Stupid Long Hair Mistakes? (Long)

I`ve NEVER heard of this `hair oops` before; thought I`d share :)

I have waist-length stick-straight highlighted hair that`s naturally a light brown.

Ever since I was a kid, the shade naturally went from lt brown to almost-WHITE in the summer. So when I started wearing very-long hair (over 10 yrs ago), I noticed varying levels of color throughout the length of the hair. It wasn`t pretty at all (imo), and people suggested I `do my roots` even though I had `virgin hair`! LOL! So anyway, I consulted a colorist and started having highlights and lowlights done at intervals, depending on the season, to blend it all in better. LOVED it!

About a year ago, I realized I was almost blonde all over, and instead of lowlighting again, I decided to have my colorist try to match my roots to the lighter shade of the length of my hair. She was able to use a single-process to do it (vs highlighting`s double-process), and I loved it even more than the highlighting since my hair wasn`t continually getting processed (only the roots).

BUT I hated any hint of roots. My touch-ups were every 4-6 weeks , but in september, I decided to try a new product from L`Oreal (?), a lightening mousse, to keep my roots in check between appointments.

Overall, the stuff worked great! BUT I slowly started using the mousse on my part almost daily because I`m just STUPID. :-o Of course, I soon found that the parted section of hair (about a square inch) was extremely damaged :(

I stopped using the mousse entirely (and now have my roots touched up every 3-4 weeks so I`m not tempted), and was very careful with the hair, but some of it broke off by December (it was about 3 inches lower by then).

I almost wish the other damaged areas would break off, too, because you can see where my part was: it`s a white, semi-frizzed line that hits at my ear now. EEK! However, I want to keep as much volume as possible, and a side part covers the "frizz line" on that section of hair. It`s honestly not as bad as I was afraid it would be.

But it was scary enough that I`ve sworn off ever doing my own roots again! (And to think I was going to try Sun-In this summer LOL!)