Dying bleached hair? Please help.

[Bloodheart]

I have naturally chestnut brown hair - I wanted bright purple streaks so I bleached my hair for the first time (it's overly bleached now) to get streaks. I loved my purple hair but hated having to re-do the purple every few days, so I tried a permanent purple dye on my streaks...it didn't work, instead it just made the streaks darker - thus not purple, and I couldn't use my normal purple dye as now the streaks were too dark now for the bright purple dye to work.

So as the streaks were a bit of a mess anyway (boyfriend helped, so they were lop-sided and uneven) I decided to get rid of my streaks for now by re-dying my hair so it was all back to chestnut brown. The dye I used made most of my hair darker than normal but about as close to my natural colour as I was going to get, but it didn't take properly on the streaks - as it's faded it's more of a light brown/purple mess!

My streaks over time became less streaks and more quite a large part of my hair so they are very noticeable, as the dye is red-toned I guess if I dye my hair again it might take, am I right? But I'm really nervous about using commercial dyes again - I stopped using dyes years ago as I could feel how bad it was making my hair, I don't want to have to re-dye over and over and over again.

Can anyone give any advice?
Should I attempt to dye again?
Should I attempt to just dye the streaks?
Any other options?

It's just such a mess, it was worth it for the purple but now it's no longer purple it's just a nightmare.

[Firefox7275]

Every time you permanently dye your hair you are damaging it and making correction more difficult. The first thing to do is spend some time trying to get your hair back into condition or you could end up with it all breaking off. Coconut oil is able to penetrate the shaft and is recommended for colour damaged hair - you will need to use Ktani's coconut oil shampoo method or heat treatment to get the oil to penetrate.

After that you might try a colour removing product such as Colorfix or Color Ooops. This may well leave your hair a strange shade, so I strongly recommend you do strand tests before each and every chemical treatment. Use hair from your brush or plughole for this: stripping will damage your hair but not as much as re-bleaching. After that the best thing would be to get a professional to re-colour or go back to semi-permanents until your hair has recovered it's condition.

Semi-permanents should not be fading after a couple of washes. Either you are using brands with a low pigment content, not applying correctly, washing too frequently, using harsh shampoo/ conditioner or your hair is already too damaged for them to take. As far as lasting colour is concerned water is your enemy so use dry shampoo and a good leave-in conditioner wherever possible. Another option is conditioner-only washing.

HTH!

[UltraBella]

So sorry you are dealing with this ! It can be so hard to know what to do to fix it.

Coconut oil can penetrate your hair shaft without the need for heat, especially in the condition your cuticle is probably in. I would suggest some overnight coconut oilings to help with the condition of your hair and to prepare it for whatever method of correction you decide upon.

Semi-permanents can easily fade after just a couple of washings. Especially on healthy hair. It's actually quite often the opposite for damaged hair. A true semi has no developer and just temporarily coats the hair shaft. When your hair is damaged, especially bleached, it can allow the temporary color to penetrate through the cuticle and adhere to your hair shaft, never truly washing out like intended. On healthy hair the cuticle is closed and the semi does not penetrate, it simply coats the outside of the hair and is washed off, often upon one or two washings.
My suggestion would be to see an experienced professional. Let that person evaluate the condition of your hair. I would suggest asking about Demi colors and if it might be an option in your particular situation. If a possibility, color correction could be done with minimal damage, much less than a permanent color. Instead of stripping the color you have, you would be toning it by applying a Demi over it. It can work miracles.
Good luck to you and your hair. Color issues can be stressful but they are fixable.

[Bloodheart]

I can't afford a professional as I'm unemployed.

I don't understand what you both mean about semi-permanent colours...if permanent colour hasn't been enough to cover-up the blond how would semi-permanent work?

I also don't get what Firefox7275 mentioned about using something to strip colour...the point is that I WANT colour, I need it to cover up the blond.

FYI I already use coconut oil/olive oil on my hair.

[dollface]

pictures of your hair would really help, that way we can see the color. you might have to color it red and then brown again to get the streaked portions to take on a brown shade. that's what you have to do when the hair is bleached blond and i have done it with success after i bleached my hair. you could apply a semi-permanent color like manic panic and then go back over with a permanent brown, but you should post pictures so we can better help you