My hair is really short. just above my earlobe. and its horribly damaged. HELP?

Ok so for about a year or so I obsessively dyed my hair. i did it way too often and changed the colors too drastically. i noticed that my hair was becoming fried but i just kept cutting off the ends. eventually my hair got short since i was constantly cutting off the dead fried hair. now my hair is very short. its just above my earlobe. and its all kinda fried and damaged.i cut off most of the damage. but the rest of the hair is still pretty dry and damaged too. i dont want to shave my head . do i just hafta keep conditioning it and wait slowly and patiently for it to grow. i kno ppl always say to cut off whatever hair is damaged but my hair is already short and whats left of it is damaged. so that would mean id hafta shave my head. which i dont wana do. any advice? im getting depressed.i wear clip in extensions alot bcuz i hate how short and fried my real hair is. but its goin to take forever for it to grow out on its own. HELPPPP