Bad stuff removal support group!

[Periwinkle]

I'm so glad to see so many people have posted. We are not alone!

[Amara]

I am also growing out "bad stuff"! I have henna from shoulder-ish all the way down (about 9" of natural color). I want all natural color - but it'll be a looooong road. I also have some long-ago damage on the longest bits, which lived through chemicals and heat. They split pretty easily.

[Fantak]

I am also growing out "bad stuff"! I have henna from shoulder-ish all the way down (about 9" of natural color). I want all natural color - but it'll be a looooong road. I also have some long-ago damage on the longest bits, which lived through chemicals and heat. They split pretty easily.

I hope you don't mind me asking.. but do you plan to wait until you get to your goal and maintain? Or do you do regular trims? If so can you please tell us how often you trim and how much you trim?

Ty!

[maskedrose]

I'm also battling with damaged ends. 4-5 years ago I highlighted my whole head every six months or so, and 3 years ago backed down to partial highlights. Because my hair is naturally so light, my stylist only had to use toner for a short amount of time to lighten it sufficiently. Still, all that really has taken it's toll on the length. In the past, I always had the urge to trim once I went past BSL, and now I know why. The last 2-3 inches are dry and frizzy and they split really, really easily. I'm only a couple inches away from waist, where I plan to maintain, but I'm not sure if I can handle these ends for another six months!! I'll probably end up trimming an inch or so off in February, just to help matters a little. I've also started doing regular cassia treatments and adding more moisture to my routine. I've currently got 4" of virgin growth, and I'm really not sure why I felt the need to highlight it for so long - it's barely a shade darker than my highlights! And it's sooo much shinier....

[Dreamernz]

I do fear loosing my length and so all that progress, but if it has to go it has to go, at least I'll be removing damage too, but my layers are heavy, the shortest layer is shorter than shoulder length (though luckily no shorter than that I think ) It'll take a while, but letting those layers grow out will give my hair the thickness I want, gulp, I hope

[Darkhorse1]

When I'd fried my hair with product, Sun-in and lemon juice, I slowly trimmed the ends away. I did 1 inch every 3 months. Then, of course, a hair dresser got cut happy and while it removed all the deadness, it also cut my hair to my shoulders. I didn't go to a hair dresser for YEARS after that.

With regards to damage, the only way to get rid of it is to cut it, but to make it look less damaged, I found olive oil worked very well/hot oil treatments. Even coloring with a semi-permanent color can give hair more gloss--just remember damaged ends are more porous, so they will aborb/take color faster.

Good luck!

[rhubarbarin]

Count me in! Before I found LHC I put my hair through a LOT of abuse. Right now pretty much the only nice hair on my head is the 7" or so I've grown since I joined! It's better on the underside, but my canopy is so bad.. highlighted, broken, and very thin. I get tempted to do major cuts and took off about 4" over the summer. However I've made up my mind that I would rather get a major length goal and then maintain there. I will trim an inch every few months this year, and should be at the waist-hip area (30-33") by 2010. I will be staying there for as long as it takes to trim off the damage and thicken up my length.

I have a long road ahead of me and sometimes I feel a little sad thinking that it will be 3 years at least before I have long, virgin, healthy hair.. but I am enjoying growing so much, it's worth the wait.

[dalriada-lady]

I'm joining.

i started with a blunt, haircut below shoulder level, for some strange reason my hair suddenly got layers! all on it's own, i now have a weird length, kind of like a open u, very open. shorter layers ( sides ) are about BSL but the rest of my hair is 1 inch from waist length. i feel so angry that all of a sudden, my blunt hemline grew side layers. i know some is because of broken hair from tangles what i don't understand is why. i take extreme care of my hair and always detangle when wet, take about an hour to detangle, use different products to make combing easier but somehow the tangles are so stubborn, already twice this year i had to tear the tangles out. i have been thinking of cutting back up to the shortest layers but i'm still procrastinating, hoping that with trimming the longer layers every 3 months the shorter layers will grow and reach the rest of my length. but hoping i won't have to cut to BSL again and with trims my side layers will even out sooner rather than later.

[Periwinkle]

Dalriada, have you tried not detangling wet, or only doing it when your hair is full of conditioner? Hair is at its most fragile when wet and since you're a straighty, combing when dry shouldn't give you a poof effect. Maybe that would help with your tangle problems.

I'm looking forward to my trim day tomorrow! I love feeling like I'm doing something about my layers. Also, I found some length shots from January 2008 (I have NO IDEA why I took them but I did) so I'll be able to take a new photo and compare.

[Elenna]

Half of my hair is dyed a reddish brown, and it's in not so great condition.

The new undyed growth is silver mixed with dark brown. I go back and forth on trimming back 2-3 inches.

I like the length when hair behaves, but it is not behaving lately.