Golden Locks

[GreenFairy]

I've been growing my hair out from a completely shaven head for almost 4 years now. It's now approaching BSL (22"). This past year i have been so thrilled to have length to my hair! I've curled it, colored it, blown it dry. Because of this hair torture, I've experienced the least amount of growth this year. The only problem is, I'm totally addicted to being blonde. Its the one thing i can not give up!!!

I'm wondering if there is a healthier way to be blonde? I'm wondering if there is an expert floating around.. Any advice? I've read a little about using a form of henna to achieve a golden honey look. Does anyone have photographs they can post? Is that my only other option besides bleach?


Thank you for all of your help and advice!

:blossom: The Green Fairy

[chen bao jun]

I think cassia but I'm no expert as you can see from my siggy.

[Larki]

I've never tried it (natural blonde), but lemon juice is supposed to lighten your hair.

[Valkyriejae]

Cassia enhances blonde, but it can't lighten. Any lightening will be somewhat damaging, because it requires the removal of pigment from your hair. Lemon, sunlight and honey are all "natural" methods, but they can potentially be as harsh as a diluted bleach solution, depending on how you use them or the bleach.
The most important thing here is your starting colour: If you're a light blondette who just wants to enhance golden tones, go for cassia (though it's not permanent like henna.) If you're brunette or darker, you'll need to lighten somehow.

[vega]

You could always been blonde in heart

[Isilme]

Get a trimming regime in place and be as gentle as you can with your hair and see if. you can get away with bleaching anyway. But it depends on your starting colour, if you have to lift if only a bit many people use sun-in. For example you are dark blonde but want a lighter blonde, go for it. But dark hair, no way are you going to get your hair blonde without a lot of damage. It depends on what you value the most, perfect colour of perfect condition.

[tigereye]

What colour is your natural hair?
I know someone on here used to bleach their hair, and it was quite long, but I haven't seen them in a long while so can't remember who it was, or if they're even on here any more. It really depends on how your hair can deal with the bleaching, and what you do to mediate the damage.

[fiðrildi]

Cassia cannot lighten your hair. It will add a golden shine to your hair, if your starting colour is already blonde-dark blonde. Cassia works in a similar way than henna; its dye molecule coats each strand of hair, so if at all, it will darken your hair, never lighten it. You can have a look at the cassia thread, if you're interested: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=406

Even if lemon and honey are natural products, they can also damage your hair (especially lemon). As others have said above, it all depends on what you value the most: a healthy head of hair, or the colour you'd like to achieve.
Maybe you'd like to have a look at the natural haircolour thread, it's very inspiring, and maybe will make you love your natural colour a little more :wink:
Here it is: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=127267

[wilderwein]

I have bleached hair but I'm already natural blonde so it doesnt take as much work to lighten to whitish blonde, and it really didnt damaged my hair more than heat styling was damaging my hair! It is actually healthier than 3-4 years ago when I was styling it every day and had my natural hair color! I want to turn to my natural hair color tho becouse i hate the roots showing after 2 weeks -.- but I believe even if I wanted to keep bleaching my hair they would still grow, since I didnt experienced any breakage or dryness to my hair! That happened tho becouse I stoped using heat, hairsprays and daily washing!

[chen bao jun]

There is a bottle blonde grows long thread somewhere with 100s of pages of advice

[GreenFairy]

thank you all so very much! I am going to do a lot of research on Cassia. I'm a natural blonde. My new growth comes in at a level 6 (blonette) ... then lightens up to a 7 at the ends naturally. I like my hair to be in the 7/8 range of hair color.

I'm also going to do .5" trims the first of every month this year to grow out layers and damage. I'm just so grateful to have 22" of hair... I've come a long way from a literal shaven head.

[meteor]

Since your hair is not very dark, you can probably achieve blonde hair without excessive damage. Absolutely damage-free lightening is impossible though.
Honestly, I would ask a hairdresser to strategically place highlights to achieve an overall blonder look. Always use coconut oil and hydrolyzed proteins (Aphogee 2-Step treatment is a good one) both before and after bleach: they can really help reduce damage and patch-repair old damage a bit.
Effect of coconut oil on prevention of hair damage: http://journal.scconline.org/pdf/cc1999/cc050n06/p00327-p00339.pdf
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=10495

If you have to use toners or purple shampoos, remember that they are very drying, so use coconut oil as a pre-poo and leave-in. Damaged hair really loves oils and proteins.

Things like honey lightening or regular honey rinses can help blondes stay blonder: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=148

I agree about avoiding lemon juice: super-acidic and super-drying. You can use it heavily diluted as your final acidic rinse though (instead apple cider vinegar, as it can cause slight reddish darkening).

Cassia and catnip will give more of a yellow/golden tone, they won't lighten hair, but you can always experiment with them for their conditioning benefits.

[GreenFairy]

thank you meteor for the great advice!

I think i will put highlights around my face every few months and leave the rest be.

[meteor]

thank you meteor for the great advice!

I think i will put highlights around my face every few months and leave the rest be.

Great! I hope it works out great! :D Just let the hairdresser know that you hate maintenance, so ask them to do something that won't require frequent return visits. When I had highlights done, I always saw a huge regrowth if the highlights were way too light and contrasting or placed badly. But the closer your highlights are to "subtle ombre" or soft balayage look, the easier they are to maintain.

Remember that highlighted hair is bleached, and therefore requires more intense conditioning than virgin hair, especially with penetrating oils (coconut, olive, avocado, ...), hydrolyzed proteins (keratin/silk/wheat/etc), 18-mea, ceramides, panthenol, etc.

Honey rinses help keep the highlights looking brighter, and honey is a nice humectant to use. To keep brassiness at bay, final rinses with some honey and a tiny bit of lemon juice or white vinegar should be helpful, because bleached hair easily shows mineral buildup from hard water (reddish from iron, greenish from copper oxidized by chlorine), and acidic rinses help keep that brassiness at bay.