Hi all! New here, hoping to undo 10 yrs of straightening + 4 yrs of bleach damage

[QueenLapis]

Hi all,

Long time lurker, first time poster! I have 2a-2b hair that I have been religiously straightening (from ~15-26 years) and more recently bleaching. My hair used to grow extremely quickly with very little breakage, but in the last few years it breaks pretty severely before it reaches mid-back. I have also had a lot of pretty terrible stress in my life in the last few years, so this has likely exacerbated the hair loss.
Currently my hair is a bit longer than armpit length.

Two weeks ago I threw out my straightener, blow-drier, and cancelled all of my hair bleaching appointments. At first hair looked pretty wild and a matted frizz bomb but in just two weeks of only using L'occitane shampoo, conditioner, + a bit of oil as leave-in, it is so much smoother and shiny. The ends are still dry but I will keep doing regular trims.

What is annoying is I've noticed that my hair is only a bit wavy...it really didn't need to be fried by heat three times a week but oh well...

I am going to start using rosemary + castor oil from my roots to ends in the day before my shower. Hopefully my hair will grow to my waist in the next two years! If you have any suggestions for how to grow fine, fragile, heat AND chemically damaged hair please let me know!

[Fiorentina]

Welcome

[shelomit]

Howdy, good to meet you! Admittedly hair can change with age, but I expect that you will see your old growth pattern/resilience back now that you have cut out two big sources of damage. Good luck : )

[SandyBottom]

Nice to meet you! You've made some smart first steps and will see improvement in no time. Happy growing

[QueenLapis]

Thanks everyone! I hope I can get my wavy hair back. Till then I'll use braids!

[Nightshade]

Hi all,

Long time lurker, first time poster! I have 2a-2b hair that I have been religiously straightening (from ~15-26 years) and more recently bleaching. My hair used to grow extremely quickly with very little breakage, but in the last few years it breaks pretty severely before it reaches mid-back. I have also had a lot of pretty terrible stress in my life in the last few years, so this has likely exacerbated the hair loss.
Currently my hair is a bit longer than armpit length.

Two weeks ago I threw out my straightener, blow-drier, and cancelled all of my hair bleaching appointments. At first hair looked pretty wild and a matted frizz bomb but in just two weeks of only using L'occitane shampoo, conditioner, + a bit of oil as leave-in, it is so much smoother and shiny. The ends are still dry but I will keep doing regular trims.

What is annoying is I've noticed that my hair is only a bit wavy...it really didn't need to be fried by heat three times a week but oh well...

I am going to start using rosemary + castor oil from my roots to ends in the day before my shower. Hopefully my hair will grow to my waist in the next two years! If you have any suggestions for how to grow fine, fragile, heat AND chemically damaged hair please let me know!

I've done exactly what you're looking to do (grew out severely damaged chemically destroyed hair)! you can read about it here in detail, and also there's an article linked in my signature about rehabilitating damaged hair.

My one caution to your plan is that castor oil is very drying and I wouldn't recommend it on your length, scalp only for the growth benefits

[TatsuOni]

Welcome!

[SandyBottom]

I've done exactly what you're looking to do (grew out severely damaged chemically destroyed hair)! you can read about it here in detail, and also there's an article linked in my signature about rehabilitating damaged hair.

My one caution to your plan is that castor oil is very drying and I wouldn't recommend it on your length, scalp only for the growth benefits

I don't know how I never saw this article about rehabilitating damaged hair! It's full of solid advice and helpful links. A lot of it I'm already doing, but I feel like a whole new world (of information) just opened up for me to explore. Thank you so much for putting it in your signature! So, so helpful

[Nightshade]

I don't know how I never saw this article about rehabilitating damaged hair! It's full of solid advice and helpful links. A lot of it I'm already doing, but I feel like a whole new world (of information) just opened up for me to explore. Thank you so much for putting it in your signature! So, so helpful

You're so welcome! I actually expanded it into a full-fledged book, but I wanted to keep the article that inspired it linked here