Talk to me of hair regret

Surely you don't mean the hairstyle in your current avatar?! It's perfect!

I really do hate that feeling of regret though and it doesn't really matter what anyone else says if you don't like it yourself.

In an effort to avoid it, I think my bigger problem is indecision which I'm currently suffering from. Ugh.

My biggest regret was going to the salon to have my hair bleached the first time instead of doing it myself. They FRIED my hair. I knew HOW to bleach my hair safely, but still went to the salon and I regret that big time. I ended up chopping it to a pixie after a year of gummy hair.

It' growing out nicely now and is in much better shape than my hair has been in years (as this short hair has never been shampoo'ed and has never seen silicone). But still though :(

Cuddly cactus this is why I'm so gun shy of salons, sorry you went through this! Jude i did one shampoo after a day of yard work and the turquoise is green ( I have oliveish skin it's kinda bad) and wildflower is now grayish lavender) I was spoiled by pimpin and deep purple I guess. Deep cool tones are fine but light ones make me look washed out, I'm tempted to just adore dark chocalate and start over, but then I'll have too short and normal hair and that will make me crazy Also I understand the indecision when I did my roots I was so unsure and then I went lavender, then instead of backtracking from there I went with this, and now I'm just going to have to be patient. The sad thing is I love this teal on literally everyone else but on me I think it looks tired

It is a shame your colour didn't last @Dizzinea, it was really pretty. I don't have major hair regrets as I am over cautious when it comes to my hair. I have had some pretty bad haircuts, even when I explain in detail what I want and how to do it. I even take diagrams lol. Once i got a fairly good cut, and the last thing she needed to do was add a few wispy layers around my face. She asked where i wanted them to start, I said cheek bone length. She then completely butchered the cut by taking all of the front of my hair off. I had short layers that I couldn't do anything with, like a bowl cut at the front and long at the back. It was vile. Colour wise, I spent ages fading my dark blue out so i could do something exciting for my sisters wedding. Then indecision got me, and i ended up doing it turquoise, which didn't really suit me, I didn't feel comfortable in and wasn't that far from the blue (which I preferred) It took me over a year to get the last of that turquoise out lol, so that was definitely something I regret.

thanks wicked pixie, I've had a stylist do everything right then wack the bangs off way too short, I love when they only screw up right in front where everyone can see it. If they are gonna destroy my hair they should aim for the back it looks pants half the time anyway

I thought because she had cut it right, that she understood what i wanted lol. It took about 18 months to grow out. I just cut it myself now, the thought of letting anyone near my hair actually brings on panic attacks.

I cut my own too, so this pixie is only myself to blame, :) it's actually a good cut I just miss my vintage hairstyles and they are harder to do at this legnth

Do you do the back with mirrors, or just by touch/feel? Just curious, I have never had my hair shorter than shoulder length so it is pretty easy to see when cutting

I do mirrors and also by feel I've cut the pixie on myself off and on about 8 years now

One year in highschool i decided to bleach my hair near to white while my hair was already dyed black. So i did in one 30 volume bleaching + RAW Toner. Then a few weeks later i decided i wanted red hair, went and bought loreal Feria brand hair dye in both red and midnight black (blue-black). Dyed my hair with the red and in less than a week it faded to ginger. Dealt with that for about 2 more weeks then decided to dye it black. After 3 washes it turned blue, a few more washes afterwards and it was a horrible steel green!!! My school wasn't happy and by this point my hair was so horrible i just shaved it all off. ><

The nightmare didn't end until that summer, i then dyed my hair purple and blue with Splat hair color!

Oh I have done alot of stupid things that I truly have regret to my hair! Ha! (Permanent black box dyes that have made my hair fall out for example)

The thing that have haunted me the most is when I was going to start 7th grade, new school and all. Being an awkward 12 year old with zero fashion sence, I thought that a nice haircut would save me. So I went to the hairdresser and said something really stupid... "Do what you want, I trust you!"

I came out with short, SHORT layered hair, starting from the top of my ears to my jawline. They cut it so badly with a razor that it made my virgin hair look completely fried!! Horrible!!! I have never, ever cut my hair short since!

KitsuneXIV yikes! we have been there, I in high school I tried to dye my very light blond hair blue blue with a mousse clairol semi dye, the swamp queen color was epic! Glittervindar this is one of the many reasons I never tell hairdressers to do what they want, and why when I was one I dreaded that statement, 9 times out of ten what they want is not what you want.

One regret was getting a Mohawk in early January. Highs can be from 10 to 25 degrees F. You feel the cold air a lot more without hair. Definitely stepping outside had a case of brain freeze....lol.

Second regret was using ION and thinking was not going to be s hard to get rid of ION aqua as my friends ION pink. I was very wrong! A friend applied ION Sky Blue on top and ION neon purple underneath. Two months later she began to bleach a light blue and a light purple. Well after two bleaches of 30 volume the light blue she started to bleach turned to a light mint green. Only the purple has been removed.

I shaved my head once in February, I totally understand! I am so glad I never went down the ion route, the colors either seem lackluster or permanent

My greatest hair regret happened when I was quite young (like 11) and I can only blame myself for it. Well, possibly also my father, who used to do my hair back then, and was apparently a giant pushover when it came to doing whatever I wanted with my hair. (Long story short, gray hair is NOT a good look on an 11yo. Ugh. Just want to forget that one ever happened...)

Aside from that, it seems like whatever I do right after I have my hair in a rainbow, I regret it. I suppose it's because everything always pales in comparison to a rainbow! Too bad it's so hard to touch them up, especially with pixie hair. :P

My biggest regret is doing a keratin treatment a week after bleach bathing my hair to get it light enough for blue. That is when my hair started to break off, and it has been all downhill from there. That was one year ago, and I am still having to lop off the ends constantly. It is 6 inches shorter than it was a year ago, and at that point I was only 3 inches from my goal. I haven't bleached my roots in 5 months because I was getting so much breakage. I'm going to need to make the decision soon if I am going to go back to bleaching my roots or just let it grow out. I don't think I could go back to normal hair, though!

@nleigh if I'd ever had anything as awesome as your rainbow I'd probably feel the same way, @babyj I'm thinking of a forced ban on bleach myself, I'm really into the natural root lately, I'm sorry you lost so much hair, mine has never been long but I've gotten close to goal before and had to cut it sucks

My biggest hair regret was probably when I first started dying my hair back when I was in 8th grade and I bleached the entire top of my head when I ran out of product and I had to take my yearbook picture the day after! with half bleached/ half dark brown hair. Luckily, my color lifted amazingly well (to the inside of a banana probably bc it was virgin hair) so all i had to do was bleach the bottom half and tone it. However, I will definitely always remember to have plenty of product on hand!

My biggest regret also happened at an early age. I was around 13 years old, and I had a really good hairdresser (or I thought so). I shoved her a picture of a nice haircut, I had no doubt she will do it just fine -- but she cut the top layers of my hair ridiculously short, and left all the other hair as it was before, it looked horrible (and nothing like the picture I showed her). She also destroyed my fringe. I remember going home crying and people staring at me on the street... :-/

My second biggest regret is in connection with this one, as my mom brought me to a really well-known, posh salon to have at least my hair color done well (I had blond highlights, but I didn't want to go back to the previous hairdresser after the disaster). They gave me greenish brown highlights stating that it was blonde, and it cost a fortune.

Ever since I only go to hairdressers who have photos of their work online, and even this way half of the time my hair is not the right color -- that's how I found this site.

Margit, I'm so sorry you had those experiences, color is so tricky, and finding someone you trust is even harder, stylists are always so ticked off about people going to diy route, but if they got it right we wouldn't need to go off and do it at home

Exactly! Reading all the salon disasters on this forum no wonder people at least give a try to DIY from time to time. I don't know about others, but for me it's a reassuring feeling to know that I'm not the only one who has an anxiety at the hairdresser's. :-)

And if the hairdresser does well for a long time, it's worse when she screws up, because I go a bit off guard as I start to trust her.

I'm facing my biggest regret now. I used bleach bath with 40 vol developer on light blue hair to strip down colour. Even though I bleached my hair about 4 times in a matter of last 2 months. I already lost a lot of length due to previous damage and now I'm trying to avoid to loose more. A bit of background, I had waist long hair over 10 years ago, and as a stupid teen I cut it all off into something terrible, so since then I couldn't grow out my hair always getting stuck at shoulder length. Before bleaching the first time I had some success with my already long bob growing out and looking nice. But then centimetres worth of damage came off. Now I'm dealing with hay like hair that I'm refusing to cut. It's impossible since I can't style it and I'm not sure if my pastel colour wants to sink into my madness of hair. I'm afraid to wash my hair because it turns into instant noodles when wet... There goes my dream of having long hair... I'm kicking myself everyday for that...

I'm so sorry, focus on strengthening your hair, remember it will grow back, try coconut oil treatments and protein and moisture treatments, and don't be too hard on yourself, we've all made hair choices we regret, I know you can rock what you have now till you get to a happier hair place

oh my I have so many I only wish I had of known what I know now ;) don't we all?

I have naturally curly hair which I have been fighting with since I was a wee babe. I have one funny memory of having my hair cut into a "bob" which turned into a curly bowl around my ears once it shrunk up when dry.. it was so ridiculous. I ended up having to cut it into a pixie which took me years to grow out with all the horrible curly wings stages to endure. Never again!

and another regret is when I used a colour stripper instead of a colour remover a few years ago which really damaged my hair. I also had no idea I was allergic to most dyes. Oh if only we could turn back the clocks..

its ok now, and it is down to my chest, but the ends are very dry and somewhat damaged. I will probably lob off a few inches at the end of the summer to shoulder length to grow it out again as the new hair growth is so much better. No more bleach for me.. just peroxide softening and custom blending with deposit dyes.... except perhaps a few fun crazy colour highlights now and then to keep it interesting.

@Dizzinea, thank you for creating this topic. It's kind of comforting to know I'm not the only person who ruined her hair (I know it's sounds terrible, but there is something oddly comforting in a fact that other people can relate). And thank you for your advice! I'm getting coconut oil tomorrow:)

This is exactly why I brought this up, this community is so positive I knew we could all comfort each other

Dumbst thing was frying my perfect bleach blonde hair off with color remover switching from pink to blonde to purple. Then the 2nd dumbest thing was putting permanent black on my bleach blonde hair. Its so hard to get out. Can u guys help me with my hair question?

Putting permanent black on bleach blonde. Should of done a semi temporary.

hi Vickikitty, are you looking to get the black dye out? a color remover not a stripper, something like color b for would be the way to go

Margit wrote: Exactly! Reading all the salon disasters on this forum no wonder people at least give a try to DIY from time to time. I don't know about others, but for me it's a reassuring feeling to know that I'm not the only one who has an anxiety at the hairdresser's. :-) And if the hairdresser does well for a long time, it's worse when she screws up, because I go a bit off guard as I start to trust her.

Ugh! It is so much worse when you trust them and they screw up!

Dizzinea, this is one of the best threads and I love your reasons for creating it! Bravisima! ::claps and grins!::

One of my biggest hair regrets was trusting an acquaintance to cut my hair right before my wedding years ago. I knew his wife well (she was my boss..) and she had long amazing hair and I let myself be pressured by her to have her hubby cut it. It was supposed to do the ubiquitous "just a trim"... famous last words before hair regret, right?!? He lopped off almost 6 inches! My hair went from being almost waist length to well above bra-strap length 1 week before my wedding. I was heart-sick over it but what can you do? Move on and make the best of it was all I could do.

He was the last stylist to touch my hair. I swore never again and I've cut it myself ever since. I'm lucky because my hair style is a no-brainer- bangs cut at a very slight angle and the back cut into a V with the side front and back pieces layered just a tiny bit for better movement and shape. Easy peasy! :)

I think if more people could find the kind of support and info we have here they would be more informed and maybe less afraid of hair regret. I'm a firm believer in the idea that (good and correct) knowledge is power and having experienced and understanding people here who are so helpful makes all the difference in the world. And knowing that we are not alone in our hair regrets is just brilliant and so comforting! Muchas gracias to everyone for sharing their stories. :)

Hi @tcmdiva, I had a haircut mishap right before by wedding too all the sympathy, I know how annoying that can be. I'm really glad this thread has worked out to be so positive, my own hair regret is growing, and has created a two tone pink I may not have achieved othwise. I'm glad we all shared our experiences, for me it gives perspective it's hair it will grow, fade change, and attitude is everything!

All my mishaps were in middle/highschool, and thankfully very few photos exist. Bleaching my hair for unnatural streaks was pretty bad. My red hair refuses to lift, it just goes the color of orange creamsicles and refuses to go lighter unless I fry it. Perming my hair was also a mistake. I was a chubby kid with glasses and then I permed my hair into a triangle... Disaster. But oh god, the worst has to be when I put orange tips in my hair. Yes. Orange tips. With my natural color. I have no idea what I was thinking.

I've had a few really bad hair mistakes during my lifetime. The first was when I was 7 and wanted to have my hair permed. Didn't take very well and just looked a mess. Back in 2011 when I was in cosmetology school I went to one of the students for a haircut. BIG MISTAKE. HUGE. she hacked my hair. It was so uneven and choppy(not the good kind of choppy). I literally cried when I got in my car. Earlier this year i fried my hair by doing a fading treatment that had 40 volume developer and baking soda in it. It was fine the first 2 times but stupid me did it a third and it destroyed my ends. I'm still cutting it out. Now I'm on a peroxide/bleach powder ban for the rest of the year.

Yikes @ladylinkage, I only survived beauty school with any hair cause I had a chelsie and I'd only color the long bit in the front, but yeah everyone is so "experimental " in school, it's like a badge of honor, I'm laying off the bleach too I currently have the worlds smallest ombre ( half inch of roots)

Drunken haircuts! Many years ago I was watching Beetlejuice and thought a fringe similar to Winona Ryder's character would look amazing, so I got my scissors and chop chop chop. In the morning I looked in the mirror and was horrified at what my drunken self had done. Bear in mind my hair is naturally curly, it looked like i had pubes growing at the front of my head, it was soooo not a good look lol. Needless to say, i do NOT have any photos!

Oh no wicked pixie! I used to keep my bangs similar to this, or just the worlds shortest baby bangs, and I look back at pictures and am horrified, I have wavy hair too so I had to flat iron them every day, and I have a long face to boot, ah so many little mistakes

I decided to mould my regret into a positive change. So I went to hairdresser and chopped of all the damage! It was getting on my nerves because it was unmanageable and hair kept on snapping of. So I am now in love with my new hair! It's perfect! The upkeep and styling takes less time and product:) (I went from shoulder length bob to pixie). I still have long fringe to play around with, so it's keeping me busy, and now I can try so many different dye techniques as well!

@Dizzinea, you were my inspiration! I just loved your Rockabilly like curls on your short hair! In a way your pictures gave me the courage to go for very short hair (the shortest I ever had). Thank you!

@ksenia_leso I'm so happy for you! Cutting your hair short can be wonderfully liberating and a lot of fun I bet you look gorgeous!

My hair regret was about a year and a half ago, I decided that I wanted to go from the dark red I had to silver. I knew this was a big process, so I decided to do it slowly, lots of fading, gentle bleaching, big gaps between them....

And then I threw all that out the window and just did it all in a couple of sessions over about a month! It was all going ok and I was using olive oil to stop the bleach from really doing any damage, lots of conditioner, etc.

Then I thought I would use the permanent silver from poundland to lighten and tone the last little bit, I didn't have enough, and then poundland wasn't open. So I got a permanent blonde to not waste the trip. Then I didn't know if I should put oil under it, so I didn't.

And then I lost about 6 months of growth and got to learn first hand how to repair damage...

I'm kinda regretting ever putting Voodoo Forest on my head as its blue undertones seem to be stuck on my hair. :/

Oh no @ Katox! This is why as gorgeous as they are I'm sworn off using teals and greens as anything but mixers ugh!

I regret not taking the time to bleach my hair evenly before dying it blue. :( I'm gradually trying to remove it so I can freshen the underlying color. My goal is pink, but I might have to go purple for a little unless I want to bleach the hell out of my hair.

My purple was fading, and I was debating whether to go more blue or more pink/red.

I ended up doing blue, and I just hate it on me. It came out a gorgeous bright medium blue, but boy is it bad with my coloring!

I faded it a lot in one day just washing it a bunch, so it's faded medium grey in places, but I have a feeling it'll be hard to shift it back to pink tones as fast as I'd like :/

so sorry @dealinginsubterfuges! it's always disheartening when you do something it's beautiful but you don't feel it works on you. if it's really faded I'd throw on something like special effects pimpin purple it would jump start the process!

I've got the last of my Punky rose in it right now! Hoping it can bump it bank towards a warm purple.

crossing fingers for you, but sounds like a plan!

I started dying my hair soon after starting high school. Went my natural dark blond hair to black and red over night. I dyed it a lot for a few years then decided to go all black. I never really regretted any of it. It wasn't till I decided to go my natural hair color. I tried awhile to achieve a really light blond. When I finally got what I want, I hated it and dyed it turquoise lol. Its been a bunch of different shades of blue and green since. But recently I got a wild idea to dye the roots dark and ended up getting a dark brown. Well, to make a long story short, the brown I got turned out horrible and now I have weird purple/red roots. I don't think it looks good and plan to just use black like I had originally planned.

This thread is absolutely fantastic (and not just because it's reassuring to know that I'm not the only one who's had such deep regret). Up until a day ago, I'd have said that my most recent haircut -- a chin-length bob -- was my biggest regret. My hair is super poofy, it's the same cut I had when I was 11, and it's just generally not the cutesy look I was going for. Plus, I'm looking to cosplay this character with hair the same length/poofiness that my hair was when it was waist-length.

However! In the process of cosplaying this character, I got a wig quite similar to my old hair, and while wearing it I remembered all the things I hated about my long hair -- the endless brushing, the way it got stuck in things (doors, windows etc) and I immediately remembered why I had made the call to chop off four years of damaged, untamed length.

That being said, my worst mistake was probably dying my hair bright, semi-neon red a week before the prom. Never again will I skip a strand test. The bottle said pink, but it ought to have said "Ronald McDonald." My gosh.

Got home from work tonight and started colouring my roots (gone for rose red, yes it's a bit random!). Was about a third way in when my boyfriend texted me asking if I'd like a lift to the supermarket. Said yes to save my arms from carrying them home another time. He told me to wait outside my flat and he'd come and pick me up, so I did as I was told, washed it off and went out. As I was standing there and think nearly the entire population of alternative hair colourists in the area walked past, all with their hair looking lovely. Cue me shuffling about looking at my feet all embarrassed with my stupid, ugly half-done hair. Urgh.