Hair Chop!!!!! Severe Damage and Hair Science

**diamond_storm** · February 18th, 2017, 09:53 PM

Now for haircut pics!

This was my hair before..

And my new cut!

You can tell how yucky the hair is in the long part, especially in the first pic!!!

**Serimel** · February 19th, 2017, 12:59 AM

Huii it's like a hair horror story, yaiks!

I think your new haircut is SUPER cute and oh my god I can't believe my eyes how beautiful you are.

**kidari** · February 19th, 2017, 04:30 AM

I was super curious about all of the pics (the hair under the microscope, how your hair used to look like, and your new cut)! Thank you for sharing, this is a fascinating thread. I'm so sorry what happened to your gorgeous long hair but your cut is so cute and you have such a great attitude about it all. It's not just a learning experience for you but you shared your experience so it can be one for others as well.

You mentioned that you are cone-free and in an attempt to fix your hair you tried cones again? Personally, I love cones because I feel that they provide a layer of protection... they act as a heat protectant, act as a slippery armor that coats the shaft, and allows hair to be not only more manageable but prevents the hair from snagging, tangling, and getting mechanically damaged. Also, I find your theory about the henna burning into the hair to be so fascinating.

**likelikepenny** · February 19th, 2017, 05:23 AM

Did you do a protein treatment? It sounds like your hair was over moisturized.

**spidermom** · February 19th, 2017, 07:46 AM

On me, damage definitely travels upward. My hair will split, break off, split, break off. There seems to be no end to it.

**diamond_storm** · February 19th, 2017, 07:55 AM

Originally Posted by Serimel

Huii it's like a hair horror story, yaiks!

I think your new haircut is SUPER cute and oh my god I can't believe my eyes how beautiful you are.

Ahh thank you so much

And yes, this whole thing is the stuff of nightmares for someone with long hair

**diamond_storm** · February 19th, 2017, 08:09 AM

Originally Posted by kidari

I was super curious about all of the pics (the hair under the microscope, how your hair used to look like, and your new cut)! Thank you for sharing, this is a fascinating thread. I'm so sorry what happened to your gorgeous long hair but your cut is so cute and you have such a great attitude about it all. It's not just a learning experience for you but you shared your experience so it can be one for others as well.

Thanks so much

Trust me, I did my fair share of crying over my hair! But in the end, what can you do besides just move on? Actually, although I ADORED my long hair, I honestly always did feel a little sad that I wouldn't ever get to try short hair, since I was so adamant about keeping it long. I kinda always had a sense of regret that I would miss out on giving it a try, so this gave me a chance. Sometimes life has to push you off the ledge in order to get you to swim

This is actually the second time I've had to chop my hair off in my life. The first time it happened, I chopped it off into a boring cut that I hated for years as it finally grew out into what I had at the time of the sauna damage. This time I was determined to not hate my hair again, and to have fun with it at every length! So that's what I'm trying to do now.

It's too late for my hair at this point (oh my, that sounds soo dramatic, haha!), but I really hope this will help others avoid the same kind of damage! I'm happy to be the cautionary tale if it means saving someone else all this trouble

Originally Posted by kidari

You mentioned that you are cone-free and in an attempt to fix your hair you tried cones again? Personally, I love cones because I feel that they provide a layer of protection... they act as a heat protectant, act as a slippery armor that coats the shaft, and allows hair to be not only more manageable but prevents the hair from snagging, tangling, and getting mechanically damaged. Also, I find your theory about the henna burning into the hair to be so fascinating.

I actually love cones too! I stopped using them a while before the sauna incident, but not really intentionally. I just bought a "natural" conditioner that didn't contain cones. My hair used to adore cones. However, I've found since it's been very damaged, cones kind of make it cling up even more than usual. I'm not sure why that is. I did notice that there was a lot of gunky buildup when I looked at my hair under the microscope before clarifying, too. So I'm not sure what I should do now! I'm trying to learn how to work with this new and yucky texture, haha!

**diamond_storm** · February 19th, 2017, 08:10 AM

Originally Posted by likelikepenny

Did you do a protein treatment? It sounds like your hair was over moisturized.

Protein treatment was actually the one thing I never really got around to trying. I've never heard of over-moisturizing! How does that happen? Would you recommend a protein treatment or is that something that will make it worse if my hair was over-moisturized?

**diamond_storm** · February 19th, 2017, 08:12 AM

Originally Posted by spidermom

On me, damage definitely travels upward. My hair will split, break off, split, break off. There seems to be no end to it.

That's what I'm afraid of! I really wish I could just chop it all off, but I don't want a pixie.... Which is what it would be if I trimmed off all the damage! I'm very gentle to my hair, so I hope that limiting the amount of mechanical damage and treating it like the frail chunk of fibers that it is at this point will let it at least preserve this condition until I get it all trimmed off. That will be at least a year, though

Ugh, this is so frustrating.

**-Fern** · February 19th, 2017, 09:00 AM

I have also been having a lot of issues with my hair since I started using a dry sauna. Sorry that you felt the need to cut back so far, but glad that you are happy with your cute new cut! I think it is just the dry heat. I don't think your hair was over-moisturized.

Since my sauna is at the gym, I think it would be really more hassle than it's worth to protect my hair properly... so I'm just going to find another way to relax after working out.