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Culdayne
August 10th, 2009, 12:28 PM
Was it worth it?

I finally decided that with my fragile hair, I would just bite the bullet and get rid of the rest of ALL old hair that had been bleached/dyed. I previously had cut last year and rid myself of the worst of the damage. (I had been alternating between henna and dye for a few years)

A couple of weeks ago I rid myself of the rest. Now I have my natural hair with henna and indigo over that. My hair is a little past my shoulders and it feels healthier than 'I can't remember when'.

Still, I wonder if I it was worth it. I was nearly at BSL. *sigh* I am looking at two years now for my goal.

I would love to hear stories from anyone that has done this. :)

pink.sara
August 10th, 2009, 12:43 PM
Hi Culdayne, I'm at jaw length now because of cutting off old damage, the desire to dye and experiment got too much for me and I chopped my 42 inch hair to jaw and went platinum..then red...then purple...then platinum and black...and well you get the picture!

Don't fret too much that your goals seem far away though :)
My hair doesn't grow faster than average (about 1/2 inch a month usually) and I got from pixie to waist in under 5 years.

I keep reminding myself I can regrow beautiful long hair if it's taken care of, and once I got to shoulder before, I mostly oiled it lightly and wore it up in various buns and twists anyway.

Benign neglect works wonders and also means less tangles and splits to trim off :D

Good luck with your growing!
Race you to waist?! ;)

Maddy25
August 10th, 2009, 12:45 PM
I used to have BSL hair and cut it to my ears to grow it in healthier Last year :)

I honestly thought it was worth it because I wanted long hair, but it was just so damaged and frizzy from colouring and stripping it that it didnt look pretty at all and pretty was the point of wanting long hair in the first place!

My hair is so much healthier now and I am appreciating it much more now that its growing back.

maskedrose
August 10th, 2009, 12:58 PM
Well, my chop wasn't huge, but I went from waist to BSL a couple of months ago to get rid of most of my old highlight damage. There is still about an inch and a half left, but it feels SO much better and I don't regret the 3.5" trim at all. Plus, without all that damage I've had a lot less breakage and I've already grown about an inch an a half :D

AJoifulNoise
August 10th, 2009, 01:10 PM
I didn't cut all of my dyed hair off, but I did cut at least 6" over a year ago. May not seem like much, but it was a huge deal for me. It took me from hip to just below BSL.

But, I am so so very glad I did it. I am now back to hip and I am much happier with my hair.

Arashi
August 10th, 2009, 02:11 PM
Almost two(I think?) years ago, I had hip length chemically dyed black hair. I loved my black hair, but on an insanely stupid ridiculous STUPID STUPID STUPID whim, I decided I wanted WHITE hair and would stop at nothing to get it. :mad:
Multiple bleachings and dye jobs later, my hair color transitioned to something like this(may I add that this was in the span of a few months?): Deep bozo the clown orange, medium bozo the clown orange, light bozo the clown orange on the bottom with banana yellow on top, ashy blond color with some bozo the clown orange showing through on the bottom, deep purple, white, and then forest green(attempt at dyeing to brown gone bad). At that point, my hair was obviously so ridiculously and horribly damaged, gummy, straggly and awful that I chopped to shoulder length.

I guess I didn't technically cut to remove color, because as soon as I chopped to shoulder length, I dyed my hair black again with henna and indigo(then maintained my length for over a year and cut off all the damage), but I absolutely do not regret it. At all. Even before my fiasco with bleach, my hair was damaged from years of heat styling and general abuse(sulfates, ripping through with ball tipped brushes, sleeping with it loose, chemical coloring way too often and doing full head applications every time, poor diet, etc.) from my pre-LHC days. In the end, I'm glad I acted like an absolute hair idiot and completely ruined my hair because I needed a reason to cut that damage off and start off with healthier hair.

My hair is nearly BSL now, and even though I still use chemical dye, it's healthier than it's ever been- even compared to the virgin hair of my youth.

Addy
August 10th, 2009, 02:59 PM
I'm growing out my dye but living with the color treated hair. It's not fuzzy or anything, just two-toned. I don't think I could handle another BIG chop. I'll eventually trim away the ends until I'm dye free... someday.

merseaone
August 10th, 2009, 03:19 PM
I did it. My hair was to the bottom of my shoulders and had been highlighted and colored so much that it was mush. My natural color was dark blonde and the dyed hair was washed out brown to reddish blah so when I had grown out 1 inch I got it cut. Now my hair is longish and natural with dark blonde, brownish red highlights from the sun, white, and silver. I've always had an eclectic hair color. When I was in high school I had golden blonde hair on the ends then every three inches it was another color going down the scale until it was ashe green at the roots. That is when I started coloring my hair. It had really looked strange like someone had painted the color perfectly straight across each section.

Aisha25
August 10th, 2009, 03:26 PM
Yeah it is worth it if your hair is beyond nursing back to health, than you can just start all over with fresh new hair :) It took me years 9 to be exact and I have to say it was all worth it :D

Culdayne
August 10th, 2009, 06:06 PM
Thanks, everybody...you all have given me inspiration!

I am really glad I did it, but part of me wondered. I think I'm going to be obsessed with my ends and thickness, and I just won't compromise much on that. :cool:

Aisha: 9 years, wow! Well, your hair is beautiful so it was worth it! :D

Speckla
August 10th, 2009, 07:17 PM
It was for me in the longrun. I shed a few tears and regretted it for a while but now I'm glad. I grew my shortest layers to shoulder and cut off the layers and all the old color. My hair is totally healthy now and I can continue to grow and not have to worry about losing length due to old color damage.
And I think it's easier to do it while my hair was shorter instead of much longer.

redcelticcurls
August 10th, 2009, 07:50 PM
It was for me in the longrun. I shed a few tears and regretted it for a while but now I'm glad. I grew my shortest layers to shoulder and cut off the layers and all the old color. My hair is totally healthy now and I can continue to grow and not have to worry about losing length due to old color damage.
And I think it's easier to do it while my hair was shorter instead of much longer.

Speckla, are you totally unlayered now? I'm interested to see how hair as curly as yours will grow out unlayered.

Madame J
August 10th, 2009, 07:55 PM
For what it's worth, I didn't really see how beautiful my natural color was until I cut off everything that ever been dyed. I "stopped dyeing my hair" at the end of high school and had my mom's hairdresser dye it back to my natural color, but the lift of the permanent color meant that when the pigment faded, my hair looked a little washed out, so I put henndigo over it to darken it, and then just dyed it black altogether. It always looked a little flat.

I took some pictures of updos a few days ago and realized that I have some beautiful natural highlights, but they only come out in virgin hair. So yeah, totally worth it to go pixie for a while, since it meant getting my virgin hair back.

Kirin
August 10th, 2009, 08:06 PM
I just recently (like two days ago) went from BSL to a Mia Farrow 1 inch long hair cut around my head. Sad? Hell no. Its soft, its natural, and its all mine. Its liberating, and not having handfulls of damaged hair fall out daily has been worth it.

I did not shed one tear, or have depression, its all how you look at it going in I think. I took a month to decide, and knew it was for the best. I thought I might wake the next day and be upset, nope, best decision I ever made.

LaFlor
August 10th, 2009, 08:26 PM
I'm going to have to do this eventually, and all of these stories have made me feel better about it. It's nice knowing I'm not the only one contemplating a big chop to get rid of old dye and other damages.

klcqtee
August 10th, 2009, 11:37 PM
I went from just past BSL to jaw because of damage, so I know what you mean. I loved how much healthier it was, and it was soft, and beautiful (even if the bottom 7 inches were still dyed).

Now that my goal is to grow it out again, I regret it almost every week. I would have been a year from waist if I just grew it out and continued to trim small amounts every couple weeks. *sigh* Of course, at this point, I have redyed my hair. Again. It was almost all virgin! AH! I'm so mad. *grumble*

But, I think it was worth it. Even if I'm regretting it. I know it means less breakage, and healthier hair in the long run.

Felicity
August 12th, 2009, 09:52 AM
It both was and wasn't worth it. It took 2.5 years and 3 hair cuts to rid myself of the hair dye damaged hair. My hair was bsl but I had destroyed it dying it blonde. It's been worth it in that now I have undamaged hair but it's still quite short after all this time and only arm pit length. Of course it is curly and is pretty close bsl if straightened. I just feel like growing is taking an eternity due to all the cutting. But the dye is gone and I did try for 5 months prior to the first chop to salvage my hair but had to cut in the end due to big clumps falling out.

Yayasmurf
August 12th, 2009, 10:15 AM
I too have dye left overs on the last 6 inches of my hair. You are more brave than I am. I can't do the cut. I just can't do it. :p I guess I will live with the two tone hair until I can gradually trim it out. It's not horribly noticeable.

I agree with another poster. My natural hair color is much prettier than the color I dyed it. Now my goal is trying to getting over the shock of all the salt and pepper. Lady Clairol keeps calling my name. Really Loud... LOL!

Amara
August 12th, 2009, 10:25 AM
I am also interested in this and always thinking about what to do... I have henna and old dye from shoulders down...

Toadstool
August 12th, 2009, 11:57 AM
I agree with another poster. My natural hair color is much prettier than the color I dyed it. Now my goal is trying to getting over the shock of all the salt and pepper. Lady Clairol keeps calling my name. Really Loud... LOL!

Have you seen the salt and pepper thread? You could always join the Renegrays:)

Elainehali
August 12th, 2009, 12:22 PM
I've never had to cut away old color.

My mom just had her old color cut away. She said with white hair she had never got so much male attention. lol.

Anyways with all your damage gone I bet you get length back faster this time. Good for you!

may1em
August 12th, 2009, 12:56 PM
This was a long time ago and before LHC days, but yes.

I took a two-pronged approach and cut from shoulder to ear twice, once in March 03 and once in January 04.

Now, if I had just left the second cut alone and let it grow... I'd have the hair I want already. Instead, I kept maintaining a short cut and got layers and stuff. Eh, I enjoyed it at the time.