Poor length retention

[Strwberryfields]

So I just kept track of my hair growth for the first time ever. I only kept .1875 inches of length. The lowest average you read able is .25 a month. I’m feeling highly discouraged. I have breakage from years of bleach abuse (coloring my hair bright red and orange and blonde for years) I haven’t used heat since April or hair color. My goal is to never color it again, and use heat maybe once in a blue moon but mostly never. Is it possible that I can over come crappy hair integrity? I have very fine strands of hair. I’ve had as much as an inch and half of breakage from a strand before. I measured it haha! I’m worried that It’s just my hair and that having virgin hair won’t fix it. I bleached it all over once in October and twice in 2019. It’s not like I’m doing it chronically. My roots show average growth. However... retention is terrible. I’d like advice on if I should trim it regularly until it’s in better shape, or let it break and ignore it. I ultimately want healthy virgin hair but also long hair. Any advice would be so appreciated!

[CosmoCat]

I was horrible to my hair for several years, including bleaching the length repeatedly. I think there is a ton of hope for yours too. Just take better care of it and give it time...might want to considering cutting the worst off and starting new. My advice is to spend a lot of time on this page and read all the wonderful tips.

[CosmoCat]

I will add a picture to my photo album of just how bad it was before I quit.

[Khristopher]

If you bleached and dyed it will break, no other way around. Even being very careful with it. Just be patient and wait for your virgin hair to grow, I asure you it'll be stronger than the bleached secctions. For now I would recommend microtrimming so you don't lose much length but slowly get rid of the damage. Protein deep treatments can help as well, but don't be so discouraged by breakage, it will get better!

[Ylva]

If you bleached and dyed it will break, no other way around. Even being very careful with it. Just be patient and wait for your virgin hair to grow, I asure you it'll be stronger than the bleached secctions. For now I would recommend microtrimming so you don't lose much length but slowly get rid of the damage. Protein deep treatments can help as well, but don't be so discouraged by breakage, it will get better!

I second this. Breakage can definitely be expected from bleached hair, you'll just have to be patient and grow it out. Your virgin hair will more than likely retain length much better than the chemically processed hair. People can get away with differing amounts of chemical processing and some will retain length in processed hair better than others. Like Khristopher, I'd also recommend protein treatments, but don't forget to give your hair lots of moisture as well.

[milosmomma]

Yes I agree with the posters above. Treat it gently, give it endless moisture and frequent protein. Maybe even use a deep conditioner every wash. You could keep it up in protective style which should help reduce any friction which will speed up the breakage. Maybe take a look into microtrimming and maintain your length you have now and wait for the virgin hair to travel down a bit?
I destroyed my hair with bleach and tried the whole treating like antique lace for about a year until my virgin reached chin and then big chopped from hip. I sometimes wish I would have slowly trimmed though so just take time to think on it before any trims. Now that I have no bleach on my end, my virgin hair retains length much better. The bleach was extremely slow growing but I did have growth. I have some very coarse strand mixed in and feel like they are gaurd hairs protecting the thinner finer strands.
Just hang in there! The main ingredient for long hair is definitely patience! And time, but you will get there :)

[Strwberryfields]

Thank you guys soooooo much! I was truly discouraged that I was doomed with fragile hair. If you couldn’t tell I haven’t had virgin hair in a lifetime basically. I will absolutely stick to micro trims so I can retain length. You guys seriously rock! Moisture is an issue for me... I can’t seem to keep it! I will have to be more vigilant with it.

[ExpectoPatronum]

I agree with everyone else. I bleached my ends and struggled with retaining length. Now that all my dye damage is gone my hair is actually growing. There's hope for you yet! Just focus on taking the best care of your hair that you can and eventually it will start gaining length again.

[Ylva]

Thank you guys soooooo much! I was truly discouraged that I was doomed with fragile hair. If you couldn’t tell I haven’t had virgin hair in a lifetime basically. I will absolutely stick to micro trims so I can retain length. You guys seriously rock! Moisture is an issue for me... I can’t seem to keep it! I will have to be more vigilant with it.

Check out the LOC/LCO method for sealing in moisture. :)

[milosmomma]

Yes loc is great for retaining moisture! I also suggest trying the roo method(rinse out oil). I believe there are threads for both with more info but I would also suggest trying one new thing at a time. I love experimenting but when something doesnt work and you try many new things it's hard to tell which your hair doesnt like. Happy growing :)

[MusicalSpoons]

The heat damage is also still there (and cumulative, irreparable); only the new growth that hasn't seen heat is undamaged. It sounds like you have a lot of damage to grow out but the good news is your virgin growth will be much stronger, as long as you don't damage it with heat/bleach/dye :) I don't have much to add for growing out the damage except to say that protective styles as milosmomma ​mentioned are definitely necessary. They're necessary for many of us with virgin hair, therefore even more so for damaged hair.

[hennalove]

So I just kept track of my hair growth for the first time ever. I only kept .1875 inches of length. The lowest average you read able is .25 a month. I’m feeling highly discouraged. I have breakage from years of bleach abuse (coloring my hair bright red and orange and blonde for years) I haven’t used heat since April or hair color. My goal is to never color it again, and use heat maybe once in a blue moon but mostly never. Is it possible that I can over come crappy hair integrity? I have very fine strands of hair. I’ve had as much as an inch and half of breakage from a strand before. I measured it haha! I’m worried that It’s just my hair and that having virgin hair won’t fix it. I bleached it all over once in October and twice in 2019. It’s not like I’m doing it chronically. My roots show average growth. However... retention is terrible. I’d like advice on if I should trim it regularly until it’s in better shape, or let it break and ignore it. I ultimately want healthy virgin hair but also long hair. Any advice would be so appreciated!

Breakage can be due to chemical/heat damage as well as friction. My hair was just slightly below waist for the longest time and just seemed to hover there. While I didn't have chemical damage, I did have some damage from using a flatiron. However, I only used the flatiron a few times a year and never during the summer and always with protectant. Still, I think there was some damage. I switched my whole hair care routine nixing heat with the exception of once last Christmas. My hair now reaches the chair when sitting. Aside of no heat, the two things I attribute to the new found length are updoes and a satin pillow case.

Another thing that can cause breakage is your water. At home, our water is soft and I have very little breakage. At our vacation home, the water is hard and I do have a bit of breakage so extra conditioning is a must and we installed a water filter. Chlorine from swimming pools can cause breakage as can the very tools (brushes, combs, toys) you use in your hair. I use no plastic in my hair but rather scrunchies or hair sticks. My brush and comb are wood but I occasionally use a boar brush as well.

As far as trimming, my last official hair cut was April 2017. I only do S&D on split ends. So there are two schools of thought. Some recommend a big chop that will get rid of a lot of the damage at once. Others use S&D or microtrims to slowly remove damage while retaining what length you have. At any rate, I would not recommend just letting it break.

[milosmomma]

Ah yes silky pillow cases are a great idea! We spend basically 1/3 of our time sleeping so it can really be beneficial to prevent rubbing and friction while sleeping. Silky scarves or bonnets are just as good an option too, but you dont have to worry about a pillow case falling off like a scarf or bonnet.

[ChloeDharma]

When I grew out chemical damage I had been colouring the length of my hair with permanent red dye for quite a while. As it was red it would fade quickly so I would do the full length every application and that was every 3-4 weeks. Of course the degrading cuticle couldn't hold the dye pigments meaning it faded faster and so I'd have to colour it again. It was a total mess!

The approach I took, despite switching to oiling and CO washing whilst still dying my hair in the vain attempt to make it ok was I switched to henna. For me that was a huge help but then again I knew I was ok with always having red hair. I never wore my hair down as the hair was too fragile to cope with that plus I kept it oiled constantly. I'd wash once to twice a week, and every wash would include a deep conditioning. I'd then oil it, a bit more than lightly to protect the length and give slip. I'd add oil each day then saturate my hair in oil the night before a wash.
I trimmed every three months, only about 1/4 of an inch but enough to keep the ends from snagging (which was/is my sign I needed a trim) then would snip individual split ends the rest of the time.

It took a lot of patience but eventually the damage grew out and I swore never to touch permanent hair dyes again. I also never used heat on my hair though once it was virgin/just henna I started gently blow drying it when needed.

So yes, basically for me constant oiling and contained hair styles, weekly deep treatments, gentle washing and micro-trimming plus S&D worked for growing out chemical damage.

[lapushka]

The heat damage is also still there (and cumulative, irreparable); only the new growth that hasn't seen heat is undamaged. It sounds like you have a lot of damage to grow out but the good news is your virgin growth will be much stronger, as long as you don't damage it with heat/bleach/dye :) I don't have much to add for growing out the damage except to say that protective styles as milosmomma ​mentioned are definitely necessary. They're necessary for many of us with virgin hair, therefore even more so for damaged hair.

Yes, operative word being: it needs to grow out first. It is like starting from a shaved head. So what is now in your hair is still damage, and you get what comes with that. I would join the microtrimming thread to carefully but surely trim it out.

Happy growing! :)

[Genne]

Thank you guys soooooo much! I was truly discouraged that I was doomed with fragile hair. If you couldn’t tell I haven’t had virgin hair in a lifetime basically. I will absolutely stick to micro trims so I can retain length. You guys seriously rock! Moisture is an issue for me... I can’t seem to keep it! I will have to be more vigilant with it.

Hello,
I'm new here but want to reassure you to keep your chin and confidence up. Patience is huge and discouragement is common. My own hair trauma happened during 2013 and it took several years until the trim off of that finally got me to a stage where I felt I could just let it grow for a few years and start more trims. From 2015 until 2017 I let it grow and did several trims from 2017-2018, (I did about a 2 inch, then a few months later a 3 or 4 then finally a 5 inch.)

Now I could really do another one but, want to give it a few more years to grow before I do a "trim year" of 5-6 inches.

Happy growing and good patience to you, (to all of us.)
Jen

[andreachurch]

My natural colour is light brown, but I had dyed my hair black for 20 years. Two months ago I decided that I wanted to grow out my virgin hair, but growing out black when you have light brown virgin hair was not an option... so I had it professionally brought back to a light brown which involved 3 rounds of bleach. My hair is so fried that when I run my fingers through it while wet my hands are quickly covered in dozens of 1 inch pieces of hair 😣 It's horrifying.

Is it true that bleached hair grows more slowly due to the damage? The hairdresser couldnt save the ends and I painfully agreed to lose about 6 inches. So, it's now SL, which is as short as I can handle. But, I wonder if it would grow out any faster if I cut even more of the damage off. What do you guys think?

[Spikey]

My natural colour is light brown, but I had dyed my hair black for 20 years. Two months ago I decided that I wanted to grow out my virgin hair, but growing out black when you have light brown virgin hair was not an option... so I had it professionally brought back to a light brown which involved 3 rounds of bleach. My hair is so fried that when I run my fingers through it while wet my hands are quickly covered in dozens of 1 inch pieces of hair �� It's horrifying.

Is it true that bleached hair grows more slowly due to the damage? The hairdresser couldnt save the ends and I painfully agreed to lose about 6 inches. So, it's now SL, which is as short as I can handle. But, I wonder if it would grow out any faster if I cut even more of the damage off. What do you guys think?

Your hair will never grow faster or slower because of what you've done to the length. Hair grows from the roots, based on your genetics, and regardless of how long, short, damaged you keep it, your growth rate will do it's own thing.

The "slower" grow rate people with bleach damage get is caused by breakage. Because your hair is so much weaker, it snaps off, as you've experienced, creating artificially "slower" growth. That being said, if you have damage, it can travel up the shaft and compromise hair further up leading to more breakage. It's a bit like a frayed rope unraveling. So people cut to seal their ends, in a way, and stop the damage traveling up.

However, it sounds like you've already trimmed a lot, and the rest can probably be babied with moisture treatments, not using hair ties, protective styling, etc. So don't cut more if you don't want to. And welcome to the forum!:)

[Dark40]

I agree with everyone else. Ever since I started coloring my hair from red to blonde I've done some crazy harsh things to it too! But it gets better over time. What I did to make it better was deep moisturizing treatments and protein treatments. But yes, if you bleach then dye it...it is going to break off. But don't get discouraged. It will get better once you trim the worst parts off.

[Kat-Rinnè Naido]

Hi!
The saddest thing is cutting hair especially when it is past waist (which I did) It is only when we cut it and become serious about growing hair do we discover how slow the process is.
Be gentle and kind to your hair. Deep condition and maybe lightly oil it. At night protect it by sleeping on a satin pillow case or tucking it in a bonnet. Micro trim it regularly to get rid of the damage and maintain the length you have or go for that big chop.
Whatever you decide stay committed for you shall have healthy hair as you undergo the transition.
Good luck.