new thread
Some of you may remember my frantic cry for help a month or 2 ago. After about a year of straightening my wavy/curly hair on a daily basis with high heat...my beloved hair began to break off and fall out. It looked so bad from top to bottom and was breaking off so bad on top that I had no choice...I went to the hair salon and had my shoulder length locks buzzed off to less than 1/2 inch. Hardest thing I have had to do in a long time. I cried like a baby when I got home. Pretty embarrassing for a 250 pound martial artist to admit but it's true. I've spent the last 4 days feeling nauseous and choking back tears every time I get a free moment of time when my mind isnt occupied. I've been depressed as hell. I try not to look in the mirror when I go to the bathroom. I've had to listen to all the negative comments from friends and co-workers and have been forced to try to laugh it off...but boy has all the negative comments HURT. What happened was bad enough without listening to the comments and jokes. And of course if I try to confide my pain in ANYBODY (even my mom - who has had short hair my whole life) I hear the usual "its only hair! who cares?!" But through it all I did learn a very valuable lesson. I used to abuse the crap out of my hair. I took it for granted and thought "it could never happen to me" when it came to it being damaged and falling out. But boy did it ever happen. BAD. I am going to regrow my hair. That is for damn sure. It will take a very long time. And it will look like crap in the awkward stage. But I will regrow it. And this time I will NOT abuse my hair. I learned alot of new tricks for taking care of my hair, but learned them too late to save my precious locks. Next time: no more blow drying, no more heat irons. I wanted to share my story not so I could get pity...but so newbies can learn from my mistakes before it happens to them. This is going to be a hard and frustrating journey, but I'm actually looking forward to it.
Hi Element,
Certainly I'm sorry hearing about what happened to your hair but on the bright side you have learned to respect and appreciate it more after that ordeal.Also if you picked up tips on better caring for your hair the new mane will look much healthier this time around.Just don't fall off the wagon when dealing with the awkward stage or negative comments people will throw at you.I think you learned a valuable lesson from this.Cheers and good luck on the new journey:)
Mark
Unfortunate but a timely reminder that hair needs to be looked after and not abused.
Don't laugh it off. I'm glad you learned your lesson, I say gently. Don't take this wrong, but I'm glad you feel so bad, because it will drive you in just the direction you want to go. Your feelings are good. You will do well. Depression is a springboard; the deeper you go, the higher it will throw you later. Trust it. Go with it. At the bottom is a sense of the sacredness of your being & desires.
Love and light.
I am very sorry to hear about what happened to your hair, and the thing that struck me most was just how personal and hard to explain how losing that much hair, and even more all the time and effort that you put into it, is. I put a lot of thought into deciding to cut my hair awhile back and I certainly wouldn't have expected anybody (besides people here) to even consider that it might be important to me.
Other people don't get it mainly I think because it wasn't their thing, so it was just hair. For somebody else their thing might be something special they own or created. If something happened to it, other people might say, just get another one. Or maybe their pet dies, and some other peron might say, it's only a dog.
I kind of agree that it might have been a good thing in some ways because now you know how important your hair is and you can keep that inside yourself as valuable in itself. The appreciation of great hair is a gift and you can count yourself lucky you have it. Pity the poor souls who don't :)
Take care, things will improve!
I wish you well on your journey. The best you can do now (seems that you already have) is learn from your mistake. You've been through the adventure that is growing long hair so you know what to expect and what to avoid.
Keep your head up and know that I understand how it feels to have made such a mistake and not be able to find any person around you that understands. It's not "just hair" for everyone.
Take Care