ahh my poor hair! advice pleaseee?

**Curly_jas** · August 8th, 2011, 03:11 AM

Hey guys,

So i could do with some advice regarding my hair

Before i get into it..a little background story, this time last year i had ruined my hair by bleaching the heck outta it and so my curly hair would no longer go curly and i decided last august to just chop off my APL hair to ching length in order to reduce damage and i started my healthy hair journey with no heat/dyes etc and it was going really well my default pic shows a good curly hair day i had some months back, no damaged hair in sight!

Fast forward to today and it feels like deja vu. This past week i for some crazy reason decided to bleach and dye my hair (i wanted it brown..my hair is originally jet black but was currently growing out a dyed black) and anyways needless to say it has damaged my hair, my hair is not as curly and now my layered APL hair has about 3-4ins of hair that will not revert back to its curly natural state and feels quite dry. Bare in mind my shortest layer is just past ear length and my longest ones are APL. If i plop it and mainipulate it, it will go wavy but that doesn't change the fact it's damage. I tried to nurse my damaged hair back to health last year and it didnt help much so thats not an option.

I do not like short hair on me, even my current length seems short to me but it's been growing fast which is why i'm in two minds over what to do.

I don't know if i should just leave it, baby it and grow out the damage and when my hairs longer cut it then. Or i'm thinking to just to the salon tomorrow and have either 1ins cut off or the 3-4ins and just start again and wear my hair up with clips/ hair sticks etc.

What do you guys think? any thoughts would be appreciated

**junkyschristmas** · August 8th, 2011, 01:44 PM

I voted for "Baby the hair and grow out the damaged parts", though I really think "Baby the hair, grow out the damaged parts and wear it up a lot".

I have similar hair to yours and I, too, hate short hair on myself. I think if you cut it right now you may find it a little discouraging (not least of all because we curlies have to grow A LOT in order for our hair to look long - the springy factor).

If you baby your hair (maybe try co-washing, do deep conditioning a couple of times a week, etc.) you may be less inclined to impulsively do something like bleach or something else (trust me, I've been there).

And, keeping it up a lot will also keep you from doing anything impulsive. I also have found a lot of inspiration from the benign neglect thread:
http://www.longhaircommunity.com/for...ad.php?t=23540

Your hair looks lovely so you deserve to have it *long* and lovely!

**Curly_jas** · August 8th, 2011, 02:28 PM

Originally Posted by junkyschristmas

I voted for "Baby the hair and grow out the damaged parts", though I really think "Baby the hair, grow out the damaged parts and wear it up a lot".

I have similar hair to yours and I, too, hate short hair on myself. I think if you cut it right now you may find it a little discouraging (not least of all because we curlies have to grow A LOT in order for our hair to look long - the springy factor).

If you baby your hair (maybe try co-washing, do deep conditioning a couple of times a week, etc.) you may be less inclined to impulsively do something like bleach or something else (trust me, I've been there).

And, keeping it up a lot will also keep you from doing anything impulsive. I also have found a lot of inspiration from the benign neglect thread:
http://www.longhaircommunity.com/for...ad.php?t=23540

Your hair looks lovely so you deserve to have it *long* and lovely!

Thanks for replying! It seems no one else wanted to hehe. Yeah I totally agree with you though and have actually already decided that i am not going to cut my hair just yet, and shall just grow it out and baby the hair like i already have been.
Yeah that's exactly what i already do, love co washing, non sulphate shampoos, DC and i've kept my hair up for the most part since last August. I was just bored saw some other curlies with lovely dyed hair (silly i know!) and had a moment of madness and decided to dye it

I'll deffo check out that thread, and aww thankyou for the compliment

**Misti** · August 8th, 2011, 03:27 PM

Hey, Curly, Jas!

Have you figured out what inspired you to bleach and dye again when you *knew* what the result would likely be? I suspect that unless you figure that out and find a way around it, you're in for a LOT of deja vu.

I would recommend that if you have enough hair, you start to wear it up every day and treat it VERY gently. After a few months of oiling the ends and treating it very gently, you'll have a MUCH better idea how much of your hair can really be salavaged. (at APL my super thin hair buns just fine, but if your hair is too thick it might not work.)

Since you want long hair, I would hate to see you cut off hair unnecessarily. After several months of pampering, your hair is likely to look vastly better. At that point, any hair that is too fragil can be cut off -- maybe an inch every other month, until you have all healthy hair again. If you really can't bear it the way it is, then I'd start now with 1 inch and then do an inch every other month until you like your ends.

**CurlAhead** · August 8th, 2011, 05:47 PM

Exactly HOW damages is it? Is it just dry and frizzy or do you actually have split ends? If you do have a lot of split ends, I suggest you get rid of them and them start with the CO routine (if you're not already on it). I went back to this routine today, because I have the same curls as you. Shampoo and bleach is a big NO NO for that kind of curly hair, I learnt the hard way, ha ha!

**Ishje** · August 9th, 2011, 01:57 AM

well, I would go for a combination of the first and the second.

cut off about an inch, and then baby your hair until you feel ok with cutting off the other damage.
wearing up your hair is alway's a good thing

**stefalupagus** · August 9th, 2011, 03:19 AM

If it were me, I would probably just hack off as much as I could stand and resolve not to damage it as much next time.

**Curly_jas** · August 9th, 2011, 04:46 AM

Originally Posted by Misti

Hey, Curly, Jas!

Have you figured out what inspired you to bleach and dye again when you *knew* what the result would likely be? I suspect that unless you figure that out and find a way around it, you're in for a LOT of deja vu.

I would recommend that if you have enough hair, you start to wear it up every day and treat it VERY gently. After a few months of oiling the ends and treating it very gently, you'll have a MUCH better idea how much of your hair can really be salavaged. (at APL my super thin hair buns just fine, but if your hair is too thick it might not work.)

Since you want long hair, I would hate to see you cut off hair unnecessarily. After several months of pampering, your hair is likely to look vastly better. At that point, any hair that is too fragil can be cut off -- maybe an inch every other month, until you have all healthy hair again. If you really can't bear it the way it is, then I'd start now with 1 inch and then do an inch every other month until you like your ends.

Well, I was simply bored and saw some other curly haired girls with such lovely colour and decided i would dye my hair, stupid i know. So no, it's not something i shall continue to do, i definately will not make that silly mistake again. And yes there are many hairstyles i can do, my go to is a high bun. Yeah i agree. I think i shall just baby it, continue with my routine thats been working really well and not resort to cutting loads off just yet then I'll see how my hair is looking in a few months time. Thanks for all the advice

Originally Posted by CurlAhead

Exactly HOW damages is it? Is it just dry and frizzy or do you actually have split ends? If you do have a lot of split ends, I suggest you get rid of them and them start with the CO routine (if you're not already on it). I went back to this routine today, because I have the same curls as you. Shampoo and bleach is a big NO NO for that kind of curly hair, I learnt the hard way, ha ha!

haha gosh i know, bleach is awful. Thing is my hair is super fine but also seems to be very resiliant to damage, it took a lot for my hair to finally say no enough is enough last year and the heat styling and such finally caught up with me! But no i don't think there are many split ends, i think i shall just continue with my routine (which is the CO one) and just never touch hair dyes again. Thanks for the advice!

Originally Posted by Ishje

well, I would go for a combination of the first and the second.

cut off about an inch, and then baby your hair until you feel ok with cutting off the other damage.
wearing up your hair is alway's a good thing

Thanks for the reply

Yeah i think i'm just going to baby my hair, wear it up a lot and see how my hair looks in a few months. Yep gonna have to go back to wearing my hair up a lot, which like you said is actually a good thing

**Curly_jas** · August 13th, 2011, 09:56 AM

Just an update guys...after deciding i was not going to cut my hair just yet, yesterday i just got the urge to cut most of the damaged parts off. My mum did it for me as she is a trained hairdresser and so now my hair is back to SL, but most of the damage is off, and also i've finally gotten rid of the (unwanted) awful uneven layers a stylist gave me which had been taking ages to grow out. Still got damage on the very top layer of my hair but the rest of my hair hardly any so it definatley looks better