What is mushy hair?

Ok when you say it stretches a little then breaks, how much is a little and how does it break. Does it snap or just sort of give up? Does it feel a little like chewing gum as you pull it?

I don't like the term mushy hair so much, I prefer chewing gum hair. When it stretches, it feels just like chewing gum. I was a hair shampooist in the late 80s when almost everyday was bleaching to white and having a perm. I felt a lot of really bad hair lol I would just run my hands through it and feel it stretching and sometimes breaking. It is hard to imagine until you feel it!

My hair in peak condition, I can have to pull pretty blooming hard before it breaks. Apart from what you said about stretching a little, though I think I'm misunderstanding that part, it sounds like your hair is fine and will be better after a cut. 🙂

Yeah it doesn't feel like gum (which is a descriptor I hear A LOT in reference to mushy hair). It just feels soft.

I'm pretty sure the slight stretch is the normal amount of elasticity hair should have.

I don't have to yank super hard for breakage, but it's not an instant 'touch it and it breaks' type deal. Still something about the texture when wet - soft - is off.

It's not going to be in tip top condition if you've done any lightening process, there's just no way there can be, which I'm sure you realise! But it sounds like you've been sensible and you've limited damage. If it feels fine when it's dry and you don't use silicones, then it should be fine.

You could try a clarifying wash without conditioner and dry it. Then you'll get the idea of the true condition. Even Virgin hair won't feel great when doing this, but it'll give you an idea if it's bad or not.

Not everyone's hair goes through the mushy stage. I have over-processed my hair several times over the years, and it always feels fine at the time, and I then get breakage etc a couple of months later. I have never experienced mushy/chewing gum on my own hair, it breaks before it gets to that stage.
Your hair sounds perfectly normal for bleached/processed hair. Just bear in mind that bleach damage is cumulative, so always strand test before any potentially damaging process. A relatively harmless process can be the straw that breaks the camels back with bleached hair.
My avatar pic is what my hair looks like after clarifying , with no conditioner etc. It looks OK, but i wouldn't risk any further chemical processes on it. I have pushed it as far as it will go while remaining relatively healthy.

Yeah, my main concern is I want to put on some demi dye, and I'd rather it not all break off.

I have some aphogee two-step so perhaps I should do that before doing anything.

Do a strand test 🙂

I have had mushy hair just once, the one and only time in my life I've bleached. It was just terrible. It sort of felt like the stuff you pull out of your drain when it's clogged. For me "mushy" really did describe it. I could sort of...mush it down. And yes, it all pulled and snapped apart, in fact it pulled right off my head when I was trying to finger-comb it and that was with a panic-induced heavy application of spray on leave-in to detangle whatever that...mush stuff was on my head.

So the ends of my hair are mushy as confirmed by my stylist today. He said overall it's in pretty decent shape - and he cut off a bit a my request (though he said it wasn't really necessary to cut off as much as he did). Just means I'm using semi-perm dyes for awhile.

I'm going to use aphogee 2 step tomorrow and wait patiently for my olaplex and maybe that'll help a little more.