Severe Chemical Damage

I had 1 1/2 inches of regrowth and wanted to bring the remainder of my hair to match my natural color.  My roots were light brown and the rest was dark brown almost black. My hair is long.

I went to my stylist who always cuts my hair; she totally messed up.  She was unable to match my roots so she decided to lift the color with bleach.  She left the bleach on for way too long under the hot dryer.  My hair is completely fried, falling out, distress, and will not let go of water (it took over 6 hours to air dry and felt like rubber).  I have severe chemical damage to my hair.

Unfortunately my hair is now a horrid color and gross.  She knew she messed up my hair and tried to shade it; it turned light-reddish-mud brown. I need to eventually bring it back to a decent color and revive it's health. 

What will not harm my hair at all, but bring it back to a nice color...henna, powder, anything?  I know I will need to chop off several inches of hair, but any miracles for reviving my hair?

Thanks a million,
Very Desperate

i think youre beyond help here. a good short haircut, and some deep conditioners are all thats in your future. Bryan38503.9348032407

That's a bummer.  After her first mistake you should have taken off running.  Did you complain and get your money back?

Hoping you didn't try henna.  Hair that has been bleached will turn blue green with henna, and it won't ever come out until you cut it off.

i'm afraid thats the same thing that has happened to my hair? it just takes sooo long to grow back it will be years like 10 before my hair is the same length again  so i'm reluctant to cut it but i think i'm going to have to

Thank's for all your comments and support.  I am still very sad and depressed about my hair. It still looks horrid and I refuse to chop it all off to a pixie cut.

I cancelled the check to my "X" hairdresser and she has not returned any of my calls to settle my complaint.  I filed a complaint with the cosmetology board against her license and I am taking her to smalls claims court for damages.  It is going to take about 2 years before I have nice healthy hair again. I'm so upset, that I am trying to have her, the responsible party, pay for it. Especially, since she's ignoring me.

I feel for you.    I messed up my hair (did it my own self though) and had to cut mine off.  The best thing to do if you don't like short hair on you is wait as long as you can before cutting it off, (because if you're a "long haired person at heart", you'll hate it short and not like it for years until it grows back - if your not, then its not so bad!).  My only regret after my hair disaster was cutting off so much because it took more years than I had planned on for it to grow back.

Are you using a conditioner heavy in silicones?  That can do wonders for chemically damaged hair.  Pantene conditioner has more silicones in it than anything else I can think of (I think Redken All Soft might have a lot too).  You might have read that silicones aren't so great for long hair because eventually they give build up damage if you don't clarify to remove them periodically, but if you plan to cut the damaged parts off anyway, they will make your hair feel softer and better until you do.  I don't know if I would clarify chemically damaged hair...when mine was damaged or dyed I didn't so I have no experience with that.

Get yourself a nice wig while you're waiting.

try loreal's ineral hair fixer. now gurls, ik that nothing can truly repair the hair, but this stuff fills in the damage, and makes even my horribly overprocessed hair feel like silk. you can get it at your local sally beauty supply, or you can find it online at:

http://shop.store.yahoo.com/tabou-5511/linhafi.html

heres the description from the sally website:

http://www.sallybeauty.com/shop/1215/500492

try it. youll like it. hth

When it comes to Pantene, stay away from it and getting your hair dyed (if you ever decide to again). A hairdresser told me that not only does the heavy ammount of silicone in it build up on your hair making it seem like its healthy when its just limp and so weighed down you can't do anything with it, BUT when you go to get your hair dyed a lighter color, an ingredient in things like Pantene Shampoos and leave in conditioners speed up the processing time, I didn't know this and told her half way through i had put in a Pantene leave in conditioner the night before, lucky she took the foils out right then otherwise i'd have white blonde streaks

Then again others might not encounter the same experience.

Is it just the shampoo and the leave in she was talking about?  I never had any problems with the pantene when I used to dye my hair, but I never used the shampoo or leave in, only the conditioner.  Silicones do build up, but if your hair is ruined to the point where its just going to get cut frequently, and doesn't shine anymore anyway, they can help it at least feel better and be more manageable in the meantime.

Wow, its obvious you need time to let your hair breathe. hair isnt fixable from damage but you can make it so that it will stop breaking off. i bleached my hair about 7 times in less then a month and ever hair salon i went to was SHOCKED at how healthy my hair was, and since i was going from black to.. PLATNIUM... it was hard and kept getting orange, so this past time i bleached it again when my previous bleach was only two days before and it just started to fall out in clumps and didnt stop for days until i went to a salon and got a treatment done and it almost completely stopped falling out, its called emergencee` from nexxus, its 14$ for a bottle, and doing that about every week for a month or so, your hair will be alot healthyer. it really works.

dont hack it all off, if you didnt already. i had to, and i cried for days. just be extra sensitive with it, and take special care of it and deffanitly get emergencee.

circus_harlot38555.556099537

oh, and ps... depending on hair salons that are around you, you can get a semi permanent REDKEN toner put on your hair.. which is as harmless as shampoo. it will make it all one colour, but you have to go darker because toners dont work to make your hair lighter. but that will work until your hair is healther to die it the colour you wish.