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Youtuber Cuts Apl Hair To Twa Due To “heat Damage”

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How do you/would you deal with heat damage?

  • Give my hair several weeks/months to revert

    Votes: 35 35.0%

  • Give my hair days to revert

    Votes: 1 1.0%

  • Give my hair 1-3 washes to revert

    Votes: 11 11.0%

  • Cut straight pieces immediately

    Votes: 4 4.0%

  • Cut straight pieces gradually

    Votes: 45 45.0%

  • Cut my hair into a shape that reduces the appearance of straight pieces

    Votes: 11 11.0%

  • Cut my hair into a shape that reduces straight pieces 50%+

    Votes: 7 7.0%

  • Rock stretched styles/straightened hair w/o cutting

    Votes: 37 37.0%
  • Total voters
    100
I can't say I would have cut. I would have probably just transitioned out of it cutting it off gradually. I would have braided it up for a while. I have nightmares about this. I don't straighten because of fear of this happening to my hair. I can pull on my hair very easily to see how long it is. I love my kinks and coils to much to chance it.
 
She looks great with her short hair!

I've told this story before, but my heat damage happened when I was at the same length as and looked just like this young lady's hair except mine came with chunks of hair coming out with each wash, weakened hair that would break at the slightest touch, and crazy tangles. After three week of riding it out, I had a bald patch and sections in the front and crown of my hair that were broken off 1" from the root. Did I mention I have thin/fine hair? Maybe reversion is possible for heartier strands, but there isn't enough protein in the world to bring back my strands from that state and riding it out would have been a frustrating experience with lots of broken hair. Straightened hair is fun once in a while for a few days, but after that... meh. Being a straightened natural holds no appeal to me.

I waited two months for new growth, cut my hair, and immediately slapped a wig on my head. I didn't show my hair for another 3 months.

I hated every second of having shorter hair. This has not been easy. I've been extra vigilant and quick to stop any practice that looked like it would lead to another setback. Every inch gained was pure gain. Not 1" minus 10" of damaged hair that I need to trim off eventually. I don't like that kind of math.

If all goes well, in one year I will be back to where I was before this cut. This, in spite of my slower than average hair growth. I'm averaging about 4.5" a year this time around, down from 5"/year. Three years post big chop, my hair and hairline are already fuller than what they were before. Everything I learned before has come in handy to create a better head of hair.

If I could go back in time, I would still chop my hair. Sometimes you need to raise the stakes to really learn your lesson. I quit hair color to have longer hair. I'm now considering quitting straightening as well. We'll see.
 
I had to cut my hair due to heat damage. I babied my hair for months before I did the BC. I didn't have the patience it takes to grow out those straight pieces and the change in texture made it more difficult to manage as well. Cutting was the best decision for me. It seems like she's happy with her choice, too.
 
I don't think her hair was that bad honestly.
I had SEVERE heat and chemical damage last year -- happened Oct to be exact. It was so bad that my hair melted off, thinned out, was a freaking mess. I have yet to see anyone on Youtube who had it as bad as myself. Mines was a combo of heat and color. I was told to just bc and start all over. No treatment I used helped -- Emergencee, DRC, Olaplex. My hair was beyond repair. I just didn't have it in me to big chop though. I grew out my hair with weaves, clip ins and was so frustrated that I ended up relaxing this summer. Now I'm 4 months post and I want to do a big chop this go around. I'm not up for the long term transitioning. There's something cathartic and freeing about a big chop. I just want to have enough length to chop and a good shape to it. But yeahhhhh my damage was disrespectful it looked like I relaxed my hair. It was a nightmare, nothing at all like this girl in this clip. I could deal with that.
 
moneychaser said:
This is so crazy to me becaus I've been straightening my hair pretty regularly for years without issue other than split ends

I think these stylists are rushing flat ironing semi wet hair which is causing this issue!!!!
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Remember when you told me to just big chop? That's exactly what I needed to do but was terrified. This go around I think I will, just don't know when. I want a good cut so I know I'll need enough new growth. I need the hair long enough to be able to braid for when I'm tired of it. Your friend's hair was really cute.
 
Britt said:
Remember when you told me to just big chop? That's exactly what I needed to do but was terrified. This go around I think I will, just don't know when. I want a good cut so I know I'll need enough new growth. I need the hair long enough to be able to braid for when I'm tired of it. Your friend's hair was really cute.
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You had another setback!?!
This is why I don't trust most stylists!!!!
 
I’ve never personally seen this. But I HAVE seen stylist use a One Size Fits Most attitude with heat straightening and even natural hair handling.
I have clients I can use wide toothed combs on, detangling brushes on, and some that are finger detangle only. I also have clients I hot comb, use ceramic flat irons, or use titanium blend flat irons on, plus those I only blow out or rollerset. Few of my contemporaries recommend or have such a variety of heat styling as general practice. They think you use everything on everybody. Or if a product/technique is truly good, it’s universal. :cantlook:
moneychaser said:
I think these stylists are rushing flat ironing semi wet hair which is causing this issue!!!!
Click to expand...
 
kxlot79 said:
So I had a couple thoughts while watching this video and wondered if the LHCF ladies would discuss.
1) Idk why but I finding watching others cut their hair (or wash their hair) so cathartic, satisfying and relaxing lol
Anyone else?
2) I kinda hoped this would be the video BEFORE her cut so she’d have time to try some Hail Mary Methods before resigning to cut off all of her “heat damage.”
3) What have other ladies’ experiences of heat damage been like?
Click to expand...

1) You should watch ASMR videos if you don't already.

2) If I had heat damage like hers I would rock stretched styles or straightened hair without cutting, or I would wear a wig or weave while it grew out if I absolutely couldn't deal with styling it. I noticed that she said she's been wanting her TWA back though (just not this soon). I think I would stretch my hair with a blow dryer like she did in the video, then put my hair in twists for a twist out.

3) I haven't had heat damage. I haven't flat ironed or blow dried my hair since I've been natural. I did straighten my hair a couple of times while I was transitioning, but I did it myself and I kept the heat low.
 
I've never experienced "heat damage" in the "straight pieces" sense. Years ago when I was in the habit of keeping my hair straight, if I used too much heat, my hair would just dry out and break. There was no warning before that; it would just snap off and the next thing I know... BOOM.
Setback. :wallbash: These people who have "heat-trained/damaged" hair that still retains length appear to have stronger strands than I do. I rarely use heat now (haven't flat-ironed in years though I do have a blow-dryer and one of those old-fashioned straightening brushes that's relatively low-heat).

In any case, at least she has a fresh healthy start. Good luck to her. I can relate in the sense that I don't like holding on to damage for the sake of length because it's just going to mean more breakage due to frayed ends.
 
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Omgosh! So sorry to hear that!
Do you remember the deets of your styling? Prep? Tool? Temp? DIY or stylist? Did you notice the damage immediately or just when you tried to revert?
Kemmie said:
my heat damage came with chunks of hair coming out with each wash, weakened hair that would break at the slightest touch, and crazy tangles. After three week of riding it out, I had a bald patch and sections in the front and crown of my hair that were broken off 1" from the root.
Click to expand...
 
Do you mind posting the details? Had you colored your hair before? Did you use bleach or lift too quickly? Did you use heat and color on the same day/week? What was your prep etc?
Also, did you notice the changes before trying to revert?
Britt said:
I had SEVERE heat and chemical damage last year -- happened Oct to be exact. It was so bad that my hair melted off, thinned out, was a freaking mess. I have yet to see anyone on Youtube who had it as bad as myself. Mines was a combo of heat and color.
Click to expand...
 
kxlot79 said:
Omgosh! So sorry to hear that!
Do you remember the deets of your styling? Prep? Tool? Temp? DIY or stylist? Did you notice the damage immediately or just when you tried to revert?
Click to expand...

The whole experience was nothing but red-flags. From the moment I stepped inside that salon I knew it was going to end badly. Why do we do this to ourselves?

It was a Dominican salon that I pass by everyday on my way to and from work. Should have known by the smell of burning hair wafting out the door that they weren't to be trusted :lachen: but I wanted to treat myself and have straight-straight hair... that would magically revert with my next wash.

Next flag was when I went to ask how much for a wash and set she looked at my hair and asked the owner how much to charge me (I understand Spanish). I'm almost positive that if I went in with my hair curly instead of a picked-out afro I would have had a much gentler experience.

Got the deep conditioner but then was left to sit and wait 30 minutes after. When she finally put rollers on me my hair was half-way dry and then she put me under a hair dryer set on hell.

I should have left when she took out the rollers and it looked a hot mess. The roller sets I do myself at home come out much sleeker than what she did. Originally, I had only wanted them to roller set it and I would have them wrap it and leave like that. But it was such a mess I thought I'd salvage it by having her blow it straight....

Let's just say when I walked out and ran my hand through my hair, my hand smelled like burned hair.

Looking back, I blame myself for not having listened to my gut. Live and learn.
 
Britt said:
I just didn't have it in me to big chop though. I grew out my hair with weaves, clip ins and was so frustrated that I ended up relaxing this summer.
Click to expand...

I think that's the risk you take when you choose to hold on to the hair, which is why I recommend just chopping it off. There was so little I could do with my hair in its natural state that a week after that disaster I decided to flat my hair at home. Luckily, I'm not into having straight hair long term so there was only one thing to do. I'd love to see stats about how many people go back to relaxing after a set-back and choosing to transition out the damage.

I'm surprised so many don't think her hair looks bad after. Same thing folks IRL were telling me. Umm, no. I'm a 4a fan and was watching the video like :yep: :up:

giphy.gif
 
kxlot79 said:
I’ve never personally seen this. But I HAVE seen stylist use a One Size Fits Most attitude with heat straightening and even natural hair handling.
I have clients I can use wide toothed combs on, detangling brushes on, and some that are finger detangle only. I also have clients I hot comb, use ceramic flat irons, or use titanium blend flat irons on, plus those I only blow out or rollerset. Few of my contemporaries recommend or have such a variety of heat styling as general practice. They think you use everything on everybody. Or if a product/technique is truly good, it’s universal. :cantlook:
Click to expand...
The assistant didn’t know how to properly wash my hair, so water was all over my shirt, she was very rough detangling my hair, and I can with clean, detangled hair that had conditioner in it, to make the process easier.. then she had me sitting there and allowed my hair to shrink up and dry out.

The stylist was ripping out my hair trying to blow dry it (didn’t section it off) another stylist had to take over after watching the abuse. She rewet my hair and blow dried it out with no problem. So I got back in my stylist chair, and she used a hot comb, (but I was hot and my hair started reverting) so she went over my hair with the hot comb multiple times. Then she flat ironed my hair Using multiple passes. She was very rough handling and she burned me several times.

I felt like I was getting my hair combed by my mother! She was very frustrated with my texture and her behavior displayed that.
I have very coily 4a textured hair. My hair will shrink up no matter what! And she put hairspray in my hair.. I don’t like that at all. I don’t use alcohol, since I like to comb my hair and it makes my hair dry and brittle. I don’t care about hold. I have learned to embrace my hair acting like a cloud, or cotton candy. Straightened natural hair on me doesn’t last.
Anyway, my hair didn’t revert back and I looked like Michael Jackson from Thriller. I went to the barber shop and had all of that mess cut off!
I don’t hold on to foolishness, trying to make a dollar out of 15 cents!
Now I wanna wear my hair straight, so I relax. I like Length. When I decide to allow my natural texture to do it’s thing, I will go back to locs. Again I like length. I don’t care for shrinkage and tangles.
 
see that's is whats is annoying to me because people will big chop because of heat damage and then turn around and do the same thing a few years later.

Lymegreen said:
I’ve gotten over trying to have perfect hair.

That heat damage was fixable.

You can get damage from any number of things btw.

If she no longer liked the effect of heat all she had to do is stop applying it to her hair!?

I avoid heat btw and I’m relaxed. I normally only get direct heat at the salon and even then I don’t like it.

But no way would I cut that head of hair. Goodness. She could have bun or twist out or flexirod or something dag
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Coilystep said:
I can't say I would have cut. I would have probably just transitioned out of it cutting it off gradually. I would have braided it up for a while. I have nightmares about this. I don't straighten because of fear of this happening to my hair. I can pull on my hair very easily to see how long it is. I love my kinks and coils to much to chance it.
Click to expand...

How do you trim your split ends if you don't straighten.
 
I've cut back to a tapered twa too many times to count. Why I don't know because it's always the same cycle with me - I grow it out only to start with the silk presses too frequently which changes my curl pattern. Thankfully my hair grows rather fast but I know I am getting older so I can't say that pattern will continue.

This time around I'm going to just roll with whatever texture changes I may encounter because I know refraining from heat is just not an option for me.
 
kxlot79 said:
Actually she straigtens her hair once a year as part of her “length checks” and even in the video, she’s planning to continue straightening once a year. o_O
I dislike that people think heat damage can’t happen in the future just because it didn’t happen in the past, or that just because a stylist gave her heat damage, DIY will prevent heat damage.
Hair changes, and your heat styling has to change with your hair. Doing it the same way every single time doesn’t even guarantee against heat damage.
Oh well.:oops::abducted:
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That's the truth right there and something I learned. Nothing is constant. When I was younger and joined the forum my hair went through periods where it simply wouldn't relax bone straight with lye, it always kept a little wave to it. My concerns was always my scalp getting burned b/c that's been my experience for years when I used a lye. Well, when I relaxed this summer I was preoccupied with my scalp burning and protecting my hair. My scalp was well based and hair protected and my stylist used a mild/regular affirm relaxer and i still over processed severely. Like my hair processed so quickly with a lye relaxer, it's never done that before. Who knows what happened this time? Idk.. I'm older? Maybe my hair was having a bad day? Lol ! You just never know. I also remember another incident about 6 years ago where I used the same relaxer twice and the first time it was good and I stretched and when I used it a few months later my hair overprocessed and was badly damaged -- I did nothing differently.
 
kxlot79 said:
Do you mind posting the details? Had you colored your hair before? Did you use bleach or lift too quickly? Did you use heat and color on the same day/week? What was your prep etc?
Also, did you notice the changes before trying to revert?
Click to expand...
@kxlot79 Hey!
So I typically normally get a black demi permanent like every 8-10/12 weeks at the salon. I never had an issue with that -- like, ever. When I'd go I'd get wash/colored/blow dry/trim flat iron.
I decided to want to go lighter. My stylist said it would have to be gradual since i have black hair --- cool. I figured that.
Spring/Summer of 2016 - 1st time she lifted my hair and it went from black to a dark brown, my hair was still pretty dark. I expected that. I washed and treated my hair with Olaplex wkly at home and thought my hair felt a little different. I didn't stress it b/c I knew i went lighter so it wouldn't feel exactly the same.

I waited a few weeks (not sure exactly, prob about 4 weeks) -- went and did the same thing again... this go around after I'd wash my hair I realized my hair just off this time... weaker, curls felt drier.. I decided against continuing to go lighter.

The next time I went to color my hair I went back to the same black demi permament and my hair felt ok .. I thought things were smooth sailing. I didn't have any crazy breakage or limper curls. My curls did get more limp from the lightening of the color. I can look back on my pics and see that.

Ending of Oct 2016 - I went to get a dominican blowout --- DISASTER. I washed my hair the following week and my hair literally was straightened from the root all over. It came out in globs, literally melted off. Literally.

I realized it was the combo of the previous hair lightening (chemical damage) and the heat from the blow out even though I got the blow out end of October. Had I not got that blow out my hair would have been able to sustain the color damage. When I was transitioning I got several dominican blow outs and never had burning smelling hair or hair that melted off my head. I think that happened b/c the structure of my hair was already weakened from going lighter.

I don't forsee ever going lighter b/c of this experience. Maybe if my hair were in a big chop state or something, idk... but going forward I'm just going to continue to stick with black dye. I can't give up the dye though b/c I/m not ready for gray hair.
 
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