Can I Escape "The Chop"?

[eilz90]

I have been going mental with my hair colour over the last two months. In those two months I have; had my hair stripped then dyed brown, keratin straitening treatment, my hair stripped again then dyed "Rihanna" red, stripped my hair then dyed dark brown, stripped again then got blonde highlights...

I have only realised that to have Gwen Stefani's hair colour and keeping my hair long is gonna be unachievable in my case so I will go brunette later this week.

I am very lucky to have thick hair and I get my ends trimmed every 6 weeks so I think that might explain why it hasn't fallen out when looking at all that processing. However, I have noticed that when I brush my hair, my hair sorta stretches then snaps.

My hairdresser is coming to trim my hair on Monday but I'm scared that this time it's gonna end up being more than a trim. Is there anything I can do to improve it's condition before she comes round?

[lapushka]

I have been going mental with my hair colour over the last two months. In those two months I have; had my hair stripped then dyed brown, keratin straitening treatment, my hair stripped again then dyed "Rihanna" red, stripped my hair then dyed dark brown, stripped again then got blonde highlights...

I have only realised that to have Gwen Stefani's hair colour and keeping my hair long is gonna be unachievable in my case so I will go brunette later this week.

I am very lucky to have thick hair and I get my ends trimmed every 6 weeks so I think that might explain why it hasn't fallen out when looking at all that processing. However, I have noticed that when I brush my hair, my hair sorta stretches then snaps.

My hairdresser is coming to trim my hair on Monday but I'm scared that this time it's gonna end up being more than a trim. Is there anything I can do to improve it's condition before she comes round?


It's been stripped 4 times in 2 months? :shocked:

I'd stop having it processed or you might end up without any hair left, even the fact that it's thick isn't going to help you if you keep this up. Trust me, been there, done that.

Condition it lots with heavier conditioners preferably, but first and foremost, stop having it processed! Stick to a color and keep it (which I'm guessing is what you're going to do).

[IndigoAsh]

I can't see your hair or the shape it's in, but I'm going to go with, how do you feel when you see it in the mirror? Long isn't always pretty, especially when it's obviously not in the best of shape.
Ultimately the chop is a decision only you can make.

I am all for trimming like however many inches every few months if you want to keep the length and than keep it bunned until it's grown out . I couldn't, personally, handle a drastic chop. Some people like the fresh start.
Hope that helps.

[Athena's Owl]

I think this is what we in the hair growing community call a setback.

I'm glad you did figure out that you can't be messing with your colour if you want to grow it long. you can maintain a colour, if you stick to it, and grow long, but you cant change your mind every two weeks and keep your hair in the kind of condtion it needs to grow long.

Also, Damage is damage. you can't really reverse it. That said, if your hair is stretching and snapping you may wish to use a protein treatment. *this is not a deep conditioning treatment.* It is a reconstructor and is not moisturizing. follow up with a moisture-rich deep conditon...i tend to favor emollient moisturizers in cold weather.

[spidermom]

I agree with reconstructor followed by moisturizing treatment, but if your hair is extremely damaged, it can't be repaired, although it can be made to look and handle better. Find a color you can live with and stick to it, that's #1, allow your stylist to trim off the worst of the damage, and get regular small trims until the rest of the damaged hair has grown out and been cut off.

[Akiko]

I will go brunette later this week.

Does this mean you will color your hair again this week?:(

[Nightshade]

There's an article in my siggy about rehabilitating damaged hair :) It may be worth the read

[StephanieB]

Does this mean you will color your hair again this week?:(
I hope not - for eilz90's sake!


Eilz, you can't keep doing this to your hair. Even thick hair is bound to fall out. Mind did.

I also don't think you are going to be able to do much for the condition of your hair on one week. You have a week before you see your hairdresser, you said, right?

I agree with trying a deep reconstructor treatment followed immediately (next day if not the same day) a deep moisturizing treatment. Perhaps tomorrow you can do the former, and on Wednesday you can do the latter?
And then, leave your poor hair A-L-O-N-E!!!

Don't expect dramatic results from this one week's worth of treatments; damage may happen one time and all at once, but repair does not happen so quickly.

And it's true that you can't actually repair (fix) true damage. True damage is irreversible.
All anyone can do is fix minor damaging conditions, really - not the major ones.

I wish you success. :)


My opinion, for what it's worth, is to have all seriously damaged (irreversibly damaged) hair cut off and begin anew with healthier kindness to your hair.
Split ends that are really bad, for example, just continue to split further and further up the hair shaft.
Deadened hair won't be fixed, no matter how many reconstruction and deep moisture treatments you do on it; dead is dead and you can't resurrect it.
Totally stripped hair (four times in a couple of weeks certainly is probably irreversibly stripped and damaged hair) is not likely salvageable/fixable.

If you hairdresser says it has to be cut off, in this case, I'd believe it.
(In many cases, I wouldn't agree that hair 'must be cut off'... but in your case - given what you've done to it - I would believe it.)

[FrannyG]

There is so much we don't know about your hair. It would be helpful if you filled in your hair type and current length in your member profile.

How long is your hair now? What is your natural colour? Do you intend to dye it to match that natural colour? What does it feel like when it's wet? Is it gummy or spongey?

Like others, I suspect that your hair has been stripped of a lot of protein, and I would suggest using a protein reconstructor, followed by a deep moisture treatment as others have suggested.

I myself had a setback over 2 years ago, after too many applications of full head dye in order to get back to my original colour (I had been dyeing it brown for a year).

I did have to cut off a few inches of hair, and I merely maintained the length from just above APL to about APL for about a year and a half.

I still have about four inches of damage left, but it's not so bad that it needs to be cut off. I have been on a grow while trimming program since January, and I'm just below BSL now.

It really is a fact that damaged hair cannot be repaired, but it definitely can be made to look and feel better.

Only you know by the look and feel of your hair how much you need to have trimmed off.

I wish you well on your journey. :blossom:

[aenflex]

That's a lot of stuff done in a short time. Lucky you have any hair left, I bet mine would be all but gone after that. :) Your personality and zest for change and variety certainly reminds me of a 'short hair' person. When I kept very short hair I changed it a lot, and had fun playing with the bleach, colours and styles and mohawks and such. But when I decided (again) to grow my hair out, I pretty much understood that I had to stop all of that stuff in order to have the hair I now wanted. I don't know if you can have long and healthy hair while still bleaching and colouring and stripping and recolouring. Maybe you should stick with short hair until you get the fun/experimentation out of your system?

[little_cherry]

I agree with using a reconstructor followed by a deep moisturizing treatment. I highly recommend Joico's Kpak reconstructor followed by an SMT (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=128) made from a deep moisturizing conditioning treatment (I buy those little single serve deep treatment packets for this)....and leaving your hair alone is the best advice everyone has given me here. You may need to do weekly or even bi weekly SMTs and monthly to bi monthly reconstructive treatments to help your hair.

[torrilin]

If I did that to my hair... I'd be bald! Seriously. My hair is really fine, and it just can't take much. I sometimes joke I can do one mean thing to my hair, and that's it. You also can't repair damage once it has happened. You can disguise it a bit sometimes, but that's it. Once your hair starts splitting and breaking... there really isn't any cure.

It sounds like you enjoy the drama of sudden hair changes. And well, hair is not good about drama. If you want long hair and drama, you're going to need another outlet. Please don't read this as drama is bad... You can actually be a total drama queen with your hair if it is short, especially if you love wigs or creative styling. But if you want drama, you really need to pick your battles.

[eilz90]

I'll try and get a pick up. Thanks for all your replies!

[eilz90]

I mean pic up.

[Danaus plexippu]

I second Joico (sp?) Kpak...it has transformed my hair. I really needed to cut my damage off to my ears, but started using the shampoo, conditioner, reconstruct and followed it up with their deep moisturizing treatment. I do the whole shebang every three days (I only wash every three or four days). I haven't had to cut and my hair is amazing. It's pricey, but I found a good deal on the Christmas gift pack at JC Penny's for $15. It includes everything mentioned above (sample size in the treatments). I would highly recommend trying it before chopping.

[LaurelSpring]

When I was going to cosmetology classes and when I was a hairdresser I did all sorts of things to my hair. As others have said, if you really want long hair you have to take good care of it. It seems that there are some people (Im thinking of the lady with the lovely rainbow hair) who have very forgiving hair and seem to be ok with chemicals but I dont think its the norm.

After so much damage, I would be grateful I still had hair and do as the others have suggested to help with the damage. Then, I would experiement with wigs and other non damaging things to change my looks when I felt bored or needed a change.

For me, hairchanging had a sort of obsessive compulsive quality to it. I still have it...lol..but now I assuage it with updos. There is enough creativity and variety in toys and updos to keep me fulfilled and my henna mixes give me a change also but in a more healthy way.

I hope that it all works out ok and that you dont have to chop! I might look at finding another hairdresser also. This one doesnt seem to have your hair's best interests in mind.

[sunshine80]

That is excactly what happened with my hair...I had highlights and then extra highlights where put on the highlights or maybe to strong of a bleach or something...then the same day we dyed it to brunette an hour later! I agree with Laurel spring find a new hairdresser... If the person that was doing my hair at the moment knew what she was doing I would still have my hair today!

Anyway so this is my experience after the color catastrophe...I did the aphogee hair protein treatment followed by the moisturizing treatment...and I bought everything under the sun to repair my hair...It was still that rubber band hair that when you touched it it fell off...

so now it is now 8 months later and I am cutting out all that hair slowly..in all honesty I wish I just shaved it so this way I didnt even have to look at my damaged hair...

Please get a second opinion from another hair dresser what to do and what would be the best solution for your hair...

[aenflex]

For me, hairchanging had a sort of obsessive compulsive quality to it. I still have it...lol..but now I assuage it with updos. There is enough creativity and variety in toys and updos to keep me fulfilled and my henna mixes give me a change also but in a more healthy way.
Thanks for that! Very helpful to me. I am doing those same things now in order to prevent major anything.

[allmixedup88]

you prob need protein as well go pick some up from sally beauty! and the ion repair system it is a 3 part kit about 6 bucks!

[eilz90]

Just to clarify my hairdresser is a friend of the family who comes to use and she only cuts my hair. Hair colouring is all down to me.

Well I did in fact get a good whack off my hair tonight but I'm not too bothered by it.

[jesis]

I'll give you some personal experience, maybe you can learn from my mistakes.

In January of this year, I started having the bottom half of my hair bleached. However, it had some dark dye in it, so it took a few times to get it to the blonde color I wanted. I had my hair bleached around every 6 weeks. After 6 months, the blonde layer was about 5 inches shorter than the dark brown top layer.

So then I got 3 inches cut off of my top layer and I am still working towards getting the layers even.

Over processing your hair can be a killer! Best advice is find something and stick to it. If you listen to the ladies on this site, you will find other, more interesting, things to do to your hair that won't involve chemicals. And you'll be happy with it! :D

[christine1989]

That is a lot of damage in a short period of time! It is good that your hair is thick and you get it trimmed often though. You may be able to avoid a huge chop but you will have to at least cut off all of the damage before growing it out. If you don't the damage could travel up the hair shaft and cause further damage. I like the idea of going darker too- all dye causes damage but going darker is significantly less damaging.