10000days
December 25th, 2016, 11:03 PM
Hello everyone,
Thought I'd share how I got my mum's hair from dyed black/dark brown (box hair dye; once a month; for 10 years) to blonde. First I'll give you some quick hair background.
Her natural hair
Her natural hair is very fine, BSL, light ash brown, with maybe 80% white. We started dying her hair black (and later dark brown, which was very very dark) when it was around 50% white. Now it is about 80% white. The canopy regrowth is mostly white; the hair under the canopy to the neck still has some natural colour.
Dying it black
For 5 years we dyed both roots and lengths black but for the last 5 years we've only dyed the roots.
We dyed it once a month for 10 years.
Process
We started with the hair at PHOTO #1.
A. Colour-stripped/removed once. You can see the dye at the ends is stubborn. SEE PHOTO #2.
B. Colour-stripped/removed a second time. (We did about 4 applications in total but after the first 2 applications of colour-stripper there was no difference in hair colour). SEE PHOTOS #3 and #4.
C. Gave the hair 1-2 weeks' break. Did a coconut treatment.
D. Went to a hairdresser to get foils done (bleach & peroxide). (Also went to a hairdresser a second time to lighten the previously unbleached sections).
E. Her hair is now dyed with box blonde :) SEE PHOTOS #5, #6, #7 and #8.
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e103/10000dni/blackdyeremoval1_zpskbeofabh.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e103/10000dni/blackdyeremoval2_zpsk24n0h0s.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e103/10000dni/mumblonde_zpsmmmxtcvy.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e103/10000dni/blackdyeremoval3C_zpspsi25mke.jpg
Negatives
Dryness. Her hair is quite dry and it surely doesn't help that she's an avid blowdryer, teaser and hairsprayer... But if you want to go from heavy black box-dye and you have fine hair - it is doable.
Dye stain on hair cuticle. The colour-stripper can't remove dye stain on the hair cuticle so this has to be bleached out.
Bleaching. No need to elaborate here; it's very harsh for all hair but especially fine hair.
Positives
No damage from colour-stripper. The colour-stripper did not damage her hair. It is an awesome product but it is definitely a two-person job. In a nutshell, the colour-stripper shrinks the molecules of dye wedged within the hair shaft. You then have to physically massage it out of the hair (this is the tedious part).
My mum is really happy with the result! She feels like she is starting a new phase in her life :) She is constantly complimented at work and by randoms when she's out & about on how beautiful she is (often by young mothers, actually) :) So despite the dryness, the light hair suits her perfectly.
She also gets lots of comments that she looks younger that she did with black hair. (Unfortunately by hearing things that basically mean black hair didn't look attractive...).
My mum and I would be thrilled to read your comments (and to answer any questions)!!
Thought I'd share how I got my mum's hair from dyed black/dark brown (box hair dye; once a month; for 10 years) to blonde. First I'll give you some quick hair background.
Her natural hair
Her natural hair is very fine, BSL, light ash brown, with maybe 80% white. We started dying her hair black (and later dark brown, which was very very dark) when it was around 50% white. Now it is about 80% white. The canopy regrowth is mostly white; the hair under the canopy to the neck still has some natural colour.
Dying it black
For 5 years we dyed both roots and lengths black but for the last 5 years we've only dyed the roots.
We dyed it once a month for 10 years.
Process
We started with the hair at PHOTO #1.
A. Colour-stripped/removed once. You can see the dye at the ends is stubborn. SEE PHOTO #2.
B. Colour-stripped/removed a second time. (We did about 4 applications in total but after the first 2 applications of colour-stripper there was no difference in hair colour). SEE PHOTOS #3 and #4.
C. Gave the hair 1-2 weeks' break. Did a coconut treatment.
D. Went to a hairdresser to get foils done (bleach & peroxide). (Also went to a hairdresser a second time to lighten the previously unbleached sections).
E. Her hair is now dyed with box blonde :) SEE PHOTOS #5, #6, #7 and #8.
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e103/10000dni/blackdyeremoval1_zpskbeofabh.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e103/10000dni/blackdyeremoval2_zpsk24n0h0s.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e103/10000dni/mumblonde_zpsmmmxtcvy.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e103/10000dni/blackdyeremoval3C_zpspsi25mke.jpg
Negatives
Dryness. Her hair is quite dry and it surely doesn't help that she's an avid blowdryer, teaser and hairsprayer... But if you want to go from heavy black box-dye and you have fine hair - it is doable.
Dye stain on hair cuticle. The colour-stripper can't remove dye stain on the hair cuticle so this has to be bleached out.
Bleaching. No need to elaborate here; it's very harsh for all hair but especially fine hair.
Positives
No damage from colour-stripper. The colour-stripper did not damage her hair. It is an awesome product but it is definitely a two-person job. In a nutshell, the colour-stripper shrinks the molecules of dye wedged within the hair shaft. You then have to physically massage it out of the hair (this is the tedious part).
My mum is really happy with the result! She feels like she is starting a new phase in her life :) She is constantly complimented at work and by randoms when she's out & about on how beautiful she is (often by young mothers, actually) :) So despite the dryness, the light hair suits her perfectly.
She also gets lots of comments that she looks younger that she did with black hair. (Unfortunately by hearing things that basically mean black hair didn't look attractive...).
My mum and I would be thrilled to read your comments (and to answer any questions)!!