Evil things you used to do to your hair?

[CurlyCurves]

Thought this'd be fun too :P

What evil things did you used to do to your hair that you'd NEVER do now? Things that make you shudder: at the thought of doing now?

Bare in mind, this is not to pass judgement or turn your nose up at what others may do to their hair, but merely what you used to do and what you'd never do again to your hair.

Also, in comparison, post what you do now.

For me, it's these;

- I used to blowdry my hair every time I washed it.

- I used to flat iron it, on a regular basis, without using ANY heat protectant.

- I used to spray an oil spray on and then flat iron my hair! shudder:

- I used to get people to play with it, and when they hit a tangle, I'd just say "It's fine! Just hold it at the root and rip through it!"

- Likewise, I'd rip through tangles and think nothing of the amount of hair and knots in the comb.

- Shampooing all the time. Ugh, my hair feels horrible after shampooing now. I only do it once a week, before I DC.

- Dying. I done it twice. Never. Again. Both times, it messed my hair up.

- Backcombing!

- Dry brushing, and roughly.

- Flat ironing my hair while wet!

- Blowdrying until it was dry as a bone.

- Blowdrying THEN flat ironing.

- Rubbing my hair roughly with a normal towel (I use micro-fibre now, and don't rub).

- I never, ever cut my ends, even when they were basically cuticle-less.

In comparison, I never use a blowdryer, limit flat iron use, don't do it wet and use a heat protectant. I NEVER rip through tangles and try to be gentle with my hair. I only detangle either soaked in conditioner or slightly damp and gently. I do not, under any circumstances, backcomb.

Your turn! :p

[sugarpixie10988]

A few years ago, I used clarifying shampoo on my hair every SINGLE day. Ugh! It was this Herbal Essence Drama Clean shampoo, it smelled REALLY good which is why I did it haha. I also would rip a ball tipped brush through my hair. My hair loves tangling too, so there were lots of tangles to be ripped through. I did this when it was wet too. :bigeyes: I never put my hair up either, it would get caught in backpack straps, seatbelts, everything.

[DarkCurls]

I used to straighten my hair maybe 3 times a week (after a wash). I haven't in a long time though, stopped even before I found LHC because I liked my curls and was worried about damage.
And I used to brush it. Oh, the crime. Oo

[PrincessIdril]

I never did anything seriously evil to my hair, like dye etc. I think having scalp psorasis has protected my hair against a lot really!
I think the worst was done to it was by a hairdresser... I was going to a fancy party so I got my hair done. It was curled round velcro rollers, coated with about 4 kinds of product, stuck under one of those dome hairdryers for ages aswell... And she used about a million pins. At the end of the night I took out all the pins and slept on it. Well the next morning my hair hadn't moved... that took a lot of shampoo to get out.

And this one wasn't bad for my hair per say, more bad for my scalp. For comic relief one year the theme was "Big Hair" and my school relaxed the rules about hair for one day, providing we were all back to normal on monday. Well I used one of those temporary spray on dyes you get in costume shops... It was black on my blonde(ish) hair... I think it took something like 4 washes to get it all of my scalp!

With me it's my normal care rountine that's considered evil by LHC!
I always wash with SLS shampoo for example, twice a week normally. (I can't stretch washes to once a week, my psorasis goes mad otherwise). I comb when it's wet and I brush my hair twice daily, with a boar bristle and nylon brush. I also use my brush to detangle. Shocking I know, but I actually get more breakage/pulling when I detangle with a comb!

[GoblinTart]

Heat. Lots of heat. Since I stopped that, my hair has been much better.
Doing super duper tight buns daily. It was required to keep my hair neat and off my collar. I noticed lots of leakage though, and acquired what we called goose grease and loosened my buns and just kept my hair clicked down. My hair improved after that.

ETA: I forgot. Chemical damage. Box dyes, and Perms, and once even a relaxer.

[caadam]

Lots of clarifying, lots of ripping through tangles, heat styling without protectant (but I rarely used heat styling)... yeah. lol

[Madora]

Before I discovered Dr. George Michael's philosophy of long hair care, I brushed with a brush with nylon bristles! God, I cringe at the thought, though I will admit it felt wonderful when those bristles hit my scalp.

[Sylvestrix]

I shudder at the thought of this now, but the way I used to curl my hair was truly heinous even by evil standards.

I should explain that my hair will not hold a curl for love nor money- case in point, for my aunts wedding when I was nine, I went to the hairdressers who attempted to circumvent my problem hair by plopping me under one of those big cone...things. Long story short, several hours later, I had actual burns on my ears, and hair that had some small flicks at the end. Not a ringlet to be seen xD

My way of getting around this was saturating my hair in hairspray, then wrapping it around the curling iron till it smoked -shudder-. In my brain, the curl was 'done' when the smoking and crackling noises stopped.

To be honest, I'm actually in awe that never once during these sessions did my hair snap off or end up a crispy mess!

[Vampyria]

- when my hair was curly I blowfried it for 2 hours, twirling locks between my fingers until they dried. I got really pretty curls like that. But well, it wasn't really healthy and soft after that.

- after that I also straightened it, if I felt like it (usually without protection)

- I went from black to yellow, then dyed it in all possible red and orange shades and then dark violet. After that I wanted lighter red color again, so I used the most aggressive box color I could find. I could barely breath by the open window, when I was applying the color.

- I rinsed it with really hot water (I love hot water)

- I brushed my curls all the time and also not very gently

- I decided to make some kind of dreads and I put a ton of hair spray on after

- after a concert (where I was headbanging) I just combed it without detangling

- I used commercial shampoos which is not really that evil, but it really dried my hair out

Then my hair got more wavy and most of those torturing methods weren't necessary anymore. I could just do a braid or a bun for a couple of minutes, then let it dry and it looked quite alright. And I also decided that I want healthier hair, so I started taking care of it more.

Now I have almost straight hair. I oil it before washing, wash with SLS and SLES free shampoo and condition, oil lightly and let it air dry. I'm also growing out dye. If my hair was still curly now, I would probably try CO- washing.

[door72067]

bleaching...but it's been decades since I did that

[panffle]

I would shampoo almost every day, most of the time I wouldn't even use conditioner... then proceed to brush it while wet...
I wouldn't use those hair treatment masks and other stuff, then wonder why my hair felt so dry and tangled all the time. Also dyed it a few times, but not even once did I use any hair treatment. Ugh, maybe I wouldn't have to cut off so much if I had cared for it better!
Well, glad to say I've changed!

[furnival]

I used to soak my dreadlocks in parraffin (kerosene...) whenever I got lice. It was only years later I realised that what I should have been using was liquid parraffin BP- or mineral oil ;)
Loads of us stupidly used to do it and thankfully we all lived to tell the tale, but I definitely wouldn't recommend it to anyone...

[LaFlor]

-In highschool I decided that my already straight hair needed to be blow dried and straightened everyday. I still don't see what I was thinking. :rolleyes:

-I also decided that I wanted dreadlocks which required lots of backcombing and rolling and rough handling. That went on for a few months until my mother couldn't stand it anymore.

-I went through a phase where I curled the ends everyday with a curling iron.

-I bleached my hair a really light blonde once.

-I got a perm right before starting LHC because I wanted curly hair.

Now I CWC, do heavy oilings, don't use any heat, and am trying no-cones. I don't have any previous damage left in my hair anymore so I'm good to go.

[Puertoricangirl]

*I used to blowdry every now and then (not too often)
*I flat ironed my hair sometimes and barely ever used a heat protectant
*I used to use a brush to get through tough tangles
*I barely ever cut my ends and ended up with fairytale ends
*I would sleep on it loose and wake up with a knotted mess
*I would wear it down almost all the time no matter what the weather was!

I don't do any of those things now :D

[Firefly]

Definitely highlighting... totally fried my hair. But the absolute worst-- straightening my hair with an iron (yes, a clothes iron). While it worked fantastically, after many months it had nearly ruined my hair. Never again!

[TheMechaGinger]

I used to back comb my hair, a lot. I mean a lot. Go check it out in my album if you want,(believe me, you'll immediately recognize which picture I'm talking about) I back combed my entire head so that I looked like a homeless wild child and for a long time I just left it that way. I'd hop into the shower with my hair a tangled mess and shampoo it with volumizing shampoo, no conditioner and just leave it tangled. Conditioner made my massive hair fall flat so I quit using it. I'd get out of the shower and tease it even more, I remember I had a little black teasing comb I carried with me everywhere I went. I thought it made me look wild and edgy, LOL. I did that for a whole year when I first started high school, so 14 years old then.

When I was 15 I spent an hour in the bath tub with an entire bottle of vive pro sleek, the one in the orange bottle, and a comb. It really look me an hour to rip out all the nasty tangles I had created for myself and when I got out and my hair had dried I just wanted to cry. My hair was completely destroyed. I think it was about bsl at that time. I chopped it all off into a chin length bob then and tried my best to just leave it the heck alone. Never ever ever again! So glad I got over my wild girl phase fast

[ptricia]

Worst things I did for my hair.
Bleach, chemical hair dye, letting my hairdresser cutting layers in my hair not with scissors but with some kind of knife. Going to the hairdresser every 6 weeks so it never grew longer. Not using a conditioner because it made my hair to limp. Using styling products as mouse hairspray of wax.

[Ebrox]

I used to flat iron my hair when was still wet.. bad!:o

[long&blonde]

I washed and blew dry my hair daily.
I started lightening it (light chestnut brown) to blonde w/Sun-In at 15.
I baked it,and myself in the sun:sunrise to sunset.
I switched to permanent dyes:fave brand nice & easy;but tried them all, sometimes 4 shades in a week. A couple times 4 permanent shades in a day. I called the clairol hotline # once,in my 30s,described length of my hair,& all i'd done to it since age 15,w/mostly their product line. They tried to Give me a Free trip to NYC,just to see my hair. I got hooked on crimping iron. Would wash,blow dry,then crimp my hair. Had a crimping iron with a star in it,washed,blew dry,then would brand flat iron the star pattern onto my hair. Shine spray on top of all that. Amazing thing is:in spite of all the Damage;how cute styles like that end up looking! Lol!
Now at waist length, trimmed in May at a salon,colored dark blonde by salon every 3 months to cover white roots. I wash weekly, shampoo & condition:any. Put in leave in fructis conditioner,comb tangles out,add wee bit of Africas 6 oils,let air dry. I wear in a ponytail,or up in a bun or English braid. I don't recall my hair ever getting to waist:back in my hair abuse days. I still thought it cute:but I remember wishing I had WL hair: I never did. Since LHC & my new good habits;I've been as long as low bcl,with May cut back of ends. Best description of my past with my hair;I'm living proof how much total disregard you can have for hair health,and it won't fall out. It won't grow as long as it otherwise could,but you definitely can solidly abuse your hair and do allmost bsl.
The hardest part of my reform?
Being such an experienced hair dyer at home has soo jaded me.
I get disgusted with salon stylists "you can't dye over a color to make it lighter. Impossible. Color does not lighten color." For:going dark blonde to near platinum blonde,say.
When you KNOW you've spent a lifetime,not buying bleach,just reapplying white blonde shades over dark brown shades,and guess what;platinum!!
That annoys me. I thought first going to salon for color "cool!skys limit on my color choices!" Wrong! They are super conservative (annoyingly so) when it comes to many years dyed,very long (in their eyes)hair.
I keep resisting dying myself,as I'll be ready to,then I'll look in mirror,and the salon dark blonde w/high & low lites:looks so Healthy. But that's what annoys me most about hair health. Going along w/stylists saying I can't get my hair very blonde.(which would better disguise a white root line)

[CurlyCurves]

I back combed my entire head so that I looked like a homeless wild child.

This made me laugh, lmao :rollin:


letting my hairdresser cutting layers in my hair not with scissors but with some kind of knife.

This also made me laugh, not because of what she done to your hair, but the way you said "not with scissors but with some kind of knife".

[CurlyCurves]

Thanks everyone for contributing :)

[SoulOfTheSea]

I flat-ironed my hair every time I would wash it. Tsk tsk... Thank goodness those days are over, lol.

[gracenotes]

Washing daily with shampoo, rubbing it with a towel, AND straightening it... EVERY SINGLE DAY. :run:

[maborosi]

Hmmm...when I was younger, the most evil thimgs I did were:

Monthly bleaching (full head each time! x.x)
Straightening
Overuse of hairspray

I was very mean to it indeed.

~maborosi~

[lmfbs]

I used to wash twice and under condition.

I would go to the pool 6 days a week, 12 times a week (twice a day) and only wash my hair on my 'off day'. I never wore a swim cap or even rinsed it. I'd hop in the pool showers, wash my body and let my hair dry full of chlorine.

Bleached platnium streaks in my dark brown hair. Got bored of them and died over it, but the dye wouldn't stick. So, the obvious thing to do was box dye my entire head dark weekly. While swimming 12 times a week and never getting the chlorine out.

I used to pull all my coarse hairs out. And any splits I found I would pull out. I estimate that I've pulled out at least 4cm of thickness. I always had a horrible halo from the regrowth, so I would pull my hair super tight and bobby-pin the bejesus out of it. My poor, poor hair.

[SelkieSkjald]

I used to wash my hair twice every day with the cheapest shampoo I could find (usually Suave) and I wouldn't use conditioner for fear that it would make my oily pubescent hair even greasier. If I had only known this was a vicious circle I could have saved myself a lot of teenage angst.

Thankfully I never bothered with blow dryers, hair straighteners, or curlers, but I did have a nasty habit of yanking a ball-tipped brush through my hair while it was wet. Not much of a sin, comparatively speaking, but it left me with destroyed waist-length hair that I ended up chopping off.

[umbrellabones]

I used sls shampoos. I ripped through tangles with a brush (the ones with the little balls) And I washed, blow dried, straightened and teased my hair every single day. no wonder i STILL have so many splits.

[GlennaGirl]

How funny, I was just thinking of this tonight: in the late 80s through the early 90s or so, I used to put about the top 1/3 (half-up style, but less hair) in the front of my head into a ponytail. Then I would take two pieces of it and pull so the elastic would move down and would make my hair poof up. ETA: Oh, I forgot the best part! Then I would take some of my bangs (left them out of the ponytail) and curl upward with a curling iron, then sort of "mess" them up into the pouf/poofy thing I made with the ponytail, then spray the shoot out of it all.

I did this for years!

[MintChocChip]

I used to wash my hair every 2 days (not so bad, but a little drying!)
Everytime I washed my hair I used to blowdry it (I did actually stop that in the last year though!)
When I was 15-16 I used to dye my hair black with box dyes, and from 17-18 I used to dye my hair a lighter blonde. The constant black hair dye, (and I mean constant!) combined with too frequent washes, blowdrying, and not getting so much as trim (or S&Ding) for 2 years ruined my hair for a very long time.
I used to use heat tools (curling irons and hot rollers) a lot during my first few years at University, that fried my hair. Fortunately I knew the importance of heat protectant (and would use it for blowdrying too... so I had some sense at least.)
Ripping through tangles and not giving much thought to all that poor, broken, distressed hair.
Never wearing my hair up, always always wearing it down. Not even caring that my hair was trapped under my bag when I went out for half the day.ETA: Really to be honest, it's amazing I have hair at all! The funny thing is I used to look at other people's hair and say things like 'my hair's so horrible, why don't I have nice hair like those people?' when in reality I could have had hair as nice if I'd just been a bit more kind to my hair!

[jacqueline101]

I was hair spray happy. I also liked to blow dry and rip a brush through my hair wet or dry.

[CurlyCurves]

Wow! I see we all done similar sort of injustices to our hair. Thank Dog we all gained some knowledge and sense!

Here's a couple other things I used to do;

- Washing with shampoo TWICE. Just because it said to on the bottle.

- Piling my hair on top. Urgh.

- Sleeping on a cotton pillowcase. With my hair loose shudder:

- Going several days without combing or detangling my hair. Can you say matted?

- Going swimming - no shower cap, didn't really do my hair afterwards.


ETA: Really to be honest, it's amazing I have hair at all! The funny thing is I used to look at other people's hair and say things like 'my hair's so horrible, why don't I have nice hair like those people?' when in reality I could have had hair as nice if I'd just been a bit more kind to my hair!

Me too! I used to look at childhood pictures of my hair and get upset, thinking it was ruined forever. Someone told me that your hair type changes every 7 years, so I thought I'd never get my old ringlets back. My Mum cut all my hair off when I was 7, and I felt like it was never the same. Now, I believe it's the same, if not better, than it was as a kid :)

Though, I do feel like it was 'bigger' here. So I want it JUST like this again. Also, it looks like it would have been pretty long.

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/180865_1902108592842_526887_n.jpg
http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/183063_1902108952851_7457841_n.jpg.

Also, I always used to, and still do sometimes, look at other curlies and get jealous of their length and thickness. Well, I just discovered that my hair isn't thin like I thought it was, and, well, I'm sure it can grow!

It's amazing how much I've learnt and become enlightened to.

[louzen]

He he, great idea for a thread :)

The evil things I did:


Rip through tangles with a paddle brush
Never wash my paddle brush
Rip through hair with comb while wet
Wear very tight ponytails
Go for days without properly brushing hair
Use harsh shampoos and hardly ever condition
Pile hair on top of head when shampooing
Pull out hair clips aggresively (while catching hairs)
Overuse of hairspray
Swim and not wash chlorine out of hair until next wash day


Looking back I am really amazed I actually had hair left.

[Demi-Plum]

When I was really young I used to only wear pony tails and I would wrap about 4 hair ties around it to make it super tight. I quit doing it when my mother told me my hair would fall out!

[GlennaGirl]

OMG, those childhood pictures are so so cute.

[jojo]

Before finding LHC I used to use a plastic bristle brush with balls on the end, some had actually come off the end, I used bobbles with metal joinings, I straightened and blew dry. I was bad..sorry hair!

[Bunnysaur]

CurlyCurves, those pics are adorable!!!

Am I the only one guilty of peeling my split ends?

[Bunnysaur]

Double post, oops! :o

[Odonata]

I dyed my hair a lot and killed it once going blonde, I ended up with pixie cut at 16 and have taken good care of it since, although I still dye it, mostly red and usually with as much supporting care. However between somewhere not quite shoulder length and bra strap length I would flat iron it a lot, around once a week and if I was going out- either that or I would bobby pin a mass of my curls to my head in a bun like arrangement.

I lived with a girl recently for 6 months and her hair is probably a 2c/3a and quite thick, She blow-drys it straight then flat irons it every time she washes it and she washes it almost daily.

[MissHair]

Swimming in saltwater to then fry my hair in the sun.
Flatiron my hair while wet.
Teeze.
Bleach.

[redwoman]

Blue black box dye dried my hair out, spiral perm ruined my waist length hair, nylon brush with the little balls falling off, blowdrying every day, shampoo every single day. I'm surprised I have any hair left.

Nowdays its NO blowdrying, NO perms, NO dyes and no nylon brushes. My hair is mid thigh length and pretty happy with me now.

[long&blonde]

I agree that CurlyCurves; your childhood photos are adorable!

[Alexandriaweb]

My mam used to make me brush my hair as soon as I'd washed it...EEK!

Being a Goth backcombing has been a bit hard to give up, so I haven't given up completely but I have reduced it down to twice a year at Whitby Goth Weekend!

[secondrain]

The hair in my profile pic was achieved as follows:

-wash with dandruff shampoo 2 or 3 times
-Condition with the cony-est conditioner i could find
-rub briskly with cotton towel to dry
-apply coconut oil and blow dry until slightly damp
-spray with more silicone
-section and flatiron
-finish with a waxy paste that i probably would have been better off using on my car

i've been plagued with scalp problems for most of my adult life but after about 6 weeks of no heat and mostly co-washing, my scalp is itch and flake free.

[Diamond.Eyes]

Not leaving it my natural color for 2 years was the worst thing I've ever done to it.

[anitacs9101]

I used to back comb my hair, a lot. I mean a lot. Go check it out in my album if you want,(believe me, you'll immediately recognize which picture I'm talking about) I back combed my entire head so that I looked like a homeless wild child and for a long time I just left it that way. I'd hop into the shower with my hair a tangled mess and shampoo it with volumizing shampoo, no conditioner and just leave it tangled. Conditioner made my massive hair fall flat so I quit using it. I'd get out of the shower and tease it even more, I remember I had a little black teasing comb I carried with me everywhere I went. I thought it made me look wild and edgy, LOL. I did that for a whole year when I first started high school, so 14 years old then.

When I was 15 I spent an hour in the bath tub with an entire bottle of vive pro sleek, the one in the orange bottle, and a comb. It really look me an hour to rip out all the nasty tangles I had created for myself and when I got out and my hair had dried I just wanted to cry. My hair was completely destroyed. I think it was about bsl at that time. I chopped it all off into a chin length bob then and tried my best to just leave it the heck alone. Never ever ever again! So glad I got over my wild girl phase fast

Oh wow o.O I think this tops it lol!

As for me, I never really did anything too bad...I flat ironed my hair a couple of times, I curled my hair occasionally...I had gone through a short phase where I first stopped using conditioner on my roots and only did my ends, then stopped entirely and shampooed 2x so I could go a week without washing my hair. Now I saturate my hair in conditioner, and just focus on my scalp when removing it :p I also dyed my hair, although the hair I have now has only been dyed 2 or so times and doesn't feel at all damaged.

[Brittany1089]

Gahh!!! So many horror stories, it makes me cringe >.<

- Bleaching 3x in one session, then dying it black 2 weeks later.
- Washing with high-alcohol shampoo (Pantene pro-v) followed by flat-ironing every single night.
- Using Tide laundry detergent to make my hair dye fade faster.. One time I washed it about 12 times in one night to get some color out.
- Cut my long hair to my chin.
- I've probably dyed and bleached my hair about 100 times since I was 15 years old.

I haven't died my hair in one year because my hair was finally in such terrible condition that it started breaking off :(

[dwell_in_safety]

I used to break off and play with split ends, tear a brush through wet hair, sleep on a cotton pillowcase with loose hair, wash my hair every other day, follow my mother's instructions and use a palm of shampoo and only a dime-sized amount of conditioner (her hair is 1a/1b).

The worst thing I ever did to it was not touch it for four days when I was ten and spending a while at my cousin's house. D: Never agaaaaiiiiin.

[Dee38753]

Constant blowdrying my hair...until it was bone dry

I always used a straightener to make my hair smooth after the blow dry session.

Shampooing everyday...although I stopped doing that about 5 years ago..so it got better...now I only shampoo about once per week...and I'm thinking about doing the CO

- Hair Dye/Bleaching...during my high school years...my mother always said she never knew what color my hair would be when she got up in the morning...she was right...it was subject to change ...well pretty much every night. I haven't put any of these chemicals on my hair in over 2 years now.

I would use the straightener or curling iron when my hair wasn't really dry

vigorously rubbing my hair with a towel to dry it

I'm sure there have been other atrocities that I have visited upon my hair...but I can't think of them at the moment.

[noot]

If it was wrong then I did it. In my desire to have curls at any cost I would use hot curlers on the length almost daily the a hot curling iron to touch up the ends. Of course the cheapest shampoos and even Dawn dishdetergent if I ran out. In the days of Farrah Fawcett hair dos I would tease/back comb to get height then spray gobs of hairspray to make it last. I had never heard "treat your hair like fine lace" until I came to LHC. No wonder my hair was always fried looking.

[Kyla]

I would absolutely RIP through my tangles, it was so awful. Every time, it caused so, so much damage, and I was too stubborn to listen to anyone tell me how bad it was. :p

[elanrach]

I've never done most things: straighteners, blow dryers, curling irons, dye, but: When I was a teenager, I'd rip through tangles, wet or dry. Before LHC, I'd also pile my hair to wash it. Now I comb before showering (never used to do that), wear it up most days, treat it gently in the shower...I don't even comb it til the next morning (I don't use a towel on my hair...I leave puddles everywhere, lol.) I still use whatever shampoo works: my salon stuff tangled my hair (couldn't get a comb through after using salon shampoo and conditioner), so now I use Garnier Fructis. My hair is definitely past tailbone, but not sure what length it is, so I guess what I'm doing is working.

[yummie]

hmm where to start? lol
- started coloring my hair since i was 10
- got a curly perm at 11
- got 2 japanese straight perms
- bleached my whole head blonde with blonder highlights for 2 years straight!! (the final time I bleached my length literally broke off halfway!)
- dyed it back to brown then to black
- flat ironed hair while wet and dry
- blow fried my hair everyday
- no heat protectant
- curling iron abuse
- hair brushing abuse

I think that's all but i'm sure I've done more to it.. I think I literally did all I can to ruin my hair but after I dyed it back and chopped most of the damage off I'm taking better care of my hair these days and after LHC, I will never go back to my evil hair ways! :)

[JellyBene]

Bleached it repeatedly (nearly platinum)
Sprayed it with salt water and 'scrunched' curls into it
washed it daily with harsh SLS for many years
Hairspray
Straightened it at least once daily for 2 years straight
Backcombed it

[BlackbirdFly]

A really lot of blowfrying and flat iron/curling iron. Tearing through it with a nylon brush. Putting it up with rubber bands. Shampooing every day.... I cringe.

[CurlyCurves]

Oh, and I used to use elastic bands! Even now, I want to get cornrows but I am put off because I need elastic bands to keep them in :/


OMG, those childhood pictures are so so cute.

Thank you!


CurlyCurves, those pics are adorable!!!

Am I the only one guilty of peeling my split ends?

Thank you :D

I used to peel my splits too :run:


I agree that CurlyCurves; your childhood photos are adorable!

Thank you :)

[guns1969]

Goodness, where do I start??

13 perms - finally stopped 8 years back and learnt to live with my straight hair
Overuse of styling products
Daily washing
Hair dyes
Hair-dryers
Flat-irons when my perms were wearing out
Brushing hair - wet and dry
Piling hair on top of my head while washing

The list goes on, but you get the general idea :rolleyes:

[pes3108]

I colored my hair once a month, every month for almost 2 years. With harsh chemical dyes from Walmart.

I thoroughly bought into the whole ideal that straight hair is best. Twice a week I would scrub my hair in the shower, rip through the tangles while it was still wet, and then pull it straight with a big round brush while I blow-fried it. Then I would section my hair off in litttttle tiny sections and meticulously flat iron it. I left my straightener out 24/7 so I could make at least 3-4 touch ups through out the day.

Its a wonder I still have any hair left after all of the abuse I put it through! It is now 2 years later and my hair is still recovering.

[HintOfMint]

Thought this'd be fun too :P

What evil things did you used to do to your hair that you'd NEVER do now? Things that make you shudder: at the thought of doing now?

Bare in mind, this is not to pass judgement or turn your nose up at what others may do to their hair, but merely what you used to do and what you'd never do again to your hair.

Also, in comparison, post what you do now.

For me, it's these;

- I used to blowdry my hair every time I washed it.

- I used to flat iron it, on a regular basis, without using ANY heat protectant.

- I used to spray an oil spray on and then flat iron my hair! shudder:

- I used to get people to play with it, and when they hit a tangle, I'd just say "It's fine! Just hold it at the root and rip through it!"

- Likewise, I'd rip through tangles and think nothing of the amount of hair and knots in the comb.

- Shampooing all the time. Ugh, my hair feels horrible after shampooing now. I only do it once a week, before I DC.

- Dying. I done it twice. Never. Again. Both times, it messed my hair up.

- Backcombing!

- Dry brushing, and roughly.

- Flat ironing my hair while wet!

- Blowdrying until it was dry as a bone.

- Blowdrying THEN flat ironing.

- Rubbing my hair roughly with a normal towel (I use micro-fibre now, and don't rub).

- I never, ever cut my ends, even when they were basically cuticle-less.

In comparison, I never use a blowdryer, limit flat iron use, don't do it wet and use a heat protectant. I NEVER rip through tangles and try to be gentle with my hair. I only detangle either soaked in conditioner or slightly damp and gently. I do not, under any circumstances, backcomb.

Your turn! :p

I have done ALL of these on a regular basis, except, perhaps the dying. It was pretty much all grown out when my abuse hit its height.

[Tisiloves]

I never did the usual things (other than angry detangling), like backcombing or rough toweling, because I hate to detangle so much instead:

In persuit of colour, I:

Box dyed my hair blue-black monthly for 10 years.

Bleached the hell out of my undercut, right to the scalp (my hair is still a little thinner there), and dyed it rainbow colours, once a month, for two years.

In persuit of curl:

The ubiquitous round brush having to be cut out of my hair.

Hairspraying, brushing, hairspraying a strand 'til it was soaking wet, curling ironing it whilst it crackled and hissed, then hairspraying some more.

In persuit of colour and curl:
Having dyed my hair blue-black for years got a perm (which held for, oooh, two days), this stripped out some of my colour, so I colour b4ed it, then box redyed it auburn. All in the course of a week.

:oops:

[christine1989]

In middle school I HATED my hair. It seemed like everyone else had smooth, silky, pin straight hair and I didn't. I would try to achieve straight hair by blow drying and straightening my hair daily. I would even straighten on damp hair! It wasn't long before every hair was a split end and I hated my hair even more.

After taking care of it my hair actually straightened out a lot on its own :)

[hairhair]

I used to brush with a ball-tipped brush... when wet. And then wonder why there was always so much hair on the brush. :/

[ariesfairies]

Impatience to rip out the knots with my brush! :doh:

[mckellyn]

Ugh! Where do I begin!!!!

I used to shampoo every time I conditioned my hair! (Very bad for my fine, fragile hair!) Blow-drier, Curling iron, flat iron, mousse everyday, no heat protectant, and no deep conditioning. It's like I was living on another planet! And I wondered why my hair wouldn't grow past APL without looking scraggily and gross... duh!

I also have a bad habit of "playing with my hair," which is basically twisting and fraying the ends until they break off! For this reason, I've been keeping my hair up since I cut off all the damage, because I want and need to break that habit if I ever want to have long hair!

[Amber_Maiden]

Straighten while wet, rip a brush with balls at the ends though it while wet, and chemically dye it- sometimes WEEKLY.

[CurlyCurves]

Bumpity bump :)

[Suze2012]

Bleach and dye it to near death (3 times in one week as a teen as the colour went wrong).

I had a perm once...which I didn't actually want but the hairdresser kind of insisted. I was 12.

Shampoo every day
Blow dry every day.
Brush it.
Comb with a comb.
Believe hairdressers that I should get it cut often to make it grow.
Straightening it
More bleaching and dying.
Use loads of gunk on it to make it behave including hairspray, gel, mousse..which all got yucky if it rained.

Life is a lot easier without all those things! :)

[Alvrodul]

It's a long time since I used heat on my hair, and it's not likely I'll be doing that again any time soon.;)
But even after I quit using heat - yes, that means even the blowfryer - I wasn't necessarily kind to my hair. When I had washed my hair, I would vigorously rub my hair to get rid of as much moisture as possible. Then I used to use one of those nasty ball-tipped brushes on my hair - while it was still at least damp - and whenever I encounter a tangle I would "untangle" my hair using overwhelming force. :taz:
Damage from that is still in my hair, and my next project is to slowly but surely trim it away.

[sunshine-locks]

I actually used to be all right to my hair before I joined the LHC but I did use hot curling tongs every few weeks, which left my ends feeling dry and straw like O.o I also used shampoo that was MUCH too strong for my hair!

I thought that because my hair is straight, quite thin and fine that I needed a strong shampoo to make it look 'voluminous' :doh: It just made my hair look poofy..

Now I don't use hot curlers and I CO wash, and my hair is thanking me for it :D

[Tisiloves]

I actually used to be all right to my hair before I joined the LHC but I did use hot curling tongs every few weeks, which left my ends feeling dry and straw like O.o I also used shampoo that was MUCH too strong for my hair!

I thought that because my hair is straight, quite thin and fine that I needed a strong shampoo to make it look 'voluminous' :doh: It just made my hair look poofy..

Now I don't use hot curlers and I CO wash, and my hair is thanking me for it :D

It's amazing isn't it, when you find out that CO washing works for you as well? I can't believe how dry my hair was for at least the last decade.

[Mayflower]

* Washing with head & shoulders mint shampoo for volume
* never ever (deep) conditioning
* I had a side parting and always had a massive birdsnest on the side where all my hair was. I only combed it out once every month or so, this took an hour or two and a whole sink filled with hair
* using a ball-tip brush
* dying it ugly colours :laugh:
* straightening it, damp and dry
* I broke off the split ends
* using hair elastics with a metal piece
* slept with my hair loose

Now I still use the blowdryer but less long. I use sulfate free shampoos once I discovered that they caused my overly dry/oily scalp and flakes. I wash less and use a LOT of conditioner now (thought it would made my hair limp but that's only silicones). I also fingercomb first, then use a Tangle Teezer, I never use the bad hair elastics anymore, I tie my hair up at night and do regular deep conditionings. My hair's lovely now whereas it was a fried birdsnest before.

[cooklaezo13]

I would shower and wash my hair with a bar of SOAP, then not follow it up with an ACV rinse or any kind of conditioner. Then I would rub my hair harshly with a terry cloth scratchy towel. Then I would take a plastic ball-tipped brush, which was old and partly broken and dirty, and rip through the tangles. It was horrible. Lastly I would style my hair by putting it in a low ponytail, and then not touch it for days. I never wore braids or buns, just a low ponytail in the same spot every day. I spent hundreds of hours baking myself and my hair under the sun, and never covered my hair (or used sunscreen on my skin).
I never heat-styled, bleached, or chemical dyed. But by the time my hair reached tailbone length, the ends were so thin and damaged they were almost see-through. Sometimes neglect is worse than use of heat and chemicals.

[melusine963]

Blowdrying on high heat, straightening, ripping a brush through, chewing, using elastics with metal bits, constantly playing with it, never wearing it up, etc, etc, etc.

*Cringe*

[Agnieszka]

strong highlights every 3 months
sls shampoo every other day
flat ironing every day
hair extensions with metal ring bonding few years ago
self bleaching which turned out orange so re-apply dye the same day two times and making it dark brown the same day. Hair got rubbery (few years ago)
once hairdresser burned my hair, they became green and most fall out few days after (it was 15 years ago)

Thanks God for LHC

[Nellon]

no henna!
bleach
chemical hairdye
cutting it myself with nail scissors in weird ways :)
wash with SLS too often
comb while wet
tons of hairspray

[spookyghost]

Where to begin!

Bleach, flat iron, carelessly and harshly brushing hair and ripping out the knots, not using a uv protecting cap when I use a tanning bed, using those plastic tooth head band thingines to keep my bangs out of my face. Thats all I can think of now but I bet theres more-I probably just repressed those memories!

[Audhumla]

I wore my hair in the same cinnabun the entire way through high school. Every day for 6 years (that's how long it is in Australia, I wasn't held back :p) My hair was just past shoulder length and my diet was non-existent. My dad had a crush on a hairdresser so I was regularly taken to get more and more layers cut back in my hair. This meant I had to use a ridiculous number of pins to get my bun to stay and it had to be done sooo sooo tightly. I really would be willing to accept supernatural explanations as to how I didn't get traction alopecia.

[millyaulait]

Umm, bleach it 6 times in one day & then blowfry + straighten it?

Yeah, my scalp hurt for a long time after that stint. :roll:

[twoLs118]

i used to dye my hair blonde every 3 months like clockwork... did that for about 2 years.... i also had my hair stripped, dyed & then bleached all in one sitting shudder: that was pretty bad! i didnt think my hair was going to recover from that, but alas it did!!

i also used to be the queen of ripping through knots

[theemeraldskull]

Pretty much the only horrible thing I did to my hair was tear through the tangles like I was fighting a dragon. LOL :-D I have since stopped that and don't brush often, and when I do, I try to be very careful with my hair.

[dmarie16]

blow dry, flat iron, curling iron, dye, bleach, perm, hairspray, smother it with every coney product I could find that promised glossy smooth hair...highlights, lowlights, multi-directional lights LOL!! I have tortured my hair as long as I can remember. Then, as a final assault, I would cut it all off and begin the torture all over again.

[terylenerose]

I've probably covered this somewhere else, but in any case the worst things I did (or allowed to be done) to my hair were: chemical dye and bleach; shampoo with no conditioner (yikes!); and swimming in chlorinated pools.

[Redhead Rebel]

My poor hair has been tortured alot in the past. . .

-Chemical dyes, Colour Strippers and Bleach for 7 years because I hated my natural colour.
-Using elastics with metal bits
-Hot ironing
-Rubbing it really hard with a towel to dry it then using the Hair dryer on Hot
-Ripping a brush through it at least twice a day

The last 3 were because my 'straight' hair would not behave

[theemeraldskull]

ALTHOUGH, in favor of evilness, I have been considering something in recent months.... dying about half of my hair stark white (because I love love love love love white hair... seriously!), but have been back and forth on it a lot, and still up in the air. :-P

Oh my jehosephat. SO damaging, but I love it so much....

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i86/theemeraldskull/210261876322954916_qcLMGSjl_b.jpg

[MrsGuther]

I used to bleach my hair, flat iron, etc.

[CurlyCurves]

Glad this thread is kicking off well :-)

As a testament to healthy hair practises, this is how my hair USED to look.


http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/41294_1621649621543_3084514_n.jpg

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/71670_1670765849418_1057242_n.jpg

http://sphotos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/166351_1817578399640_1818396_n.jpg

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/250588_2152902382530_2208516_n.jpg

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/13640_1298043851601_3729963_n.jpg

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/2592_1123964899736_2878015_n.jpg

http://sphotos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/32068_1490576904807_6728648_n.jpg

http://sphotos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/254482_2148447311156_6785462_n.jpg

http://sphotos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/30718_1500016700796_4508707_n.jpg

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/25376_1415655991831_434479_n.jpg

Obviously, you all know how it looks now.

(by the way, I was a lot younger (and fatter) in most of these pics)

[april17]

1984-1989 full perms! For the next 5 years, lots of blue black dye. Then bleached from dark brown to platinum blonde -- it worked well until I got greedy for "just a little lighter" Then, in the shower, most of the hair on my crown broke off at one inch from the scalp. Wore a hat for a month.

When I finally stopped with all the nonsense, that's what I started to get grays. Kind of like my hair was punishing me for all the abuse. THEN I became allergic to hair dye!

[hanne jensen]

All my life I'd just rip through my hair from the top downwards. I'd wear my hair down in all kinds of weather. My hair never got longer than a long APL. Duh. I was 49 years old when I joined LHC and learned how to baby my hair and protect it. After some experiments that failed and major chops along the way I'm now at almost hip.

[Neon Sun]

bleaching...but it's been decades since I did that

Oh, I can understand your pain! :eek: I had a rather great experience with bleachings and dyeings for getting such crazy colours like in this gallery on stylemann (http://stylemann.com/best-hair-color-ideas/) and after all that experiments my hair was in an awful condition! :( The colours looked really cool but only for several weeks, then they faded but the damage stayed with me... I had such a massive hair loss that I was really scared sometimes! :(
I'm very happy that now after many restoring procedures it stopped and now my hair is in a much better condition :rolleyes:

[FallingDarkness]

I flat ironed my hair when it was still wet.
Yea. I know.
I want to die just thinking about it.

[lapis_lazuli]

Flat iron it at 400° F (200° C) every other day, sometimes while wet. Oh, and bleach highlighting that I have yet to completely grow out. Middle school was a bad time for my hair. :wail:

[Aidin]

I used to detangle (read: rip through) my hair with shampoo and overall neglect (not benign) my hair to the point it was a dry mess!

[Kiiruna]

Rough brushing, perm curls, box dyes, wearing it down all the time... no wonder my hair never got past bsl!

[marvel-lover]

Let's see...wash everyday, fall asleep after swim practice with chlorine in my hair, ponytails every day, blue hair dye on the ends, rip through it with a brush, eating disorders, piling my hair on my head while washing...I'm really not surprised my hair always looked dead.

[lapis_lazuli]

Oh man, I also remember showering with a ponytail and ripping through the matted patches afterwards. Horrendous idea - just me and my stupidity... :lol:
I would also sit in class and search for split ends (there were many). When I found them, I'd rip them off or pull them apart, and repeat for the whole lesson. WHY.

[H o n є y ❤]

Relax AND Bleach it
Comb everyday
Brush everyday
Use heat everyday on highest setting
Leave in braids too long
Rip threw it while detangling after taking down braids.

I'm really surprised everything didn't just fall out. I just didn't know how to do or take care of my hair. I didn't know a thing about hair care.

[ExpectoPatronum]

There are a couple evil things I still do to my hair...

I color every now and again, though not nearly as often as I used to. I used to color every 6-8 weeks. Now I'll go 3-6 months.

I also use a blow dryer on my hair - but I use a diffuser, on low blow and low heat.

Considering I used the color my hair very regularly and spent my teens flat ironing it nearly every day, I've come a long way in protecting my hair's health.

[Dark40]

When I was in HS like around the age of 14 or 15 I used to tease my hair but as I got a couple of years older I had stopped doing it. Because of the bad things I heard that could happen to your hair.

[purpleelephant]

Beyond the usual of washing it every single day, i'd purposely not use conditioner (too "greasy") or oils or any serum or cream. Then, i'd brush it wrong and proceed to heat style it. This began in my tweens/early teens. About 1-2 years in, i then began DIY lightening.... WITH PEROXIDE. needless to say, that (ALONG WITH heat styling) took a toll. Eventually, I laid off the heat, added conditioner, and began washing every other day. I've laid off the blonde for now, but ... who knows. There will definitely be something else I do to it in the future, too.