First off, to make your hair look thicker you need to start with the cut of your hair. Thin hair will look thicker if you get a blunt hair cut with no layers. Basically you don't want your hair to look stringy, you want it all the same length so that it will appear thicker.
When you get out of the shower, to give your hair more volume and appear like you have more hair, you can blow dry your hair upside down. Yes, blow drying your hair can be damaging so if you have a cool setting on your blow dryer.. you should use it.
Next, you can look to the drug store or any beauty shop and find a good light weight thickening moose. While your hair is still wet from your shower, apply the moose to the roots of your hair and continue to dry upside down. The purpose of the moose is to make your hair shafts swell and make your hair look thicker. It will also hold the volume in your hair and help your roots stand up.
Another product that will make your hair appear thicker is the Nioxin products. These will actually stimulate hair growth while at the same time it coats your hair shafts and makes them appear larger. This reduces the amount of scalp you see, making your hair appear thicker.
Also, a tip that many professional hair stylists will tell you is that lighter hair will appear thicker because it is harder to see the scalp. So if you have blonde hair, don't dye it darker if you want it to look thicker. As for the rest of us that have dark hair, you can take the risk of dying it and damaging it.. but I think I would rather have hair then loose a bunch of hair and have it appear thicker. It will probably end up making it look the same thickness.
If you have read my first post, I talk about hair extensions. Hair extensions are not for everyone. If you just have thin hair.. they will work great for you. They will add more hair, volume, and even length. If you have monilethrix then they could work for you. For me, they work. I use great lengths extensions and my hair lady cuts the bonds in half so that it wont put as much weight on my fragile hair. Many parts of my head are thinner than others, these places tend to be where I have more effected hair. When extensions are put in those places (back of my head) they fall out a lot quicker taking the attached hair with it. So we have learned to avoid those areas.
Clip in extensions also will work for a while. The only problem that I have had in the past with those is that they will eventually rub a bald spot in your head. Since you put the clips in the same spot every day the hair rubs out. But your hair will also get a rest at night, unlike the bonded extensions.
Hello! It is SO great that you've created this blog...I hope you continue to do so. I'm 28 years old and also have monilethrix. I actually found your blog because I am thinking about having hair extensions put in. I have a consultation tomorrow to see if they think my hair can handle it without to much damage. My story (the short version), I wore a wig until I was in 5th grade because my hair was so thin. Finally, I guess I just got sick of wearing it and stopped. I used to get picked on all the time in school but eventually I just learned to deal with it. My parents took me to all kinds of specialist when I was young and we tried everything. Fortuantely my hair did grow enough to keep it in a short pixie cut, however, over the past couple years it has begun to thin out quit a bit and I'm looking to try something new. My hair has caused me to be a little uncomfortable in certain social settings, especially things like pool parties because my hair is so obviously thin when it's wet. Most of the time I just accept that this is how it will always be and I overall I don't let it slow me down. When I met my now husband, Rob, I asked him how he would feel if someday all my hair fell out or I had to wear a wig again. I hoped he would never be embarrassed of me. He told me it would not bother him at all. That really made me feel more confident. He does well too when his friends ask why my hair is so thin. He just tells them to talk to me because I'd rather explain to them that it's just a simple scalp issue, not some disease that I'm fighting. My biggest issue is everytime I walk into a room with strangers I think they all look at my hair and wonder whats wrong with me. My close friends have always reasured me that although my hair looks thin, it doesn't look like anythings wrong with it. Like you, I'd love to reach out to others with monilethrix, especially the parents of young girls who are dealing with thier insecurities. Well I hope you're still blogging and we can keep this going. I've got a cabinet full of hair care products and will certainly discuss which ones have worked for me.
ReplyDeleteTake care!
Genny
So, so proud of you for putting this blog together. I hope that enough attention brought to the subject will motivate pharm. companies to find a treatment.
ReplyDeleteI'm a 31 year old mother of 3 girls. My oldest daughter Olivia is 3. She has the most incredible head of curly hair I've ever seen. My middle daughter, Myca is 2. About 80% of her head is affected with Moni. She is absolutely stunning to look at with big, beautiful blue eyes, pretty red lips and rosy cheeks. Sadly, mothers of other young children who we encounter tend to shuffle their children away from my sweet girl assuming that she has some contagious disease or mange. A couple of brave women have offered their condolences assuming that she is, or has undergone chemotherapy for cancer. It used to infuriate me that these people didn't have the gall to simply ask why my daughter had unusual hair. I would come home and cry on my husbands shoulder. He felt awful about giving our daughter the -keratin gene that causes monilethrix.
My husbands sister has dealt with her hair loss from infancy. She is now in her thirties. I see pictures of her from childhood and she is almost completely bald with most of her head looking as though it had been shaved to the shaft with trimmers. She currently has (almost) a full head of long, but thin curly hair. She occasionally gets extensions in the back of her head where she has the most prominent hair loss. Her condition has immensely improved since even age 20. It is completely unnoticeable now. When I asked her what had changed, she explained that her hair grew in twice as strong and as thick when she got pregnant with her first child. Her hair has become even stronger with each additional child. I'm not saying anyone should simply go out and get pregnant in order to improve the condition of their hair. I just wanted to let you younger gals know that there may, in fact, be a light at the end of the tunnel.
As far as my little one, I plan to let her do as she pleases in respect to her hair. I think she is beautiful just as she is. Should she decide she feels more confident with a wig or hair extensions, then so be it. I will happily take on a second job to afford her piece of mind and confidence if that is what it takes. I can promise you this though, the first kid to give her a hard time about her beautiful, hard earned hair will get a stern talking to from a VERY protective Mama Bear.
4 weeks ago I gave birth to our 3rd (and final) daughter. It is still too early to tell if she is affected. I almost hope that she is so that Myca has a partner, or champion who understands what she is going through. I'm relieved to see that there are intelligent young women like yourselves who are willing to share your stories in order to help little girls like my own.
xoxo