Hair Straightening Disaster

Hair disaster
Photo: Koldunov/Shutterstock
Q: I could really use your help. I recently did a {brand name deleted} hair straightener on my perfectly healthy hair. The package info said to leave it on for 25 minutes. Well, I didn't want my hair super straight so I only left it on for 8 minutes. When I washed the 2nd step out my hair felt gross, so I washed it right away with shampoo and conditioner. It fried my hair! It felt like warm gooey snot. I went to my stylist, and she had to cut 9 inches off of my hair. I cried like a baby.
 
What is left of my hair (not much of it left) is so dry and damaged it is unreal. And when it's wet, it still feels gooey and hot. My question is do you think something was wrong with the straightener I got? I reread the instructions a 100 times and I did it right. I tried to find the homepage for the company, but could not find it. Also, I have been using k-packs and protein-rich conditioners but they don't seem to help. Do you have any other ideas?
 
A: My initial reaction is to ask about previous chemical services you may have had: whether you have used other relaxers or straighteners in your hair; what kinds of hair color you may have used; and whether or not you have hard water where you live (whether you get your water from a ground well).
 
It's possible that if you have had your hair previously relaxed, straightened or permed that there was a chemical reaction between the products in the straightening kit and any residual chemicals left in your hair.
 
If you've colored your hair with hair color that contains metallic salts or some vegetable dyes (and in some cases if you have hard water caused by metallic/mineral deposits in the ground water) the chemicals of the straightener could have resulted in an unfortunate chemical reaction.
 
There's also the potential for problems with seemingly healthy hair when the hair has been lightened, colored, relaxed, straightened, or permed previously because of the fact that these services tend to leave the hair more porous and readily able to absorb subsequent chemicals in processing.
 
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See also:
 
Hair straightening
 
What is metallic hair dye?
 
Metallic hair dyes and perming