BJJ hair for Women III

I've blogged before about how I wear when I grapple, and how I went from having waist length hair to almost almost no hair at all over the course of my training, and how BJJ is brutal on hair.  You have to wash it constantly, and it gets pulled out, ripped and damaged pretty much the whole time you are grappling.

And while I have found the best way to keep MY hair our of my face and from getting stuck under people's butts and knees (Though its getting long, so I am going to have to figure something else out.) I hadn't yet figured out how to keep my hair from looking and feeling like I abuse it.

On top of abusing my hair in BJJ, I also abuse my hair off the mat.  I have curly awful unruly hair, and if I don't want to look like I am in a constant state of bedhead, I have to straighten my hair every time I wash it, and I bleach and recolor my hair every 4-6 weeks.  I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who is as mean to their hair as I am.

And after four years I have finally found a shampoo and conditioner that actually makes my hair feel and look less damaged than it is.   Honestly, I don't know if it actually does repair my hair, but it certainly feels like it does.  Plus, it smells good.

John Frieda Full Repair shampoo and conditioner is amazing.  

More on BJJ hair for Women.

About a year ago I blogged about how my hair has transitioned from when I started grappling to it's current state, and the various pros and cons of each stage of my hair.  

I just cut my hair even shorter, and I love it!  

One of the guys I trained with recently became engaged to the extremely talented Keather Bennett of The Millennia Salon and Spa, which ended up leading to the best thing that ever happened to my head.

Being the nerd that I am, I photo journaled the experience.

Firstly, I must say that at the Millennia Spa, they give you donuts.  Already a win. 

 Instead of panicking that half my head of hair was falling into my lap, I made a mustache out of it instead.  Clearly the logical course of action.   

 Look at all my grey hair.  I am such an old lady! lol

 

 Stop!  Color time! 

 

If you can't tell it is basically a wide mohawk you can wear down, or up if you feel so inclined.  

I have yet to do it, but this is what it looks like up:

It is perfect for grappling.  My head stays cool, it doesn't doesn't get in my way, and I don't have to keep it in a pony tail which would inevitably come undone while grappling.

And I can still make it look feminine and girly.

I can't put into words how much I love it, and how wonderful The Millenna Spa is.  The Spa is beautiful, the staff is super friendly, and clearly they did an awesome job with my head.  If you live in the Lakeland/Winter Haven area, I would highly recommend them the next time you need a massage anything done to your face, hair or nails.

The Millennia Salon and Spa

3046 Cypress Gardens Road

Winter Haven, Florida

(863) 268-8282

Jiu-Jitsu Hair for Women.

Let me first say that I have naturally wavy thick highly unmanageable hair.  It is nether straight nor curly, and it takes a great deal of effort to make it look half decent.  So I have always been a pony tail kind of girl.

And now, the evolution of my hair though BJJ.

When I started BJJ my hair looked like this:

Pardon the horrificness of my hair, and general failure of this picture.   I had a hard time finding a picture of my hair down from way back then.


The long hair lasted a month tops.  It got trapped under knees and elbows.  It got pulled out while people were choking me.  It even got caught under my own back, trapping my head up ward and neck exposed.  I have no idea how Allie manages her epic amounts of long blonde beautiful hair while she grapples.

Note how her long hair is actually nice to look at versus my former rats nest.


Out of frustration, I chopped off about 18 inches of hair and wore it like this for a while.

Shorter pony tail... much more easily managed.

This length was more manageable, but still tended to get trapped under knees and elbows.  It still gave me the weird comfort of long hair, so I wanted to keep it.  I had a fat face paranoia.  Until I started BJJ I carried some of my pregnancy weight, and I felt like my face was huge and if my hair was long, I could wear it down when I was having an extra fat face day.  ..Yes, fat face day.. It's a thing, I swear.

Then when I cut down to light weight, in a last ditch effort to drop any extra weight I could shed I cut about 6 more inches off... to this:  (Ps. six inches of hair doesn't even register on the scale.)

At this length it was still long enough to put into a pony tail, and my pony tail was so short it didn't get trapped or pulled out nearly as much.  Huzzah!

I was finally over my fat face paranoia, but scared of cutting my hair shorter.   On top of that, it didn't seem necessary.  It didn't get in my way anymore, and since I had two feet less hair than I did a year before the manageability seemed through the roof.

Then came the list, and on the list, I added, "Cut my hair really short."

So I did.

To this:

This length was too short for a pony tail, but short enough to not actually get in my way while I grappled when I wore it down.  Plus, I REALLY loved it this length.

That last picture is my ideal hair length.  For life, and for grappling.  

And finally having gotten over using my hair for comfort, I did this:

Huzzah!

Yesterday, I got my hair cut again, as I mentioned, and it went horribly.  The first attempt at cutting it went all wrong, and I had to have a second cut.  Resulting in much shorter hair than I planned. 

I like the bangs.

The back is where I was less pleased... 

I will say it is totally growing on me though.  =D


Yesterday afternoon I grappled with my new short hair, and it was UHH-MAZING!  It didn't get in my face, didn't get trapped under things... and best of all it is sooo cool!  As in, temperature.  I am half tempted to cut it even shorter now for even more ease and coolness while grappling! 

So in my own opinion, the shorter the hair, the easier it is to manage while grappling.  Obviously though, long haired grapplers exist, and their long locks seem not to hinder them.  But having hand both really long, and really short hair, I will say as far as grappling goes... the shorter the better, at least for me.

So ladies with the long flowing locks.... How do you manage to keep it out of your way when you grapple?  I was never able to discover the secret. 

Other girls who have hair and grapple and have combined those two things in to their blogs from time to time are, Georgette and Megan.

Editing in my most current hair cut:

It is actually a bit of a Mohawk with bangs, cut to wear down instead of up.

 I LOVE it for grappling!  It keeps my head cool, doesn't get in my way at all, and I can still dress it up.

I totally and completely love it.  Keather Bennet of the Mellennia Spa cut it for me.  She is extraordinarily talented and her spa is beautiful.  If you live in the central Florida area I would highly recommend checking her out. 

The Millennia Spa

3046 Cypress Gardens Road

Winter Haven, Florida

(863) 268-8282
The Mellennia Spa

Tell her Stephanie sent you.  =)