Tuesday, August 5, 2008

The day I burned my hair off

Here is a little story for you all. It started out as a quite the horror, but, now that things are still intact, it is a bit humorous.
The Day I Burned My Hair Off
One day, I got a new blow dryer.....
It started out on a day just like any other, I was shopping at TJMax. I had been on the hunt for a new blow dryer for quite some time (I'd say 7 months at least). And then I saw it, the blow dryer, not just any blow dryer, but the BaByliss. That was the beginning of a very unpleasant incident.

So, of course I bought it, it looked super cool, futuristic even. I ran it home and took the opportunity to use it right away.

I washed my hair and put in my gel. Excitedly I broke the blow dryer out of the package and started drying my hair. After just a few short minutes, I smelled something burning, I quickly turned off the dryer and checked it out. It did not seem to be overheated. I scratched my head, at a loss as to what the smell was from.

Well, I was not mystified for long. I moved my hand from my head and came away holding a chuck of hair. Dumbstruck, all I could do was stare.

A cold sick feeling (a really bad bad feeling) started to sink into my stomach. I flipped my head up and looked in the mirror. I frantically started to finger comb through my hair and was appalled to see so much of it coming away in my hands, I completely panicked and started running around the room crazily.

My first call was to my hairdresser roommate. She told me to put it in a bun and stop touching it. That made sense.
Next, still completely in a horrified shock, I called all of my sisters-no answers.

There I was in my most desperate time of need and all I could get was answering machines! B soon called me back and I semi screaming, semi sobby told her I had burned all my hair off. She acted very calm and asked me to explain myself but I could not get the words out. All I could say is "I have burned all my hair off!" Boo's response was, "I'll be right over".

After I got off the phone with B I laid down on the floor of my bedroom and cried away, feeling rather desolate over the loss of my hair. After about 5 min I had to stop (I did not want to get unattractive red eyes, which, in combination with my future hairless head would be completely unsightly)

I gathered myself together and mustered up the courage to take another look. I walked slowly to the mirror. With trembling fingers I began to carefully comb through the remaining hair on my head. After approx 10min, I realized not much was coming out anymore. I was pleased to see that, though somewhat thinned, I did still have hair. (I was pretty terrified to wash it though, I was sure that much much more would come out then!)

I went to the front yard to wait for B.

B soon arrived, with her in-laws in tow. They all rolled down the car windows to gawk at me (though there was not much to see as I had wrapped it up in a tight tiny bun right on top of my head in the fashion of a Chinese warrior). Boo hopped out and came inside. I showed her the hanks of hair that had come out and she actually seemed really positive. (it turns out she thought I had literally burned my hair all the way off and was prepared to take me to a hair salon for an Afro cut that afternoon) Seeing that I had hair at all, B was pleasantly surprised. She convinced me that things would be OK, and that the situation was not nearly as desperate as I had initially thought.

After all was said and done, I took my hair out of its bun and went back outside. The in-laws were all quite nice and told me they could not even tell I had suffered a catastrophe. They proceeded to take me to hot dog stand with them, which bolstered my spirits significantly and, by the time I returned home, I felt much more the thing.

Now, several months later, my hair has recuperated and I find that I can talk of the incident without too much inner turmoil. I would even say I am nearly completely healed.

-I returned the blow dryer of course and purchased a safer, standard model.

7 comments:

furrever said...

I forgot all about this! That was quite humorous (that is once we determined your hair wasn't truly all burnt off--prior to that we were all quite worried for you).

krista said...

I remember being very worried for you and your hair! I was really expecting the worst. I am glad to hear that your hair is completely better.

p.s. I have recently been told by my hairdresser that my blow dryer has burned my hair. I know, pretty scary. I am now on the search for a new blow dryer.

dede said...

Oh I remember this horrible day. I am very happy to hear that you have fully recovered.

Elissa said...

How awful! Glad to hear you are fully recovered.

earthlierforce said...

I happened upon this post because this morning, I burned part of my hair off with my blow drier. And it is with A BABYLISS HAIRDRIER!

I'm still not sure how it even happened. I wasn't doing anything different than I normally do. But I too smelled burning and I thought it was the drier. But then I looked in the mirror and saw my hair melted into my brush. The bristles and my hair were melted into my brush. I stood there looking at my hair in my hands shaking in disbelief that it all just broke off. Thankfully it was only a part of the hair on the back of my head, hidden by the rest of my hair. But I'm still pretty traumatized.

Marybeth from BabySavers.com said...

I know this is an old post but I wanted to add that I just burned my hair with a Babyliss hair dryer. I've had it for at least a year and this was my first mishap but it was a big one!

Unknown said...

The same exact thing happened to me. Lucky I have a lot of hair but I thought that all my hair was going to fall out and I was gonna go bald. Thank goodness that the majority of my hair that fell out has grown back after a few months. Imagine being in high school and this happening to you. I thought my life was over.