Awful Haircut

[juliemarieeg]

I got an awful haircut a few months ago. I was trying to go with layers/angles on the side but my hair was just butchered instead :( I have worked so hard to grow out my hair and now I am in the process of growing out this mistake to make it look more even and symmetrical. Any tips for healthy hair growth? I've been eating clean (lots of protein and biotin) and only shampooing two times a week. Also conditioning with castor oil or coconut oil!

[lapushka]

One word: patience. Nothing is going to help it miraculously grow faster, so please don't fall for so-called "miracles".

Welcome to the forum! :D

[juliemarieeg]

Yes, as the saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. :P Thanks!

[Decoy24601]

Besides actually making sure you have a healthy diet (which helps), try to minimize damage. I think that can play a much larger role. No heat styling and no bleaching. Try to detangle your hair with a wide-tooth seemless comb when dry. I know personally my hair can't handle detangling while wet. Wear it in protective updos or braids as much as possible to minimize mechanical damage (such as getting caught in things or rubbing against things). Some people like to sleep with a satin/silk pillowcase and some sleep in satin/silk bonnets or scarves.

It would also be worth seeing if you want to do a deep hydrating treatment or protein treatment as needed. For protein treatments I just use gelatin and that works well. I also just started doing fermented rice-water soaks, which is supposed to help strengthen hair. Regardless of if it actually does that it at least makes my hair feel very soft and shiny and my skin seems to like it too. There's a thread about that in the herbal hair-care section.

I've learned a lot just by browsing on here and experimenting with what other people with similar hair types or issues do.

[pailin]

Like Decoy says - minimize damage. My hair is stubbornly average in its growth and won't change (I've tried :rolleyes: ) so the other option is to keep your length- suddenly lately people keep commenting that my hair grows so fast- no, I just haven't been cutting it. Haven't needed to cut it.
Also for now, I'd highly recommend experimenting with hair styles to hide the cut and to have fun.

[turtlelover]

Sometimes with hair that is overly layered, etc., just making the ends a bit more blunt can make the overall cut more tolerable. Is there anyone that you would trust enough to try to do a little bit of restyling, or do you feel like that isn't an option till it grows some?

[Kake]

I got an awful haircut a few months ago. I was trying to go with layers/angles on the side but my hair was just butchered instead :( I have worked so hard to grow out my hair and now I am in the process of growing out this mistake to make it look more even and symmetrical. Any tips for healthy hair growth? I've been eating clean (lots of protein and biotin) and only shampooing two times a week. Also conditioning with castor oil or coconut oil!

Oh no, I'm sorry you had such a bad haircut. I've been there too, more than once. It sucks! :blossom:

It sounds like you're on track for healthy growth. I think eating well is hugely important. Minimising damage is crucial too, and then patience. :knit:

[Agnieszka]

I probably won't be helpful but just to let you know you are not alone on growing out awful haircut journey. Mine is so awful I won't let anybody see me with hair down :-) (except you guys as I'm in monthly length photo projects thread) but I'm happy as every month I see some progress! All the best and lots of patience to you! :-)

[polarnatt]

Yes, don't fall into despair, there are loads of us with horrible haircuts :lol: It'll grow! Just wear your hair up, as others have said, try to forget about your hair and minimize damage.

[kurlywurlygurl]

I feel you so much about haircuts shudder:
I just got way too much cut off a few weeks ago as well. You're definitely not alone. I too believe patience is the most important and hardest. I wish there was a way to forget about it a bit better, but I know it's hard.

[juliemarieeg]

Thank you so much, everyone. I appreciate all of your advice, and it's nice to know that I am on the right track for hair growth. It's crazy how something like a haircut can make you feel so poor in self-esteem! I'm ashamed of how much I have cried over this! But you are all right, and it will grow back!

Turtlelover: Thanks for the advice! I've been to a few hair stylists that I would trust and even they have said there's nothing they can really do until it grows more, so being patient and waiting for growth it is!

[juliemarieeg]

Here is the pictures of the asymmetry. I was hesitant to share just because of how awful it looks! I wish I could go back to when I had all uniform one length! Now I am debating cutting everything to make it look more even but I've never had my hair that short in my life, and I don't know if I could ever feel confident if it were that short! IMG_5502.JPG IMG_5500.JPG IMG_5499.JPG

[juliemarieeg]

Oops...sharing those pictures did not work out as I had hoped... Sorry :(:(

[lapushka]

You need to upload them to a photosharing site like Photobucket or imgur first, then share the link here you get there. You can't link from your own computer. If that's what you did, I'm not sure.

[juliemarieeg]

Thanks lapushka!

[Leannan]

Hi Juliemarie I am in the same boat. I had very long hair and I got an abomination of a haircut when I went to get a trim in February. I feel my hair is a big part of who I am, my identity and one of the things I really like about myself physicallly and to have it taken away like that, just hurts a lot. What took 4 years or so to grow, some insenstivie non-listening hateful person takes away in about 10 minutes. You wish you could just never have gone in that day. I don't normally even get haircuts, it was just a desire to not have to do it myself and all I wanted was a trim.

Well I hope we can be friends in this journey of getting our hair back. I will post pics and be here for teh long haul that it is going to take.

[Agnes Hannah]

Hi juliemarieeg, welcome to LHC! I had a horrible haircut, it was a pixie, really short and lots of layers and angled round my ears, yep! it was awful and it made me look old!So I grew it, it took a long time, but I persevered and it is now at tailbone.
During this process I learned how to look after it properly, what my hair liked and benign neglect - when it was long enough to clip back, I did so and left it alone. My magic ingredient - Patience. Pure and simple. Yours will grow too.

[juliemarieeg]

Hi Leannan! Oh my goodness, I completely agree with you. My long hair was something I really liked about my physical appearance and in just such a short period of time, it's gone! Talk about a blow to the self-esteem! You are so right, I just wish I never went in and it never happened. I am going on a cruise in 10 days and I am not looking forward to the pictures...especially because I had set out to grow my hair longer for this very vacation a whole year ago :( But we are in this together, I am glad to have a friend in this journey!

[juliemarieeg]

Hi Agnes Hannah, Oh I am so sorry about your horrible haircut experience!! But how amazing that it has reached your tailbone. I must say that the whole blessing of this nightmare is that it has taught me to take much better care of my hair. I had always heard about the not shampooing often but I never abided--just shampooed every day or every other--and I never did coconut oil treatments or worried about what my hair straightener or curling iron was doing to my hair. Since this process though, I have seen what my hair looks like healthy, even despite the layered, almost-chunk-missing kind of look that it is sadly sporting. Your magic ingredient is a good one, and I definitely will be acquiring a lot of that on this journey!

[Miss P]

I've been there and done that. My advice is to cut out heat and consistently condition, I found weekly hot oil treatments to help as well.

[Nastasiya]

Sorry to hear about your haircut!
But I think you're on the right track with eating healthy. I've also read that zinc helps the hair growth a lot.

[juliemarieeg]

Thanks Miss P and Nastasiya! I will continue with my oil treatments, eating healthy, and will look into zinc!

[Whirled_peas]

Just keep telling yourself that no matter how bad you might want to, don't cut it to make it look better. That will keep delaying the growth.

[juliemarieeg]

That's very true. I keep debating between cutting my long hair shorter to make it look more symmetrical. Basically, my hair does not look symmetrical at all. With the layers/angles on the side, it can only be worn when parted on the right side. Part it in the middle and you can see the trainwreck of asymmetry that is my hair--and I am not referring to the stylish, professional asymmetrical cuts that some people get--I am just talking about a botched, asymmetrical nightmare haha.. I'm thinking when the right side gets down to shoulder length though, I am going to cut all of my hair to shoulder length and then start growing it out again from there. I am just so done with the layered/angled look. I know this was just a mistake of a haircut and my chances of getting another botched angled haircut by a different, more experienced stylist next time is probably very slim, but I've learned the hard way that I like my hair all one uniform length haha. So I'll be in the long haul for this growing out process!