how long to see results in hair condition?

[dainaleeo2]

Since i decided to stop flat ironing, cold turkey, i was excited about the long term results i would get. But, now that I've gone a week, I'm starting to see how hard it is to actually quit. :(
My hair isn't in the best condition of course, so I'm babying it, but how long did it take you girls to see any improvement in your hair?

I think i need to upload a picture of just how crazy my hair looks when i let it air dry. It'll be a few days since I just did it tonight, but it's pretty bad. So I re-wetted it & scrunched. I'm still CO-ing, with the Hair One stuff that's apparently a cheaper version of Wen, though I've had to wash my hair more than usual because of the intense humidity & my penchant to sweat a lot when it's super hot :P
I wish i would have air dried smoother, but i guess it's too soon to tell. I -almost- wanted to straighten it but i held off. Phew! I guess I'm just stressing hardcore about it :( it's a bit hard not to since this is my obsession haha. I want pretty hair!

[haharobots]

Ho hum... I'm a flat iron addict too! I'm in the Reserves and I did my two-week training earlier in May. I did not flat iron the whole time, but I bunned up my hair while it was still wet. :( I didn't notice any change in my hair, but I also wasn't looking for it. (sorry, I'm no help!)

I hate, hate the way my hair looks when it air dries! I usually wash in the evenings, but when I wake up the next day its smoothed out a bit, and its much better on the second day of no washing. However, skipping shampoo's isn't really an option for me very often because of exercise routines and sweating.

Anyway, my sympathies at least, because I don't think I've said anything that's of much help. I'm in sorta the same place, so I'll be watching this thread to see what others say!

[spidermom]

I saw improvement right away, but I wasn't completely satisfied until I had trimmed away all the heat-damaged hair, which took a good 4 years. But I had enough "good hair" days to keep me going all that time.

[lemonmelon]

I felt a difference in my hair about a month after quitting. It was such a gradual thing though that it's so hard to say how long it really took.

The first thing I noticed was that I didn't hate the way my un-flat-ironed hair felt anymore. I used to detest how my hair felt when I didn't iron it, but now I don't mind at all.

[Jenn of Pence]

I axed the straightener and 98% of the dryer two months ago. It drove me crazy at first and I wavered a bit on my decision, but I stuck to it and maybe three or four weeks later I realized I was totally okay with it. Well, with the exception of the past two weeks when I was somewhere a lot more humid than my normal climate, and my body wave got huge! But I got through it :)
I actually just got some Sally's generic version of the Biolage Conditioning Balm last week and used it a couple of times, and this is the smoothest I think my hair has felt since I stopped the flat iron. Just a thought if you're looking for stuff to try.

[dainaleeo2]

spidermom: oh gosh, 4 years to trim off all the damage? oh boy. that's so long! i feel like that'll be my hair as well :( but i guess i have to do what i have to do.

it's so tempting to just go back to heat styling...but i won't. i'm just so weak at the moment haha.

robots: oh yea i understand how you couldn't go without shampooing. i just use a cleansing conditioner but you most likely would need a shampoo. well, we can gauge our progress together! i can't really put mine into a bun yet but i'm getting there.

lemon: yea, i really can't stand the feel of my hair naturally. it's not naturally coarse, but now it feels like it...just fuzzy really since it's overprocessed :(

Jen: thanks for the product advice! i might try it when i get a pay check ;) i've over spent as it is on hair stuff :roll: haha. I think a trim is in order soon so i'll spend on that first :)

[mellie89]

I quit blow drying and straightening cold turkey last summer. My hair started looking more like hair after a month or so, I think. My best bets are as follows:

Deep condition often, whether that means leaving your conditioner in for an hour, doing an SMT, or oiling overnight. You really can't overcondition damaged hair. If you get any weird buildup from the stuff you're using, don't be afraid to use sulfate shampoo to clarify once in awhile.

If I touch my hair while it's air drying, I'm done for. I just leave it alone and comb it once it's dry, and I don't get any frizz or poof. I also like to experiment with damp bunning and braiding for waves. If all else fails and it dries weird, just throw it up in a bun or a ponytail and forget about it.

A small trim might also help a lot, even if you only get a half inch off. It just lets you have a relatively fresh start and gets rid of the worst of the crunchy ends.

As weird as it sounds, your hair will learn how to behave without heat. We have a similar hair type, so I know what you're going through... Hang in there, I promise you'll see results soon! :)

[Arctic_Mama]

I felt a difference right away, but a ditched a bunch of damaging habits at once, so while it looked a little different it felt hugely different! I agree though, my ends are still not great and cutting them off will be the only solution, but I have babied them for over two years with no obvious increase in splits or rattiness. They are a little dry and pokey compared to the virgin stuff, but for razoring, dyeing, highlighting, and flat ironing I'd say they're in phenomenal shape and are good enough that I have been able to grow past waist length without needing to hack them off. I plan on going a little longer before maintaining while trimming and I am happy with that.

It was worth giving up cold turkey, for me. I use my blowfryer every few months for styling my fringe, but nowhere else, and i don't even know where my flatiron IS, or if I still even own one, these days :lol:

[Debra83]

You may want to check out some no heat straightening creams - one I tried was a Pantene one and that worked pretty good - never made my wavy hair completely straight, but I think it made it actually straighter than my electric hair straightener. I think the pics are in my album still...let me just check....

Pic taken right after using straightener (electric):
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=4366&pictureid=65741

Pic taken after working 2 jobs all day and evening after using the Pantene stuff:
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=4366&pictureid=66354

[Beatrice]

Hang in there! I never used the flatiron, but I committed my own sins. I used the blow drier on high and HOT every day for years, and followed up with hot rollers.

Not only that, but for at least a month, I was so fed up with my oily scalp and buildup that I washed every day with a volumizing shampoo and no conditioner.

Last October, I went in for a chop. Now my hair is just past shoulder length and feeling fine! I do miss my curls, but I plan to try less damaging ways to achieve them, like cold sets and steam rollers.

It helps to focus on the new traits of my healthy hair. Before, I loved my style and the volume I got from heat. Now I focus on the shine and softness of my healthy hair. Previous posters can give you a better idea of when to expect a change, if you're not cutting. Sometimes all you need to do is focus on the good feelings you get from conquering a bad habit.

A lot of people with serious bleach damage use protein treatments to get rid of the fuzzy feel. If you haven't tried it already, maybe you should look into that?

[dainaleeo2]

I quit blow drying and straightening cold turkey last summer. My hair started looking more like hair after a month or so, I think. My best bets are as follows:

Deep condition often, whether that means leaving your conditioner in for an hour, doing an SMT, or oiling overnight. You really can't overcondition damaged hair. If you get any weird buildup from the stuff you're using, don't be afraid to use sulfate shampoo to clarify once in awhile.

If I touch my hair while it's air drying, I'm done for. I just leave it alone and comb it once it's dry, and I don't get any frizz or poof. I also like to experiment with damp bunning and braiding for waves. If all else fails and it dries weird, just throw it up in a bun or a ponytail and forget about it.

A small trim might also help a lot, even if you only get a half inch off. It just lets you have a relatively fresh start and gets rid of the worst of the crunchy ends.

As weird as it sounds, your hair will learn how to behave without heat. We have a similar hair type, so I know what you're going through... Hang in there, I promise you'll see results soon! :)

Phew, a month is something to look forward to then. I can stick it out :)
It feels softer at least, especially with the CO-washing, & the oiling I do to it. I need to do another but it's hard with my work schedule :p

Ah i tend to erm...touch the living daylights out of my wet hair. that might be why it dries even fluffier. Think show poodle style :cool:
So no combing or touching. I can do that.
Yea it just needs to learn how to calm down, but it's hard seeing girls i work with that have such nice, straight hair :( I have hair anxiety now!


Arctic: i basically never blow dry. I never got the hang of it as it was. But I still do need to flat iron my bangs every now & then since i have fringe & it looks ridiculous if not straight. Thanks for the advice & hope :)

Debra: Oh good idea! I might need to check into that. :) Didn't even think about it. Lovely pictures too! Your hair is so pretty! :) Mine kind of is like that [fluffier though] but has a bend/wave towards the ends. Yours is rather pretty though!

[dainaleeo2]

Hang in there! I never used the flatiron, but I committed my own sins. I used the blow drier on high and HOT every day for years, and followed up with hot rollers.

Not only that, but for at least a month, I was so fed up with my oily scalp and buildup that I washed every day with a volumizing shampoo and no conditioner.

Last October, I went in for a chop. Now my hair is just past shoulder length and feeling fine! I do miss my curls, but I plan to try less damaging ways to achieve them, like cold sets and steam rollers.

It helps to focus on the new traits of my healthy hair. Before, I loved my style and the volume I got from heat. Now I focus on the shine and softness of my healthy hair. Previous posters can give you a better idea of when to expect a change, if you're not cutting. Sometimes all you need to do is focus on the good feelings you get from conquering a bad habit.

A lot of people with serious bleach damage use protein treatments to get rid of the fuzzy feel. If you haven't tried it already, maybe you should look into that?

Ha i was the opposite. never used a low drier, just my treasured [& sadly quite expensive :\ ] flat iron </3
I used some of those spiral looking rollers that someone on here suggested & they gave really nice curls! more like waves for my fine hair but still.
I do have much better shine in my hair so I guess I'll take my small victories :) thanks! This thread helped give me some confidence back in a sea of pin straight haired girls :P
well, their hair most likely isn't in the best condition anyway is how i look at it now.

[HintOfMint]

If you have damage in your hair from the heat styling, then I doubt that anything can be done to rehabilitate it. There are products that make it LOOK healthy, but to have a smooth cuticle and intact ends, it has to have been not damaged in the first place. After all, hair grows but once it leaves the scalp it doesn't regenerate. I don't think you'll observe any positive changes your hair condition unless you cut off all the damage and then baby the undamaged hair.

I quite using heat a few years ago and boy, for that month before I finally lopped off all the damaged parts my hair looked awful and felt awful, no matter how gentle I was with it.

[teela1978]

Nightshade's damaged hair article could probably be of use to you.
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=79
Its a good starting point for some basic treatments etc. and links to other threads/articles that are helpful.

[Kathie]

It’s been a month since I stopped too and my hair look a lot better. Now when it dries it’s not frizzy from the ears down.

I recommend S&Ding. For one, you can snip away any damaged hair proactively getting rid of some of the heat damage and for two, you can get up close and personal with your hair and monitor any changes in health that coincide with a change in your regime.

[Athena's Owl]

If the damage is extensive then only growing that damage out is going to completely solve the problem. But. you can help it out by babying it with special care, protective styles, and deep conditioning/protein treatments.

[xoxophelia]

For me it was a month to two months. At first my hair looked horrible when it would just air dry and it has been slowly getting better. I am confident as it grows out the results will continue.

The first month it might be a good idea to wear it up more or braid it while it is wet, letting it stay over night, and taking it out for braid waves. You can also do bun waves. This will keep down the puff and give your hair some style :)

I am very happy I transitioned because now I am not chained to the blow dryer. It is worth it.

EDTA: I used to buy into the whole you can't reverse damage thing as well but I actually think to a degree you can as the cuticle can tighten more with time to a degree. The reason I think this is because partly chemistry but also that my hair looked like a seriously frazzled fluff ball and now it looks much more sleek. This is with maybe 2" trimmed off since I stopped in about November.

[missfortune9335]

oy, learning to air-dry is hard. try experamenting with leave in conditioners, oils, or aloe vera gel you may be able to find something that makes your hair lay nicer if you put it in while it is drying (my hair likes aloe vera gel with a little bit of sweet almond oil when my hair is mostly dry but still damp) hang in there!

[dainaleeo2]

Thanks for all of the help, tips, & uplifting-ness :)
I kind of needed a bit of a confidence boost since the growing out phase with learning to deal with my natural whatever texture is hard.

xoxophelia: I think i go back & forth on the 'you can't repair damaged hair' subject too. I think that -eventually- i'll have to cut it, but I think that I can 'repair' [just soften & at least restore it somewhat] too with the oiling & everything. I don't actually have split ends [that i know of] so i know it's basically just parched & stripped of protein & moisture. thanks for the help! a month or two to see results isn't bad.


I was wondering...ugh, I want to just go in again & chop it all off, which is what i ended up doing last summer actually because of the bleach damage [basically 3 times within a few weeks if that gives you an idea], but...if i chop it shorter, an inch or two, then I'm going to end up in a cycle since my hair will still be poofy, & since it doesn't seem to want to lay flat, i'd want to straighten. & if it's shorter than my shoulders, around neck, if i scrunch then it'll look like a little afro :(
ugh i'm stuck. I suppose I can wait a bit & cut it at the end of July before i go back to school...a mini chop, a few centimeters? that might be better. slowly but surely getting rid of the dryness.

sorry for the legnth, i just had to get it all out. :p

[dainaleeo2]

Nightshade's damaged hair article could probably be of use to you.
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=79
Its a good starting point for some basic treatments etc. and links to other threads/articles that are helpful.

Thanks for this! I was actually looking for this before but couldnt find it :)