From Bleached Hair to Black Hair

I thought it'd be fun to bleach my hair blonde...  because as the saying goes, blondes have more fun. Well, it wasn't and no I did not have more fun. Not one second of it was fun. The process just to get it to this level of blondness was painful. I shortened it to a week long. I got my hair highlighted to start then I went for the hard core bleaching a few days later. I did 3 bleaching sessions after the high lighting session. I had so many sores on my scalp from the bleach burning me.  

My hair still felt soft and brush-able after the third bleaching session. The next day I washed my hair and towel dried it. My hair was so hard and dry, even while it was still wet. No amount of conditioner would soften it. I couldn't brush it when it was wet and it was even worse when it was dry. It looked bushy and dead, so I immediately died it black to hide the damage I had caused.

You can really see how damaged my hair was in this picture. My hair was absolutely dead. I was afraid to touch it. The hair salon told me I was one product away from a chemical meltdown and the best solution was to just cut all of my hair off. 

I wasn't ready to lose all of my hair. I waited so long to get it to this point. There was no way I'd just cut it off and start fresh. So I got serious about fixing my hair. 

My first step was to stop using any kind of heat on my hair. I put away all of my straighteners and curlers so I wouldn't have the slightest temptation. I said goodbye to my blowdryer.

Next, I got even more extreme. I said goodbye to my shampoo. Yep, I cut down to washing my hair once a week with conditioner only.  Conditioner is very important in this process. I used tons of coconut oil, avocado oil, olive oil, and homemade hair masks. Within a month I notice my hair was becoming silkier and easier to manage.

A lot better than having my hair all chopped off and this was just a month of taking extremely good care of my damaged hair.

I decided to try a little heat on my hair to see if it could withstand it and not burn off.

It looked nice and felt healthy but I decided not to risk it anymore until my hair was healthier.

A year and two hair trims later and my hair is back to normal. I thought I'd never see this hair again. I learned a huge lesson from this. I will never bleach my hair again. The process is not worth it.