tempted to dye....

[cdonald2]

I have been growing my hair out for a while.... maintaining the length and trying to keep the front equal with the back. The front is chin length as far as my temples and the rest is just past my shoulders. I was thinking of getting short layers down far on my hair and a trim just to even it up a bit and I was thinking of adding caramel highlights just to change it up a bit. I am also trying to lose weight so I figured I would do this after i lose my first 15 lbs (out of 45)

I am sure many of you ladies have had similar feelings one time or another, I sort of want to do this but part of me is saying " you have virgin hair and youre trying to grow it out, dont do it!"

what should I do? and please dont say " do what you really want to" I am indecisive as heck.

[allierat]

Wait a while and see if you still want to do it. Personally I'd be tempted to leave it alone though.

[Belle Paix]

You could try cassia? It's temporary, and good for your hair (from what I understand).

[RapunzelKat]

Well, personally I'd say don't do it. You've worked hard to get your hair where it is, and this would immediately undo all that. What about a few new cute outfits for meeting your weight loss goals instead? You may need them anyway. :D Or try some Manic Panic or similar, that won't mess up your hair.

Ultimately though, it really boils down to whether you want long hair in the future, or a fresh new cut now.

Best of luck with your weight loss! :flower:

[velorutionista]

If strictly virgin hair is important to you, don't do it. Are you OK with some damage? Do you think you'd hate growing out the highlights and seeing roots? If you're planning to embark on serious long hair growing and want to maintain the highlights, understand it may limit how long the highlighted hair will grow, and may affect the texture as the processed hair gets longer. All important considerations. Decide what you are willing to live with.

That being said, if it were my hair, and I wanted the highlights, I'd do it...it's hair--it's relatively short now, so growing back virgin hair if you don't like the change will be a matter of months, not years; and you can take steps to protect your hair when you damage it (understand that bleaching in highlights will damage your hair, but you can baby it to minimize the ill effects).

As long as you have realistic expectations, and understand what you're signing up for, give it a go!

[calmyogi]

Omgosh!!! It's so ironic that you made this post because I'm in the same boat, and I decided to log on to LHC and get some help as well! I want to color my hair purple, but I'm afraid of ruining my hair because I have it so healthy and it's growing nice.

[pastina]

as long as you don't process it over and over and over, you should be fine. color does not equal immediate hair death.

and if you're worried about it growing out and keeping it up, why not consider balayage? no roots involved, so you wouldn't ever need to touch it again if you didn't want to.

[RapunzelKat]

Omgosh!!! It's so ironic that you made this post because I'm in the same boat, and I decided to log on to LHC and get some help as well! I want to color my hair purple, but I'm afraid of ruining my hair because I have it so healthy and it's growing nice.

Manic Panic and other temporary dyes have purple available - a lot of them look really cool over virgin hair. :) One should always strand test first of course, but these types of eyes are usually non-damaging.

[calmyogi]

Well my hair is dark dark brown so wouldn't I need to lighten a couple of shades to get any color to show?

[calmyogi]

as long as you don't process it over and over and over, you should be fine. color does not equal immediate hair death.

and if you're worried about it growing out and keeping it up, why not consider balayage? no roots involved, so you wouldn't ever need to touch it again if you didn't want to.

What is balayage?

[GlassWidow]

If it makes you happy, you should do it.

If you're not sure, what about buying a couple of clip-in pieces to try it out? I could only find wild colors like these, but I know I've seen more normal colors in this size, too. http://www.ulta.com/ulta/browse/productDetail.jsp?productId=xlsImpprod3030055

I used to have pink ones. :)

[pastina]

yes, if you have dark hair you would most likely need to pre-lighten to use manic panic, special fx, or other semi permanent veggie dyes, *especially* if you're looking for a vibrant purple, and not just a tint of color. if you go to beeunique.co.uk, they have a gallery of these types of dyes over virgin hair so you can see what type of result you'll get.

balayage is like an ombre, but more natural looking because of the way the bleach is applied. so, you'd keep your natural color at the roots and it would gradually lighten towards the tips. <3 google it, it's been pretty huge for the last few years.

[JadedByEntropy]

Just a few highlights will get the itch out of your system, but don't do anything that would risk that awkward growing out line. I just also found those Bling String or whatever that is tinsel you tie onto a few hairs. Sure, you lose the few hairs eventually, but it gets a lot of attention and is super fun for a few weeks-no commitment

[RapunzelKat]

Well my hair is dark dark brown so wouldn't I need to lighten a couple of shades to get any color to show?

Well, it depends what color you use and what kind of result you're looking for. You'd probably need to lighten to get a really bright purple, but for a deep purple glow it might work.
If you Google "purple manic panic dark brow hair," you can get an idea of what kind of results you could expect. :)

[cdonald2]

I think I may just trim it up.... I think ombre's and bayalages look best on mbl length at the least. I would love to do it then, but at my current length I guess I would be betteroff not screwing up my hair.

[amanda_the_tall]

I think I may just trim it up.... I think ombre's and bayalages look best on mbl length at the least. I would love to do it then, but at my current length I guess I would be betteroff not screwing up my hair.

Plus if you spend some time outside, the sun might naturally end up lightening some of your hair as it grows longer. Whenever I get tempted to dye (ugh I've been back and forth many times) I pull my hair up and just chill until the itch goes away.

[cdonald2]

yeah, I mean, i used to give into that itch all the time. which is why i havent made much progress in a year. I guess i will focus on growth for now. Maybe after i lose ALL my weght (45-50lbs) I will do something with my hair.