OC HIGH: STUDENT NEWS AND VIEWS : Hair Horrors : Has yours ever caught fire? Turned blue? Fallen out in clumps? Here’s what teens said when we asked, ‘What’s the worst thing that ever happened to your hair?’

“I got my hair caught in the chain on the swings when I jumped off. It ripped my hair out. It wasn’t enough to be noticeable, but it was enough to hurt.”

Monica Hanny, 17, senior, Capistrano Valley

“It caught on fire. On my birthday after everyone had sung the happy birthday song, I started to blow out the candles. Unfortunately, they were trick candles. When I leaned over to blow out the last candles, my hair was over one of the candles that relit, catching my hair on fire.”

Amy Middleton, 16, junior, Troy

“My hair always seems to go wrong. Right now my hair is messed up. But the worst thing that happened was when I tried to dye it blue with Kool-Aid, but the tips turned green instead.”

Dawnielle Peck, 15, sophomore, Villa Park

“My hair is the worst thing that’s ever happened to my hair.”

Alina Toma, 16, junior, Trabuco Hills

“My friend was buzzing my head and he forgot to put a guard on the razor. Before I knew it, I was completely bald.”

Brad Forsythe, 17, senior, Mission Viejo

“Once I put all these bobby pins in my hair and I couldn’t find them, and they ended coming out every day for a few days.”

Chelsea O’Callaghan, 17, senior, Laguna Beach

“I slept on my hair the wrong way. When I went to school, my hair was all right, but soon it started to stick up and it wouldn’t go down, so I had to keep my hand on it all day.”

Mike Dellachiara, 15, freshman, Sonora

“I had just got my haircut and I took a small roll brush and wrapped it in my hair six times. My mom and hairdresser tried getting it out for 45 minutes, with conditioner and everything. Finally they had to cut a big chunk out of my hair.”

Robyn Miles, 16, senior, Los Alamitos

“When I was 13, I got a perm and two weeks later my hair started to fall out in clumps that made a bare patch in the back of my head, two inches in diameter.”

Joella Sullivan, 15, sophomore, Brea Olinda

“My mom cut my hair like a boy, so I decided to wear a hat the next day to school. The teacher told me to take the hat off and static electricity made my hair stick up.”

Tricia Dianh, 14, freshman, Los Amigos

“After a swim meet in Minnesota, my hair turned green, due to the intense levels of the chlorine, and the ends of my hair broke off.”

Steve Ronson, 17, junior, Irvine

“I went to a salon to have my haircut. I came out looking like a shaggy dog, and I was quite self-conscious of my hideous new mane. I made my parents come down to the mall and buy me a hat, which I wore every day until my hair started to grow out (which took at least a month). It’s quite sad, actually. Every time I get a haircut I go home and cry.”

Nuri Nusrat, 16, junior, Fountain Valley

“Getting an awful flat top.”

Edward Lu, 17, senior, Valencia

“I dyed it black for Halloween and I couldn’t wash it out.”

Jamie Russell, 18, senior, Newport Harbor

“When I went on a trip to Alaska, there was a cave with many birds in it. The birds pooped on my head.”

Carol Heinz, 17, senior, Cornelia Connelly

“I told my barber to take a little off the top and he almost completely shaved my head.”

Chris Frost, 17, senior, Cypress

“I wanted to look like Scott Weiland from Stone Temple Pilots, so I dyed my hair and ended up looking more like George Foreman.”

Keith Davis, 16, junior, Los Amigos

“One time I cut it way too short, almost nothing. But you know the great thing about hair is that it always grows back.”

Charlie Knudtson, 17, senior, Valencia

“I dyed my hair red and forgot to put Vaseline on my skin. Not only was my hair red, but so was most of my head.”

Helen Phan, 15, freshman, Santiago

“Letting my brother cut my hair.”

Nancy Marines, 16, freshman, Valley High

“When it rains and my hair gets wet, it frizzes and looks really bad.”

Bethany Walker, 15, sophomore, Huntington Beach

“I got a haircut, really short, and the lady thought it was really cute. My hair is naturally curly, so I looked like, oh, I don’t know, what’s a good word? Bozo the Clown!”

Becky Edwards, 17, senior, Westminster

“My dad cut my bangs up to one centimeter lower than my hairline.”

Melissa Fuller, 15, sophomore, Fountain Valley

“The lady cut it too short and uneven.”

Chenoa Onlie, 14, freshman, Newport Harbor

“I cut my bangs when I was little so they were two different lengths. My mom had to cut them really short because my school picture was the next day.”

Jennifer Jordan, 17, senior, Capistrano Valley

“When I was younger, my 7-year-old cousin cut my hair jagged. I looked like a little boy until it grew out.”

Shannon Boardman, 17, senior, Cornelia Connelly

“When I dyed my hair one color and then dyed it again and the dyes mixed and my hair turned green. I had it for two months.”

Patty Martinez, 15, sophomore, Santa Ana Valley

“My best friend and I were being silly and we decided to dye our hair with temporary dye. I put a bunch of dark brown dye on the ends of my hair. It turned out to be permanent dye and I looked like a raccoon. I was so ugly that I had to cut about five inches off because I had dyed it so unevenly.”

Chartal de Felice, 15, sophomore, Villa Park

“When I was younger, my mom cut eight inches off my hair the day before my big birthday party. I was so embarrassed that I canceled the party.”

Kerri Smith, 16, junior, Mission Viejo

“One time I tried to color and perm my hair. The color my hair turned was green and my perm burnt most of my under-hairs off and frizzed the rest.”

Leesa Mitler, 14, freshman, Sonora

“One of our school projects was to make a game show. One of the groups decided to do a Double Dare takeoff and chose me as a contestant. Supposedly, if I answered the question correctly, nothing would come down on me. But if I answered incorrectly, a gooey paste of green oatmeal and wet plaster would be dumped over my head. I was all wrapped up in a plastic bag, but we forgot to cover my hair. I got my question right, but the person working the controls had the substance come down on me anyway. My hair was stuck together with a greenish tint for at least a week.”

Elene Terry, 15, sophomore, Troy

“My hair was drenched in coconut oil by a well-meaning aunt who insisted that there was no such thing as curly hair.”

Priya Pillutla, 17, senior, Brea Olinda

“One time, the back sides were cut uneven and I couldn’t tell that they were uneven. Also, another time I dyed my hair a weird color and part of it turned green.”

Coleen Crowley, 17, senior, Irvine

“I tried to dye it red for a talent show and it turned magenta.”

Kristi Matoba, 17, senior, Cypress

* Responses gathered by Tricia Michels, Fountain Valley; Ling Lu, Valencia; Katrina Tangen, Newport Harbor; Leeza Duong, Santiago; Joslin Gemsch, Capistrano Valley; Gina Tercero, Cornelia Connelly; Ling Lu, Valencia; Samantha Wood, Trabuco Hills; Jorge Gutierrez, Santa Ana Valley High; Roxeanne McGraw, Cypress; Jennifer Tobkin, Villa Park; Dan Nieto, Mission Viejo; Craig Hammill, Laguna Beach; Corey Griffin, Troy; Amber Pierce, Los Alamitos; Amy Chen, Brea Olinda; Robert Wenzel, Irvine; Amy Woo, Huntington Beach; Koreen Kalie, Westminster; Linda Dao, Los Amigos.