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Glitch
March 13th, 2018, 12:37 PM
An “advice to younger self” thread reminded me of when I’d habitually straighten my hair again before bed, just because it felt relaxing... and when I’d harshly bleach 100x yet still refuse trims for multiple years (and then I’d wonder why my hair wouldn’t grow :disgust:).

I’m curious -what were some of your previous hair habits that would make you cringe today? ;)

MoonRabbit
March 13th, 2018, 12:49 PM
Using heat on my hair daily, even if I knew I would be spending the day in by myself. Also never caring when I had matted hair because I could just easily rip though them with a paddle brush.

Trip
March 13th, 2018, 12:55 PM
Bleaching it and dying on top of it with store box dye then straightening it every day WHILE STILL WET from washing it also everyday then coming home and sleeping on it loose or wih a plastic elastic on a cotton pillow case
In my defense i was 12

longmane
March 13th, 2018, 01:05 PM
Oh that's a good idea!

Thinking back to my old habits hurts my soul :cry:

• Brushing my hair dry regularly
• When I'm in a hurry sometimes I'd shampoo then skip the conditioning
• leaving hair that just got shampooed (no conditioning, no detangling) in a bun for days.
• Randomly deciding to rip through those tangles to flat iron. Oil the hair before straightening. I would hear sizzling and see smoke. I just keep continuing unbothered :lol:
Other times it would be wet and I would dry it by straightening it (sizzling and smoke) touching my hair immediately would hurt my hand

Editing: I just remembered more extremely horrifying habits

If I ran out of shampoo and I HAVE to shower, I'd wash my hair with body soap bar/body wash :wail:

Alternating between paddle brushes and fine-tooth combs to detangle dry matted hair :scared:

Trip
March 13th, 2018, 01:12 PM
Oh that's a good idea!

Thinking back to my old habits hurts my soul :cry:

• Brushing my hair dry regularly
• When I'm in a hurry sometimes I'd shampoo then skip the conditioning
• leaving hair that just got shampooed (no conditioning, no detangling) in a bun for days.
• Randomly deciding to rip through those tangles to flat iron. Oil the hair before straightening. I would here sizzling and see smoke. I just keep continuing unbothered :lol:
Other times it would be wet and I would dry it by straightening it (sizzling and smoke) touching my hair immediately would hurt my hand

Looooooool for some reason i convinced myself that the sizzling and popping meant it was working better and yes touching my hair right after would burn me badly
Horrifying

JennGalt
March 13th, 2018, 01:14 PM
Flatironing on the highest setting, usually 450 degrees F. If I tried flatironing any lower than about 425 degrees, I'd have wurls in about an hour--and I wanted super straight hair. Sometimes if I was in a hurry I wouldn't even wait for my hair to dry completely.

Once I even let a hairdresser friend use something she called a Marcel iron (I think that's what she called it) on my hair. She told me it was closer to 700 degrees F and that my hair could handle it because it was so coarse and resistant to heat (I had very coarse hair until I turned 30). I didn't notice any damage right then, and no hair appeared to have burned off, but it's no wonder I thought APL was my terminal length.

Flowerness
March 13th, 2018, 01:19 PM
Blowfrying my hair on a regular basis without heat protectant. I'd dry my hair using a hair brush, so that it would get straight faster and easier. This meant brushing my wet hair with the blow dryer touching the ends of the hair brush, on HOT, from root to tip. Every time.

Yikes! (No wonder it has taken so long for my wurl to reappear!)

lithostoic
March 13th, 2018, 01:20 PM
Washing and straightening my hair every day ... Then spraying loads hairspray.

EriPenguin
March 13th, 2018, 01:23 PM
Going over my hair over and over with the highest setting on a flat iron until it is pin straight without heat protector...

FaerieKitty
March 13th, 2018, 01:36 PM
using a towel very roughly to dry it. My husband was doing it to our kids. Had a good conversation on how to dry hair and brush it too. He would brush it on all random directions while wet and then rip the brush through. His thought was he used to do that to his hair but he's been bald for 15 years...
I also used to rip a brush right through tangles. And like someone else who posted, leave hair up for days that was wet in braids and buns. It was hip length but not well taken care of.

Glitch
March 13th, 2018, 01:37 PM
Using heat on my hair daily, even if I knew I would be spending the day in by myself. Also never caring when I had matted hair because I could just easily rip though them with a paddle brush.

I feel you! Good old times with casual hair frying for fun :doh:


Bleaching it and dying on top of it with store box dye then straightening it every day WHILE STILL WET from washing it also everyday then coming home and sleeping on it loose or wih a plastic elastic on a cotton pillow case
In my defense i was 12

Wet! :surprise: Thank goodness we dropped these habits!


Oh that's a good idea!

Thinking back to my old habits hurts my soul :cry:

• Brushing my hair dry regularly
• When I'm in a hurry sometimes I'd shampoo then skip the conditioning
• leaving hair that just got shampooed (no conditioning, no detangling) in a bun for days.
• Randomly deciding to rip through those tangles to flat iron. Oil the hair before straightening. I would here sizzling and see smoke. I just keep continuing unbothered :lol:
Other times it would be wet and I would dry it by straightening it (sizzling and smoke) touching my hair immediately would hurt my hand

Oh gosh, oiling before straightening LOL! I remember ripping through tangles with that sizzling heat too :cool:


Looooooool for some reason i convinced myself that the sizzling and popping meant it was working better and yes touching my hair right after would burn me badly
Horrifying

Goodness, your poor hair :violin:

// Reading these is so interesting! It's surprising how many people did wild things with their hair as well, yikes!

Stray_mind
March 13th, 2018, 01:39 PM
Not using any kind of conditioner, ripping trough it with a ball.pointed brush, blowdrying it on the highest heat setting possible, constantly wearing it down or in a half pulled trough ponytail :shudder:

Glitch
March 13th, 2018, 01:41 PM
using a towel very roughly to dry it. My husband was doing it to our kids. Had a good conversation on how to dry hair and brush it too. He would brush it on all random directions while wet and then rip the brush through. His thought was he used to do that to his hair but he's been bald for 15 years...
I also used to rip a brush right through tangles. And like someone else who posted, leave hair up for days that was wet in braids and buns. It was hip length but not well taken care of.

:couch: Just unreal -I'm glad it's all over and done with :D Happy hair growing!

Frankenstein
March 13th, 2018, 01:41 PM
Daily blow drying and flat ironing. Coloring with box dye once a month.

Glitch
March 13th, 2018, 01:43 PM
Not using any kind of conditioner, ripping trough it with a ball.pointed brush, blowdrying it on the highest heat setting possible, constantly wearing it down or in a half pulled trough ponytail :shudder:

Ripping through the mane seems to be a common theme :rollin: Wish I could apologize to my hair!

HopelssRomantic
March 13th, 2018, 01:57 PM
When I was younger I was on a swim team and wouldn't wash the chlorine out of my hair for days simply because I was lazy. I would just put in some leave-in code, comb it through so it was manageable, and let it air dry. 😫

Stray_mind
March 13th, 2018, 02:11 PM
Ripping through the mane seems to be a common theme :rollin: Wish I could apologize to my hair!

It was either that or not combing it at all for Days until it became a huge matted mess for me :rip:

LawrenceSMarlow
March 13th, 2018, 02:14 PM
I also used to rip a brush right through tangles
:D my mum was doing this whilst trimming my hair at the weekend. I kept yelling “comb it from the bottom!” She was the one who first taught me to do that, after all!!

lakhesis
March 13th, 2018, 02:31 PM
Not only ripping through my hair with brush... but ripping through my WET hair with brush :rolleyes:

lucid
March 13th, 2018, 03:06 PM
I have never used heat, but I regularly highlighted my hair at home and always the entire length. So the oldest hair was probably bleached 5 times... i stopped when the highlighted parts fell off when I rinsed the bleach out the last time. After that I grew out my natural hair.

I want to say that I never used bleach again, but I can't... I highlighted my virgin hair 2 years ago, figuring my hair would probably be fine with only one application and no overlap...i was wrong. I started noticing damage after a year, and now I have breakage and splits all throughout the highlights. Learning the hard way, two times - so no more bleach for me!! :p

ShilvaA
March 13th, 2018, 03:28 PM
Apart from the bleaching and daily straightening....

Anyone else have those straighteners that had vents on the side and you were menat to be able to straighten your hair whilst wet? It would realize a load sizzle and steam would come shooting out the vents...Yeah... Never again.

Also, tying my hair up in a simple ponytail and then grabbing a half of hair in each hand and pulling to tighten the ponytail when it got a little too loose, oh god the damage I must have done with those elastics getting dragging upwards on my hair shafts!

divinedobbie
March 13th, 2018, 03:35 PM
I think my worst cringe memory is religiously straightening my hair every day "for shine" even though I have 1b hair that realistically 1a if I touch or comb it at all when it's drying.

lapushka
March 13th, 2018, 03:37 PM
I crimped my hair in my teens, and it stayed between APL & BSL for years; at least for as long as the crimping went on. The thing is, my mom has a picture of me (I was 16, and 15/16 at the time when I first started crimping), and she *loves* that picture of me. :D It's odd sometimes isn't it? ;)

ETA

And a few years ago, even on here, I bleached, henna'd and chemically dyed, making my hair melt off (chemical cut & burn). Yeah. Never again, which is why my hair is all virgin and long now - I learned from my mistake! Ugh that was so bad!

enting
March 13th, 2018, 03:42 PM
Ripping through it with a ball tipped plastic brush, yup.
Flat ironing it. The last time was using the comb attachment without fully detangling my hair first. I left a lot of hair behind that last time, but the frizz on my head didn't seem to notice.

nycelle
March 13th, 2018, 03:52 PM
When I was younger, I had no patience to get the tangles out of my hair. So I would just pull the brush through, not caring that it ripped my hair out. Just thinking of that now makes me cringe.

Other than that, I had fun experimenting with friends. Looking back, we ruined our hair in the name of "beauty", but we had a great time doing it! lol

Wendyp
March 13th, 2018, 04:28 PM
Washing entire length of hair 2x, conditioning whole head and hair, then those horrible hair styling products. Believing aveda color won’t damage hair lol wearing down all the time.

Glitch
March 13th, 2018, 06:27 PM
When I was younger I was on a swim team and wouldn't wash the chlorine out of my hair for days simply because I was lazy. I would just put in some leave-in code, comb it through so it was manageable, and let it air dry. 😫

Dang, that would've been slurping up the moisture for days, but now it's nice hair and being a great swimmer, which I wish I was!


It was either that or not combing it at all for Days until it became a huge matted mess for me :rip:

This might sound really weird, but I never once combed or brushed my hair for years! My hair doesn't tangle badly, but still, ugh... :(


Not only ripping through my hair with brush... but ripping through my WET hair with brush :rolleyes:

Low key freaking out while reading this! It's all over now though :pray:


I have never used heat, but I regularly highlighted my hair at home and always the entire length. So the oldest hair was probably bleached 5 times... i stopped when the highlighted parts fell off when I rinsed the bleach out the last time. After that I grew out my natural hair.

I want to say that I never used bleach again, but I can't... I highlighted my virgin hair 2 years ago, figuring my hair would probably be fine with only one application and no overlap...i was wrong. I started noticing damage after a year, and now I have breakage and splits all throughout the highlights. Learning the hard way, two times - so no more bleach for me!! :p

It happens! This is my second time quitting heat styling, no more straightening from now on! Sadly, my dyed ends from over 2 years ago are still suffering, lol.


Apart from the bleaching and daily straightening....

Anyone else have those straighteners that had vents on the side and you were menat to be able to straighten your hair whilst wet? It would realize a load sizzle and steam would come shooting out the vents...Yeah... Never again.

Also, tying my hair up in a simple ponytail and then grabbing a half of hair in each hand and pulling to tighten the ponytail when it got a little too loose, oh god the damage I must have done with those elastics getting dragging upwards on my hair shafts!

You know it's going be wild when it starts with "apart from the bleaching and daily straightening..." :rolling: Glad it's over!


I think my worst cringe memory is religiously straightening my hair every day "for shine" even though I have 1b hair that realistically 1a if I touch or comb it at all when it's drying.

Your hair is ultra beautiful now, so it's fine :flower:


I crimped my hair in my teens, and it stayed between APL & BSL for years; at least for as long as the crimping went on. The thing is, my mom has a picture of me (I was 16, and 15/16 at the time when I first started crimping), and she *loves* that picture of me. :D It's odd sometimes isn't it? ;)

ETA

And a few years ago, even on here, I bleached, henna'd and chemically dyed, making my hair melt off (chemical cut & burn). Yeah. Never again, which is why my hair is all virgin and long now - I learned from my mistake! Ugh that was so bad!

I must say, I was surprised to hear this from you! I can't believe your hair actually melted off? Wow... Well, it feels good at least to be reminded that everybody makes mistakes from time to time and it can always get better!

Glitch
March 13th, 2018, 06:29 PM
Ripping through it with a ball tipped plastic brush, yup.
Flat ironing it. The last time was using the comb attachment without fully detangling my hair first. I left a lot of hair behind that last time, but the frizz on my head didn't seem to notice.

Tell me about it, my light carpet would turn brunette! :doh:


When I was younger, I had no patience to get the tangles out of my hair. So I would just pull the brush through, not caring that it ripped my hair out. Just thinking of that now makes me cringe.

Other than that, I had fun experimenting with friends. Looking back, we ruined our hair in the name of "beauty", but we had a great time doing it! lol

Well said :agree: And now I'm having a great time dealing with the aftermath... ahahaha... :magic:


Washing entire length of hair 2x, conditioning whole head and hair, then those horrible hair styling products. Believing aveda color won’t damage hair lol wearing down all the time.

Ooh, that was my entire childhood since nobody knew any better, especially me :cool:

nycelle
March 13th, 2018, 07:16 PM
Yeah, I'm dealing with the aftermath of coloring now. But it was done when I knew better, yet still did it.... sigh..

Glitch
March 13th, 2018, 09:05 PM
Yeah, I'm dealing with the aftermath of coloring now. But it was done when I knew better, yet still did it.... sigh..

Temptation is the worst :/

RadioactiveLily
March 13th, 2018, 09:09 PM
When I used to notice breakage/splits, I used to just pull it off the hair shaft. Yep, I was crazy.

Other bad habits:
Wearing it down constantly while living in a very windy climate.
Tightening pony tails by separating and spreading hair distal to the hair elastic.
Mangling my ends with buns secured by hair elastics.
Being too lazy to shampoo/condition my hair after swimming. I'd just rinse it.

wannabe-rusalka
March 13th, 2018, 09:34 PM
-Ripping through my wet hair with a crappy comb
-Ripping through my dry hair with a nylon brush
-Washing my hair every single day
-Wearing extremely tight ponytails every single day (my ponytails must be extremely tight for my hair not to slip out since its so fine- I probably should only have wrapped the ponytail holder around once but I did it around three sometimes 4 times to make sure it stayed. I was a soccer player so that is why I wore them everyday)
-Wrapping my hair up in a terrycloth towel to dry
-Swimming in chlorinated pools and not clarifying my hair until my ends turned green
-Going through phases where I was just too lazy to use conditioner even though I had washed my hair

I'm so sorry hair! shudder: I promise that I will take care of you better and try to make you super long and pretty

spidermom
March 13th, 2018, 09:36 PM
Clamping the ends of my hair onto the curling iron barrel, then rolling the rest of my hair onto the barrel and holding for 10-12 seconds. My poor ends!

Pacific
March 13th, 2018, 10:11 PM
I was ripping my dry and wet hair with a metal bristle brush.

Garnetgem
March 13th, 2018, 11:07 PM
So many would now and do horrify me!

Dragging my hair when i combed from top to bottom rather that start at the bottom,combing it in a rush i could hear my hair ripping as i went i dragged many out that way..even combing when wet a big no no now..hair dryer on a hot setting and rough dry with a towel..then wearing my hair in the same tied back style and worst never once clarified even after using cones,gels and hair spray for years!

FaerieKitty
March 14th, 2018, 01:20 AM
Reading others is both horrifying and reassuring. We've all done some awful things to our hair in times past.

I also dyed my hair a lot. I bleached it a few times too and kept it short as a result of the damage. I did have fun at the time though. it's all virgin now (10 years since I've dyed it at all) and am very happy.

victorian girl
March 14th, 2018, 02:43 AM
- Leaving my hair down and tangled for days when I had a cold and couldn't wash it;
- Skipping the conditioner or anything like that because I was too lazy for an extra step and too frugal for buying an extra product (look at my hair type!!!);
- Letting my hair down and on top of the coat in winter (-10 C or so). Now I'm horrified when I see someone on the street doing like that and I want to preach the LHC wisdom to them (but of course I don't) :graduate:
- Hair care being the last step of my morning routine. So I would start with make-up and then do my hair - usually it meant I was already running late, so I would try to brush my hair quickly, and when it failed - it always did - I would leave my hair as it is, because "no one even knows what curly hair is supposed to look like, so why should I bother";
- Using tight elastics on the ends of my braids. I've had a suspicion that it contributes to the damage a lot, but for some reason I prefered not to think about it (?!)
- Cutting it because I wanted something new! Now I just remind to myself that my hair is not something to experiment with, but a part of me, so I'd better leave it alone :)

Beeboo123
March 14th, 2018, 04:05 AM
Straightening my hair daily without even a heat protectant. Going over the strands multiple times to make sure it was as straight as possible, then hairspraying it to make sure it holds. Midday straightening touch ups. And i used only straighteners that would make my hair steam, because they felt like they worked “better”

spitfire511
March 14th, 2018, 07:01 AM
Oh these are brilliant!!

I'm an 80s child - so we did every horrible thing you can imagine!
*heat-styles every day - with blow dry and curling iron.
*perms galore
*teasing with TONS of hairspray.

I used to sit and stare at splits in class and break or *shudder* bite them off!!

https://pix.sfly.com/eDnMxQ

nycelle
March 14th, 2018, 07:15 AM
Oh these are brilliant!!

I'm an 80s child - so we did every horrible thing you can imagine!
*heat-styles every day - with blow dry and curling iron.
*perms galore
*teasing with TONS of hairspray.

I used to sit and stare at splits in class and break or *shudder* bite them off!!

https://pix.sfly.com/eDnMxQ


THAT'S RIGHT!! The hairspray- I think us 80's kids kept Aqua Net in business.

leayellena
March 14th, 2018, 08:08 AM
Yanking trough knots, not using conditioner, the towel dry you know... and wearing my hair just down

WillOTree
March 14th, 2018, 09:22 AM
Daily blow drying and flat ironing. Coloring with box dye once a month.

Oh, I feel you with the box dye! I used to dye my whole head black once a month to cover the roots, and because the length was already dulling. I didnt know about color freindly hair products or what the dye was doing to my hair till it started breaking off in chunks.

hennalove
March 14th, 2018, 10:44 AM
I like straightening my hair but only during the winter months and very rarely on a special occasion during the summer. I always used heat protectant because I had virgin hair so thankfully don't have as much damage as I could have. Now with henna, straightening isn't really necessary TG although I did continue straightening in my early days of henna use. I may at some point for a special occasion straighten again but the way my henna treatments are going, it's doubtful.

My hair crimes:
1) using shampoo/conditioner with parabens, endocrine disruptors, SLS - now I use only shampoo/conditioner without and with the lowest EWG rating possible
2) using a stiff gel to try to tease hair into curls that it didn't want to do - totally eliminated this
3) no oiling - oils are my bestest ever hair friends now
4) using plastic in my hair mainly clips - eliminated in favour of wood, bamboo, metal, cloth
5) using silicon bands for braids - use cloth only
6) fret too much about how it looks - learning to accept the ups and downs of hair moods

Lanalavallama
March 14th, 2018, 12:09 PM
Relaxing my hair, and the incessant blowdrying.
And then wondering why my hair was so thin, uneven and adorning my collar instead of my head.

tangocurl
March 14th, 2018, 01:34 PM
I can identify with so much here!

I'll add.....using rubber bands (like for the newspaper) to put my hair up! (I was in the third grade...)

RedStripe
March 14th, 2018, 03:27 PM
Heat styling, chem dyes, and oh, the perms of the early '80s ...

lapushka
March 14th, 2018, 04:34 PM
I must say, I was surprised to hear this from you! I can't believe your hair actually melted off? Wow... Well, it feels good at least to be reminded that everybody makes mistakes from time to time and it can always get better!

Yes that messing with dyes was the reason it took me 10 years from chin to classic. When I first got here, I was between chin & BSL for a while, all while I dyed. And when I had that incident with the hair melting off (chemical cut), it went from bra to chin once again. I went back to chin 2 times before finally leaving it alone and growing it out for real. I reached classic on here September 2015, and I've been here since July 2005. So yes, 10 years it took me.

We all do crazy things once in a while, not that dyeing the hair is a crazy thing, but the way I went about it was insane, impulsive, henna today, bleach tomorrow and chemical dye the week after. Yes, that happened. And when you're stuck in that mindset, no one can talk you out of it. That's the worst thing!

Growtivation
March 14th, 2018, 06:54 PM
Like many others, straightening nearly every day and sometimes even while it was still damp.

I also tried a no shampoo method for a while where I only used a paste of baking soda...yikes. shudder:

Milady_DeWinter
March 15th, 2018, 06:11 AM
I'M GUILTY.

- Brushing my hair like crazy
- Not using conditioner/only let it 1 minute or less while I showed.
- Using mousses and other hair products that really DRIED my hair A LOT.
- Using elastics with metals and not being careful at all.
- Tons of hairdryer, I actyallu fried my hair so many times with it!!!
- Wearing my hair down ALWAYS
- Not caring whenever my hair trapped with my backpack, zips... Like "bah, it's long, I don't care if I loss I or two strands". Yuck
- Having layers done. Hating my hair. Deciding that I needed more layers. Hating my hair more... And so for 15 years!! Now I KNOW that what I really hated were my layers :(
- Straightening my hair at top temperature, even wet (yep, smoke, ssssh sound, etc) everyday, various times a day, when I first grew out my hair from a pixie cut (at 16 or so). Even if I was going to be home alone, yep!
- Letting it air dry with swiming pool or sea water, so many times.

And the worst:
- Getting bored of it in 2016 (probably because of layers), and dying it 2-3 times in the first part of the year to different brown shades. Then, after the summer, trying so hard to become ginger, getting my WL hair destroyed in the hairdresser (they left me neon orange), hating it, dying it again at home like 2 or 3 times in the following TWO DAYS to be sure that it was destroyed FOR WELL. Had to cut it BSL (with layers because I'm so stupid!!!), and started trying natural products to take care of it for the first time in my life.
-Trying henna to restore hair: for me it wasn't good :( left my 2c curls to 2a, it's again 2c or so but much less defined ad easy to straight... Sigh*

The good part was discovering the LHC forum and all the awesome and helpful people here :flower:
I love you guys, seriously! i also think that without passing for all of it i wouldn't have discovered you... And would have keep cutting out layers and doing terrible things to my hair. I'm so grateful for you :blossom:

AutobotsAttack
March 16th, 2018, 01:39 AM
*Using grease and then Flat ironing on ridiculously high heat all the time
*shampooing and not conditioning
*using extremely fine toothed combs to detangle

Lumienkeli
March 16th, 2018, 02:38 AM
I'M GUILTY.

- Brushing my hair like crazy
- Not using conditioner/only let it 1 minute or less while I showed.
- Using elastics with metals and not being careful at all.
- Not caring whenever my hair trapped with my backpack, zips... Like "bah, it's long, I don't care if I loss I or two strands". Yuck
- Having layers done. Hating my hair. Deciding that I needed more layers. Hating my hair more... And so for 15 years!! Now I KNOW that what I really hated were my layers.

Same here! I had blunt cut when I was a child and I wanted an adult look and cut layers at age 15. Then I was always nervous about my thinning ends when I braided my hair, but not realized that this looks that like because my layers. Lol.

Oh, and I cut out the knots. Which wouldn't be that bad if I use sharp siccors and I don't use my brush as a matcheta prior.

When a teeth of a claw clip broke I continued to use it with that sharp edge left. Actually I throwed all my broken clips out after I found LHC!

I chopped 10-15 cm from my hair and forget about it for 1-2 years. Then I realized my ends are dry and full of splitz and cut it again.

Now I am ready to grow my hair with gentle care using the treasure mine of knowledge I found here! :) Thank you!

Pumpkin3826
March 16th, 2018, 08:29 AM
I went to school for cosmetology so I had access to lots of colors.. Needless to say I ended up having bright red hair. Little Mermaid red.. I liked it so much I kept it for about a year, this meant a lot of touch ups. For those of you who have never had red hair it is the one color that fades the quickest.. I would have to color it every 3-4 wks. First off the get to the bright red I got I had to bleach my hair so badly.. It was such a bad thing to do. I would have to wash my hair is ice cold water over the tub with my head upside down. If it would rain my hair would bleed red on my clothes.. ahh being young and stupid.. shudder: Now about 6 years later I am happy to say I have tail bone length natural light brown hair. Less is more!

Glitch
March 16th, 2018, 05:38 PM
Reading others is both horrifying and reassuring. We've all done some awful things to our hair in times past.

I also dyed my hair a lot. I bleached it a few times too and kept it short as a result of the damage. I did have fun at the time though. it's all virgin now (10 years since I've dyed it at all) and am very happy.

Agreed, lots of great lessons!


Yes that messing with dyes was the reason it took me 10 years from chin to classic. When I first got here, I was between chin & BSL for a while, all while I dyed. And when I had that incident with the hair melting off (chemical cut), it went from bra to chin once again. I went back to chin 2 times before finally leaving it alone and growing it out for real. I reached classic on here September 2015, and I've been here since July 2005. So yes, 10 years it took me.

We all do crazy things once in a while, not that dyeing the hair is a crazy thing, but the way I went about it was insane, impulsive, henna today, bleach tomorrow and chemical dye the week after. Yes, that happened. And when you're stuck in that mindset, no one can talk you out of it. That's the worst thing!

I'm glad you finally made it so far :D I myself have restarted my hair journey many times these past years, and it's pretty wild looking back at all the things I've pulled :doh: Experience is definitely the best teacher!


I'M GUILTY.

- Brushing my hair like crazy
- Not using conditioner/only let it 1 minute or less while I showed.
- Using mousses and other hair products that really DRIED my hair A LOT.
- Using elastics with metals and not being careful at all.
- Tons of hairdryer, I actyallu fried my hair so many times with it!!!
- Wearing my hair down ALWAYS
- Not caring whenever my hair trapped with my backpack, zips... Like "bah, it's long, I don't care if I loss I or two strands". Yuck
- Having layers done. Hating my hair. Deciding that I needed more layers. Hating my hair more... And so for 15 years!! Now I KNOW that what I really hated were my layers :(
- Straightening my hair at top temperature, even wet (yep, smoke, ssssh sound, etc) everyday, various times a day, when I first grew out my hair from a pixie cut (at 16 or so). Even if I was going to be home alone, yep!
- Letting it air dry with swiming pool or sea water, so many times.

And the worst:
- Getting bored of it in 2016 (probably because of layers), and dying it 2-3 times in the first part of the year to different brown shades. Then, after the summer, trying so hard to become ginger, getting my WL hair destroyed in the hairdresser (they left me neon orange), hating it, dying it again at home like 2 or 3 times in the following TWO DAYS to be sure that it was destroyed FOR WELL. Had to cut it BSL (with layers because I'm so stupid!!!), and started trying natural products to take care of it for the first time in my life.
-Trying henna to restore hair: for me it wasn't good :( left my 2c curls to 2a, it's again 2c or so but much less defined ad easy to straight... Sigh*

The good part was discovering the LHC forum and all the awesome and helpful people here :flower:
I love you guys, seriously! i also think that without passing for all of it i wouldn't have discovered you... And would have keep cutting out layers and doing terrible things to my hair. I'm so grateful for you :blossom:

Oh my gosh...!! Thanks for sharing this all, this really reminds me of students in class, many of us have been there!

Glitch
March 16th, 2018, 05:41 PM
I went to school for cosmetology so I had access to lots of colors.. Needless to say I ended up having bright red hair. Little Mermaid red.. I liked it so much I kept it for about a year, this meant a lot of touch ups. For those of you who have never had red hair it is the one color that fades the quickest.. I would have to color it every 3-4 wks. First off the get to the bright red I got I had to bleach my hair so badly.. It was such a bad thing to do. I would have to wash my hair is ice cold water over the tub with my head upside down. If it would rain my hair would bleed red on my clothes.. ahh being young and stupid.. shudder: Now about 6 years later I am happy to say I have tail bone length natural light brown hair. Less is more!

Totally get you. I used to rock all kinds of red hair for many years, I loved it. Growing it out was/is terrible though. Even though it's been almost 2 years being dye-free, the red color still left in my fried ends always reveals itself with time and I have to keep snipping away!

Twig
March 16th, 2018, 06:06 PM
Perm and color, heat...yes, all at once and then I wondered why there was so much breakage and my hair looked and felt like dry hay.

zashin66
March 22nd, 2018, 08:57 PM
Dragging the brush through my hair when wet and then heavy heat........ lots and lots of heat.....

torosaurus
March 23rd, 2018, 02:32 AM
I feel like I have to separate this by time period in my life, lmao. I don't think I've ever been particularly kind to my hair.

Middle School:
-I would dye my hair box black every other month, then try to bleach it, turn it into mush, and throw manic panic in it only to repeat the process over again
-tease my hair with hairspray until it resembled roadkill
-would blowdry, shampoo, and straighten every day
-I owned a wet to straight flat iron!!

High School:
-colored my hair every single color in the rainbow
-wore clip in extensions
-blow dried and straightened my hair every single day
-would sometimes sleep in my extensions!!
-never used heat protectant

First two years of college:
-heat styled every day
-colored my hair everytime I had a breakdown (which was a lot)
-bleaching, toning, generally just messing with my hair way too much

I think the final nail in the coffin was when I was 19 and got an incredibly short pink bob after turning my hair into mush by bleaching it. Yes, I was devastated.

I don't think I ever really tried to be kind to my hair until about a year ago--and even now I'm still constantly trying to improve. I promise that now I have much better hair habits, lol.

Glitch
March 23rd, 2018, 04:11 AM
Dragging the brush through my hair when wet and then heavy heat........ lots and lots of heat.....

Glad you quit heat styling, you natural waves are too pretty. :)


I feel like I have to separate this by time period in my life, lmao. I don't think I've ever been particularly kind to my hair.

Middle School:
-I would dye my hair box black every other month, then try to bleach it, turn it into mush, and throw manic panic in it only to repeat the process over again
-tease my hair with hairspray until it resembled roadkill
-would blowdry, shampoo, and straighten every day
-I owned a wet to straight flat iron!!

High School:
-colored my hair every single color in the rainbow
-wore clip in extensions
-blow dried and straightened my hair every single day
-would sometimes sleep in my extensions!!
-never used heat protectant

First two years of college:
-heat styled every day
-colored my hair everytime I had a breakdown (which was a lot)
-bleaching, toning, generally just messing with my hair way too much

I think the final nail in the coffin was when I was 19 and got an incredibly short pink bob after turning my hair into mush by bleaching it. Yes, I was devastated.

I don't think I ever really tried to be kind to my hair until about a year ago--and even now I'm still constantly trying to improve. I promise that now I have much better hair habits, lol.

You had me at roadkill ;) Goodness, it’s scary knowing that nearly all of these were routine to me 1-2 years ago! Likewise, I still have some habits and impatience to work on, but at least it’s nothing like before :)

cjk
March 23rd, 2018, 12:20 PM
-tease my hair with hairspray until it resembled roadkill
-would blowdry, shampoo, and straighten every day

lol.

That sounds, like, totally righteous. Girls just wanted to have fun! Totally gnarly.

Reyesuela
March 23rd, 2018, 12:27 PM
Y’all had way more energy than me. I just let it hag down and get friction damage everywhere and caught on everything. Guess that’s why I eventually got pretty nice hair to my hips in high school....finally! I didn’t understand why it took so long to get there. lol.

I might have sort of regretted my huge crop to pixie shag, but since my hair would have completely fallen out to my waist level shortly after, there’s nothing to regret!

I do regret pretending not to notice all my hair falling out for nearly two years, though. Ignoring it is totally the same as it not happening. Totally.

shaiyeh
March 23rd, 2018, 12:46 PM
You had me at roadkill ;) Goodness, it’s scary knowing that nearly all of these were routine to me 1-2 years ago! Likewise, I still have some habits and impatience to work on, but at least it’s nothing like before :)

omg same D: I've had (home bleached) white hair, pink hair, lilac hair, box black for YEARS, and ye olde bat's nest goth hair. I absolutely love the look of that hairdo, but my hair was living up to the 'so goth I'm dead' trope for sure xD

I used to never use conditioner. I had straight hair as a child, and quite short, and it never quite seemed to need the conditioning, but once I got into my tweens/teens and my hair got longer (and wurlier) I would have definitely needed to condition it.
I've always had a sensitive scalp, so I've let knots be instead of combing them out. Definitely not helped by not conditioning it.
At home dye jobs with box bleach and dye. Only stuff of the sort I do now is henna.
towel drying it. When I was little, some girls in my class came up with a brilliant way of drying your hair. You'd lean over forward with your wet hair down, and then sort of whoosh your towel around like a skipping rope, only it went hitting the hair with every lap so to speak. *smack, smack, smack*, literally hitting the water out of your hair, which ofc would get tangled in the towel. We did that in school for a while. I came home one day and showed my mum (who used to be a longhair btw! she had classic length hair when I was really little) and she told me never to do that again, lol. I just towel dried it from then on.
I also used to sleep with my hair down. Or braid my hair and keep the braid for DAYS.
Lots and lots and lots of teasing it....

I used to be mad because my hair got so bad once it got past cbl in the past. I always wanted really long hair, but would grow sikck of if and cut it short because it was just a mess. I'm glad I started researching hair oils and treatments and found LHC...

fhairyqueen
March 23rd, 2018, 01:34 PM
I bleached my hair left it on for two hours and heat dried the bleach with my hair dryer on my head
The. Put purple shampoo on for two hours
Repeats two more times same day
Continues to do so until one day hair has snapped off in places


Come a very long way I haven’t bleached in two years at least and I dont use heat not even a hair dryer
Thank you LHC

njrb
March 24th, 2018, 01:16 PM
I did have a habit of getting a haircut every 3 weeks. Needless to say that one has been abandoned.

Joules
March 25th, 2018, 06:43 AM
Wrapping my hair in a towel for 30+ minutes after shower. Always made me wonder why my hair was so dry and crunchy despite a ton of oils...yeah, why?

Using shampoos that were so harsh the only thing I'd wash with them now is my father's car.

Using a ton of cheap silicone conditioners and leave-ins, that together with harsh shampoos and towel wraps made my strands resemble dry plastic straws and not real human hair.

Oiling scalp with cheap oils. Or oiling scalp in general. Gave me insane shedding.

Going poo-free for almost two years and only co-washing. It was fine for the first year, then I got so much shedding I thought I was going bald. Shedding stopped immediately after I started using shampoos again, and I learned the importance of properly cleansing my scalp. I still co-wash sometimes, I like how it makes my hair clean and moisturized without all the pre-poo oil hassle, quick and simple, but I'll never go for longer than a week without shampoos again.

Onthepath
March 31st, 2018, 02:57 PM
I had a persistent, impulsive relationship with hair dye and bleach for about 30 years. My poor hair.

There was just something about being able to alter my appearance like that. It was honestly fun, but yikes! I believe I'm at a point in life where I just want to let my hair rest & be pampered & protected for a change.

Reyesuela
March 31st, 2018, 05:15 PM
I was taken in by the nonsense about baking soda as a teenager. Grrr.

Angelica
April 2nd, 2018, 06:40 AM
Wearing rollers has to be mine. I was a little rough with my terribly fine hair at times, but the worst was trying to sleep rollers.

Wendyp
April 2nd, 2018, 06:44 AM
Listening to anything a hairdresser has to say. They don’t know much about long hair care. At least those I have come accross.

Beckstar
April 3rd, 2018, 11:57 AM
Seeing how far up I can make a split end go before it breaks.

Synester
April 3rd, 2018, 04:21 PM
straightening my hair several times a day. my entire "scene phase" makes me cringe. my poor hair. was literally royal blue straw all over my head LOL

Beeboo123
April 3rd, 2018, 05:21 PM
Seeing how far up I can make a split end go before it breaks.

I did that too! I would slowly and carefully split the hairs with my fingers. WHAT was I thinking...

Dark40
April 3rd, 2018, 08:38 PM
My old hair habits that would now horrify me would be dyeing my hair frequently every 3 weeks instead of every 6 or 8 weeks.

Beckstar
April 3rd, 2018, 09:03 PM
I did that too! I would slowly and carefully split the hairs with my fingers. WHAT was I thinking...

Trying to turn one hair into two? Double up. :D

shaluwm_agape
April 3rd, 2018, 10:24 PM
I have 2 at home dying omgosh! And putting in absurd amounts of gel & hairspray to scruch it! 9 months ago i officially put down the dye

Glitch
April 4th, 2018, 02:10 AM
I’ve been having an interesting time reading these before bed haha! My goodness, some of these blow my mind now and yet I can relate to so many.


I did that too! I would slowly and carefully split the hairs with my fingers. WHAT was I thinking...

I always ask myself the same question upon reflecting ;D

Milady_DeWinter
April 4th, 2018, 04:43 AM
Seeing how far up I can make a split end go before it breaks.

Also guilty :run:

M00bles
April 4th, 2018, 01:46 PM
When I was a teenager I used to apply hair oil/serum to each section before straightening. Everyday. And there’s been a lot of ripping through tangles my entire life up until about a year or so ago. I don’t think I’ve been too bad in the grand scheme of things!

Wavybrunetteuk
April 4th, 2018, 08:27 PM
Brushing my hair with a plastic brush... what was I thinking? It always made my hair frizzier!

Glitch
April 5th, 2018, 12:47 AM
Brushing my hair with a plastic brush... what was I thinking? It always made my hair frizzier!

Gosh, I just realized I did that an hour ago without realizing (had misplaced my good brush). I couldn't understand the random frizz. How embarrassing :couch: