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mysecretnights
October 4th, 2013, 05:35 AM
my hair is 1b M ii/iii and been box dyed BLACK for many many years, I am part way through going from black to blonde. I done 3-4 colour reverse's and just had its first double round of bleach. so its extremly damaged and it poor condition, but i looked after it really well before i started the bleaching to help.
i am currently a light brown (very orange in the sun) patchy kind of colour. ( i am naturally dark brown number 7 on the dye charts if that helps)

I have been growing my hair for over 11 years now from less then 1 inch to now. bra strap length. my hair is ridiculously slow growing, it always gets to this length then the ends just snap off.

my ultimate goal would be mid back length. my hair was teh length it is at now when i had it all chopped off, I had a really bad hair day (i was about 15) and it was christmas eve and i was sad and was not looking forward to another years photos with dodgy hair, so walking past a hair dresses i had the great idea to cut it off. that fase lasted a few years and many many colours later i decided it was time for long hair again.

I am hoping once i am done with the bleaching i can get my hair back to great health and get some more length into.
tonight i tried honey in the condition and it made a massive difference. i am going to give it a go a few times a week and see where it gets me.

spidermom
October 4th, 2013, 06:11 AM
Dyeing and bleaching can really do a number on your hair, can't it? Good luck reaching your goals.

Nope
October 4th, 2013, 09:00 AM
You should do some research on coconut oil bleaching :)

rose313
October 4th, 2013, 10:30 AM
I've heard good things about coconut oil bleaching as well. I hope you continue to take it slow because black to blonde can take months if not a year to achieve without awful damage. Don't double process and continue to take good care of your hair. Doing this the wrong way could cause your hair to break off at the root. Good for you though for doing color remover first instead of going straight for the bleach! Color remover definitely dries your hair out but it's a lot less damaging than bleach is.

furnival
October 4th, 2013, 11:49 AM
I am hoping once i am done with the bleaching i can get my hair back to great health and get some more length into.
If your hair is already extremely damaged and in poor condition as you say, I'd hesitate to recommend further bleaching if you want to gain length. Just remember that damage cannot be repaired, and if you damage your hair with a lot of bleach the only way to get it back to great health will be to cut it off.

Panth
October 4th, 2013, 12:38 PM
If your hair is already extremely damaged and in poor condition as you say, I'd hesitate to recommend further bleaching if you want to gain length. Just remember that damage cannot be repaired, and if you damage your hair with a lot of bleach the only way to get it back to great health will be to cut it off.

This!

Also, if you've been using box dyes before it is quite possible that your hair was/is fairly damaged from that. It'll depend on the type of box dye and how you used it. Demi-permanent and permanent dyes contain developer, which is basically bleach and is very damaging. If you re-dyed over your whole length instead of just doing root touch-ups then you will have even worse damage.

10000days
October 4th, 2013, 03:34 PM
mysecretnights, I've been where you are at the moment. After my goth phase (a year of dying my ash brown hair to black on a monthly basis) I did several bleaching sessions. Bleaching from black to blonde will damage your hair so much that you'll realise it was NOT worth it: you hair will be mushy, fizzy, still coppery/yellow, unmanageable, will bring you to tears- at least in my experience. I recommend you stay at the light brown colour you are now, research colour glosses on LHC to tone down the orange, and learn about various techniques to make your hair softer (eg, overnight oil treatments, catnip tea rinses). And I recommend that you change your focus: focus on keeping your roots healthy, rather than lightening your ends.

I take it that your natural colour is blonde?

On the bright side, since you are at a brown colour (rather than black) it will be better growing out your natural hair. Blonde roots with black ends can look too odd, but blonde roots on brown hair can look fine.

0xalis
October 4th, 2013, 11:48 PM
Honestly I'd recommend trimming off your growth and just stalling at your current length for a while. I do not, at all, recommend continuing to bleach your hair. However, I acknowledge that it's your hair, and your choice. :D Best of luck to you!

CurlMonster
October 5th, 2013, 12:21 AM
( i am naturally dark brown number 7 on the dye charts if that helps)

If your hair is naturally dark brown, I'd recommend trying to get back to that colour instead of blonde. It will likely not be worth the damage to have bleached hair and you will end up chopping it off anyway. Why not take the middle ground of brown instead of going from one extreme to another (black to blonde)? If you are looking for length then keeping your natural colour will be the easiest way to get there, you could easily dye your current colour brown and then grow out your natural.

norsbaby85
October 5th, 2013, 12:32 AM
I been in your shoes 5years ago. My hair looked like crap for awhile trying to bleach it back...big mistake. Color corrector, toner, lots of trims, and lots of patience was what it took for me.

Springlets
October 5th, 2013, 03:57 PM
i am currently a light brown (very orange in the sun) patchy kind of colour. ( i am naturally dark brown number 7 on the dye charts if that helps)


I think you meant to write dark blonde, since that is what number 7 is on the dye charts. And it sounds like your dyed hair is currently at a level 6, if it's light brown? I also would suggest not bleaching again, since you are very close to your natural color and your hair has been through a lot. Your dyed hair will likely lighten from sun exposure and time anyway. To cancel out orange tones, if that's what you want, you need blue. There may be some shampoos or conditioners you can buy specifically for that,or use a vegetable dye like manic panic and mix in about a 1 TBSP with some conditioner and leave it in your hair for about 30 minutes.

misspurdy06
October 5th, 2013, 04:43 PM
The best post color treatment I have ever used is mayonnaise! I have been bleaching and dyeing my hair since I was 7. Mayo for an hour or longer is magical.

mysecretnights
October 7th, 2013, 01:47 AM
Thanks for the advice and comments. While I do understand bleaching is one of if not the worst thing I could do to my hair. I had to do something. Following some really bad years I have had a complete overhaul in my appearance and weight (yahooooo for that one) I am natural a dark brown lifeless dead colour. I dont plan on having it bleached again until its got back to good health. I don't like my natural colour at all and dont want to bring crap memories with me. I using a hair salon to do the bleaching and hair cutting. I haven't done anything yet to try and get some moisture back into my hair, as I didnt want o keep bombarding it with chemical. I have never looked into keeping my hair healthy without using all chemicals, I have only just found this site and its HUGE amount of information, I am reading through stuff and seeing what would be a good idea, i head about protein over load and the likes. so i dont want to go from one extreme to the next. best get it right the first time. ive always look after my hair but always used grocery store bought products and always blow dried and straightened. so i have A LOT to change.

mayo really? putting all this food in my hair sounds odd, but just about everyone tells me a different food that works wonders smushed into your hair hehe. Ill put photos up when I am alowed to.

Jennielee88
October 7th, 2013, 02:11 AM
my hair is 1b M ii/iii and been box dyed BLACK for many many years, I am part way through going from black to blonde. I done 3-4 colour reverse's and just had its first double round of bleach. so its extremly damaged and it poor condition, but i looked after it really well before i started the bleaching to help.
i am currently a light brown (very orange in the sun) patchy kind of colour. ( i am naturally dark brown number 7 on the dye charts if that helps)

I have been growing my hair for over 11 years now from less then 1 inch to now. bra strap length. my hair is ridiculously slow growing, it always gets to this length then the ends just snap off.

my ultimate goal would be mid back length. my hair was teh length it is at now when i had it all chopped off, I had a really bad hair day (i was about 15) and it was christmas eve and i was sad and was not looking forward to another years photos with dodgy hair, so walking past a hair dresses i had the great idea to cut it off. that fase lasted a few years and many many colours later i decided it was time for long hair again.

I am hoping once i am done with the bleaching i can get my hair back to great health and get some more length into.
tonight i tried honey in the condition and it made a massive difference. i am going to give it a go a few times a week and see where it gets me.

Please be careful... My best friend went from black to blonde but didn't get there, she lost all her (1b) hair. And that was done at a salon!
I'm sure that won't happen to you but y'know... Be careful!

Saying that though I am hair type 1b and my hairs survived copious amounts of bleaching with little damage. You never know!

Deloria87
October 7th, 2013, 02:18 AM
mayo really? putting all this food in my hair sounds odd, but just about everyone tells me a different food that works wonders smushed into your hair hehe. Ill put photos up when I am alowed to.

Oh yes mayo is good for your hair! I use it every couple of weeks and I genuinely think it gives me a nicer condition than my conditioner does

Jennielee88
October 7th, 2013, 02:26 AM
Sometimes I use mayo. It's made of eggs so I think that's why it's so good for your hair! Sometimes I just use eggs on their own though. But it's real messy... -_-

Ashflower89
October 7th, 2013, 02:58 AM
Awh =( I know that feeling hon. I went black two winters ago, and once I realized it wasnt for me and had to get back to blonde, the full weight of what I had done hit me. Black to blonde is so difficult without the macaroni effect. I had my box black dye stripped with a it onlycolor remover, but. It only lightened to a dark brown. Two salon bleachings later and my hair literally turned into spaghetti. I was so scared, it stretched and snapped like tiny rubber bands. I spent 2 months babying it, no brushing, no shampoo, no heat... I was afraid to touch it. I was off work for surgery so I caked it in olive oil and leaving it in to soak for days, rinsing to go to bed and reapplying in the morning. In the end, it was shiny but still ruined, so I accepted my screw up and cut it all off into a pixie. I trimmed the pixie until no bleached hair was left, and successfully grew natural hair for 16 months.

I guess the moral of the story is, even if you coat straw in lotion, its still just mushy straw. Hair doesnt heal or regenerate like skin, its more like an accessory than a body part. I hope your hair does calm down and you can find a way to be happy with it, but remember there is always the option of starting over. When I sat down and realized how many box dye chemicals had gone into my hair, all I wanted was my own untouched hair....

furnival
October 7th, 2013, 03:55 AM
I dont plan on having it bleached again until its got back to good health.
If your hair is extremely damaged from colouring and bleaching, it's not going to 'get back to good health', I'm afraid, unless you cut it off and grow out healthy hair instead. :(

Federica
October 7th, 2013, 05:16 AM
Thanks for the advice and comments. While I do understand bleaching is one of if not the worst thing I could do to my hair. I had to do something. Following some really bad years I have had a complete overhaul in my appearance and weight (yahooooo for that one) I am natural a dark brown lifeless dead colour. I dont plan on having it bleached again until its got back to good health. I don't like my natural colour at all and dont want to bring crap memories with me. I using a hair salon to do the bleaching and hair cutting. I haven't done anything yet to try and get some moisture back into my hair, as I didnt want o keep bombarding it with chemical. I have never looked into keeping my hair healthy without using all chemicals, I have only just found this site and its HUGE amount of information, I am reading through stuff and seeing what would be a good idea, i head about protein over load and the likes. so i dont want to go from one extreme to the next. best get it right the first time. ive always look after my hair but always used grocery store bought products and always blow dried and straightened. so i have A LOT to change.

mayo really? putting all this food in my hair sounds odd, but just about everyone tells me a different food that works wonders smushed into your hair hehe. Ill put photos up when I am alowed to.

Welcome MySecretNights :)
There are three kinds of damage that are irreversible to your hair: chemical damage, mechanical damage and thermical damage.
Hair is one of the most resistent natural fibers, but it's also very thin and once it is damaged you could just try to contain the damage and slowly trim it until it's all gone, or chop it all and start back.
If you want to save as much lenght as you can, everyone here would tell you that you should quit blowdry/heatstyle, dye/bleach and hard-combing it.
This is the only way to grow healthy hair.
If you don't like your natural dark brown, you could try to tone it with several all-natural and non-damaging methods, there are many on this forum!
You can see threads around here that show how hair can emprove in only few months with natural techniques: give them a chance!
You could post some pictures of your hair so we can see the actual situation. I think you can already do it with imageshack if you want to :)

And yes, mayo, really. We put a lot of food in our hair: hair is organic, and to me it sounds obvious that natural product will be more hair-friendly than petrol derivatives ;)
If your hair is bleached, it could be useful for you to have a protein treatment, followed by a deep conditioning. You can find lots of recipes here :)

Good luck for reaching your goals!

mysecretnights
October 8th, 2013, 11:50 PM
Not sure if that is how you do it, but here are some photos, black is before, and the other 2 are taken when i got home from the hair dresser. orange in the sun and brown in the shade.
ill add another when i grab my phone and ill take another from today.


http://imageshack.com/scaled/800x600/11/8vwz.jpg
http://imageshack.com/scaled/800x600/28/vi1d.jpg
http://imageshack.com/scaled/800x600/42/cvkr.jpg

thanks everyone for taking the time to reply. much appreciated :)

I know you shouldnt use chemicals and what not on your hair, while i dont really eat takeaway or to much bad foods, I am by no means a person to read labels as that what is in products i use. everything the hair dresser says to use cost min of $35 (australian $$) that expensive for shampoo and conditioner. i used to only shampoo every other day. but i get side tracked easily and forgot about that. oh i am so bad with my hair, you people would be horrified by me hahaha, sorry. at least i am start in the right direction, ill get there one day

red-again
October 9th, 2013, 12:35 AM
I started my long hair journey on this site in 2012. I had in a moment of madness, bleach bathed my dark brown hair twice ( bleach bath is the same as soap cap and apparently less damaging?!) I wanted hi natural red hair via manic panic etc. I hated it, I am older now than when I first had red hair and it just didn't suit my complexion.
I went dark again but with henna and indigo. My avatar shows my hair after two or three full head henna and indigo sessions.

My virgin growth is sooo much fuller, bouncy, shiny and not to mention strong than the ends. My hair grows fast too unlike yours but I am noticing long so much length increase, it is snapping off somewhere in the damaged area.
I reckon that is what is to blame for your stall in length, the damaged black hair (as was) is snapping off when it gets just too damaged and dry resulting in you thinking your hair is growing slower than it is.

I haven't the confidence to get a big cut as for me it would mean going to APL again or above. But I'd say, to get your naturally dark hair from black to blonde will be very hard if not impossible. If it does work you will most certainly have a lot of damage which in turn will further elude you being able to grow to mid back.

Hope you do manage it, but I reckon stay where you are as the colour now does suit you.

Oh also, to avoid my "now I'm here it doesn't suit me" have you thought about trying a cheap wig in the blonde you are after? You may be fine but you may find it actually isn't flattering at all.

Good luck!

Federica
October 9th, 2013, 01:20 AM
I've seen your pictures, and I'm sad to say your hair looks quite damaged. I can see some breakage at the top and a general opacity.
Your ends seem dry, so you could probably find hard to grow the lenght for a couple of years because of the consumption.
If I were in your shoes, I would try to stretch my washes as more as I can and use a deep conditioner. Maybe you could try the CO (conditioner only wash) and some moisture treatments.
We use a plenty of natural and cheap products that work much better than the professional ones sold in the salons, I'm sure that you'll find the right routine for your hair.
I would start first with oiling the ends and the most damaged part. Argan oil and olive oil are very nurishing but here there are many topics on oils, check on them!
And try to wear your hair up as much as you can to protect it :)

Firefox7275
October 9th, 2013, 06:30 AM
Thanks for the advice and comments. While I do understand bleaching is one of if not the worst thing I could do to my hair. I had to do something. Following some really bad years I have had a complete overhaul in my appearance and weight (yahooooo for that one) I am natural a dark brown lifeless dead colour. I dont plan on having it bleached again until its got back to good health. I don't like my natural colour at all and dont want to bring crap memories with me. I using a hair salon to do the bleaching and hair cutting. I haven't done anything yet to try and get some moisture back into my hair, as I didnt want o keep bombarding it with chemical. I have never looked into keeping my hair healthy without using all chemicals, I have only just found this site and its HUGE amount of information, I am reading through stuff and seeing what would be a good idea, i head about protein over load and the likes. so i dont want to go from one extreme to the next. best get it right the first time. ive always look after my hair but always used grocery store bought products and always blow dried and straightened. so i have A LOT to change.

mayo really? putting all this food in my hair sounds odd, but just about everyone tells me a different food that works wonders smushed into your hair hehe. Ill put photos up when I am alowed to.

Hair is dead it will not regain its health like skin can heal. You can condition the carp out of it and it will feel better but underneath it will still be super damaged. It is not moisture (= water) that bleach damaged hair needs but research proven ingredients that can penetrate, patch repair (temporary), strengthen, reduce porosity and increase elasticity. These include coconut oil, hydrolysed protein, ceramides, 18-MEA and panthenol.

Both ceramides and 18-MEA are found in healthy hair but lost when damaged, so they might sounds like artificial chemicals but are actually as natural as you can get. Panthenol is a pro-vitamin, hydrolysed just means the protein molecules have been 'chopped up' to be small enough to penetrate and bond to hair, larger protein molecules cannot.

Most mayonnaise contains non penetrating oils like sunflower and a tiny bit of non penetrating protein, it will not fix damaged hair. Some foods can work - gelatin for hydrolysed protein, coconut oil, olive oil can all penetrate; honey and sugar syrups are nice humectants (attract water).

Please run strand tests on shed plughole hair before doing any more chemical treatments, also always bleach over the top of a heavy coconut oiling and ideally also after a hydrolysed protein treatment: both can reduce the amount of damage caused.

AmberLouise
October 9th, 2013, 07:53 AM
I went from dyed black to blonde. When I did it at first I thought only the ends were really danged so I cut them off. The damage just kept working up the length and it didn't seem to matter how many times I trimmed the ends. I finally just chopped all my hair off into a pixie cut. I was afraid the split ends from the damaged hair would start working their way up the new growth. My point being that it might not be worth it to try to baby the already damaged hair as you grow out because it might cause damage to the new growth as well. Whatever you do, good luck!

mysecretnights
October 10th, 2013, 02:42 PM
im going sometime today to get my hair cut. going to get it a few inches shorter (so its still past my shoulders, and thin it out and a ad layers, most of the damage is in one patch at the back. cant do to much about because of where it is, but i figure giving it a good cut will help remove some of the damage, il do it a few more times as it grows.
i have always wanted almost waist length hair but i think that isnt going to ever happen for me, and i am really enjoying being so much lighter. so might keep it a bit shorter then im used to while i play around with the colour. and not worry about growing it.