Bottle blonde grows long!

[unknown]

I am naturally blonde but wanted my hair to have more pop to it so about eight years ago I bleached it platinum blonde. It is now at lower hip level and very healthy. I maintain by only bleaching the root and only washing twice a week. I think good nutrition plays a large factor on hair and skin health.

Your hair is exactly the color I wish I could have. Too bad my hair is almost black...

[Shermie Girl]

Yeah, baby! I can finally participate in this thread, at long, long, long last!

1) What is your starting color?

I am dead bang between a level 5 (light brown) and 6 (dark blonde) with about... 35% or so grey/silver.

2) How do you get your beautiful blonde color?

I use 40 volume creme developer and a high lift tint in ultra light ash blonde then tone, again with about a level 8 ash to cool my hair's natural tendency to pull too brassy and a bit red. I am a golden blonde, in spite of the ash tint and toner. It's just how my hair rolls.

3) How do you care for your hair?

Shampoo, conditioner, plenty of coney leave ins. Purple shampoo for helping to discourage brass. Oil... The usual.

4) Any problems that you've solved (such as brassiness)?

Ash toner and purple shampoo. My new blonde is still a work in progress.

5) Last but not least - how long is your hair?

"Can I call this waist?" length.

I am so happy to finally be blonde, again. It's been a long time coming and I have been over a lot of bumps in the road on the way here. My colour isn't my "perfect dream blonde" just yet. I am tweaking it but I am pleased with how it looks so far and every time I look in my mirror, I sigh with happiness and feel as if my hair has finally come home.

[whitedove]

I have a few questions about purple shampoo and this seems a logical place to ask.

How often do you use it?
How long do you leave it on? Recommended time or longer?
Do you use the purple condish too?
After how many washes before you noticed it had taken effect?

Would love some advice, thanks in advance for any tips

[UpNorth]

1) What is your starting color? light brown

2) How do you get your beautiful blonde color? highlights at a salon every third month, just the roots though! The highlights blends pretty well into my natural shade so I have no problems waiting.

3) How do you care for your hair? I just wash it 1-2 times a week, comb it with a wide-tooth comb, I sometimes use coconut oil. From now on i will wear it up more and try to use only 100% natural ingredients though, just 'cause I don´t want chemicals near my body. I also trim it every sixth months or so, but my hairdresser is great!

4) Any problems that you've solved (such as brassiness)? If it gets too brassy I use a toner, but that´s happened just a few times since I started 4 years ago. Its a little goldish in sunlight though, but I can live with that!

5) Last but not least - how long is your hair? about 27 inches I think!

[ibleedlipstick]

Your hair is absolutely gorgeous! I am so envious of your awesome blondness!

[leslissocool]

You do not need to have virgin hair to feel secure in yourself and "fully embrace who you are". It's possible to want to play around with hair colour AND have great self esteem.
This thread is about celebrating bottle blondes, not implying that they do not accept or love themselves.

YEP! I had green hair (like, fishtank green!) and I didn't do it because of any kind of self steem. I wanted to dye my hair blue, picked up the wrong color, and instead of crying about it I rocked the green on the bottom of my hair Every time I think about it, I laugh. I think I had such confidence AND self esteem to actually just go with it, weather natural or not. Hair color to me is not such a big deal, and bottle blond can look really gorgeous!

Exactly, and you know what they say? If you want to do something, talk to the people who are successful at it, not the ones who have failed.

YEP! Don't ask me about bottle blond, mine look AWFUL!!! It was multi tone, it broke off and people STILL think it was extensions on the pictures, and when I cut it off they thought it was a wig!!!

[kidari]

I had a darker strawberry blonde effect for many years with great success. My starting color is dark brown so hopefully this could help some people. I went to a great colorist. She did my entire head in foils for highlights that she would later tone for the brassiness. All of the hair that was not in foils she would dye it a light auburn color so that my "base" color would blend with the lighter highlights since it would look like a disaster with my real hair color as a base. This cost almost a car payment though. In order to save me money and save my hair she would touch up the roots (every 3-4 weeks because it looked really bad and obvious) with just the auburn color. Every other time she would weave in the foil highlights and touch up the roots with the auburn. She would do roots only but maybe once every six months or so she would weave the highlights in all the way down because the effect would have faded by then. I would also come in for deep conditioning treatments and I listened to her advice on care and products.

I just shampoo roots only and condition length and always did a deep treatment once a week. She told me to avoid oils because they pull color out of the hair. I stretched washes to every other day and used dry shampoo in between (my hair is very oily). I always used a leave in conditioning treatment on the ends and a coney serum as well. I never brushed back then, I only used a wide toothed comb after washing. I even heat styled pretty often and was able to grow to MBL and maintain there.

At the end of the day it just got to be too much for me to keep up. It was really fun but right now I enjoy making my natural color more dramatic by dying it jet black instead of wearing my natural dark brown.

[Sisgoldenhair65]

Ohhhh, me!! I love being a blonde. I like to think my hair suits me because I have blue eyes and light skin and eyebrows. Most people think I am a natural blonde (that's if I'm not lazy letting my roots go).
My starting color is light brown/dark blonde.
I get my golden color at the salon with root touch-ups every 4-6 weeks and foils once a year.
I CO my hair about 2x per week.
I haven't encountered any problems with my color and my hair is currently almost waist length.
I get loads if compliments on my color and really I don't see a lot of people my age with golden blonde hair so it makes me feel unique!!

[EtherealDoll]

My hair is dark blonde right now, but I'm trying to lighten it one or two shades.

1) What is your starting color?
I decided to go blonde after I dyed my hair a too dark brown colour - it was level 2, I think.

2) How do you get your beautiful blonde color?
Dye my hair with level 9 ashy colour and volume 30 developer.

3) How do you care for your hair?
I wash it once or twice a week, use a shampoo for blonde hair(Garnier) and a conditioner for dry hair(from Oriflame), do chamomile tea rinses once in a fortnight, use shea butter or jojoba oil on the length and ends, and burdock or almond oil on the scalp. I brush it with a BBB when it's dry and comb it with a wide-toothed comb when it's wet. And I let it air dry.

4) Any problems that you've solved (such as brassiness)?
Chamomile tea rinses give my hair a nice tone.

5) Last but not least - how long is your hair?
The longest layer is 30" and the shortest are the face framing layers and bangs but I'm not sure if I'm going to grow those out.

[afu]

I don't know how i didn't find this sooner!

1) What is your starting color?

dark, ashy blonde (it was very light as a child)

2) How do you get your beautiful blonde color?

I have bleach highlights done at the salon every 8-10weeks, i normally have half a head of foils with a full head about once or twice a year. I wish i could just do it myself with one treatment all over but i'm too scared it would look too un-natural and blocky on me

3) How do you care for your hair?

CO washing technique (single stage), normal conditioner applied to lengths as a leave in and coconut oil when damp. Tangle teezer when damp, finger comb when dry.

4) Any problems that you've solved (such as brassiness)?

I used to use revlon color creme in platinum every few weeks to keep away the brassiness. I stopped using it while i got my hair used to my new LHC regime but my hair has now gone quite golden which doesn't go well at all with my cool complexion. I've ordered some La riche Directions blonde toner to try and fix it. I shall update

I straightened my hair for about 3 years and stopped at christmas 2011, no heat since (except occasionally on my fringe if it misbehaves). Embracing my natural curl is definitly helping my hair condition

5) Last but not least - how long is your hair?

somewhere between bsl and waist when damp, when the curls dry they tend to hover around bsl but sometimes spring right back to apl!

I hate how dull my natural colour is, i think the lighter blonde suits me much more. I have pale skin and blue eyes and a general cool complexion.

After what others have said about how most europeans can get away with blonde, thats one thing i don't agree with however! I'm english and the majority of people i know are english or european - most of them wouldn't suit blonde at all, even warmer shades. I don't think it's as simple as matching a decent to a colour, but i do agree that everyone should be free to experiment with hair colour without being judged for it. and just because your colour isn't totally natural doesn't mean it can't suit you