Can this hair disaster be fixed? 2 days since and I can’t stop crying

[sakurablossomgi]

I'm going to suggest something slightly different than the others.

The salon messed up your hair. You have already been told what needs to be done. What products need to be used. This time you're better informed.

Everyone makes mistakes. While I would not let the same colorist anywhere near my hair, I would give the salon a chance to make it right.

Call them and complain. Go in. See what they have to say and what they offer you as compensation.

If someone else in the same salon is willing to do an olaplex treatment for you, I would actually suggest letting them.

As I said, each of us is only human. We all make mistakes. And this was a doozy.

But at least give them a chance to make it right.

And while you're at it, stop payment on that check.

So I did bring up how my hair was looking and felt but I was told this is normal and that my hair will “adjust” in a month and I’ve never bleached my hair so I was unsure if that was true or not but they keep telling me it will be fine...but I just don’t feel like this is the usual outcome. They also said since I didn’t lose any hair it’s a sign my hair is fine

[sakurablossomgi]

$650 for a result like this! I'm so sorry you're having to go through this. If it helps, I've had my hair fried to the point of looking and feeling like straw, as well as mushy and stringy (multiple bleaches in a day) a few times in the past. Each time, my hair did regain enough strength back to look and feel okay.

I won't suggest to do what I did, because it can be risky I guess. During those "gone wrong" times, I would dye my hair dark and then leave it alone. The dark dye's pigment would simply sit on my cuticles, basically sealing them up so they were more protected. It would also mask the bleach damage almost completely, going from soggy noodle hair to decent. I didn't know much about hair back then so I never oiled, never did protein treatments, never deep conditioned and so on (I still do none of these lol but now I don't need to). Back then I simply let my hair be, with as little manipulation as possible, like a giant break from anything harmful.

Again, I'm not recommending to do this, as I don't want your hair to possibly get worse. However, it's what helped me every time. The main point of me sharing this is to let you know that your hair will be fine with time and certain decisions. There are all kinds of solutions, as you can see in these answers.
I know what it's like to walk out of a salon with fried hair (happened to me once, though the rest of the times were by my own doing ) when there was something totally different in mind beforehand. You'll be okay!

Thank you so so much for your kind words and taking the time to write all this out. When you say ok, do you mean like barely passable or like actually good? However I’m so happy to hear that you were able to repair it. I’m not confident. Enough to also try coloring my hair too for the first time especially since it’s so damaged I’m not even sure it can hold color. Thank you so so much for the reassurance and kind thoughts

[sakurablossomgi]

Thank you so much for the comfort. It’s really disheartening to try to do everything right and have it go so wrong and to save up for something that ultimately even hurt you... I appreciate the kind words

[sakurablossomgi]

Olaplex at home is just to maintain the insalon service. Don’t let them blow dry btw, walk out with a wet head. Tell them thank you anyway but your just there for the treatment. You’ll get through it!

Thank you so so much for your advice and kind words. Thank you for all your advice, . The restructure treatment is the redeem one and the olaplex?

[sakurablossomgi]

Oh my goodness, that is absolutely awful. I am so sorry you had to go through that! Take a deep breath! While I've never bleached my hair, in the past, I did SEVERELY damage my hair by abusing it with heat & dye. It was so fragile that it would melt off onto my straightener & I could break off chunks of it with my fingers & I managed to grow it to almost hip length from about apl without cutting off any of the damage within about a year & a half.

What I personally found worked best was to handle my hair as little as possible. When washing your hair, be extremely gentle & I find using a conditioner heavy in silicone to be very helpful as it creates a lot of slip & makes the hair more manageable, so that its easy for you to comb & brush through, so you won't have as much mechanical damage from that. I use the Garnier fructis conditioner with avocado, almond, & olive oil. As a deep conditioner, I use the Garnier fructis honey treasures (I believe lapushka recommended this to me & I love it, so thank you if it was you hehe!). & I leave my conditioner on for at least five minutes every time I wash my hair. I find any hair serum also helps with detangling. After getting out of the shower, I gently pat my hair dry, just so it's not dripping wet & then I finger detangle my hair. By that, I don't mean running your fingers through it as if it were a comb, but gently pulling the strands and tangles apart, and then I let my hair air dry for as long as possible. When brushing, I would recommend using a wide tooth comb, and then following with a brush (if you'd like) once you're certain all of the knots & tangles are out. If your hair is long enough, I would also suggest braiding your hair at night before bed, or even leaving it in a braid throughout the day just so you aren't handling it too much. Just put it up & try to forget about it! I find I wake up with FAR less tangles & I lose less hair since I started doing this. Also, make sure you eat as healthy as possible (a diet rich in proteins & healthy fats) & stay hydrated, so that the new growth that comes in will be as strong & healthy as possible.
I wish you the absolute best of luck! I know how scary it is when you first start out, but you absolutely can do this & with time, your hair will bounce back!

Wow this is so much useful advice. I’m so happy to hear I don’t have to cut it all off. I will follow all your advice thank you! You’ve given me hope it can be fixed. I really really appreciate this community you are all so wonderful and kind- what would I do without you all? I love you all so much

[Mrstran]

I’m so sorry this happened. I know it’s a headache to say the least. The people here are right to say, baby the heck out of it.

I’ve had multiple bleachings in one sitting before. Afterward I searched for something to keep my hair in tact and decent. That’s when I found Nexxus humectress. I mix it with EVOO and let the mixture sit on my hair for 10 minutes. (Very saturated!) Before rinsing, I use a touch of castor oil on my ends. I still do this to date. It works wonders for me, but then, all hair is different.

[Glitch]

Thank you so so much for your kind words and taking the time to write all this out. When you say ok, do you mean like barely passable or like actually good? However I’m so happy to hear that you were able to repair it. I’m not confident. Enough to also try coloring my hair too for the first time especially since it’s so damaged I’m not even sure it can hold color. Thank you so so much for the reassurance and kind thoughts

You are so welcome! And no, my hair looked decent As in, nobody would look at it and say "wow, her hair is amazing" but nobody would say "wow, her hair is so damaged" lol - it looked like average hair. I would try out some of these safe options people have mentioned before attempting anything chemical-related again though. Especially since your hair is in a fragile state. Mine was okay with dark coloring, but not all hair is the same, and it's a lot better to wait and see, just in case.

Just knowing how disastrous my hair had become, I'm pretty sure your hair will be just fine too with time and gentle care And I really recommend following what KlutzyChy1 was talking about. She just went through all this recently and her hair is looking great!

[Wendyp]

Thank you so so much for your advice and kind words. Thank you for all your advice, . The restructure treatment is the redeem one and the olaplex?

Redken and olaplex both have in salon bond repair services. They both give you take home product to maintain the rebonding. I did like olaplex better it seemed stronger. I have a lot of damage from years of coloring and super hard water.

oh and a routine like klutzychy1 above is super important too. I also have to use deep conditioner every time I wash for example.

[KlutzyChy1]

Not to hijack this thread (so I really hope it doesn't come across that way hehe), but I thought it might be helpful to have a visual of someone else's journey, that way you can see just how bad some of our hair was when we first started out, and where your hair has the potential to be! I know how hard it is to be patient when it comes to this, and it's easy to get discouraged when you first start out, I know I did. It will take a few months (at least this is how it was in my case) before you start to notice a huge change, so please stick with it!

Okay, here we go. This is where my hair was, oh say about 2& 1/2 years ago, before I ever began my hair journey (and was still straightening & dyeing it).

As you can see, my hair was VERY, VERY thin, and that was JUST from the heat styling & dye damage.

This is where I started my hair journey, about a year & a half ago, after going through 6 months of hair loss.


This photo was taken about 6 months into my journey.


This photo was taken one year after I started my hair journey.


& This photo was taken a few days ago. (I did redye it if you're wondering why the color change hehe)


So just remember, if you start to get discouraged or want to give up, just hold out! It will be soooo worth it in the end. I promise you.

[Katia_k]

I would also suggest going into the salon again, and letting them know in no uncertain terms that you are unhappy. Don't let them tell you that "it'll be better in a month," because that's not how bleaching works (though that's just from what I've heard, haven't experienced it personally myself). I would ask to talk to a manager. No need to be hostile or anything, but they should be making this right, with some compensations, whether that be free treatments (not coloring, or anything chemical, obviously...), or a refund, even a partial one, or something. You can very clearly point to the damage they did.

Also "it's healthy, it'll be fine," is the worst reason I've ever heard for doing that to someone's hair.