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Hey guys, I need help. I've been growing my hair out since August 06, and it's about 7-8 inches now.
Anyway last night, I did something foolish, and some of my bangs caught on fire (a section above my right eye). The smell was terrible, and I started to freak out, so I put a lot of olive oil in it and shampooed it multiple times.
The hair doesn't LOOK so bad, and I didn't seem to lose a lot of length, but it feels dry and dead for about 3-4 inches at the end.
My great fear is that, cutting off this much is going to set me back. Or should I not worry about it and try to let it grow as is, since my roots are completely fine? Or is there something else that I can do.
I don't really want short hair again :(
A tragic accident with the barbecue? Or was alcohol involved? Or should I ask...
I had the tips of my hair burnt before, when it was much shorter as I was standing too close to a barbecue when someone lit it. The smell was bad, but I didn't notice much damage. At the time, I was shaving my head about once a month so it was hard to tell if the hair was damaged badly. But, based on damage from hair dye (similar damage IMHO), the only way to fix it was to trim off the tips so the split ends wouldn't travel upwards. Probably not what you want to hear, but that's been my experience.
I tried lighting a cigar on a stove.
And yeah, I don't really want to trim it. Everyone says that it doesn't look too bad, but how it feels really concerns me.
Must been a gas stove. Your hair may look OK, but if it feels rough, as compared to the rest of your hair, it may have been damaged. My guess is the damage may be comparable to colored or frequently blow-dried hair. You may be able to leave it for now, but next time you go for a trim if it's started splitting, you may need to trim off a bit more than you were hoping to. In any case, good luck!
If your hair acts the same as damage from over-application of hair "care" products, it is not necessary to trim off the damaged areas. They will flake off by themselves if the damage is bad enough, and in the meantime they will help hold your hair in place. Hair damage, contrary to an old wives' tale, does not usually "travel up the shaft" into healthy hair.
When I changed hair care routines to put an end to deteriorating hair and split ends, I just left the damaged hair there. It grew out further from my scalp as time went on, and some of it eventually flaked off. In the end, I just had hair without damage. No hair strands had damage spread into the undamaged areas.
If you WANT to trim off the damage for aesthetic reasons, of course that is a different consideration.
Bill
Thanks for the advice guys. I was just worried about having growth problems and needing a 2 inch trim. I'm just going to go ahead and continue growing it.
Hi, Howland, I'm sorry to hear about your accident! I've burnt my hair ends several times while smoking and was really pissed but it was just like a few millimetres. And these hairs formed hooks but never split and finally I think they're very few of them now, probably most have fallen (but then again I only burned 5 or 6 hair ends)
I'm not sure if it's better to trim it or not, why don't you try waiting for a month and see how it goes though burnt hairs won't heal. My ends were dry too but if the roots are fine and growth continues, so what? When you reach the stage at which you feel comfortable with cutting length you can get rid of these ends then =}