What's your WORST hair disaster?

[hairbrain]

As I scroll through all the threads and our problems & solutions, I'm reminded of a few of my own hair disasters and was wondering how many of us have experienced the same things and what we did to resolve them.

Ok, I'll start:

years ago, when I was fascinated by hair color, I had gotten a few highlights that turned out to be too "chunky". (Salon: $60 or so). So I bought some hair color at most likely CVS (Convenience Store color: $6.00) which turned my hair waaaay too dark-almost black. I then went to Sally's (eek I have chills just remembering this now) and bought my own concoction of color and developer or whatever to re-lighten my hair (more hair color/crap: $15.00 or so) and proceeded to experiment on my own poor head of hair. No salon experience or special schooling; no no; I have "faith" that I can do this, you see. So I make my purchase and go home. (shoot, I think I even had a coupon)
Now, I have a towel on my head after rinsing it out, my poor boyfriend (now husband) is waiting to see what color I'm going to be now after hearing me cry and complain all day long.
The towel comes off, and oh my god!! my hair is ORANGE!!! You may be thinking, oh she's exaggerating-no. It was not red, not auburn;
no word of a lie it's bozo the clown freaky orange.
This is me:----> Talk about scared.
Then I believe I cried for a few hours
So I have to make an emergency appointment at a salon for corrective color (lets see thats about another $50 bucks or so).

Highlights..............................$60

Dark Color.............................$ 6

Bozo the Clown......................$15

Corrective color......................$50

Having a man that stuck with me through all THAT....priceless

I can't even imagine how my hair survived.

Anyone want to share their nightmares???

[Teacherbear]

My most recent "worst hair disaster" was those long, dread-like knots that I got after rolling my hair on tight curls, not picking through it to loosen them much, then going dancing for several hours. It was HORRIBLE!!!

Then there was the horrible attempt at a Dorothy Hamil wedge <shudder>.

[Winifred]

My worst hair disaster is really a series of disasters. I had been getting my hair highlighted for about 6 years in my twenties, only once or twice a year and very little, by an extremely good stylist in order for my sun-bleached ends to match my darker roots. He did an excellent job not overlapping the bleach and getting it only as blonde as the ends had become naturally with sun exposure. Well, then the stylist retired and I spent less and less time in the sun, got a little older, and the difference between my roots and ends was getting much greater. So, I went to a new stylist. She did a so-so job, but then I moved across the country.

I couldn't find it in myself to fork over the money or the trust to have someone highlight my hair anymore so I did it myself. Yep, the whole hook, cap and bleach method, right in my very own bathroom, even tried foils a couple of times. I did very little in the beginning, and it was OK, but then I got more brave, and my hair became more orange. So, I went weeping into salon after salon, looking for a decent stylist. I never found one. The last guy who put bleach in my hair was the rudest stylist ever. He was nearly BALD at age 35 or so (nothing against bald ones, of course) and made me feel like I was the one with ugly, ruined hair. I tried to give him the "history" of my hair so he would know best what to do. His response? "I don't want to hear about the past, I will tell you what is going to fix this mop of hair!" RUDE! Why did I not run out of the salon? I have NO idea. Worst mistake ever...I left the salon with a $200 bill (no joke, and this doesn't include tip) and streaked hair of dark brown and white blonde (neither of which are natural to my head). My husband, who always loves my hair, had a look of horror when he saw the results. That began my quest for more natural, healthy, long hair.

[Blondiesturn]

Hairbrain that sounds like a nightmare!
I have to be very careful when I lighten my "greys" as I have a slight strawberry tint to my natural color and I too become bozo if I mess up!
I had waist length 1AFi for 10 years when my best friend talked me into a "Spiral". "You do mine and I will do yours"
Sounds great I could use the body I thought....
Her's came out gorgeous, waist long gentle curls. She was sooo happy.
Me on the other hand, OMG, FRIED to a crisp!
My hair broke off by the handfuls.
So, I cut it all off, broke my heart, broke my sig other's heart too!
It has been 6 years since that dredful day and I now have 27" from forhead to ends. (My hair grows SLOW)
Yes, she is still my best friend.....

[Grey_Lady]

I had dyed my hair red for several years, and wanted it back to my natural color. The dye was making my hair break off, but I thought it was all just falling out. This, of course, scared the pee pee out of me.

So, my stepmother got me to go to the stylist at the nursing home where she worked. The stylist had done color correction before, but back when she was still learning the trade. Since she had been at the nursing home, she had only done the cuts and perms all the old ladies get.

Long story short, my hair had to be stripped 3 times in 3 months. The last time it was done, it was literally a wet ball of mush. Handfulls of my hair filled the sink, and when I touched it, the hair didn't even feel like separate strands anymore. It felt like a big, gooey ball of wet spider webs. Somehow, I kept myself from crying, though I really, really wanted to. The stylist told me to use placenta, Biolage conditioner, and some other conditioners that are marketed for African Americans. Eventually I grew it all out and chopped it off. I am never doing that again.

[chamogirl]

trying to dye too lightened hair not once but twice in my life time darker - turned olive green both times - never did that again

[Quirky]

I've had many, many hair disasters. Men's haircuts, pink hair, baby-poop green hair. Ugh...

[Mare of Earth]

Ouches.
Well. I suppose my worst hair disaster was when we were living in Mexico City. One of our former maids was attending beauty school (THE thing to do in the 80's, as I recall) and decided to put my hair in little tiny braids to make it kinky. Well, once all the braids were done (several hours later) the two of us had the brilliant idea to put in perming solution. (I was just out of third grade - she was late teens/early 20's)
Well.... my hair came out like sheeps wool. I loved it (I didn't know any better back then - I just knew that no one commented when I didn't brush it) My mom, on the other hand, hated it.
We were in the middle of moving, and that summer was the summer of the great family vacation. *sigh* Once we got to my grandmas house, my mom started soaking my hair in V05 hot oil treatments. When that failed to do what she wanted, she hauled me off to the local salon, and had all the damage cut off.
Which means, that for all the pictures of our big summer vacation, I am the round-faced chubby kid in the brightly colored clothes (I still liked yellow back then, and my favorite shorts had palm trees on them.....)with the awful, Tina Turner-esque hairdoo, since the undamaged hair was only about 2-3 inches long, and was of even length all over my head.

And every time they haul out the "Big Vacation" pictures..... *shudder*

[Cegirls]

great thread, i have lots of experience here... LOL

in high school, even though i continually highlighted my bsl hair, blew it dry and used the curling iron on it every day, it was in amazingly good condition... i got a wild hair to highlight it myself one day, thinking i would do "chunking" on my own, and it turned into a pretty much white/with brown roots mess. even after several conditions, and some loving care ash brown - it miracuously turned out beautiful. THEN, I pushed the limit - i convinced someone to straighten it for me... THEN, i tried to go platinum a week later... oh my. i was getting splits when i tried to cut a split. ugh. i ended up cutting it to chin-length. ouch.

LOL then even into my early twenties, i colored and highlighted continously... LOL what a mess... only in the last 3-4 years have i been taking special care of my hair. seems as i get older, it gets more sensitive, and less likely to recover...

[Chameleon]

When I was about 8 I got my waist length hair cought around a button on the backrest of the sofa. Instead of getting adult help I had my best friend get a pair of scissors and cut my hair that was wrapped around the button.

Now I understand why my mom was so horrified.

[Butters]

My biggest mistake was a couple of years ago. I got impatient and decided that I needed long hair right then. So I got extensions. I got the type where you braid it and then they are kind of sewn in. They looked awful. She didnt put enough extensions in to look real with my very thick hair. I had a mushroom head. She decided she needed to blend it in and then proceeded to hack around cutting off extensions and my hair at the same time.

As if this all wasnt bad enough, they hurt. I couldnt sleep at night because of the lumps in my head where the braids were. I also couldnt wash my scalp properly. Additionally my hair took foever to dry and this completely irritated my scalp.

About a week after getting them I got some kind of virus and was stuck in the bed for a week and just generally felt crappy for weeks afterward. So it never got styled or cared for and thus looked like I was growing out a mullet.

They lasted a month. (They couldve stayed in longer.. she had those suckers in tight.) I couldnt take it anymore and had my husband carefully snip the threads to remove the hair. The hair was cut so crooked I really debated going back and showing these people what a horrible job their stylist had done. (I should've. ) And of course my real hair was cut just as badly if not worse.

I was stuck like this for several months, because I refused to have anyone besides my Mom ever touch it again. When I finally made a trip home she evened it all out and gave me a very not me cutesy style, that I have been growing out since.

Here's me with the extensions:

[hairbrain]

oh! I just remembered another one:

get ready to wince...

This one was a disaster (nightmare) for my sister, because she had the whole thing (mid-back and very thick curly hair) in a ponytail and... I ..uh....I cut the whole thing off!!
I still don't remember why (echos of my mom: "why? why? why?) I just remember the slow-motion of the elastic as it
fell so tenderly to the floor. The hair was in my hand.
So I hid it in the toybox and ran.

Gimme a break I was only like 7. (she was 6)

This was my mom:



<<< running to hide >>>

[cortese]

Originally Posted by hairbrain

Anyone want to share their nightmares???

Just the incompetent chop job I got last time, and I'll never ever get that done again. The woman had no idea how to handle hair like mine. She actually wanted to wash it to make it "easier to handle." Sure -- if you don't mind handling hair that weighs forty pounds. She was completely, utterly at a loss to cope, and ended up chopping about eight inches off of it.

Lesson learned: never go to a woman with a short, bleached, poodle-cut to get waist-length, dark brown hair trimmed.

The best trim I ever got was by a man with longish, dark, wavy hair. And from now on, it's Feye's method for me.

[LisaMM]

Throughout most of my childhood my mom made me get my hair cut in this very short, layered thing. My aunt did it and she was a horrible hair dresser, but it was a free hair cut and I shouldn't complain (according to mom). I still cringe looking at pics of myself then, I hated my hair so bad I always wanted to hide.

Most of the 80's was disasterous for my hair even though I thought I looked hot!! It was the typical big hair with high bangs. Permed and bleached to the max. I remember feeling my scalp after a perm and feeling all those little, stiff broken off hairs. My poor hair!

About 5 years ago I played around with Clairol and my hair was rather orange, then to counter act that I tried some kind of (can't remember what it's called) drabber(??) solution to counteract the orange and my hair took on a greenish cast. Nice. So I grew all that out, keeping my hair at about chin length, until all the damage and color was out, and have been growing it out ever since.

[BigChiefHoho]

Well, besides cutting my waist-length hair into a 1" spikey job, I haven't really had any real nightmares. Of course, I was involved in one that happened to a then-friend of mine... I was about ten, and decided it'd be fun to pick all the burrs on the bushes around my grandparents' house and make them into a big ball. And I did. It was nearly the size of a basketball. So my sister and I started throwing it around. And where did it eventually come to rest...? In the thick BSL hair of my pal. Ouch. She had to get it cut about ear-length.