How long to recover from chemical dye damage?

[Karala]

Who here has put an end to long-term usage of chemical dye, and managed to recover long healthy hair (and ends, especially?) I'm having one of these days when it seems like no matter what I do (or don't do), I'm not making any progress at all. Please give me hope!

[luluj]

Actually there are quite a few of us over at the "Salt and Pepper Thread." Come on over, we will be more than happy to give you all of the support you can handle!LOL!!

[chopandchange]

I have done it! Mine's (nearly) all grown out now. It just takes time. Sometimes if it's really damaged, then the only solution is to cut it off - either gradually over time, so as not to lose the length, or all at once.

I did it the gradual way! You just need lots of patience. Sigh....

[Addy]

I started growing out in Aug 08. I said, "No more!!!" and I meant it. :D

It takes time. I'm heading on two years of going cold turkey and I had cut my bsl length hair off to be rid of the faded chemical color. I'm a bit past shoulder with some layers and although I miss my length, I don't regret getting rid of the old and welcoming in the new virgin color.

Like I said, it takes time. You can do it if you're serious about no more color. :)

[Nightshade]

I did it! I had trashed my hair with chemical dyes so badly that it broke off from hips to BSL and was nothing but hay with split ends :wail:

It took me about 4-5 years, but I am now at Classic with 100% dye-free hair (except for henna, but that's not a chemical dye and not relevant for the purposes of this thread).

You can read how I did it in the damaged hair article in my siggy :flowers:

Take heart, you'll get there!

[Karala]

luluj: I'm not sure I'd fit in since I'm not growing my natural hair color (I've just replaced chemical dye with henna) but I'll check it out anyway! Thanks for the tip!

To you virtuous ladies who said no to chemical dye and stood their ground: I've been consistantly trimming about half of my growth since I've decided to salvage my hair, so that I still have some growth, but it's taking so damn looong! I'm alternating between phases of "I can't stand the damaged ends" which make me want to chop it all off, and phases of "I can't stand that it's taking so long to grow" which make me want to stop trimming so often. All in all, I'm staying with the middle ground. Trimming half of my growth. Frustrating, but I'll probably be happy I did that, in the long run. Nightshade: your article on damaged hair is one of the first I read when I discovered LHC, and I still re-read it from time to time! Very informative and helpful in letting us see there is light at the end of the tunnel!

[Nightshade]

You'll be happy you're staying the course. It WILL get better! Once you start to notice it, the whole effect seems to snowball rather quickly :)

[Tap Dancer]

The last time I colored was in April 2009. I guess that means I have about 6" of virgin hair. (It's hard to tell, though, because the dye I was using matches my natural color.) I had been coloring for about 8 years. For the first few years I colored all of my hair every 2 months. Then I started doing roots-only once a month. I finally decided I didn't care about the white hairs I had been trying to hide; I'm going to embrace my natural hair. It takes a looong time, but it'll be worth it. :)

[Karala]

Any other former chem dye-head who managed to turn their hair from straw to silk? Oh come on, I know you're out there. ;)

[alwayssmiling]

I don't really count because I'm still comparibly short. But... I had a bleached chin length bob for a year, it never needed cutting as it would break off! I thought I was a slow grower! September last year I had short stubby lengths on top of my head and I decided enough is enough. I put down the bleach, straightening iron, dye etc. I've been fairly good to my hair since then, henna, DTs, S&Ding, air drying (Loads more good things too). Now 7 months on my hair is finally starting to "grow" (pretty quick too) and look healthy again, shiny and strong(er). I did my daily S&D this morning and I found...wait for it....only 3 splits. I searched in good sunlight and couldn't find anymore. :cheese: So although I will eventually have my pre LHC length cut off, I'm convinced I'm nearly there, ready to grow long. I even wore my hair down today because it looked "nice". :eek:

Good luck.

[Ravenne]

I'm still in the process. I dyed for around 5 years. Highlights, dark/light browns, auburns... But I finally just got fed up with the touch ups and constant roots. So I went to a hairdresser and told her to match my roots and that was the last time I dyed. That was over a year ago and now my new growth is down to my chin. It's beautiful and has so many colors in it! And my demarcation line is so obvious.. The dark dye from the hairdresser didn't stick for very long, so I've got some nice brassy, frizzy ends going on. But they're slowly getting better. And they're not like straw anymore now that I've found out to use a moisturizing conditioner on the ends and a volumizing on my scalp. They're almost as soft as my virgin growth. It really does get easier to keep growing the longer you go.