Badly damaged hair!!!

I don't think you can save it really, that sounds like a huge amount of stress its been under. I would take it as an opertunity to go for a sexy short hair cut..It all grows back

i dyed my hair alot when I was younger and my hair was so damaged that my roots wouldnt take to any color and the rest would always turn WAY darker then i wanted. I agree, you should do a short cut and let it grow back, make sure to get it cut every 6 weeks if possible to keep it growing healthy. the only thing thats really doing to help is time and patience, i wouldnt dye your hair again for a while cuz you dont wanna make it so raw that you'll need to shave it and start over. my best friend had to do that cuz she dyed her hair every 3 weeks for a year

I agree with the last person shave it. Don't worry i had do it at one point, my hair wouldn't dye right cause it was so many colors. If you die it agian it will get even weeker, thats why hair dressers won't let you bleach to often. The more you die it without letting it recover, it will snap off more easily. If you to scared to shave it get a short cut and use salon shampoo and conditinor( cheapest at ulta), also get a hair repair conditioner that you leave in for a while and then wash out. Wait till it strengthens till you even consider redying.

hahha shave it. its the only that will help!!!

i've had to do that with the bottom half of my hair,and i got extensions to fix that problem.

my bestest friend Marie is a natural brunette,like black and she decided she wanted to do white so that she could experiment with the whole "vintage,rockabilly,more vintage" thing.

she bleached her hair 5 times,and this was a chick that had never ever ever dyed her hair once,or even damaged it because it was naturally stick straight,and she came to my house crying her eyes out saying over and over "what the f*ck have i doooone" and i said,"well hon its not white because you needed a toner probably the first 3 times you did it"

and all i heard was my other bestfriend(now my boyfriend) laughing his ass off like "dude,you need to cut that sh*t off!!" and better yet,marie said she wanted to have a short haircut so she could do the marilyn hairdo.

so yeah,we cut all of it off,and gave her the layered scene haircut....still she didn't complain actually we got some pantene deep conditioner(intensive treatment,extra straight from like Big Lots) we put it on 3 times for 10 minutes with the blow dryer running and it actually healed the damage pretty good.

yeah so heres marie with her hair down,its actually shaved underneath because apparently it hold the clip in extensions waaaay better.it kinda does.



and then here she is with her lovely marilyn 'do



i love that chick ,especially when i was washing out the toner and she said "uhhh why does the towel smell like gift wrap" and then i was like ummmmm i dunno and then she said "ooooh i just had my real first blonde moment!"

Hahaha @ retroxxkitty's story, it sounds like it all turned out all right for your friend, and she was happy with the end result. Her hair looks really good in the pics! Especially her monroe style one!

To the op Sam, Stay away from the hair dye!! Seriously you willl only add to the damage, and it will not be good!

I know it probably doesn't look great right now, but unless you really want to shave it off, you need to leave it as it is.

You could always go for a short cute pixie cut....I'd try that before shaving it. You can totally get away with a short-do, seeing as it's really common on girls right now. Something like Posh's shortest hairstyle, or what Pink had, had.

Also I would stop washing it, and only do it when really necessary (like twice a week) just wear alot of hairbands, ponytails, braids.....anything to hide it.

You can get a really good conditioner from the store to use when you do wash it, and you could try Joico K-Pak Reconstruct, it's a really great hair repair cream. Kind of expensive, but totally worth it.

Also you could try Coconut oil. I use it on my own hair, you can get it from any grocery store in the ethnic section. It comes solidified and it's white, not an oil at room temp. Just put a bit in the microwave for 20 seconds and put it in your hair. Wrap your hair up for awhile, then rinse it out really well, shampoo and condition, and your hair should be very soft. I do this once to twice a month, because I'm trying to repair my hair as well.

I went from almost platimun blonde to a dark brown (which streaked green!!) then an auburn brown on top of that twice in 2 days, and know I've had to leave it as it is. That was November 1.... My hair has gotten much better because of it, it still has splitends l ike crazy that I can't get rid of, and breaks once in awhile, but it's nothing compared to what it was. It's taken me 3 months to get here

Besides that, only time will heal it.

i was in a very similar situation. i bleachedmy hair two times in two days (and i have naturally blonde hair so there was not much pigment to take out), not to mention that a month before that i had highlights.

any way i had the problem with my hair snapping off and i used the kerestase 5 day treatment which helped a lot. i also used the kerastase shampoo in the green bottle to help rebuild my hair. that combined with protien treatments got my hair to the point where it was no longer breaking off and i was able to dye over the white blonde color.

Redken anti snap is also a big help, along with the kerastase products mentioned above.Kerastase cimente is great and activated by heat, so you can style your damaged hair and repair it at the same time.

You could try using different hair treatments like masks and hemp shampoos but if your hair is really as bad as you say it is you might have to consider cutting it.

If I were you I'd go to a hairdresser and ask for their advice, they will be able to see how damaged your hair is and tell you what options you have.

Originally Posted by chandrika /img/forum/go_quote.gif Redken anti snap is also a big help, along with the kerastase products mentioned above.Kerastase cimente is great and activated by heat, so you can style your damaged hair and repair it at the same time. Yeah I agree....

you really need a deep conditioner to help fix your hair. i absolutely lovee Joico K-pak's products (they have shampoos, conditioners, deep conditioners, etc). I was in a situation like yours (bleaching and dying and bleaching and dying.. my hair was SOO brittle!) and it helped my hair so much. also, be very gentle to your hair and try not to stress it out so much

When you chemically altar your hair, you remove important proteins and ceramides. It's important that after any chemical service, and preferable before (to prevent the damage from occuring in the first place!) that you start yourself on a protein/ceramide shampoo/conditioner/treatment regiem.

Protein is what makes the hair strong, you said your hair snaps off w hen you run your fingers through it and thats because of the lack of protein you now have.

Ceramides are like the glue that bonds the hair together, if you have/had spilt ends, that would mean you're lacking ceramides. Generally, protein and ceramides go hand in hand.

I read someone else mentioned that you start using Redken Anti-Snap, thats a good start. You may want to invest in the whole Redken Extreme line: Extreme shampoo, Extreme conditioner, Extreme Rescue treatment and Extreme Anti-Snap leave in. You can skip the normal conditioner and use the treatment in its place.

A few weeks, and your hair should be strong again!

I had damaged my hair years ago to the point it was so dry and felt mushy! Yuck! I cut it as short as I could stand it and didnt touch it for about 8 months, conditioned it and just babied it.

I have never done that again, lesson learned the hard way now my hair gets colored only every 6-8 weeks with my natural shade of brown and I use the best products on my hair and it shows! Best thing.. leave it be.