I singed my hair... on purpose

[Anlbe]

For years I've been looking for a saloon that does the hair singing thing but never found one, so I finally let my mother do it for me (she used to do my grandmothers waist length hair so she does know what she's doing). Tight twisted sections like with S&D, used a lighter on the last three or four inches. Smell was not as bad as I thought it would be, but it looked awful while it was being done. Little balls of melted hair. I doused my lengths in my CO conditioner and then washed and conditioned as normal. Hair so far looking good, definitely got rid of alot or split ends. I don't think I could do it by myself, just too scary but so far I think it was an alright experience. Does anyone else have experience with singing their hair?

[restourceful]

*snort*

YellowChariot (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=51453) does. :cheese:

[JenniferNoel]

:scared:
I burnt my bangs with a lighter once. That's about it.
Let us know how your hair holds up over the next few days/weeks, another gal on here recently experienced a "thermocut" (heated scissors) and ended up with some pretty extensive white dot damage if I remember right.

[FrannyG]

Well, I don't use this practice at all, but his has been discussed before. I do know that sometimes the singeing melts a little ball on the end of the hair that later breaks off or causes tangles, thus causing more split ends.

Also, hair is sooooo flammable that it's really not a safe practice. shudder:

I'm happy that it went well for you, but it would only take one quick pop of one hair to cause a fire that could cost you a lot of hair.

I think as much of a pain as it can be, S and D is much safer.

[UltraBella]

Here in the states it is illegal to singe hair in a salon. It is very very damaging and it is dangerous. I hope it turns out okay for you and you do not notice more damage in the long run.

The comment about YellowChariot cracked me up :)

[dreamsofnorns]

I had a family friend that used to do that and she messed up her hair pretty badly once... after that she started going to a salon.

[May]

OMG that is so dangerous...you're so lucky your hair didn't catch on fire!:disbelief Please never do this again...

[SurprisingWoman]

I caught my hair on fire once when I was blowing out birthday candles.

I have heard of people twisting their hair and running the scissors and running them up the length to do a quick S&D but I have never heard of singing.

[Amraann]

I guess I am wondering what the benefit of this would be?

It just sounds damaging!

[Gvnagitlvgei]

LOL at the responses. I've heard about it but don't know much. I once singed the right side of my hair in a big long ponytail because we were burning bugs in a wall with a candle and I stupidly turned to talk to my accomplice in crime and my hair caught on fire lol. It didn't break. My mother just put conditioner on it and it healed fine. Maybe there's something to it.

[Igor]

”Little balls of melted hair”?
Seriously, what made you think this is a good idea? :rolleyes: As opposed to popular belief, hair is not plastic!
Those little “melted balls” will develop into splitting damage. Because, know what? It is!

The “melted balls” are ruined and disrupted cuticles, destroyed from the intense heat and flame

You’re very welcome to think I’m a bitch for writing this to you, but this is the truth no matter what your mother or grandmother says :rolleyes:

[Gypsygirl]

OMG that is so dangerous...you're so lucky your hair didn't catch on fire!:disbelief Please never do this again...

That!!! :disbelief You are so brave!!

[Phexlyn]

”Little balls of melted hair”?
Seriously, what made you think this is a good idea? :rolleyes: As opposed to popular belief, hair is not plastic!
Those little “melted balls” will develop into splitting damage. Because, know what? It is!

The “melted balls” are ruined and disrupted cuticles, destroyed from the intense heat and flame

You’re very welcome to think I’m a bitch for writing this to you, but this is the truth no matter what your mother or grandmother says :rolleyes:
This. By ripping the melted balls off, you just open the cuticle further.

I know there are hot scissors for cutting and minimizing splits, but that's different from taking fire to your hair, although cutting with hot scissors can easily produce those melted balls as well.

[May]

”Little balls of melted hair”?
Seriously, what made you think this is a good idea? :rolleyes: As opposed to popular belief, hair is not plastic!
Those little “melted balls” will develop into splitting damage. Because, know what? It is!

The “melted balls” are ruined and disrupted cuticles, destroyed from the intense heat and flame

You’re very welcome to think I’m a bitch for writing this to you, but this is the truth no matter what your mother or grandmother says :rolleyes:
I really doubt she is going to think you're a "bitch" for having the opinion that burning ones hair is ultra damaging. :cheese:

[Giggy2]

I have seen threads over the years regarding this technique. I haven't searched for the topic, but I do recall a few people doing it. If I come across anything, I'll edit my post and add it in.

Let us know how the technique worked for you. I'm certainly interested in your results! :sun:

[tinti]

Eep! Sounds scary :p :lol:

[Fiferstone]

I've only ever singed my hair accidentally (like, being stupid when lighting the gas grill, had the lid down with the gas going), and singed off a bunch of "halo" hairs around my hairline that way. My issue is that (at least on my hair) there is no way to "control" the burn. My hair literally just turns to ash and there's no way I can keep the fire from traveling up the length. Because of my experience with my hair and fire (accidents), I'd never, ever, think of doing this as a means of removing splits. I'd remove most of my length this way!

[cubedcoley]

Wow! I can hardly fathom how singing could be helpful for hair. I really love LHC and how great my hair is responding to all of this fancy treatment with cheap cone free conditioner and aloe gel, LOL, but I think having a personal goal of finding EVERY splint end is a bit too much preening for me. I will settle with happy benign neglect to focus on other stuff and sacrifice a little length when it comes trim time, rather than risk serious injury. Did you know a lot of burn victims are in the hospital not because of external burns on skin, but due to inhalation of fire/smoke? Tough to come off of a ventilator after an injury like that, so please be careful....

[PeonyGarden]

My hair caught on fire once when I was a little girl. A few sparks from a campfire, and woosh! My dad tossed me into the lake, but the damage was done :(.
I don't see how this could be helpful to your hair, but hey, it's your hair!

[little_cherry]

”Little balls of melted hair”?
Seriously, what made you think this is a good idea? :rolleyes: As opposed to popular belief, hair is not plastic!
Those little “melted balls” will develop into splitting damage. Because, know what? It is!

The “melted balls” are ruined and disrupted cuticles, destroyed from the intense heat and flame

You’re very welcome to think I’m a bitch for writing this to you, but this is the truth no matter what your mother or grandmother says :rolleyes:
This...it is very damaging...I know second hand and have felt my cousins waist length hair a week after it has been singed (I was going to do the same thing..)..She had to cut it back to BSL because she had very bad tangly velcro ends. I wouldn't recommend it...those little balls do break off, and I mean they break off in a ragged fashion causing multiple splits in the hair shaft as soon as your hair is in contact with water..it's a very quick but very temporary fix...

S&Ds are more effective and safer for the hair if you use very sharp scissors.

I hope your hair is ok.. :flower:

[tanya222]

For years I've been looking for a saloon that does the hair singing thing

Not even if I was falling down drunk would I have the courage to allow someone to do this to my hair;) It sounds so damaging! Just imagining my hard-earned 44" being burned is enough to make me shudder... :eek:

[aenflex]

Wow - I was surprised to see the word B**ch used. Equally surprised to see someone purposely burning their hair. I've heard of that practice with synthetic extensions, but never real hair. With all due respect, I echo what others are saying - please reconsider. I have wracked my brain and cannot think of one way that burning would help hair. However I've never tried, and you OP have tried, so maybe keep an eye on your ends and keep us posted on the outcome? I think it will be bad, tho...GL to you!

[MotherConfessor]

Wow, easy guys. Remember, its one thing to disagree, even to disagree vehemently, its another to belittle people for an idea you disagree with.
That said, I really would have some concerns about what kind of damage burning would do to the rest of the hair - This sounds like a job for science! What if I burned a strand of hair (not on my head, a shed hair) and then looked at the cuticle under a microscope? O better yet, I will burn four strands, wash and condition two and compare them all to some unburned strands?

Whatcha think?

[mellie89]

Is that like when my dad used to chop my shoelaces short and singe the ends to keep them from fraying?

I don't understand how that can work for hair, since the individual strands are so thin, but it sure sounds interesting. Not something I see myself trying, though.

[Angeletti]

How interesting, I've never heard of this before... only at LHC I guess. It's not something that I would ever do to my hair because it seems way too damaging and dangerous, it makes me wonder how many people have accidentally caught their hair on fire trying to attempt this.

[UltraBella]

Wow, easy guys. Remember, its one thing to disagree, even to disagree vehemently, its another to belittle people for an idea you disagree with.
That said, I really would have some concerns about what kind of damage burning would do to the rest of the hair - This sounds like a job for science! What if I burned a strand of hair (not on my head, a shed hair) and then looked at the cuticle under a microscope? O better yet, I will burn four strands, wash and condition two and compare them all to some unburned strands?

Whatcha think?


YES PLEASE !!!!!!!!! I would love if you would do this :cheese:

[lajsa]

Singing one's hair sounds very damaging to me. :(

[Thinthondiel]

Wow, easy guys. Remember, its one thing to disagree, even to disagree vehemently, its another to belittle people for an idea you disagree with.
That said, I really would have some concerns about what kind of damage burning would do to the rest of the hair - This sounds like a job for science! What if I burned a strand of hair (not on my head, a shed hair) and then looked at the cuticle under a microscope? O better yet, I will burn four strands, wash and condition two and compare them all to some unburned strands?

Whatcha think?

I think that's a good idea. It would be interesting to hear the results. :)

And I agree with what you said about belittling. It's not necessary to say something in a rude manner to get the point across.

[Bene]

Saw a news segment a few years back about a barber downtown who specializes in this. There was no mention of it damaging in any way, then again, I doubt they were too concerned about it. They did it in a way that the rest of the length wasn't in danger of burning up.


I don't think I could let someone singe my hair. Even if it wasn't damaging, the smell of burning hair has the strangest effect on me. Like, red alarms go off in my head "BAD! BAD! BAD!" I'm convinced that my primate ancestors are somewhat responsible for this :D


It's worth a shot to try, just not take off so much, so if it is damaging, you can dust off the messed up parts.

[BlueMuse]

I've heard of this method, and I know it was fairly popular with our ancestors. If it makes you happy and works for you, then go for it. I'm sure you knew the risks. Please let us know if it works out well for you. I'm always curious.

[julia941]

I remember my parent's friends doing this, but it was Santa Fe in the '70s and they were hippies. One of them didn't even twist her hair up - she just took a lighter to any split ends she saw. *Eep* They never did it to my long hair, though. I would be interested in the results of a "controlled burn" for comparative purposes.

[JulietCapulet]

I've never heard of hair singing before. That sounds rather dangerous...I would just leave the hair alone as I'm sure it's beautiful as it is.

[Dreams_in_Pink]

I first heard of singing hair in the tv program called "style by jury". It's a makeover show; there was this woman with knee-length hair. She was twisting her whole hair and then bringing a candle closer to the twist and move it along the length. Judging from the length and health of her hair, i don't think it's that terrible if done carefully.

(for the record, they didn't chop all her hair in the end :) Just trimmed a few inches)

[StephanieB]

Saw a news segment a few years back about a barber downtown who specializes in this. There was no mention of it damaging in any way, then again, I doubt they were too concerned about it. They did it in a way that the rest of the length wasn't in danger of burning up.
Are you sure - since you say it was in NYC - that you weren't mistaking an Orthodox Jewish barber who 'cuts' Orthodox Jewish men's hair via the sole acceptable method, in accordance with the religion - that is, burning the hair with hot coal held in tongs... with the known old-fashioned technique of singeing women's long hair to get rid of damages as we modernly do with S&D technique?

Orthodox Jews cut their hair by burning the ends off with hot coals, held in tongs... their barbers do that because the religion prohibits men from cutting their hair with any metal blade.

But singeing, as described in this thread's OP is a very old-fashioned practice done by women to other womens'a long hair ends and is allegedly done to S&D slpit damaged ends. It's unsafe. It's also arguably more damaging than leaving splits and other mnor damage alone.

[Daniella123]

singing your hair? what does that do besides burn it? I am so confused.. I have never heard of this method.. is it just like.. closing your split end?

[Dragon]

I have never herd of this method befor. Would never try it eaither as would be worried about damage.

[Toadstool]

Singeing with an e! :)Otherwise it sounds like the hair is bursting into melodious song. Now that sounds beautiful, singing hair!

The only hair I've singed is my nose hair. I was smelling a scented candle - while it was lit. Sucked the flame right up my nose :rolleyes:

[ilovelonghair]

Wow, easy guys. Remember, its one thing to disagree, even to disagree vehemently, its another to belittle people for an idea you disagree with.
That said, I really would have some concerns about what kind of damage burning would do to the rest of the hair - This sounds like a job for science! What if I burned a strand of hair (not on my head, a shed hair) and then looked at the cuticle under a microscope? O better yet, I will burn four strands, wash and condition two and compare them all to some unburned strands?

Whatcha think?


Oh hair experiments! I wish I had a microscope because I have some ideas for hair experiments (like before and after henna, I have done this before and the results were amazing, but it needs to be re-done with different hair types)

[lora410]

I am having trouble seeing the point of burning ones hair? It seems to me it would just give you a friend ends look and cause more damage.

[Anlbe]

Sooooooo.... I confess that after the first couple of pages of replies I ran away from my own thread.

I don't think anyone's nasty for replying truthfully and with concern to my decision to singe my hair but I was a little surprised at the strength of some peoples opinions so I wanted to wait until I felt I knew what I thought about the experiment before I came back.

In answer to people's question 'why was I crazy enough to even think of trying this?' because as I said my grandmother used to do this and had the longest and most beautiful hair I've ever seen and because I know that until the sixties it used to be a perfectly normal way of managing hair. While historical hair practices aren't necessarily an endorsement I figured hundreds of thousands of women with very long hair couldn't have been doing something completely disastrous to their hair and it was worth a go.

Anyway I'm happy to report that the results for me have been positive. I've used the same method now a couple of times to trim my hair and have noticed a drastic reduction in split ends and more importantly and increase in length! In the last few months my healthy thick length has actually increased by about an inch which I know for most people wouldn't be that impressive but for me whose been stuck at BSL for years it's incredible. Particularly impressive has been the change in the front meshes which were always an inch or so shorter that the rest of my hair and is now catching up.

So for me it seems to work and I intend to cary on using this method to trim my hair every couple of months. I'm NOT in any way recommending this for anyone else, I'd hate for anyone to have an accident with this, so I'm going to keep further details in my blog rather than a public thread.

[julliams]

Do hairs melt together? I'm imagining dreadlock type clumps but only at the bottom and it looks weird in my head - lol. Or does each hair stay as normal single hairs with the bottom balled up? Or does the balled up bit fall off and go to a point?

Trying to visualise - do you have any close up pics of the ends?

[julliams]

Found this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0dhlUrMNws

[Anlbe]

Thanks for the link.

No the blackened shriveled ends don't stick to anything and they just sort of disintegrate off after a few hours, no blobs of the floor. I don't have any photos but if you like I'll take some next time, although that'll be in a couple of months.

[Venefica]

I might sound stupid here, but what is roasting your hair supposed to do? I have never hear of this treatment.

[einna]

Never heard of this before. Does anybody know the theory behind this?
Is it that most people did not have sharp scissors at home, so burning was the way to S&D? Or has it got something to do with sealing ends? Or none of the above?

[lapushka]

Look at this. The technique seems to be quite ancient, and valid IMO (--> 5:35):
http://www.youtube.com/user/jntvstp#p/u/1/iYbJ7i8X47M

[Lady Godiva]

Anlbe, I am impressed that you did this. I have thought of singeing my ends before, too, only going about it differently by using a very hot surface rather than an open flame. Those heated scissors sound interesting. What holds me back from trying any method is that I get very few split ends to begin with, so I don't bother.

I have heard that hair itself is not as flammable as it typically is characterized as being. What causes hair to seem extremely flammable are the products that people use on their hair, especially hairspray.

[Anlbe]

Yes it's not as flamable as I thought it would be. It catches fire under the candle but shrivels out quite quickly.

Lady Godiva, lucky you not to have split ends! At least I have fewer now, which I hope will mean I can go longer between trims.

[Mesmerise]

Well...I had not heard this before! But maybe there's something in it??

I mean, I generally singe the ends of ribbons to stop them fraying... stuff like that... but I wouldn't think it would have QUITE the same effect on hair

Still if it sort of makes a "seal" on the end of the hair, that explains how it would be helpful as it would prevent splitting.

On the subject of singeing... my cat sat on a lit candle the other day! I had a brief panic when I saw the fluffy hair on her rear end flare orange, but the fire quickly died away and she was just left with a bit of a singed rear end (she has long fur though and seems none the worse for wear!). Maybe the reason hair DOES just flare up is because of styling product? Her fur pretty much just went out straight away... whatever was singed must have come off too cause you can't tell where she did it (and she has fluffy white hair on her rear!)

[lapushka]

It is mentioned on products, whether they are flammable or not. Check out your bottle of hairspray sometime, if you have any. It's extremely flammable!

[polette]

I just found this on utube, not really a long clip of the actually singeing, but it shows it isn't all that strange of a concept.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bmS19k5gvg

[thisischristine]

I think it was used historically because it would be better than blunt scissors. Every household would not have access to very sharp scissors which never cut anything but hair, but would have a candle. Sharp, hair dressing only scissors are the modern improvement in my opinion!!

[perkidanman]

Hair is not flamable. Wool, essentailly just hair, is the material of choice for firefighters becuase it doesn't support a flame. Hair completely free of products should smolder at best once it's away from the flame, although I'm not sure what the effect of sebum would have on it.

[NouvelleNymphe2]

My hair caught on fire once when I was a little girl. A few sparks from a campfire, and woosh! My dad tossed me into the lake, but the damage was done :(.
I don't see how this could be helpful to your hair, but hey, it's your hair!

I'm sorry to laugh at what was probably very scary, but picturing a dad scooping up his daughter with flaming hair...LOL...and running to the lake where he tosses her in...oh too much. I'm glad to see you made it, and your hair is doing well!

[Muse]

I did this regularly in the past at my hairdresser. One by one she twisted a strand and burned the split ends. She told me that if there is no oxygen in the strand of hair, it could not burn. So it is important to keep the strand tight.

I don’t recall to have melted ends or something like that.

[burns_erin]

I find this concept fascinating but I am not sure I would ever be brave enough to do so. What I will say is when I have had accidents or the bar-b-q or smoking variety, The damage overall was not as extensive as I might have expected, ie, I could not tell which ends had been singed and which had not. So it does not sound like the craziest thing in the world to me.

[Cailie]

Oh, that's how it's called in English !!

You know how people first reacted about Wo and So, well, this method received the exact same kind of "no way" attitude on a French natural long-hair forum I sometimes visit.

The interesting thing, is that like the Wo and the So threads here, this is now a HUGE thread, with more and more people trying it (even the most sceptics, apprently). I haven't, and I don't plan to, but the results seem quite good from the last dozen of pages of discussion !

This is what I understood of the rationale behind the burning method and it's advantages :


It's ridiculous, hair is HIGHLY flammable !

You are right, but when twisted correctly (no air), the fire actually dies right away (in less than a second), only burning / melting the ends (meaning "cauterizing") of the few hair sticking out

Hair is dammaged by heat !

Right too. But this method actually doesn't "cook" or "heat" the hair shaft at all, as the fire melts end of hair and then in micro-seconds dies off. Think of passing your finger quickly in a candle fire : you don't really feel the heat, because it's so fast.


Why risk playing with fire when you can use regular cissors to trimm ?

The difference, from what I understood from long-time & long-hair users of this method on the board, is that the hair TIP is "melted" (the fire doesn't even need to touch it for this to happen), which is a form of cauterization. From their tests, split ends do not reappear on those cauterized ends, which means a lot less need for trimming over time.

Freshly cut ends exposes the cortex, and this leads (as you know, over time) to some protein loss and eventual damage / splits (the reason why we often "freshen" the ends with a trimm or dusting). And the same reason why we trimm with a right angle instead of in a diagonal (wanting to expose less cortex)

The advantage reported for "melting" the hair tips is that this fragility of the ends doesn't happen : the end becomes strongger (imagine a kind of scar instead of an open wound) and splits take a much longer time to reappear.

Another advantage often said is that it's used to minimise damage occuring higher than the hemline and that are harder to trimm because everywhere (this lets them, these shorter hair, be able to join the others without getting splits until they reach the hemline)



What are the downfalls ?

- the smell
- must reseach well before attempting, to do it correctly !
- Never try on hair that has been oiled !
- must be followed with a shampoo to get the little burn parts out and the smell
- and followed with a deep conditionner
- it will cauterize all hair sticking out, not only the ones already split (which is a good or bad thing, depending on what side you look at it)



Like I said, I don't do it personnaly.

But I always get curious when a method starts with posts saying "this methos is a SCANDAL!" ... but the thread makes hundred of pages, and at the end, people say they tried, will try, loved it, will never trimm and will keep using this method, share experiences (and they have amazing hair pictures to show no destruction occured over the years)

[NouvelleNymphe2]

this method received the exact same kind of "no way" attitude on a French natural long-hair forum I sometimes visit.

what is the french site you visit? mind sharing a link? TIA :)

[squiggyflop]

ive done it.. 99% splits 3 days later.. when the hair gets singed the very end melts into a ball, which breaks off very quickly..

ive also accidentally caught my hair on fire.. um yeah, there was a lighter, and a cigarette (used to smoke, was actually really easy to quit) and then *floomph* all gone, my bangs instantly burnt up to the root in less than a second..

[Lollipop]

what is the french site you visit? mind sharing a link? TIA :)


I am also interested in a link to this thread. My french is shaky, but I would really like to see the results.

[Patado]

Lollipop, here is a link of the blog of a lady using this technique as the french forum is not available for none member and a pain in the a** to use for members. You will find everything useful in that blog: http://jardinamayan.blogspot.com/search/label/Anti-fourches

I am a big fan of this technique and would not consider coming back to scissors.
My hair was quite damaged by perms, coloring, every day shampoo, bleaching etc and I was desperate about my split ends, on every single strand basically. The more I cut, the more I had. I did my first 'singeing' alone in January, no trimming eversince and today I did a S&D...2 split ends easily done with a lighter. The theory is that cauterization retains the water inside the cortex.
It dramatically changed my life and my hair, I would recommend but please be extremely careful with it as it can turn into a drama.

[Lollipop]

Lollipop, here is a link of the blog of a lady using this technique as the french forum is not available for none member and a pain in the a** to use for members. You will find everything useful in that blog: http://jardinamayan.blogspot.com/search/label/Anti-fourches

I am a big fan of this technique and would not consider coming back to scissors.
My hair was quite damaged by perms, coloring, every day shampoo, bleaching etc and I was desperate about my split ends, on every single strand basically. The more I cut, the more I had. I did my first 'singeing' alone in January, no trimming eversince and today I did a S&D...2 split ends easily done with a lighter. The theory is that cauterization retains the water inside the cortex.
It dramatically changed my life and my hair, I would recommend but please be extremely careful with it as it can turn into a drama.

Thanks for the link! As of right now, my hair is at BSL and in pretty good shape. I think that once it starts to split, I'll try to maintain for a few months and try Feye's cutting method on one side and singeing on the other. Looking forward to splits :cool:

[Peggy E.]

I have this vision of full-head flames - not pretty and definitely not healthy.... :o(

I'll take your word for it being healthy for the ends, but I can't even trim my hair without disaster, to take on something like this would be insane!

[gretchen_hair]

In 3 words....

Hell but NO! shudder: shudder: shudder: shudder:

[pink.sara]

Wow! Deliberate burning? No ta.
I had a BSL length piece escape a plait when I was soldering a bracelet once... Whoosh, before I knew it I had a lit propane torch in one hand and a face full of flame and no choice but to smack myself in the face to put it out! It stank for days and I eventually gave in and cut a tiny asymmetric fringe in to get rid of the bits that melted together.

[archel]

O_O :eek:

[ccmso12]

So . . .if applying heat (lighter) to your heair seals in moisture . . .then I can go back to my straightner and SEAL all the moisture in the whole length not just the cutical??? WOO HOOO:cheese::cheese::cheese::cheese::cheese:
JUST KIDDING LOL

[Lady Neeva]

Edwardian hair carers did. Not sure about the frizzy condition, though.

[ratgirldjh]

When I was young the way people did this was to do it when their hair was wet! My neighbor still does it til this day! She said she towel dries her hair and then runs a match around the twisted areas.... I've never tried it but her hair is beautiful!

[BrightEyes]

So . . .if applying heat (lighter) to your heair seals in moisture . . .then I can go back to my straightner and SEAL all the moisture in the whole length not just the cutical??? WOO HOOO:cheese::cheese::cheese::cheese::cheese:
JUST KIDDING LOL

Hahaha! That got my hopes up for about 2 seconds. I wish:D

[NymphSpirit]

Ohh I love singeing... It's almost impossible to get a split end in a singed hair and you don't lose any length, it's brilliant! It was a bit scary when I first took the candle to my hair, but the flame didn't even have to touch the hair in order to make it work, I placed it 1cm away and the ends started melting, woohoo!

[tokitoki]

Wow, easy guys. Remember, its one thing to disagree, even to disagree vehemently, its another to belittle people for an idea you disagree with.
That said, I really would have some concerns about what kind of damage burning would do to the rest of the hair - This sounds like a job for science! What if I burned a strand of hair (not on my head, a shed hair) and then looked at the cuticle under a microscope? O better yet, I will burn four strands, wash and condition two and compare them all to some unburned strands?

Whatcha think?

Yes please! I always love a good experiment.

[jessa]

When I first read this thread, I was skeptical. But now I want to try this. I have splits and need a trim, but I dont want to go to a hairdresser (after my last horrific experience) and I dont want to pay for expensive scissors. This method sounds very interesting. Once Ive done some research I will probably give it a go and will document with photos my progress for y'all.

Thanks for the interesting thread :D

[ExpectoPatronum]

I'd like to resurrect this thread!

Probably over a year ago, I watched Loepsie's video on singeing her hair. I don't know why I thought of it last night, but I took a lighter to my split ends and went to town. Like others have said, it is a bit scary at first but it's very easy and almost fun once you get the hang of it. I did a session today and will continue doing sessions until I stop finding splits. I'm eager to see how the 'melted' ends hold up over time.

I know this thread is older but does anyone else here do it currently?

[Hexen]

I'd like to resurrect this thread!

Probably over a year ago, I watched Loepsie's video on singeing her hair. I don't know why I thought of it last night, but I took a lighter to my split ends and went to town. Like others have said, it is a bit scary at first but it's very easy and almost fun once you get the hang of it. I did a session today and will continue doing sessions until I stop finding splits. I'm eager to see how the 'melted' ends hold up over time.

I know this thread is older but does anyone else here do it currently?

Not currently. And never actually purposely.
But inadvertently, ... quite a few times over the years.

[MadelineMomo]

I one did a summer camp at a museum when I was a kid, and they told me the Chumash tribe of California used an ember-glowing stick to cut bangs, because they didn't have metal.

[0xalis]

From my understanding, hair doesn't melt. It just burns. It's not a wig, it's not made from plastic! All I can see this doing is the same damage as curling or straightening with heat tools, but probably worse.

[Bat]

I do a lot of stupid stuff to my hair. But burning it on purpose? I think it’s pure stupidity to put flame anywhere near hair just imagine the smell!

[GordonMurphella]

From my understanding, hair doesn't melt. It just burns. It's not a wig, it's not made from plastic! All I can see this doing is the same damage as curling or straightening with heat tools, but probably worse.

Nods sagely, agreeing :)

[Ylva]

Some months ago after seeing Loepsie's video on hair singeing, I did try it myself. However, I didn't manage to burn the end so that it didn't form a burnt bulb that you could feel. I couldn't imagine how that wouldn't in fact increase tangles, so I cut it off. For Loepsie, though, this seems to be a very good technique, so I'm not sure if I just didn't do it properly or if bleached hair burns differently.

[Handel'sWig]

Some months ago after seeing Loepsie's video on hair singeing, I did try it myself. However, I didn't manage to burn the end so that it didn't form a burnt bulb that you could feel. I couldn't imagine how that wouldn't in fact increase tangles, so I cut it off. For Loepsie, though, this seems to be a very good technique, so I'm not sure if I just didn't do it properly or if bleached hair burns differently.

I thought that video was intriguing too. But honestly the hair burning doesn’t seem to do anything that regular old S&D doesn’t. She claims it seals it so that particular hair won’t split again, but I don’t see how that would work. :hmm:

I concluded that it was a cool bit of history (Victorian/Edwardian haircare stuff is neat) but not something I would try. Not burning my hair, scissors will do for me. My theory is maybe Victorians had easier access to fire than scissors with all of their candles and fires lit all the time so they just used that? I don’t know what started it. But I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t seal off a split.

[ExpectoPatronum]

That's fair. I was against it when I first saw it, but it ended up being really fun and it motivates me to actually S&D :D

That said, I am willing to take one for the team and see if there's any long-term damage associated with this (like heat damage).