Goldilocks' Nightmare

Ugh! I kneel in front of you begging forgiveness! How dare my life interfere with my blogging!! :-) Seriously, though, I can feel my soul brimming with things to say - I just haven't had the opportunity to sit down and write anything...until now - at which point, I don't actually have time to blog, but I feel as if I may go crazy if I don't let go of some of this pent-up aggression!!!

My hair nightmare has been just that - a neverending, traumatic, horror-filled nightmare, which I am sure C and everyone else in my daily life is completely OVER my obsessing about...But...seriously, if you are of the male persuasion, I don't know if you can actually grasp the significance of a girls' hair to her lifestyle. My make-up is purchased to go with my current hair color, which varies (typically only slightly) with the seasons. My hair needs to ability to be put up dependant upon weather and activity....My hair is naturally curly and extremely thick (well, was, anyway), and I have always relished the option I have to either wear my hair curly, or french braid it should I not have enough time to style it in the morning, or straighten it to within centimeters of my scalp and fool the world...At the wedding I recently attended, I contemplated wearing my hair up, but chose to wear it down and to the side due to the one-shouldered dress I wore. In sum, a girl's hair is her crowning glory.

Needless to say, I have wracked my brain trying to find a solution for the mess I now have residing on top of my head. Backing up, let me let you in on what actually happened to my poor, helpless little locks...Basically, I went in (to someone new, to whom I will never again visit) for quick highlights...I just wanted them to be a LITTLE BIT lighter...I ended up with bleach on my entire head, on every single strand of hair, for more than 3 HOURS. When it was FINALLY rinsed out, my hair fell out in clumps... Prior to this catastrophe, I had grown out my hair, into a healthy blunt cut past my shoulders and was working to continue the healthy growth...However, due to this incident, I had to have it cut to my chin, and then very very layered in order to remove as much of the damage as possible b/c basically my hair was burned....Well, with it bleached all over, I looked like a little old lady with white hair, and gradually a blackish-looking stripe appeared in the center, where my new growth (YAY!) was coming in...Well, I couldn't very well highlight it...So I had my whole head colored my 'natural color'...Other than the horrible damage and look of my hair, at least the color is now a 'normal' one... But I need your advice. The amount of damage that has been done to it makes what would be a super cute haircut look horrid...It won't curl anymore, and the only texture it has is crispy. So what do you suggest I do? I have considered Fusion Extensions, which don't damage hair with either heat or glue; cutting my hair into a super short cut to remove even more of the damage, cutting my hair super short to remove more damage and then investing in a cute wig....What do you think? I realize all of these options SEEM to be extreme, but if you saw me before and after, and also FELT the condition of my hair, or had to stand in the mirror brushing it while more and more of it fell out in clumps, you would understand my sense of urgency.

HELP!