So, I Fried My Hair

Yep.  Last week.  Friday night to be exact. Hubby was gone to hockey and I had not been liking the way my hair was looking since I started using the John Frieda Go Blonder Lightening Spray on my roots, because in the Fall I had been planning on letting the blonde grow out once and for all, but just couldn't quite let it go yet.  I digress.  The spray left my hair looking brassy and it just would not get any lighter.  

I decided to use the ash blonde kit from the drugstore I picked up earlier in the week to try to combat the brassiness, and when I took the towel off I knew something had gone terribly wrong.  About 2 inches from my scalp, the front and sides of my hair had the consistency of well-cooked pasta, almost mushy, and was breaking off in clumps when I combed it.  I panicked.  I don't panic over things, especially hair, but in all of my hair endeavors, I have never experienced something so horrific.  I got out the scissors.  

This is the result:

Yeah, bangs.  I have cut bangs in my hair before so I knew how to part it and cut it, but there were tears in my eyes as the scissors went slicing through.

An older pic of me for a point of reference as to what my hair looked like.

Once that was done, I assessed the damage.  It was bad enough wet.  When it dried it was dull, frizzy, and crunchy!  Any time I touched it little pieces would break off from the ends.  I had to figure out how to bring it to a state that I wouldn't have to wear scarves for the next 6 months.   I googled and you-tubed all weekend until I came up with the following combination:

Mayonnaise, Ojon Dry Recovery Shampoo & Conditioner, Moroccan Oil

These are things I already had as I really did not want to go out and spend more money.  I put the mayo on first and left it for nearly an hour. Then very gently washed it out with the shampoo, used the conditioner, towel dried and then threw in the oil.  It definitely improved to the point that I felt like I could walk out of the house without covering up.  I went to work on Monday with my new bangs pulled to the side with bobby pins.

Even though the appearance improved somewhat, the texture was still like steel wool. I gave up the notion of getting out of this without shelling out some cash and at lunchtime went to a salon near my work and asked one of the girls there what she would recommend.  She suggested the following:

Redken Extreme shampoo, Extreme CAT protein reconstructing treatment, and All Soft conditioner

I have tried this combo twice so far and was blown away by the improvement.  The shine was back, and the "fried" look was noticeably lessened.  

It is now Sunday evening and I'm just about to head to the shower again so I will post another pic tomorrow of the progress.  Stay tuned!