I fell off the LHC wagon and into the heat styling inferno....

[tangocurl]

Midway upon the journey of my life and hair, I found myself in that dark forest of hair products under the bathroom sink, reaching for the hairdryer and flatiron, for I had forgotten the straightforward pathway of LHC.
Ah me! It is hard to say that I also entered the dark forest of the product aisle at the grocery store and drugstore, and slipped into the silicone quicksand.

So terrible, over time, the effects on my hair, that the very thought renews the fear -- and I now have bobbed hair for a battle scar. I am not exactly sure how I found myself back into my old hair habits, but soon enough I was getting trendy haircuts and was bleached and ironed into submission. This is the way into the city of woe, the sorrow eternal.

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here. Yes, I fell off the LHC wagon. It was a gradual seduction of the old products, the old styles, the old habits. It was so fun at first, having straight hair, and different chemical colors, and a trendy look. I got compliments. Over time, however, the damage could not be hidden. I looked at all the bottles of products in the drawers, the shower, and under the sink, and wondered if they all exploded at once if my place would become a superfund site. I regretted what I was spending on my fixation with having straight hair, blond hair, whatever. My naturally fine hair became fine and fragile.

Over time, I realized the henna and cone avoidance had been only things protecting my hair from the torturous styling....and when I found myself using silicones, and stopped using henna, I could not hide my fried, fragile hair or treat it poorly.

After the last experience -- I think I asked for an "all over glaze to tone down the highlights" -- and wound up with an ashy, dull mess that was hardly darker or richer than the Courtney Love look I had walking in -- something clicked in my mind.

I got some henna...I did an SMT...I gathered up two grocery bags of cone-cotaining products and got rid of them. I got compliments on my return to my original Henna copper hue.

Today, I take my curling iron, flat iron and hairdryer to Goodwill. I haven't used a curling iron in a week. I haven't used the hairdryer in almost two weeks. No need to hold onto them. Help me be strong!

My hair has a long way to go to come back from the damage. My natural curl is as uneven as ever, with the bleachiest parts sticking out like spiky straw. I give those parts extra squirts of the Kimberlily Frizz Spray and curl them with my finger, gently reminding the strands of their true nature, remember to take my Ultra Hair vitamin, and hope for a summer of rapid growth.

I hope to eventually come back to the Paradise of thick, long hair. My hair may not genetically be the texture I want, or even grow past BSL. I used to aspire to that, but I doubt it possible. If I can just look a little better and feel better about my hair then I have achieved something, which is not having to feed the beast of drugged, fried, tortured hair.

Thanks for reading :blossom:

[sisi33]

I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed your little story- and that I'm glad that you have conquered something so substantial! Go you! :hifive:

[flip-flop]

Great read! Good luck to you on your hair journey.

[melusine963]

:grouphug: I hear you. I remember how much I loved my straightened hair, and occasionally I'm tempted. Then I remember the years it's taken to grow out the heat damage, and that giving in will mean I'll never reach my hair goal. A large part of my hair journey has been learning to accept what I have and making the most of it. The wonderful updo tutorials many LHCers have made help keep me motivated.

[tangocurl]

Thank you sisi33, flip-flop, and melamine963.

After I drop off the offending appliances at Goodwill, I am going to get some smooth plastic rollers and try roller-setting the spiky pieces.

Today I'm feeling a lot better about my natural texture and I'm on the road to recovery...:o

[shutterpillar]

Good luck continuing your journey to healthy hair!

[Nightshade]

Good luck! I'm sure you can do it :D

[door72067]

aww...great story...good luck with it !!

[ghost]

I'm sure your hair will bounce back :) The henna will help, just give it some time. My hair might be similar to yours -I have a lot of it, but it's a bit fine and could never really handle heat styling too well. Flat ironing makes it look sleek, but up close the individual strands look worse than ever if I flat iron. As much as I like the look of it, it's not worth it :s
Best of luck with growing your hair out and getting it looking and feeling healthy again!

[FireFromWithin]

Think not about falling off the wagon but remember that you got back on and now you have this experience to remind you why. Perhaps when you've got more length and don't have to fight of every inch of undamaged growth you could do the odd style from your old days so that you don't end up missing them too much?

[racrane]

I understand. I kind of forgot about LHC tips and my hair is kinda frazzled. But go you! Your hair will eventually bounce back. :)

[PinkyCat]

Wow you are really a great story teller! You know you can find the support you need here. You know what needs to be done. Grow get em! :)

[lapushka]

It's not all bad, the flatironing, the blowdrying, if done within reason. It's not all bad, the silicones, the sulfates, if you *can* use them. Anyway, good on you for trying to go the damage free route. Hang in there!

[SerinaDaith]

I got rid of all my heat styling implements about a month after I stared here. With how much my hair shrinks when dry, heck with how much it shrinks wet I knew that I would have been flat ironing all the time.

Great job figuring out what your locks really need! I know it's hard every so often to remember that the long term goals outweigh the temptation of a new look. Stay strong sister!

[heidi w.]

Good luck to you. It seems that many go through the phase you just finished with to wake up and realize that it's all a con. Sorry about that. That's the way it is.
heidi w.

[jacqueline101]

Don't be too hard on yourself we all give in to temptation. I started using hair spray.

[tangocurl]

Thank you shutterpillar, Nightshade, door72067, ghost, FreeFromWithin, racrane, Pinkycat, lapushka, SerenaDaith, jacqueline101 and heidi w. It was very therapeutic to write my little story and even better to get encouragement. The heat styling tools are gone, and I have noticed that it is already getting time to henna my roots again. Summer is coming and I will be wearing my hair up more.

You are all an inspiration.

I guess the craziest thing about the "con" I was a victim of was how slowly it took the damage to show up, and then how suddenly I snapped out of it.

It felt good to do an act of self care today by getting some smooth plastic rollers for setting my hair.

[kidari]

Your post may hopefully be a lesson to some that read it. At least you had fun experimenting, it's out of your system, and you really learned a real lesson. Good luck on your new journey for your best hair ever! Sometime last year or so I did the same thing as you, I donated my curling irons to the Goodwill.

[Micayla47]

tangocurl, thanks so much for sharing your story, and in such a creative way. i found lhc a year ago and my hair has already recovered and grown a lot. however, i get pressure every day to go back to short blond hair. EVERYONE i know tells me "you look so good with blond hair" "you have a 'blond' personality" "you're too old to have long hair" "your skin is too fair to have dark hair" "the dark hair makes you look harsh".... i don't even argue with people anymore. i just nod and smile and say "you might be right" and then keep right on growing my hair "inappropriately" long and henna-ing it.

[tangocurl]

tangocurl, thanks so much for sharing your story, and in such a creative way. i found lhc a year ago and my hair has already recovered and grown a lot. however, i get pressure every day to go back to short blond hair. EVERYONE i know tells me "you look so good with blond hair" "you have a 'blond' personality" "you're too old to have long hair" "your skin is too fair to have dark hair" "the dark hair makes you look harsh".... i don't even argue with people anymore. i just nod and smile and say "you might be right" and then keep right on growing my hair "inappropriately" long and henna-ing it.

Be as inappropriate as you want!! LOL

[tangocurl]

Your post may hopefully be a lesson to some that read it. At least you had fun experimenting, it's out of your system, and you really learned a real lesson. Good luck on your new journey for your best hair ever! Sometime last year or so I did the same thing as you, I donated my curling irons to the Goodwill.

Yes, I think it truly is out of my system for good, even though everything I described I did from about age 15 to age 30! Two more years of that slippery slope and I just want to go back to what I started in 2007. I hope my post is a lesson. This really could be my best hair yet. Thank you.

[long&blonde]

Welcome back!

[Kherome]

I've never been one to use heat or products on my hair, but if I had, what I saw one day would have cured me of that notion quickly. I was at a "pet expo" and standing in line to buy a water. I heard obnoxious laughter to my left and turned to see what was happening. It was a group of girls, probably teens like HS age. The one closest to me had jaw length really dark brown hair. The shocking thing was that as I looked I noticed every.single.strand was split. I couldn't help myself I was definitely staring. You could tell by the "style" that it was flat-ironed. I kid you not though, each strand ended in a fork, or worse some were even split 5 ways. One of her friends noticed me looking so I had to turn away quickly but I remember thinking in that moment: I will not use an implement that does that to hair, not on my head.

[tangocurl]

Your hair is beautiful, Kherome. If I can get halfway there, that will be a victory. I feel so bad for that girl you saw. If she stopped the insanity a lot of that hair would bounce back and she'd be able to cut off the forked ends...I guess if you come to a fork in your hair, cut it!

I'm seeing some new growth in some baby hairs coming in at my part that are about an inch long...Yay!

Long & Blonde, thank you for the welcome back!

[tangocurl]

Just randomly found this old post in my subscriptions folder....and here I am, roughly five years later, and have finally made it to what I call almost long, healthy hair.

Over the past five years, I wasn't perfect with the heat styling -- I did do it, but a lot less -- but haven't dyed or bleached. I ave now been heat free for over two months, the longest I have ever been heat free. Over the past five years, I gradually cut off the damage and am finally at APL (wet). I got my first ever hair compliment with my hair down last December. I was gobsmacked. I only used to get compliments on new highlights or a cute updo.

Let this be a lesson.....

[Nightshade]

Yayy! It can be done :cheer: