This is a cautionary tale. And an expensive one.
Recently, my bangs seemed to change their consistency. I have coarse hair, but my bangs started to feel extremely coarse. I thought maybe it was a menopausal change in the texture of my hair, and I figured there wasn’t anything I could do about it. So I kept doing what I was doing.
Five weeks ago when I went to Sassoon, I asked my colorist about the texture of my bangs. She told me she thought I may have burned them with either my hair dryer or my flat iron. After that, I turned down the heat on my relatively new Dyson Hair Dryer, and I tried to turn down the heat on my ancient CHI flat iron. Unlike the Dyson dryer that has 3 different heat settings, my old CHI iron has a dial with no markings. Since I wasn’t sure which end was hot and which was cooler, I tried to keep it in the middle. For the past several weeks, I continued on with my hair drying and styling routine.
A few days ago, I noticed that my poor bangs had literally turned to Brillo. I trimmed my bangs, but they were still awful. I tried putting Marula oil on them, but it made no difference.
When I washed my hair a few days ago, I used my JOICO K-PAK Treatment, and my bangs and hair felt better when it was still wet in the shower. I was going to my friend’s patio to watch Hamilton outdoors, so I hurriedly dried my hair with my Dyson but I didn’t have time to flat iron it. My hair felt soft and even the bangs felt a little better. I put on a hat since it was cold out and went to my friend’s.
When I came home, my bangs were flattened in a weird way because of the hat, but I didn’t want to flat iron the bangs because they had literally turned to straw. Since I knew I was going to Sassoon in another day, I figured I should just let my poor hair alone.
Laurel, my colorist, was aghast when she felt my hair. She asked me again about my hair dryer, and I repeated that it was a new-ish Dyson. Then she asked me again about my flat iron and how old it was. When I told her it was about 10 years old, she told me to throw it away. Immediately.
I think she was exactly right when she said the heat regulation on the iron must no longer be working. I guess that’s why it seemed to be the same hot temperature no matter where I tried to “set” the dial. The strange thing was that I never smelled my hair burning!
Laurel told me that in addition to my bangs being burnt, the lower third of my hair was also damaged. She suggested I cut my hair into a short bob. She wears her hair very short, and she looks adorable, but I knew I couldn’t pull that off.
So I negotiated with Terry, my stylist, and she cut off about 2.5 inches from the bottom, and trimmed an inch or so from my bangs. Actually, my hair looks the same, just shorter. (Excuse the exhausted look, I am tired and I don’t wear makeup when I get my hair colored.)
Although my bangs feel better right now, she said that they are not “fixed”, that they will have to grow out. Both Laurel and Terry told me I needed to get my hair cut every time I come in (which these days is every 5 weeks). Ugh. So expensive.
Meanwhile, they both told me to buy a GhD flat iron. Actually, I have one that I bought years ago, but the plate is 2.5 inches wide, and it is too big for my hair. What was I thinking when I bought that?
Terry uses a 1 inch GhD Platinum+ Flat Iron on her clients and on me, and it works well. But it is very pricey with an MSRP of $249. I was waiting for Ulta to have their holiday 20% off sale so I could get the discount, use my Ulta dollars (I wish I had more!), and use the purchase to perhaps get me to the threshold that will renew my Ulta Platinum membership. But I was checking out the white model on Costco.com for $159.99 when I got a notice from Groupon that they had it as well. I ended up buying it via Groupon for $163.99 because it was the black version rather than white.
With my red colored hair, a white flat iron would be a coral flat iron in a matter of months. Black is better, for my hair. Now, I just hope they ship it out soon. The “ships within 7 days” is a little concerning, but fingers crossed!
I can’t believe that it didn’t occur to me to just throw out my old flat iron…because it “still worked”. What a dope!
Have you ever done anything like this? I sure hope not!
Hi Allison,
You might consider using Oliplex hair repair products which work wonders on color-treated hair. I use them to restore the shine and vitality to my hair, which I had been coloring for years and turned a bit dull and dry. The products are a bit pricey, but a little goes a long way (especially the shampoo and conditioner). Some salons also use Olaplex #1 during the color process which makes the home-use products even more effective. I’ve purchased Holiday Hair Fix https://olaplex.com/ for the past couple years. It’s a lower cost way to try these amazing products.
Best wishes my friend!
Amy, I am so sorry. For some reason, your comment went into spam and I missed it! I will look up the Olaplex shampoo and also the Oribe shampoo that they used on my hair at Sassoon. The JOICO K-PAK Color Treatment that I use does a good job, but I could use a more nourishing shampoo right now. I also liked NatureLab TOKYO Repair shampoo for color-treated hair. I still haven’t washed my hair since it was colored 5 days ago, because the GHD Flatiron I ordered hasn’t even shipped yet! BTW, when are you available for a chat? Let’s reschedule!!
What a bummer, I’m so sorry! I hate it when my hair doesn’t look the way I want it to. I’m glad you figured out what was going on. Your hair looks beautiful in the photo, and I know it grows quickly, so it’ll be back to normal soon! Hope the new flatiron exceeds expectations. xo