Go shorter or salvage what I got?

[Orange Queen]

Hello hair gurus!
I'm usually back on these boards after a (semi) hair disaster of some sort :)
Just had a chop. Went from below shoulder length to just past ear length.

Somehow over the winter my hair got really damaged. I didn't really notice because I was wearing my hair up about 95% of the time.
No idea what happened.

I didn't really take care of my hair, but I didn't not take care of it either.

I have suuuper fine hair, so I try to treat it like silk. I never really do anything to it, and pretty much never use hot styling tools. Gentle shampoos, minimal styling products, no hair dyes, etc. etc. Just honey to even out lighter summer hair and darker winter hair, an ocasional oiling, and a gelatin treatment here and there.

Only thing I can think of, and it sounds weird, is that towards the end of the summer/early fall I've had a lot of stress, so maybe that somehow had something to do with it. No other health issues (knock on wood lol).
I have also been using castor oil on my roots for the past three months, and it seems to work for me. Seeing a lot of new growth. Even the hairdresser commented on that. The new hair is shiny, and in good shape.

Anyways, I decided to chop everything off and just start from new.
The hairdresser told me that I shouldn't go shorter than the bob that she gave me. I could still see some "chewed up" hair, but she told me it's fine, and that's just the way my hair is.
As much as I hate short hair on me, I think I should still cut shorter, and go from there. I also hate bob's because they're a bi**h to grow out, but, oh well, c'est la vie :)

Attaching some pictures.
You can see the damage on the photos without flash (the ones that make my hair look weirdly orange. my hair is a weird yellow in real life lol), looks like split ends throughout the length. Makes my hair look frizzy.

On the photo with flash you can see the front layers of my hair are pretty rough and translucent looking.




http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn11/primalshot/hair%201_zpsubgd2kmg.jpg (http://s300.photobucket.com/user/primalshot/media/hair%201_zpsubgd2kmg.jpg.html)

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn11/primalshot/hair%204_zpsop5cdta3.jpg (http://s300.photobucket.com/user/primalshot/media/hair%204_zpsop5cdta3.jpg.html)

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn11/primalshot/hair%202_zpsvjl0sogu.jpg (http://s300.photobucket.com/user/primalshot/media/hair%202_zpsvjl0sogu.jpg.html)

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn11/primalshot/hair%203_zpsyid1jago.jpg (http://s300.photobucket.com/user/primalshot/media/hair%203_zpsyid1jago.jpg.html)


Am I bats**t insane and my hair is ok? Is my hairdresser right, my hair just naturally looks damaged? Are those not split ends? Just another perk of having super fine thin hair? Who killed Laura Palmer?

I've never had a hairdresser not go shorter. Usually it's the other way around. There was a slight language barrier, so maybe I'm missing something, but she was pretty adamant that I should not go shorter.

What do you guys think? Shorter, or work with what I got? The front part of my hair is really bothering me. I can't put it up or back, and the only way it looks semi decent is if I have a head band on and the ends blend in with the other hair.

I trust the hair experts on here. Something that I can put on my ends maybe to make them look less scraggly?

[lapushka]

I see no damage, and the hairs being of different lengths is absolutely normal!

[Lyv]

I don't think those are splits. Mine has those all over the place too, even when I had a pixie cut they were there and it definitely wasn't damage.

[butter52]

I think it looks fine! I like the cut!

maybe in the last picture it seems like the front hairs have a non bold hemline but I think it is perfectly fine and nothing to go crazy about.
If it makes you go nuts maybe get some side bangs so the hemline in the front is more full?

Disclaimer: no hair expert!

[Orange Queen]

Thanks for the replies :)

I'm imagining things then lol

Yeah, maybe I should look into bangs. Just to blunt it out a bit.
Was trying to avoid those because having everything more or less the same length makes my hair look thicker overall, but I know the front will drive me nuts.

Now... Looking forward to the long trip of growing out hair, complete with all it's awkward stages

[spidermom]

What I'm seeing is that you have hairs with a lot of different lengths. Everybody has that, but it is more obvious on some hair types than others. The reason for this is that every single day you shed out hairs that have reached the end of their growth cycles. And every single day you grow in new hairs to replace the hairs that shed out. Every single hair on your head has its own growth cycle, so every single one of us have hairs of every length - from barely long enough to poke out of the hair follicle all the way down to the length of the longest hair. You will always have this no matter how short you cut your hair. There will always be new hairs that are shorter unless you shave your head.

Styling products like gels help to smooth those hairs down so that they go with the flow better instead of sticking out all over.

P.S: I think the stylist could have done a better job of blending the sides into the back; maybe next trim. Don't cut bangs because of it.

[Islandgrrl]

Splits? Damage? Huh?

I don't see splits in any of the pictures and I don't see obvious damage, either. I see hair with lots of different lengths, from normal growth patterns.

I wouldn't go shorter if it were me. I would go for length, with regular small trims to keep your hemline looking nice as you gain length. Since your hair is pretty short, an uneven hemline is really noticeable. As you gain length and can put your hair up, any unevenness won't be so easy to see and you can focus more on length than form.

My 2 cents!

[Remi]

Damage? I don't see any. Most all hairdressers will say it's damaged and/or dry just to sell stuff to you. I used to hate that. Now I don't go to them for trims, I do my own.

[Orange Queen]

Wow, hair must be in better shape than I thought =)))))

Spidermom, yeah, she definitely could have blended better.
Not my usual hairdresser, but I got trims from her before, and I know she has repeat customers, so didn't go in totally blind.
I'll ask my usual hairdresser if she can do anything about the front.
On my hair if a strand is a bit longer than others, it just enhances the thinness.

Dramatically angled bobs are also tricky, because the longer parts look translucent
I'm forever doomed to bowl cuts. Or whatever you would call a bowl cut without the bangs.

Remi, she didn't try to sell anything to me. I figured she thought I was a hopeless case or something ha ha ha.

[Sarahlabyrinth]

I see absolutely no damage at all. It is perfectly normal to have all those little hairs sticking out like that, gee, I have ten zillion of them. They are younger hairs which haven't reached the length of your hemline yet, that's all, and they certainly don't look damaged, not in the slightest. I have no idea what your hairdresser is talking about. Your hair looks beautiful, glossy and in wonderful condition!!!

Notice that in advertising for hair products they always photoshop those little sticky out hairs... out of the picture! The models' own hair would also have those little ends - only they are digitally removed from the video/photo!

[Nadine <3]

I have thousands of those little hair sticking up all over the place and oddly enough I thought I have a bunch of damaged hair too so I went and chopped it off. I did the same thing once when I jumped into the sulfate free bandwagon, but I didn't know what a silicone was so I used burts bees shampoo and conditioner with a leave in that was mostly silicone...whoops, my hair didn't like that.

[Orange Queen]

Didn't realize silicone was that bad. Don't think I've ever used anything with a lot of silicone. Good to know.
Did your hair start breaking off?
I'm actually looking for a good shampoo right now. Just bought a bottle of Johnson's Baby Shampoo, but reading the label, it's still full of crap.
I try to dilute the shampoo as much as I can, and lately been using more conditioner than shampoo.
Strangely enough a super cheap Revlon shampoo (Outageous) works the best on my hair. The smell is really strong though, and I'm sure it's horrible for you, but my hair always responds well to it.
I couldn't find it lately, so been switching up shampoos.
Probably best to go to a health store and grab some organic natural overpriced bottle.

[Nadine <3]

Didn't realize silicone was that bad. Don't think I've ever used anything with a lot of silicone. Good to know.
Did your hair start breaking off?
I'm actually looking for a good shampoo right now. Just bought a bottle of Johnson's Baby Shampoo, but reading the label, it's still full of crap.
I try to dilute the shampoo as much as I can, and lately been using more conditioner than shampoo.
Strangely enough a super cheap Revlon shampoo (Outageous) works the best on my hair. The smell is really strong though, and I'm sure it's horrible for you, but my hair always responds well to it.
I couldn't find it lately, so been switching up shampoos.
Probably best to go to a health store and grab some organic natural overpriced bottle.

I wouldn't say silicone is "bad" and in fact after a year of being silicone and sulfate free I've recently gone back to using both and my hair has changed for the better. I just didn't know what I was doing. Loading on more silicones but not using anything to clean it off. Lots of build up, my hair just got very very dry and tangled and eventually did start snapping off. Silicones are great though, you just have to use the right shampoo to remove them.

[Chocowalnut]

Your hair looks healthy to me and I like the cut- nice fresh ends. I wouldn't go shorter either if you are trying to grow out.

[spidermom]

For many people, the natural shampoos aren't kind to their hair. I dilute my shampoo quite a bit, so I find that the shampoo I buy doesn't make a lot of difference - whatever is on sale with an appealing scent is fine. In the past, I also used more conditioner than shampoo, but I discovered that if I take the time to massage/finger-comb the conditioner through my hair, I don't have to use much. So thank goodness; now I can save money on conditioner. I also use a dab of coney serum about once every 10 days because it helps so much to untangle my hair.

Anyway, happy growing, and don't worry about those shorter, newer hairs. They're your future long hairs!

[Arctic]

It looks like you have lot of new growth, and the ends like to bend/curl a little and it might be a bit on the dry side.

Your hair looks like it's blowdried there, too. Sometimes blowdrying makes the surface of my hair looks "hairy" like that, I have never been able to pinpoint why, excatly, but I think on those times I have blowdried too long, when the hair was already dry. You could try to put a tiny bit of leave in on your palms, rub them together, and glide your hands lightly on the surface of your canopy. That seems to help my hair. (tiny bit is enough, especially for fine hair).

[endlessly]

I don't really see any damage or splits. While I think you might benefit from a little bit of oil or maybe a deep conditioning treatment to help with your ends since you think they look scraggly, I don't think you need to cut any shorter. Now, all of that being said, when your hairdresser said to not trim it up anymore and that it might just be normal for you to have rougher looking hair, trust me when I say you are not alone. My hair is, for the most part, pretty much damage-free, but my ends have always looked a little on the fluffy side and that's honestly just because of my hair texture. I believe if you really baby your hair, which doesn't necessarily require more work, with just a few light oil treatments or deep conditioning you'll see an improvement.

[Arctic]

Additional thoughts.

I have some hairs I thought were damaged, untill I realized they are actually not, and they grow out of my scalp like that. I see at least couple of your sticking out ends have a similar structure as my hairs. I call mine wiry, there are sort of bumps at the hair that you can feel with your fingers, and the hair might kink a little bit in that spot. If this is what you are experiencing, then it's totally normal, and just a one hairtype among others. Your hairstylist should recognize that and be kind enough to not to call your texture chewed up looking. These hairs like lots of moisture.

Also I noticed you use honey. You do know that honey's lightening properties are because of peroxide, right? Some people have noticed honey lightening damaging their hair.

And, I didn't see you mentioning actually moisturizing your hair on regular basis, so I would defintely add a moisturizing treatments into your routine, and lay off the proteins if you don't need them.

As for the front part, it's very common to have thinner hair there, and if you happen to have certain scull shape and certain forehead shape combined with thinner hair, the front tends to look like yours. Mine does that too. I deal with it by styling it so that it doesn't just hang down from the side of my face, I try to push is back so it joins the thicker hair. Or put it behind my ear. Also many kinds of braided bangs styles look great, as well as making vintage inspired poofs.

[lapushka]

Didn't realize silicone was that bad. Don't think I've ever used anything with a lot of silicone. Good to know.
Did your hair start breaking off?
I'm actually looking for a good shampoo right now. Just bought a bottle of Johnson's Baby Shampoo, but reading the label, it's still full of crap.
I try to dilute the shampoo as much as I can, and lately been using more conditioner than shampoo.
Strangely enough a super cheap Revlon shampoo (Outageous) works the best on my hair. The smell is really strong though, and I'm sure it's horrible for you, but my hair always responds well to it.
I couldn't find it lately, so been switching up shampoos.
Probably best to go to a health store and grab some organic natural overpriced bottle.

You have to go with what your hair likes; not with what *you* like. That never works.

[meteor]

I agree with everyone, that's not damage, that's just new growth - it can appear to be sticking out a bit on straight and fine hair, but that's nothing to worry about.
It did make me wonder:
1) Do you blow-dry your hair straight (with a brush)? I've seen this appearance of sticking out ends on *some* wavy hair post blow-out with a brush... If so, try air-drying it to check out how your ends will look.

2) Does your hair ever suffer from static? You mentioned winter-time, and I wonder if you have cold and dry winters there... hair can even appear to show signs of breakage and other forms of damage when it's super-dry. If so, I'd look into pre-poo oiling and using oils/serums as leave-ins, generally, using more occlusives and conditioning more.

By the way, your hair is beautiful and the hair color is to die for! :crush:


Didn't realize silicone was that bad. Don't think I've ever used anything with a lot of silicone. Good to know.
Did your hair start breaking off?
I'm actually looking for a good shampoo right now. Just bought a bottle of Johnson's Baby Shampoo, but reading the label, it's still full of crap.
I try to dilute the shampoo as much as I can, and lately been using more conditioner than shampoo.
Strangely enough a super cheap Revlon shampoo (Outageous) works the best on my hair. The smell is really strong though, and I'm sure it's horrible for you, but my hair always responds well to it.
I couldn't find it lately, so been switching up shampoos.
Probably best to go to a health store and grab some organic natural overpriced bottle.

^ That part I bolded is not the best approach IMHO. :flower: It's a recipe to spend a lot of money while using some sub-optimal products, I'm afraid.
I'd suggest finding a shampoo that has similar ingredients to your Holy Grail shampoo that isn't sold there anymore. Just experiment with different products with similar ingredients lists and record your experiences until you find your best products. I suggest buying sample/travel bottles first.

Silicones aren't bad, they provide great slip and are excellent occlusives, but some build up faster than others. Still nothing that a shampoo can't fix. :shrug:
Here's a list of water-soluble silicones - they won't build up on hair: http://science-yhairblog.blogspot.ca/2014/04/silicone-ingredient-solubility-list.html

[mewmew]

I call those my "whispies", and for me they tend to stick almost bolt upright on the top of my head! A spritz of hairspray and smoothing them down with my palm usually fixes them in place.

[DreamSheep]

I think other people have mentioned this so I won't reiterate, but I think your hair is fine! Personally, I see no damage, just a few flyaways at most :)

Your hair is lovely, I think your hairdresser may just want to sneak in a haircut and make more money

[gwenalyn]

The shorter hairs are completely normal. I would guess (as a 1a myself) that your hair actually has some subtle waviness to it that is making the short hairs stick out in weird directions when you blowdry/brush it straight. Have you tried airdrying after a wash without brushing/combing recently?

[Agnes Hannah]

Nope, looks fine to me! My hair is also very fine and I grew mine from a bob. It does go through a strange phase, but persevere! You have what looks like really healthy hair, enjoy it, the colour is lovely too. Relax:beerchug:

[omidaverde]

Your hair looks a lot like mine texture wise! I would definitely says it looks healthy, don't cut it! :) I would also second what someone else said about static though because I get that quite a bit and our hair looks similar. Once when I had BSL hair I took my jumper off and my hairs were nearly at the ceiling! :laugh: Maybe something to consider?

[Orange Queen]

Sorry for not replying to anyone. Got swamped with work and barely even had time to sleep.


Nadine <3
Thank you for explaining about the silicone

Chocowalnut
:)

Spidermom
My hair is so short now, I can get away with a tiiiiny dab of shampoo/conditioner. Probably will takes eons to get through a bottle :)

Endlessly
I have been oiling lately (castor for the roots and coconut for the rest), and seeing a difference already. Hair feels a lot more moisturized.
I have no clue how my hair is baby soft and for the most part sleek (ish), yet so rough looking at the same time. Aaaah, the mysteries of the universe...
:)

Arctic
You really seem to know my hair type!
The photo is after a haircut, so it's been blow dried. I had to stop myself from flinching away from the round brush. I hate that thing and use it in emergencies only.
Also very rarely use the hair dryer. Can pretty much count on one hand the amount of times I've used it in the past year.
Since I got the haircut I had to use it twice already (hair was standing up after waking up and I had to re wet my hair a bit to get it to be somewhat presentable for work), and not too happy about that.
No bumps on my hair that i can feel.
The protein thing- I love how it makes my hair appear/feel thicker, but it definitely dries it, so I use it rarely, and then moisturize the crap out of my hair.
I've been doing the honey masque for a while on and off, and my hair likes it so far. I'm not very consistent with it though, so maybe it's not being bleached enough, but will keep that in mind, thanks =)
I have been pushing my hair back with a head band, and it does look better blended in with he other hair.
Poufs make me look like a shih tzu lol. I've actually been experimenting with braiding the front of my hair, and I quite like it. I'm East European, so I have a bit of that milk maid thing happening with that hairstyle, but I can live with that ha ha

Lapushka
Damn hair dictating my life! :p

Meteor
1- In the photo it's blow dried, but I always air dry usually. Hair is stick straight (except for a cowlick), by what everyone is saying, it seems it's just my texture that makes it look this way.

2- Yes! Totally suffer from static. Oiling is helping a bunch, but I still get fly aways. Just a bit more careful when putting on sweaters (zip ups are my friends) and scarves. If I'm wearing a hat, I don't usually take it off indoors because i will look like a freaking dandelion :)
Thanks for the compliment!
Also thank you for the link.

mewmew
Yup! Everything is sticking straight up :)
Someone on this board once mentioned using aloe vera gel to slick the hair down, less drying than hairspray, and seems to work (for a while at least)

DreamSheep

Thank you!
It was actually me that wanted to go shorter. I actually got a hairdresser that wasn't trigger happy with the scissors! Never came across one of those before :)

Gwenalyn
It's stick straight. Figured out through this board that it's just the way my hair is. Prone to have ends stick out I guess.

Agnes Hannah

Thanks. More relaxed now. Hair is looking shinier a bit, and I'm convinced that it's not damaged after reading through all the replies :)

Omida Verde

Zip up/cardigan sweaters are our friends! So is aloe vera gel. Winter is almost done, so hopefully less static (after that it's humidity though, but that's another battle).


Thank you so much for the replies. Like I said, this board is the holy grail of everything hair. So much good advice from people that know what they're talking about!
Thanks hair gurus!

Now the only problem with my hair is avoiding the blow dryer, and learning how to style a short bob without causing it damage.
Heading off to look for a "How to use curlers" thread
:)

[Orange Queen]

Double post, sorry

[Orange Queen]

Oh, forgot
Since there was so much talk of oiling hair in this thread, here is an easy way to wash oils out.
Egg yolk gets oils out fairly fast. Separate the egg, beat the yolk slightly (so that it's "fluffier" and coats the hair better), slap it on your hair, lather it and then wash it off.
The egg smell doesn't really linger, but if you find it does, or all the oil didn't get out, use a bit of shampoo to finish the job.
I find this method better than shampooing my hair2-3 times to get rid of that oily look.