Well, my answer is yes.  You cannot repair damaged hair, it must be cut off.  I know its an agonizing decision.  Personally I think its worth it in the long run-you don't want that damage to travel up the shaft and make it so that more inches will need cutting off.

Be brave, what ever you decide.

Eventually you will need to get the damaged hair trimmed.  If doing it all at once is too painful, try trimming an inch and see if you hair does better.  If not, you can trim the rest off and know it was the right decision.

Back in the old days people would carefully burn their split ends or twirl the hair bit by bit, just cutting off the split ends.I can recommend these two methods if you really feel bad about cutting your hair.If the result then doesn´t satisfie you..then you cut the damaged bit....

Tuff choice!We all feel for ya!!!

I will try to ameliorate for you through sharring some thoughs of my own. Apparantly or so i have heard No matter how much you cut your hair the last inch will always have the ineptitude to look as stunning as the rest of your hair.

Most report to cut their hair and get rid of that last inch of dryness only fr it to return a month later. Its seen as almost a protective barrier to stop the rest of the hair becoming damaged to.

Exposed ends will become out of shape the quickest, this is not to say dont cut your hair quite the contary a new trim will make the health your your overall har seem muh better, however if you carry on the same practices which get the ends into such a state then this problem will continue. The key is to find what has caused this and then after your trim to then prevent it. If you are sure it is just chemical damage then i would say cut it at a 1/2 an inch per month.