it when I get home to help rehydrate and detangle. It's not really a leave in condition so much as lotion for your hair.

Hint: They have a light formula which I recommend for most people as the original formula will take about a week to wash out of your hair unless it's normally super dry (in normal conditions).

[Myliatronic]

Well, after trying yarn braids this year, I can say that I would not recommend them to anyone, ever.

They were cumbersome and itchy on-playa, but I kept telling myself my hair would be protected and in the longrun it would be worth it. Two years ago I left my long hair down all week and ended up with nappy dready grossness that took 6 hours to sort out. I thought it couldn't get any worse than that. I was wrong.

I am now about 10 hours into the process of removing the braids. It took me 8 hours to get the yarn out, working carefully but still falling victim to a ton of snapping hair as the yarn had felted itself around small clusters of hair, making them impossible to remove without tearing. When I finished, I had a frazzled head of hair with a ton of broken ends and the most disgusting dreadlock clumps where the base of every single braid was. That's 30 hopelessly tangled birds nests within an inch of my scalp. I showered, gently shampooed, and soaked my hair in half a bottle of conditioner for 20 minutes hoping to lube everything up and streamline the process of combing, but I don't think it helped much. I am maybe 5% done combing and I have lost an incredible amount of hair, mostly from breakage right at the scalp. I am hoping this won't end with a headshave as I have been working to grow my locks out for a long time now, but at this rate I may have to bite the bullet and start over.

Next year, if I still have hair, I will be going back to my standard of pigtail braids. I hope this helps someone out there.

Much love,
Mylia

[RedHeaven]

I shave my head completely bald and that isn't even an option in this stupid poll. If you don't believe me, look at the 2009 Black Rock Year Book (just out on the internet) and on Page 6 you'll see me and Sunset. I'm the one with the shaved head.

Some of us women like to be attractive!

[ambird]

I have long, straight, thick hair. During the day on the playa I wear it in two tight buns on top of my head, then tie a scarf or bandana on as a headband. Each night (or morning!) before going to sleep I take it down from the buns, finger-comb it a little, and put it up in one high, loose bun. This routine seemed to protect my hair fairly well, and the bonus was that I didn't have to think much about my hair because it was always out of the way.

Last year I washed my hair once, this year I didn't wash it all week. Gross, I know, but it totally worked for me and I got no complaints from my friends or neighbors! Even though I'm generally an oily person and could never go without daily hair washing in defaultia, the alkaline dust seems to dry me out. When I got home and took a shower, I did lose a lot of hair. However, I think this was mostly due to the fact that we all generally lose some hair each day, and keeping my hair tied up at all times prevented that from happening throughout the week.

[illy dilly]

I filled in a poll answer for my GF, since shes not on eplaya.

She typically puts her hair into 2 pony tails. In camp we use cooler water to wash each other's hair every 4 days or so. Depending on time on playa that could mean once or twice a burn.
She also uses a de-tangler spray to help comb it out before putting it back into braids.

She's done the shit load of little braids thing, but has commented that its easier to brush out, wash, brush, and re-braid if its just two large braids rather than a bunch of little braids.

[maladroit]

A friend with long hair kept hers in a big, sort of loose, single braid. She didn't have problems taking it apart at home, and it had the other advantage of being sexy as hell...

[pink]

I'm starting a new camp rule about hair-brushing on playa because I picked up so many hair clumps while mooping! We do all lose a bit of hair each day, but if it's in playa dreads or braids that don't get taken out until defaultia, it doesn't hit the ground, or is a lot less likely to. I never saw so much hair moop as this year, and it was the first year we had long-haired hair washers in camp and tent campers to boot. In an RV or trailer, brushing is easier to control as long as you then secure your hair back into braids or another form of containment.

[Bob]

Maybe you need a chicken wire trash fence around your camp.

[Magpie Sparkles]

I have mid length hair (down to my shoulders) and i don't wash it at all at BM - just shake it out and pin it up in madder and more outlandish up-dos throughout the week, I love it!

[Ratty]

I have dyed, dried and fried shoulder length hair. I pull a stuffed animal over my head and only remove it to sleep or change animals. Extra conditioning when I get home brings it back to it's usual straw texture.