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HairFaerie
July 20th, 2011, 01:40 PM
No, I am not talking about the candy! :p

I am talking about damage from bleach. Here's my story:

I had a bleach blonde pixie. I decided I wanted to grow it out because it was a pain in the buttocks to keep up with the roots. Since my hair was short and I bleached at home, there was overlap when I touched up the roots. This caused damage (as you can imagine).

I dyed to a color that is close to my natural. That worked out great but....the underlying bleach damage is still there.

I have tried a plethora of things to help it. It has improved slightly but of course is still not super healthy. I would rather have healthy hair than long, damaged hair but I don't want to lose the length either. It's a Catch 22.

My question is: For growing out, which would be better to do - cut off the damage now or wait until it gets longer and cut it, or cut it little by little.

I know it's a personal preference but if anyone had a similar situation, which would you recommend? Now or later or little by little? Why?

Madora
July 20th, 2011, 01:52 PM
I'd vote for cut if off now.

Why? Because the sooner you remove the damage, the less possibility for the strands to be damaged further.

Why go thru the process of waiting for your hair to grow longer, only to discover the ends have split MORE and your hair is going to need more of a trim that it needed when the damage was minimal? Get those damaged ends when they're small!

Cardinal
July 20th, 2011, 01:55 PM
If you don't want to lose your length, snip little by little. And have patience. I am doing that now. I want my thickness to catch up to my length, so I snip monthly, just what has grown, which I can see clearly cause I color red and my roots are white.

And meanwhile, continue to treat to make it healthy. You just need patience here.

HairFaerie
July 20th, 2011, 01:56 PM
Good advise, Madora & Cardinal. Thank you!

I was leaning that way too. If I cut it now while it's still relatively short, I won't notice the cut much. If I keep growing it, not only will it look bad, but the cut will be more noticeable. That's why I was wondering if little by little might be an OK option too...that way the damage is getting cut off but not all at once.

pink.sara
July 20th, 2011, 02:51 PM
I've been growing out beach damage now for 2 years, at first I would cut a cm every 2 months then after many, many deep conditioning treatments and henna I cut it to jaw with only an inch or two damage on the very ends and left it for a year.
I'm now below shoulder after a trim to even up and there's no horrid Velcro bleach damage. It's a relief to know it took 2 years with my really slow growth to get rid of it all.
If you can bear to cut it it may be easier but I really couldn't and it hasn't damaged my hair now to keep those ends as I grew. :)

xoerincolleen
July 20th, 2011, 02:51 PM
For me, it would depend on how bad the damage is. I would ideally do it little by little, that way, you will still have the length, but can gradually remove all of the damage. If the damage is really bad, like, unmanageable/horribly dry/lots of splits, though, it might be wiser to chop it off at once, to prevent further damage.
How much are you planning on cutting off?

Roseate
July 20th, 2011, 02:56 PM
When I was growing out a bleached/colored pixie years ago, I let it grow until it reached a more bob-like length, then trimmed away the colored ends gradually. I like a bob just fine, so I didn't mind hanging out at that length for a while.

Roscata
July 20th, 2011, 03:18 PM
I wonder if you read this article: Damaged Hair: Understanding, Preventing & Rehabilitating (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=79). It's quite interesting and might help you with ideas on how to treat your hair.

Except for that I'd say stick it out, if you baby your hair you'll be able to do mini-trims and get rid of the damage slowly, plus we all know how tedious it is to grow out a pixie cut.

Good luck! :D

Mesmerise
July 20th, 2011, 03:36 PM
I think it depends a LOT on how your hair looks and feels. I grew my hair with some bleach damage, and it didn't look too bad really. I still have dye damage, although I think the bleach is out... I can't actually tell cause it's been coloured over :o.

My hair doesn't look as nice as it will when I've removed ALL the damage, but I do have length which pleases me! I did end up chopping off quite a bit earlier this month, but that was due to excessive taper which was far more obvious than damage.

So, for now I will thicken my ends and then grow it longer, and the dye and other damage will gradually be cut off.

However, in the past with badly damaged hair I have definitely gone for the big chop. It has really depended on HOW damaged it is. If I find a huge number of split ends and white dots, I prefer to chop than leave it. If the split ends and white dots are few and far between, and the hair's not breaking etc. I will just grow it and trim it when it gets a bit messy looking.

MonikaHa
July 20th, 2011, 03:36 PM
I am also recovering from bleach damage, trimming of a little bit at a time. when my ends are getting rough I dust the ends and they are good for another couple of months. Hang in there!

oktobergoud
July 20th, 2011, 03:48 PM
I cut off the most and had a big chop while I was growing it out. my hair felt so much better and thicker!
I still have some damage left on the longest layers but I REFUSE to get it cut now, it's finally getting longer! I just deal with it and cut it little by little.. however, that's just on a few layers. Most of the damage is gone. If it's really bad, I vote for cut it off now (or at least most of it and later little by little)

TheCaityCat
July 20th, 2011, 05:03 PM
I used to bleach and color my hair crazy colors. I ended up cutting all of the damage off once I got to a point where I couldn't bleach it anymore. That way the damage couldn't travel up the hair shaft.

Anje
July 20th, 2011, 05:38 PM
My opinion is probably colored by my need to get my hair out of my face, but if I were you I'd wait til my hair was a few inches past the point where I could easily get it all back in a ponytail or similar. Then cut off all the damage.