How to trim damaged hair at different lengths without shaving my head??

[inthemourning]

I've never been kind to my hair: I suffered from trichotillomania for a year and a half beginning when I was ten, I would constantly dye it, and flat ironed it everyday for several years. As resilient as my hair is, I bleached peekaboo highlights my dark hair three times in less than two weeks and I experienced breakage for the first time in my life (I was surprised my hair didn't fall out!) At this time, my hair was about an inch above shoulder length and I decided to grow my hair out. I redyed my hair every month (regrowth) and grew out my hair about 4 inches in half a year when I began to pick at the split ends left from the bleach. Eventually, the hair that was previously white blonde became half the length of the rest of my hair and left frizzy, damaged ends all at different lengths in the under layer of my hair (by leaving some hairs untouched and picking some sections more than others). For some reason, the damaged hairs became individually curly as well, which only contrasts more against my straight hair! My hair is now an inch or two above my belly button, but the shortest damaged end is less than shoulder length! How am I supposed to neaten up my hair without getting a number 3 shave?!

I haven't dyed my hair in almost a year and I only straighten the baby hairs around my forehead that don't grow out, I can't afford any more damage to the rest!

[Aurum]

I believe the technique you're looking for is called S&D, or Search & Destroy. It's quite common here among those who are trying to grow out damaged hair without losing too much length. Basically, you just search out individual hairs that are split and/or damaged and snip the end off. It can lead to slightly uneven hair lengths and is quite time consuming, BUT in the end it saves a lot of your healthy hair by just weeding out the damaged.

[Sparklylady82]

I am going through growing out damaged hair as well. A lot of members gave me the advice to micro-trim so that I can still grow while cutting the damage off slowly. I have too wondered about the damaged layers farther up that I have and figured I will just have to wait it out till they reach the bottom to be trimmed off. I would not trust myself to trim the layers so If I do I will go have it done by a professional but until then I am using Feye's Method for micro-trimming.

Cutting it all off in one big chop wasn't an option for me so the advice given was to have patience and enjoy the journey to healthy longer hair instead of focusing on what is wrong. Maybe throw it up every day and forget about it for awhile. I know how you feel though it is frusterating growing out damage

[Akville]

I am going through growing out damaged hair as well. A lot of members gave me the advice to micro-trim so that I can still grow while cutting the damage off slowly. I have too wondered about the damaged layers farther up that I have and figured I will just have to wait it out till they reach the bottom to be trimmed off. I would not trust myself to trim the layers so If I do I will go have it done by a professional but until then I am using Feye's Method for micro-trimming.

Cutting it all off in one big chop wasn't an option for me so the advice given was to have patience and enjoy the journey to healthy longer hair instead of focusing on what is wrong. Maybe throw it up every day and forget about it for awhile. I know how you feel though it is frusterating growing out damage

very god answer.. I'm doing the same thing..

[Johannah]

If I were you, I'd do some big S&D sessions and a little trim. Then I'd maintain at the length you have now, and trim off the growth you have every month. If you still want to grow your hair, you could trim off your growth every other month. Feyes method is amazing to do this, in my opinion.

As for the rest, wear your hair up every day or at least most of times, especially when you're outside. There's a challenge going on as well. You could take a look for hair sticks and forks etc. on this forum. I've noticed my hair benefits from this a lot and I definitely have less split ends! You hair doesn't rub against your clothes/furniture anymore, you can't touch it anymore, it isn't that affected by the weather and you don't need to comb it as much as before because of tangles.

Only use a wide tooth comb for your hair. I love the one from the Body Shop. In my experience, this makes you shed less and it's much gentler than a brush. Comb your hair from the ends up, and comb as gentle as possible.

Try to find out what your hair wants. If your hair is really damaged, it will probably need a lot of moisture but maybe protein as well. You can read about the balance here. As for moisture, you could try to oil your hair before you wash it (and even leave it overnight). For me this worked well. Here's a poll about it which in my opinion is quite interesting. You could use oils as a leave in as well or try SMT. Maybe a softer washing method like CO could give you extra moisture as well. There are also other methods like CWC, WCC and C-COW-C.
You could try to find products with protein in it and see how your hair reacts on this. Damaged hair is high porous and will mostly benefit from protein treatments. You could try some hard protein treatments, but maybe it's an idea to start off with simple products like conditioner which contain protein.

[inthemourning]

Thank you for sharing your suggestions! At least the majority of my hair is very healthy, and I'd rather have some variance in hair length than go from waist to shoulder length! Moral of the story: don't take your healthy, shiny, and strong hair for granted!!