Since the first day I got my hands on an old school Conair straightener, I’ve been obsessed with hair. Between cutting my hair and changing the color, I’ve experimented with tons of looks since my pre-teen years. With experimentation, has also come tons (and I mean tons) of damage. Being blonde is no easy task and when you like change as much as I do – the constant color changes can quickly ruin a blondes mane.

This is exactly what happened to me in 2013. I had just competed in my first bikini competition and I was ready for a little change. I decided to cut some blunt bangs and then weeks later darken up my blonde color with ombre. After spending 2 weeks in Italy, my hair was very faded, so I decided to highlight my hair again. A few weeks later – I wanted to go even lighter. By December 2013, my hair was very fragile, thin, and it was breaking mid-shaft. I knew I needed to do something drastic so I decided to cut off all my hair in a pixie (gulp)…

I absolutely LOVED my bold new look – but once again… more damage approached. When I cut my hair, I also bleached the whole thing platinum blonde. Remind me to never do this again – that upkeep was horrendous. I had to dye my roots every 3 weeks so I didn’t have a dark line down the middle of my hair. I’ve been seeing the same colorist since I was 19 (she’s amazing), but she works about an hour from where I live. Unable to justify taking off a full day of work every three weeks, I found a guy downtown Chicago to do my touchups. Well – unfortunately, he burned off a HUGE chunk of my hair and damaged it so bad that I couldn’t get a hairbrush to comb through my ends. In a panic, the hair dresser convinced me to dye my hair brown so that I could continue to let it grow and get it healthy.

So here I was, with a dark chocolate brown pixie and I was essentially on the verge of an identity crisis. After a few months of being brunette, I started to slowly put highlights back in my hair and gave it one last healthy chop in June 2014. I’ve been growing out my hair ever since! At first, it was a pain!!! Lots of stocking hats came in handy but here I am in October 2015 with hair past my shoulders!!!

Every time I see someone that I haven’t visited with in a bit – they comment about how quickly my hair has grown! Even today – a neighbor of mine who I’ve met maybe three times, shockingly couldn’t believe how long my hair has gotten over the last year. I figured – as a hair obsessor – it is my beauty duty to share how I was able to not only repair my hair but also grow it out so quickly!

Check out my video below for all the deets and feel free to comment with some of your cringe-worthy hair jobs you’ve experienced, too!

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/embed?listType=playlist&list=UUJrRdhNX0jxPfo7mD8LVEOA[/embedyt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1F-tAIHTIo

-DBB