About to have a break down!

[happimadison]

I need some serious help! Thank you in advance for reading/advising!

SHORT STORY:

I've made a lot of positive changes in my hair care routine since joining about 2 months ago, but I feel like I'm not making much progress. I feel overwhelmed with S & D and like it's getting me nowhere while also taking over my life. It just seems like the white dots keep coming back, even though I don't use any heat anymore. I overdid some massive trimming/S & D the other night, and looked at my hair today and feel like I'm right back where I started. Here's a picture of my bangs, which probably get the most S & D attention since they're in front and easiest for me to see/access (sorry it's so big but when I would resize it, you couldn't see the white dots as well).

http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm226/Jasper48/20160606_122655.jpg (http://s297.photobucket.com/user/Jasper48/media/20160606_122655.jpg.html)

Here's a [bad] picture of the back of my hair, air-dried.

http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm226/Jasper48/20160606_122809.jpg (http://s297.photobucket.com/user/Jasper48/media/20160606_122809.jpg.html)

So I guess my question is, what should I do? I'm guessing the white dots keep "popping up" just because the damage goes further up my hair shaft than I'm aware of, yeah? Should I just do a chop so my hair is all the same length (I've been trying to grow out my layers for, like, ever) and do dustings until the damage is grown out, or ignore my ends, or...? I feel so exhausted and overwhelmed. I almost miss my hair-related ignorance, haha.

LONG STORY:

I *think* my hair type is something like 1c/f/i/ii, but, I've had bleach and/or dye on my hair ever since I was 12 years old (now I'm 23), so I don't honestly know my natural hair very well. I remember having a lot more curl/wave when I was younger than I do now, and my ponytail thickness measures a little over 2 inches, but I'm not sure if that's just because of damage, etc; my hair is really quite thin, and always has been. My friends refer to it as baby hair.

Anyways, I've had long hair envy my whole life, but have never gotten my hair beyond about APL to avoid stringiness (but I still have stringiness) (my avatar/profile pic is extensions). I joined the LHC about 2 months ago, and was SHOCKED to learn why my hair never gets as long as I want it to. According to my roots, my hair grows quite fast, so I've always been sad and confused about my hair, haha. Anyways, when I joined, I started washing my hair only twice a week, and doing CWC. That's worked quite well for the texture of my hair, so I've continued with that, and thrown in coconut oil treatments twice a week the night before I wash my hair, along with using Argan oil on wet hair and every few days in-between washing. I've stopped using all heat, and only brush my hair with my fingers. Also, after learning about white dots, I've been looking closer at the ends of my hair, and most strands have a few white dots. It really looks like they have a bunch of joints they bend at. They give me such heebie-jeebies and I can't stand it, so I've taken up S & D. I think I'm getting obsessed with it, and just recently, I stayed in the bathroom for about 2 hours working on it, and looked in the mirror afterwards and started crying because I lost length without realizing it, and thinned things out quite a bit. Since then, I've really tried to ignore it, wear my hair in a loose bun and just not even look at my ends, but I showered last night and let my hair dry overnight, and couldn't help but look at my hair today, and I swear to God the white dots are back (see 1st photo).

So I guess my question is, what should I do? I'm guessing the white dots keep "popping up" just because the damage goes further up my hair shaft than I'm aware of, yeah? Should I just do a chop so my hair is all the same length (I've been trying to grow out my layers for, like, ever) and do dustings until the damage is grown out, or ignore my ends, or...? Or maybe I'm making a bigger deal out of white dots than I should be?? I feel so exhausted and overwhelmed. I almost miss my hair-related ignorance, haha.

Thanks again.

[lapushka]

I hate to say it... but I'll say it anyway. 12 - 23? That is a long time to have damaging products in your hair, esp. if the bleach has overlapped. You'll never get rid of that damage this way. This is not like bleaching for a few years. This is 9 years of bleach.

You have stopped using heat, but that only will affect your new growth, not the length of hair that is already there (and damaged). It needs to grow out, and maybe it's time for the bleach to go as well. Your hair will benefit *majorly*. Yes there are people on here who bleach and grow long, but their hair seems to be able to take it well. Not everyone is the same.

White dots are up the strand, the dots you see at the very ends usually come from duller scissors and aren't technically "damage".

I would just leave it alone for a while... White dots are tough and won't just break off. I grew out a perm from shoulder to hip while half of my hair was riddled in white dots. Some break off, but not all. They are more resilient than you think. Of course, afterwards my hair needed to be cut back up to BSL because of damage, but at least I didn't need a pixie cut.

[samanthaa]

I don't S&D anymore because I have the same problem as you: the splits seem to come right back. My fine hair is prone to them (and I don't even have any bleach damage!). My splits don't bother me though, since they seem to stay at the ends anyway.

Are you trying to grow the bleach out or are you planning to keep bleaching? If you're trying to grow out the bleach, perhaps consider giving up the S&D'ing for now and switching to monthly microtrims (quarter inch or so). This will help even up your layers/ends and will gradually get rid of the bleach damage. It looks like your roots have already come in by 2 or 3 inches, so I'm guessing that growing and snipping out the rest of the bleach would take about a year and a half, maybe more, depending on your growth rate, which isn't *too* long.

I used to have a lot of stringiness too (thin hair here as well!) but this was solved when I started moisturizing better. Do you use conditioner? Do you ever do deep treatments, like an SMT (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=128)? SMTs are great. I've been doing SMTs + coconut oil lately and my hair LOVES it; you should definitely experiment to figure out what your hair likes best. If your hair has a lot of bleach damage, it may also benefit from protein treatments followed by deeply moisturizing treatments.

[umbrellabones]

I hate to say it... but I'll say it anyway. 12 - 23? That is a long time to have damaging products in your hair, esp. if the bleach has overlapped. You'll never get rid of that damage this way. This is not like bleaching for a few years. This is 9 years of bleach.

You have stopped using heat, but that only will affect your new growth, not the length of hair that is already there (and damaged). It needs to grow out, and maybe it's time for the bleach to go as well. Your hair will benefit *majorly*. Yes there are people on here who bleach and grow long, but their hair seems to be able to take it well. Not everyone is the same.

White dots are up the strand, the dots you see at the very ends usually come from duller scissors and aren't technically "damage".

I would just leave it alone for a while... White dots are tough and won't just break off. I grew out a perm from shoulder to hip while half of my hair was riddled in white dots. Some break off, but not all. They are more resilient than you think. Of course, afterwards my hair needed to be cut back up to BSL because of damage, but at least I didn't need a pixie cut.
I agree, unfortunately it sounds like all of your hair that isn't new growth is quite damaged. It sounds like you are taking good care of your hair now though so if I were you I would just baby the heck out of your hair, do regular trims as your hair grows, and be patient :)

[slynr]

I can totally relate to your post. I also heavily highlighted my hair from my late teens to my late 30's. It was fried. I had to use heat and heavy silicone and had salon gloss put on hair just to make it look decent. I could never grow it long because of breakage. It wasnt until I came here that I realized I just had to stop it all if I ever wanted to gain length and improve the condition.

I pretty much started my grow out journey in 2012. Let me tell you...this is a marathon not a sprint. The damage is all along the bleached length. I would trim only to find a million more white dots. It was because the integrity of the shaft was just obliterated. I used the microtrim method mainly with several inch trims along the way. No heat, no chemicals, low manipulation. Took me about 3 years to completely grow out the horrible damage. I could of done it faster if I would have big chopped it during that time I just didnt want to do that.

Unless you cut super short you are just going to have to slowly trim the damage off bit by bit. For me, s & d didnt really work though that period because I would have had to trim 3/4 of the hair to get a healthy edge. I would just microtrim and stop the bleach. Join the growing out dye/bleach thread for inspiration and support. Its a long haul to healthy hair but well worth it in my opinion.

[happimadison]

I haven't bleached since last August, so at least I have that going for me, hahaha. Thank you!

[Arctic]

Tips that glow white are under the debate still about what causes them. I have heared 4 theories:

- dull scissors
- sharp scissors, visible only a while after a cut and then will vanish
- a white dot that has broken off
- a hair that has broken off (but did not have white dot)

On my hair white tips are broken hairs. I also think that actual white dots which are higher up in the hairshaft will leave a white tips when they break off. I mean where would the damage vanish. But in general, I think maybe non of these is exclusive of the others, they might all be valid reasons which cause the glowing white tips.

I can see you have both white dots and white tips.

[slynr]

I haven't bleached since last August, so at least I have that going for me, hahaha. Thank you!

Now it is just a matter of time!! Take care of your hair and you will be rewarded:)

[happimadison]

I can totally relate to your post. I also heavily highlighted my hair from my late teens to my late 30's. It was fried. I had to use heat and heavy silicone and had salon gloss put on hair just to make it look decent. I could never grow it long because of breakage. It wasnt until I came here that I realized I just had to stop it all if I ever wanted to gain length and improve the condition.

I pretty much started my grow out journey in 2012. Let me tell you...this is a marathon not a sprint. The damage is all along the bleached length. I would trim only to find a million more white dots. It was because the integrity of the shaft was just obliterated. I used the microtrim method mainly with several inch trims along the way. No heat, no chemicals, low manipulation. Took me about 3 years to completely grow out the horrible damage. I could of done it faster if I would have big chopped it during that time I just didnt want to do that.

Unless you cut super short you are just going to have to slowly trim the damage off bit by bit. For me, s & d didnt really work though that period because I would have had to trim 3/4 of the hair to get a healthy edge. I would just microtrim and stop the bleach. Join the growing out dye/bleach thread for inspiration and support. Its a long haul to healthy hair but well worth it in my opinion.

This is a relief to hear! I'm happy to see someone who more or less used to be in my shoes now has beautiful, long, healthy hair. Hope!!! Haha, thank you!

[Arctic]

Oh, and I couldn't S&D because it became obsessive to me. I might do a bit of twisting and snipping few times a year but avoid S&D. Sounds like you are approaching similar place, where the S&D is stressful and effects your life negatively. Maybe it would be good to stop it or limit it a LOT.

As for how to approach the damaged hairs, well, I personally am pro-trimmer, and that's what I would advice for you too: regular trims.

[slynr]

This is a relief to hear! I'm happy to see someone who more or less used to be in my shoes now has beautiful, long, healthy hair. Hope!!! Haha, thank you!

Ahhh yes! That is how many of us ended up here! Keep it up and like I said go to the giving up dye and bleach thread and have a look around. Also, the mirotrimming thread is a good one as well. You can do it!! No easy fix but now you know what you can do to protect that beautiful hair that is freshly coming out at the root. Every day is one step closer to having the hair you want. And welcome to the forum!!

[cailinbee]

Holy moly, your hair story is almost identical to mine. Your hair classification, the timeline of when you've used bleach, and your current length. Not to mention I'm extremely sensitive about splits, dots, and damage and constantly have to keep myself away from the scissors, even though they're necessary for S&D and health trims sometimes.

I guess I hope you can take a deep breath and meditate on this -- you're still growing hair! No matter how hopeless we might feel like our damaged sections are, they're not going to be forever. I don't know about your hair growth rate, but my roots are steadily gaining ground.

I also remind myself that I went two years without trimming once, and even though my hair was crazy stringy -- it grew, alright! So now, I'm thinking positive; imagining that same growth but with all of the TLC I've been giving it because of LHC knowledge, which obviously, you're doing now too.

And, for the heck of it -- my favorite, favorite, favorite product to make my hair feel normal and healthy is Hask Argan Oil masks (the ones in little single packets, I've found them at Target and the dollar store). Treat yo self! :puppy:

[Cg]

I had decades of hair abuse too. You cannot undo consistent damage with short term good care.

Treat your hair well consistently and you will see consistent (but not miraculous) improvement. It took a long time to get into its current condition. It's going to take time to get better. No one ever wants to hear that we have to be patient, but...we have to be patient. And your patience will pay off! Most of us have abused our hair too, but we too found this great forum and learned better practices.

Congratulate yourself on the progress you've made in your outlook and join the rest of us in seeing positive changes over time. You will, we promise!

[LongCurlyTress]

Sorry... your hair is badly damaged from all the bleach. Good news is that your virgin hair is going to be healthier than ever! Just grow out your roots to chin length, get a cute (A-line- takes a bit longer to grow out due to the shorter back, but it's very cute) bob, and have fun with your hair... I did this.... and then Grow! Grow! Grow! You are not alone! Many of us have been exactly where you are now. Hugs! It isn't the end of the world although I am sure that right now it sure feels like it. No more bleach, no heat, no chemicals at all, no straighteners.. no sulfates... lots of conditioners and oils.... and you will have gorgeous natural hair... Just keep on growin'!! ;) Good luck! :) Try to enjoy each length of your hair growing journey. ;) You will survive... Hugs! Pinterest pics are great for staying motivated for your natural hair goals. And keep an album of photos of your journey so you won't ever do this to your precious hair again. ;)

[meteor]

Happimadison, no worries, you'll get where you want to be! It will take time, but you'll get there! :cheer:

The biggest suggestion I can give is please, please step away from bleach and heat completely, if you can.

Heat-styling would be important to drop, because those white dots are typical for flat irons and curling irons/wands, and you can learn to replace heat with heat-free styling techniques. For example, check out beautyklove's heat-free styling playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4626FAE04F57ED14

If you absolutely must use bleach for some reason, make sure there is no overlap, maybe try learning to accept darker blonde shades (i.e. use lower vol. peroxide, shift to just very scant highlights over time or transition to ombre, blending in demarcation line with lowlights maybe, if you can't go cold turkey? :flower:) and bleach only over coconut oil soaks and maybe with things like Olaplex.

Invest in a good quality protein treatment: Aphogee 2-Step is very intense, DIY gelatin mask with SMT (http://science-yhairblog.blogspot.com/2014/04/gelatin-protein-treatment-recipe-update.html) is great, so are Redken Extreme Builder Plus, Joico K-Pak Reconstruct and other reconstructor/protein filler type treatments.

I'd use penetrating oils like coconut as pre-wash and oil rinse (between shampoo and conditioner) or added to conditioner as well as leave-in. Bleached hair is porous and porous hair benefits from added oils quite a bit. Also check out this list of products with 18-MEA and ceramides: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=120288. Processed hair needs to replenish both.

I'd highly recommend being extremely gentle with hair while washing, drying, detangling and styling! :pray: Check your hair tools for seams (you can run pantyhose over tines to check for snags, for example) and use wide-tooth tools instead of really dense brushes. I'd transition to seamless wide-tooth rakes and finger-detangling if the hair is very damaged.

Try sleeping on silky-smooth materials (silk/satin pillowcases/scarves/bonnets/etc) and keeping hair up in protective styles as much as possible. Sun hats in summer time and some covering when it's very windy or cold should all add up for further protection.

Please check out this article:
Damaged Hair: Understanding, Preventing & Rehabilitating: http://web.archive.org/web/20120125071723/http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=79

Best of luck to you, Happimadison! :D And Happy Growing! :cheer:

[happimadison]

Thanks so much for all of your advice and encouragement! This morning I was honestly considering buzzing it all off and wearing wigs for a while, but I just don't have the guts (or the money to afford good wigs :p). You've instilled a new hope in me, though! I'm cursing myself over and over for blindly styling and bleaching my hair for so long, but I'm focusing on the shiny silkiness of my roots and I will eventually pull through! :eek: You guys are great! <3

[happimadison]

Happimadison, no worries, you'll get where you want to be! It will take time, but you'll get there! :cheer:

The biggest suggestion I can give is please, please step away from bleach and heat completely, if you can.

Heat-styling would be important to drop, because those white dots are typical for flat irons and curling irons/wands, and you can learn to replace heat with heat-free styling techniques. For example, check out beautyklove's heat-free styling playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4626FAE04F57ED14

If you absolutely must use bleach for some reason, make sure there is no overlap, maybe try learning to accept darker blonde shades (i.e. use lower vol. peroxide, shift to just very scant highlights over time or transition to ombre, blending in demarcation line with lowlights maybe, if you can't go cold turkey? :flower:) and bleach only over coconut oil soaks and maybe with things like Olaplex.

Invest in a good quality protein treatment: Aphogee 2-Step is very intense, DIY gelatin mask with SMT (http://science-yhairblog.blogspot.com/2014/04/gelatin-protein-treatment-recipe-update.html) is great, so are Redken Extreme Builder Plus, Joico K-Pak Reconstruct and other reconstructor/protein filler type treatments.

I'd use penetrating oils like coconut as pre-wash and oil rinse (between shampoo and conditioner) or added to conditioner as well as leave-in. Bleached hair is porous and porous hair benefits from added oils quite a bit. Also check out this list of products with 18-MEA and ceramides: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=120288. Processed hair needs to replenish both.

I'd highly recommend being extremely gentle with hair while washing, drying, detangling and styling! :pray: Check your hair tools for seams (you can run pantyhose over tines to check for snags, for example) and use wide-tooth tools instead of really dense brushes. I'd transition to seamless wide-tooth rakes and finger-detangling if the hair is very damaged.

Try sleeping on silky-smooth materials (silk/satin pillowcases/scarves/bonnets/etc) and keeping hair up in protective styles as much as possible. Sun hats in summer time and some covering when it's very windy or cold should all add up for further protection.

Please check out this article:
Damaged Hair: Understanding, Preventing & Rehabilitating: http://web.archive.org/web/20120125071723/http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=79

Best of luck to you, Happimadison! :D And Happy Growing! :cheer:

HUGE thanks for all of your links and product recommendations! This is a gold mine of information, and I'm so excited about the heat-free styling playlist. :D You're the BOMB!

[meteor]

^ No worries at all! :D And thanks a lot for your kind words, Happimadison! :flowers:

Oh boy, I can't believe you were even considering shaving all your hair off :bigeyes: there is no need for anything drastic like that at all! :flower: That said, if you want to put hair up more, it will be very protective for your ends, and will preserve the ends in better condition for longer! ;)

Honestly, I'd take this time to deep-condition hair, baby it as much as possible and learn different styles, like all sorts of Dutch/French/lace braids, crown braids, updos from half-ups - there are so many good YouTube videos for that... Check out LilithMoon, Kayley Melissa, LaDollyVita333, Silvousplaits, for example on YouTube - they do lots of hairstyling tutorials that could work for you while growing hair out.
By the way, rooty blonde hair is perfect for all sorts of braided updos, because those hair colors make braiding details and accents more visible and interesting. :)
But at the same time, try not to over-manipulate hair, since mechanical damage can be a serious problem, as well.

If you want to consider giving up bleach, there is a very helpful support thread here: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=51155

Something else I forgot to mention: I've read many reports of folks getting much shinier, smoother, thicker regrowth and massive reduction in taper after giving up damaging practices - even new "bangs" growing out around hairline (basically, the hair that was previously burnt off by heat or chemicals before was now growing in freely), so please don't despair! The situation of roots growing in very fast but no length gain (because of breakage) is pretty typical of damage, as well, but as you give your hair TLC (hydrolyzed proteins are pretty good for helping with serious breakage) and, more importantly, avoid any new damage and protect hair from now on, you'll notice that the ends don't break off as much, so you'll see greater length retention and the hair will grow longer. :)

Just give it a lot of TLC and even more time! :D Happy Growing! :heartbeat

[vampyyri]

You will get there!! I was in the same predicament about four years ago, and ended up chopping my then BSL hair to SL and trimmed the remaining damage off a little at a time! When it was growing out, I was on trend with the whole "ombre" craze, so it worked out! Trim when it gets unbearable, but otherwise, let it do its thing! We're here for you! :grouphug:

[Lavendersugar]

I hate to say it... but I'll say it anyway. 12 - 23? That is a long time to have damaging products in your hair, esp. if the bleach has overlapped. You'll never get rid of that damage this way. This is not like bleaching for a few years. This is 9 years of bleach.

You have stopped using heat, but that only will affect your new growth, not the length of hair that is already there (and damaged). It needs to grow out, and maybe it's time for the bleach to go as well. Your hair will benefit *majorly*. Yes there are people on here who bleach and grow long, but their hair seems to be able to take it well. Not everyone is the same.

White dots are up the strand, the dots you see at the very ends usually come from duller scissors and aren't technically "damage".

I would just leave it alone for a while... White dots are tough and won't just break off. I grew out a perm from shoulder to hip while half of my hair was riddled in white dots. Some break off, but not all. They are more resilient than you think. Of course, afterwards my hair needed to be cut back up to BSL because of damage, but at least I didn't need a pixie cut.


I agree!!

Here's the thing, even if you've not bleached in months you still bleached that length. Bleach doesn't just go away because you stopped using it. Stopping things that can further damage your hair is a great start.

I'd suggest focus on hair health for the new growth. You may have cut off most of the length that is bleached as it grows. This of course is a personal call.

[lapushka]

OK 11 years of bleach even. I can't count to save my life. :o :p LOL! :lol:

I'm classic length and I still use a blowdryer (diffuser), have done ever since I was chin length. Blow dryers are fine (if you can hold your hand in the airstream for a *long* time without it burning, you're fine) but even that I wouldn't use on hair as fragile as yours - not right now at least! So airdry if & when you can.

meteor has given some great ideas about protein. Protein is *amazing* for bleached hair, it truly is. So, I would go looking for some protein conditioners. Aphogee do a lot of them. Redken does do it too (and well). Don't use eggs or things like that, these molecules are too big to penetrate the hair, not giving you much protein, if at all. But the at-home glycerine packs should work.

[MINAKO]

Forst of there is no reason to be overwhelmed because if products or technique don't solve your problem now, time eventually will. Your hair looks seriously weakened. It doesn't even matter if you used bleach and color for like a decade because it's about two years of growth now you have on your head, bit that looks like it has been to chemical hell and back. The structure of the hair won't allow even freshly cut ends to stay intact for very long with that level of damage. All i can recommend is oil oil oil and oil again alon with intense protein treatments and updos. I wouldn't even attempt to style it in a way to wear it doen cause it weakens in terms of friction on already rough cuticles. You need to give your hair a rest and lots of TLC. Growing out does not mean some new products and a new routine to get instant results. Learn from past mistakes and take care of all that virgin hair thats coming in now as good as you can.

[Blissful337]

Sorry you are about to have a breakdown. I also see white dots at my ends and I have virgin hair now but it's above my shoulders. I'm a natural brunette and I used to heavily lighten my hair too but always kept it in shorter stacked bobs so the damage never bothered me much. I too new nothing about hair health and how to properly care for my hair. When I was in high school I had beautiful waist length hair and then I started damaging it with bleach and heat tools. I joined here to start learning how to care for my hair and reach longer lengths again. I am now 34. My hair is just damaged from too much heat styling. Gave up heat tools a month ago. I think we just need to be patient while we take better care of our hair! Good luck to you! We'll reach our goals if we stick to it! That's why we are here at LHC now :)

[nakima]

I agree with all said here as well. It looks to me like you are on your way to healthy hair just due to not coloring since august and stretching your washes, keep that up until all the damaged hair is grown out. I had problems as well with splits and white dots. I started growing about 5 years ago from arm pit length and I am now on my way to classic about 3 or 4 inches away now. I stopped coloring almost 1 1/2 years ago and lately I have done very little s&ding, dry with cool air,wear up as much as possible and just don't look at it!!! especially in sun light, it will only drive you crazy :) you are going thru what a lot of us here have so don't give up, you will reach your goal in time. We will be here to help along the way. That's what we're here for to help each other. Take all rules into acct. sharp scissors,satin pillow cases,oiling,stretching washes etc. it all helps! and give yourself permission to just not worry about it from time to time. Good Luck!

[kendraf]

The "giving up dye/bleach" thread is the best! There are even some active users right now such as Elfa who are growing out very bleached hair that is about your length, and doing it surprisingly quickly :) I'd maintain your current length (or cut shorter if you're ok with that) and trim an inch or so every other month to maintain where you're at until the bleach is gone.

You can always play with subtle balayage/babylights, henna, etc later on if you don't like your virgin color, but for now going virgin and eliminating all of the bleached section would be best.

[PixieP]

I whole-heartedly recommend the gelatin protein treatment you were linked, I did that for the first time about two weeks ago and I was floored by the result. I've been battling my hair for years, hating how difficult it was to work it and never liking the way it looked. Now I'm really starting to love it again! And the change really came when I did that first protein treatment and saw how well my hair responded.

I started to become like you are now, despairing at S&D sessions and feeling like my entire hair was just one huge split waiting to fall of. I've now banned myself from looking at my ends! I did a little trim because my hair needed it, and otherwise I'm not allowed to look at my ends closely. Because obsessing and despairing is not healthy for you!

Invest in some nice products and hairtoys, and pamper yourself with learning new hairstyles, and focus on that for now, and getting new good habits. In a few months you'll be amazed at how much your hair has grown! *hugs*