Bottle blonde grows long!

[RapunzelKat]

Am I the only person who likes gold tones in my hair?? *sigh*

Ooh, me!! With the exception of my roots, which are overdue for their Sun-In treatment, my hair is all gold There's a couple length pics in my album that show my color well, as well as my avatar pic. You can see it a little in the sock bun in my sig pic, but that photo came out a bit darker than my hair is IRL.

***officially joins. When I'm on the computer and not posting from my phone, I'll come back and post my routine

[Wild Strawberry]

After thinking about doing it for a year or so, I ligtened my hair from dark brown to light blonde, some time ago. I did a lot of research before that, but I still don't know for sure what's the least damaging way. I know about coconut oiling, but I'm not sure about dye/bleach, since there are so many different opinions on that.

My hair is a1, fine, medium ponytail thickness, and a bit more than BSL
8% (I think it's 25 vol.) peroxide+bleach got my hair to a light yellow streaks
for regrowth I used box dye platinum with 6% (it's 20 vol.) it lightened to a more orange shade, but the platinum toned it down a bit - first I used in on the whole hair, next time I just used it just on the roots
I tried using wash out toners, but they wash out pretty fast. And purple shampoo.
There is a lot of yellow in my lightest hair (ends), so I don't know if I could make it to platinum, it gets kind of greyish after too much toner.

I want to know what is the least damaging way of lightening hair?
Is it best to use bleach with low volume just once and then just touch up the roots, or is it better to use just dye with low vol. peroxide more times, to get it light enough. Some expert told me, that it's better to use high vol. once, than low many times (even if month apart), because opening the cuticle only one time with higher vol. is less damaging, than many times with low vol. But this goes against my sense, I feel you fry the hair more with fast hair lifting in one session. I'm really confused. I don't mind having a bit of ombre effect on the roots, just want to know what is the least damaging way?

I also have to say that it's all true about the skin tone - it doesn't fit anymore, I look a bit ruddy in the face now I'm a paler winter type, I think. Maybe I'll get some tan in the summer and it will look better. And now I look better with different coloured clothes. But I just had to do it, and will do it for some more time, just to get it out of my sistem. I needed a change so much.

[jacqueline101]

I used to dye my hair with Clairol Balsm hair dye I don't think you can get it anymore. Mine grew healthy it was nape of neck starting point one year it was bsl shampoo and conditioner used was the old Clairol rainforest essence. I never did much to it until it grew out. It was straight and healthy. I shampoo and condition daily.

[Wild Strawberry]

What I really want to know is what causes less damage;
bleach vs. dye
high vol. peroxide used once vs. low vol. used many times, to get it light enough?

[afu]

I'd say it would be less damaging to bleach oncwe with high vol using coconut to protect. Since using coconut oil to coat my hair 1hr before bleaching i have no new visible damage I have my roots bleached (highlights) every 8 weeks using this coconut oil method (as researched by LHC's Ktani)

[Seeshami]

Original hair color:


Dye:
Good true to color picture of my blonde.


3-4 Inches of roots. Majority length is one of the Dream blonde- ash blonde dye kits with Ardel no red in it. and of course burgundy ends. (which are not henna anymore because it won't freakin stick)


care- I switch between a protein conditioner and a moisture conditioner depending on how my hair feels and I always try to leave it in for a few minutes. Constant s&d, weekly warm oils and generally every other day washes. Maybe every two months ACV rinse.

[Golden_Valkyrie]

1) What is your starting color?

The darkest blonde imaginable I should think. That is, certainly, not to say brown. The darkest blonde and the lightest brown, though similar in dark/lightness ARE different. I am that ashy, dirty, silvery, pewter, greeny, grey dark blonde!


2) How do you get your beautiful blonde color?

Schwartzkopf Igora 12.1 high lift- this was applied all over once (6 years ago) onto virgin hair peppered with bleach (white) highlights. After this I have only ever had my root area done.

3) How do you care for your hair?

No heat of any kind save for when I have to have my, necessarily, dried at the salon, but even then it is a 'finger only' dry when it is wet and on no account is my stylish allowed to straighten it.

Given the length, it is prone to tangling even when let down for merely minutes. Because of this, i keep my hair in a bun. Spin Pins by Goody are invaluable for this purpose given that they are seamless and only two or three are needed to hold the hair in place.

I am pro-cones. Thus pantene is the only conditioner I will use to keep my hair detangled and give it plenty of slip. To this end, I only really detangle in the shower when conditioner is on and even then it is only with fingers. Once out of the shower I run some olive oil through the ends to seal them and pop it up in a bun to dry without it tangling. Sadly, this leaves me a something of a victim to hygral fatigue (over-moisturising causing limp, gummy or mushy hair.) I try to add a bit of protein conditioner to my usual. My choice is Gliss Repair + Volume for fine hair. This has no extra silicone (scary!) and thus I would not use it alone, but I figure that there's no need adding extra to my already 'coney' Pantene. In the UK i can get this from Bodycare for 99p. This is excellent as it lists hydrolyzed collagen as its 3rd ingredient and hydrolyzed keratin as its 4th. It must, therefore, be rather potent, and super cheap!

As aforementioned, I used olive oil to gloss and seal and such. All tools must be seamless- I use a Kent paddle brush and occasionally one of their BBBs.

I always have scissors (decent sharp ones) to hand when brushing. Though I don't get split ends, after knots I might get those right angled ends that may become split ends. I trim these.

My toning shampoo of choice is Touch of Silver-- again it is cheap (£2.50) in the UK.

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

Sadly, my colour is not taking so well any more. It is not terrible. I assume it is because the front third of my hair is perceptibly darker than the back. This has only been the case in the past two years.

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

[UP Lisa]

Actually, most natural Redheads have Cool coloring.

Cool-toned skin usually looks better with ash-blond hair (no reds or golds). Any tone that hints at red can look wrong. My once-blond brother bleached his hair once as an adult, and it was a terrible mistake.

For me, I started out with medium reddish-brown hair, and I need the red tones or my skin looks gray, like a corpse! I tried an ash-blond color once, and it was ghastly. I thought I did something wrong, so I tried on an ash-blond wig, and it was still ghastly. Therefore, when I bleach my hair and the golden-red tones appear, it is a big improvement over my current natural color, which went dull with age to a truly mousy brown (same gray skin problem). I tried growing out a couple of inches 2 years ago and went right back to the bleach, with great delight!

[rose313]

1) What is your starting color? Light/medium ashy brown.

2) How do you get your beautiful blonde color? I do it myself using Ion High Lift dye from Sally's and 20 developer. I only lighten my roots, if i want to do anything with the length it's semis or tone only. No bleach.

3) How do you care for your hair? Right now, I'm loving Joico moisture recovery shampoo and conditions, Joico K-pak, and Aphogee keratin reconstructor. I never blow dry and only straighten about once a month or less.

4) Any problems that you've solved (such as brassiness)? It took forever for me to learn how to tone because no products were working for me. Purple shampoo doesn't work, Wella toner turns my hair gray, Manic Panic Virgin Snow didn't work, so I've resorted to using a neutral blonde semi to reduce brassiness. I used to use Clairol Natural Instincts which was lovely, but they recently started adding peroxide. So I'm going to now be making my own toner from a tiny bit of Manic Panic Ultraviolet and conditioner.
5) Last but not least - how long is your hair? 29 inches. I went blonde in 2008 and have been growing it since 2009, when I started at 17 inches.

[MsBubbles]

1) So I'm going to now be making my own toner from a tiny bit of Manic Panic Ultraviolet and conditioner.[/B]

That's cool. I'd be interested to see how that works out. Did you ever try those little bottles of blue/violet drops from the Beauty Supply stores? I wonder if the manic panic will be less drying than the other blue/violet products?