Going lighter

[FuzzyBlackWaves]

Hi everyone!

I recently decided to start growing out my natural hair colour. My goal is all virgin hip length hair.

However, in the meantime I'd quite like to do something with my current length. I won't be touching my roots of course but they are a light brown with white bits and look ashy next to the bright henna and black chemical dye that run through my lengths.

I was hoping to lighten the dyed parts so that they blend in better with my regrowth. The henna is fading somewhat with Go Blonder shampoo but the black ends are stubborn. I tried a honey lightening treatment last night and I'm waiting for my hair to dry to see how it's turned out. I'm thinking about trying lemon juice as well before I turn to the last resort of bleach.

Does anybody know of lightening products that work without too much damage? Or have any recommendations for what I should do with my current mix of colours? I'd quite like to go blonde or light brown over the dyed parts, or maybe get them light enough to experiment with deposit only dyes.

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=28454&d=1502817458

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=28381&d=1502300717

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=27664&d=1497597113

[pastina]

Have you tried color removers like color oops or colourB4?

[FuzzyBlackWaves]

I tried the colourB4 a few months ago but it didn't do anything really. I've heard that the Live XL dyes get locked into hair with heat and unfortunately I used to dye my hair and then straighten it a long time ago. It didn't seem to affect the henna either which is a shame as I read on here that it works for some people.

[Maple]

I tried a lot of natural lightening methods over the past few months, but only the ends got lighter and nothings else. Stupid. Besides honey and lemon juice there are some other things you could try, e.g. (hot) oil, alcohol, yoghurt, vitamin C... But there's nothing I can really recommend, as nothing really worked for me.

[Deborah]

It looks as though you already have a three tone effect going on. Why not just let the top grow in naturally and leave the length alone? Then when you hit hip you can just trim off the other colors as they get longer.

I don't know much about dyes, but I doubt that you could get the lengths to match the new hair growing in without incurring extreme damage to the length. I think bleach over henna and dyed black hair would do a lot of damage.

[FuzzyBlackWaves]

I tried a lot of natural lightening methods over the past few months, but only the ends got lighter and nothings else. Stupid. Besides honey and lemon juice there are some other things you could try, e.g. (hot) oil, alcohol, yoghurt, vitamin C... But there's nothing I can really recommend, as nothing really worked for me.

I'm sorry that they didn't work for you - it sounds like you've tried everything! What kind of colour did you start out with? I'd be happy with just lightening the ends as they're very dark compared to the rest of it.


It looks as though you already have a three tone effect going on. Why not just let the top grow in naturally and leave the length alone? Then when you hit hip you can just trim off the other colors as they get longer.

I don't know much about dyes, but I doubt that you could get the lengths to match the new hair growing in without incurring extreme damage to the length. I think bleach over henna and dyed black hair would do a lot of damage.

Exactly - I have the three tone effect and I hate it. The dye really washes out my natural colour. I'm not aiming to match the length to the roots as I like tracking my growth progress with the difference in colour. However I would like the lengths to be lighter so that they don't look quite so terrible next to my roots.

My hair is drying off now and the honey treatment seems to have worked a bit :) It would be very useful if natural methods could go some of the way to achieving the look I'm after.

[Anje]

You might lift some dye with Vitamin C powder in clarifying shampoo. I've also seen people talk about bleach powder in shampoo with no peroxide developer added, which would be less damaging, but I don't know the ratios or how well it will work. It seems like old black dye doesn't like to fade, generally speaking. And if the Color Oops didn't fade the henna, I don't think anything else you do is likely to either. I've seen some people say theirs came out with those Brasilian keratin straightening treatments, but it's unclear which specific treatment, and that also may be damaging and ineffective.

[FuzzyBlackWaves]

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll make a note of them. There are some really interesting solutions there.

Black dye and henna seem to be the most difficult things to get rid of - trust me to have used them both! The honey treatment seems to have lifted the dye quite a bit but has made the henna more vibrant. It looks like what works to fade one ends up actually enhancing the other. The goal is two tone hair so I could live with my natural colour and the henna if I can get the black dye out or at least to a nice brown.

What I did for the honey treatment:
Mixed EV olive oil, ground cinnamon, water and honey
Waited an hour
Applied to my ends
Left it in over night
Rinsed out with Go Blonder shampoo

[PixieP]

I bleached my henna'd hair with Olaplex and got minimal damage from it. I went from a deep red to a bright copper with just one round (pictures in my LHC blog). A good hairdresser will hand paint on the bleach to create a bayalage effect with your natural roots :)

[Maple]

I'm sorry that they didn't work for you - it sounds like you've tried everything! What kind of colour did you start out with? I'd be happy with just lightening the ends as they're very dark compared to the rest of it

I just posted a pic in the "Show me your hennaed hair" (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=2963&page=568)-thread if you want to take a look at the colors. I had auburn dyed lenghts (with henndigo mixes), an indigo (black) dyed undercolor (over a year ago but still very visible), and about 12-15 cm starting at the roots dyed with pure henna or chemical dye (semi-permanent, when I hadn't had time for the long henna sessions) in coppery shades. Looks weird. Can't do much more than letting the dark color grow out as I don't want to bleach. I think I really have tried every natural lightening ingredient I could figure out. Hoping the best that you find a lightening way that works for you!

[Alibran]

The only way to significantly lighten the colour is bleach, and that's going to be damaging however careful you are.

And totally seriously, your hair is beautiful, and I love the way the colour changes from roots to ends. If I could do that to my hair deliberately, and without causing damage, I'd very gladly do it.

[lapushka]

It looks as though you already have a three tone effect going on. Why not just let the top grow in naturally and leave the length alone? Then when you hit hip you can just trim off the other colors as they get longer.

I don't know much about dyes, but I doubt that you could get the lengths to match the new hair growing in without incurring extreme damage to the length. I think bleach over henna and dyed black hair would do a lot of damage.

Especially if there's indigo in the lengths: do not bleach it, it's going to go green/blueish!

I'm with Deborah. Just leave it alone. I know when you're used to dying your hair, it starts to itch, but you're not going to mimic your natural hair. In all my years of dyeing, that is one lesson I've learned. You can never mimic your natural hair perfectly.

[lithostoic]

I faded permanent black dye with baking soda and dandruff shampoo. Made a paste and rubbed it in my lengths.

[FuzzyBlackWaves]

I bleached my henna'd hair with Olaplex and got minimal damage from it. I went from a deep red to a bright copper with just one round (pictures in my LHC blog). A good hairdresser will hand paint on the bleach to create a bayalage effect with your natural roots :)

Interesting! Thanks so much for sharing your experience. And yeah, if all else fails I might make my first trip to a salon in several years.


I just posted a pic in the "Show me your hennaed hair" (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=2963&page=568)-thread if you want to take a look at the colors. I had auburn dyed lenghts (with henndigo mixes), an indigo (black) dyed undercolor (over a year ago but still very visible), and about 12-15 cm starting at the roots dyed with pure henna or chemical dye (semi-permanent, when I hadn't had time for the long henna sessions) in coppery shades. Looks weird. Can't do much more than letting the dark color grow out as I don't want to bleach. I think I really have tried every natural lightening ingredient I could figure out. Hoping the best that you find a lightening way that works for you!

Thankyou! It sounds like we have a fairly similar hair history. I'm not above bleaching if that's what it takes but thankfully the honey mixture has really worked to lift some of the dark tones out. It's so confusing trying to work out why some things work for certain people and not others.


The only way to significantly lighten the colour is bleach, and that's going to be damaging however careful you are.

And totally seriously, your hair is beautiful, and I love the way the colour changes from roots to ends. If I could do that to my hair deliberately, and without causing damage, I'd very gladly do it.

That's a really lovely thing to say :) Thanks for the compliment! I'm done with dark colours, though, and I don't know what possessed me to think that red would go well with my features.


Especially if there's indigo in the lengths: do not bleach it, it's going to go green/blueish!

I'm with Deborah. Just leave it alone. I know when you're used to dying your hair, it starts to itch, but you're not going to mimic your natural hair. In all my years of dyeing, that is one lesson I've learned. You can never mimic your natural hair perfectly.

You've inadvertently made bleach more tempting, lol! I used to want blue/green hair so bad but no matter what I did it just washed right out, even when I was a tiny teen with bleached lengths and went to the salon for a permanent colour. My hair just hates blue! I think the indigo has actually all gone too.

It's not really that I'm used to dying my hair persay since I'm actually enjoying not having to bother. It just looks pretty rubbish on me in my opinion. Whatever I do end up doing to my lengths will be a one time event whilst my roots grow out. I think light brown roots would go way better with blonde lengths, for example. As I've stated a couple of times now I'm not looking to mimic m natural colour, sorry if I wasn't clear enough with that. I just want something that doesn't look quite so clashy.


I faded permanent black dye with baking soda and dandruff shampoo. Made a paste and rubbed it in my lengths.

Ooo! Thanks for the sugestion, I've got both of those things already. I'll let you know how it goes - and I'm glad it helped you!

[Obsidian]

The blue/green from bleached indigo isn't pretty. Its a ugly muddy greyish green.

I found when I used black boxed dye that it took 2 or 3 applications of color oops to remove some of it. I never could get it all out but I did manage to get it from black to a dark auburn that eventually faded back to just henna.

[lapushka]

You've inadvertently made bleach more tempting, lol! I used to want blue/green hair so bad but no matter what I did it just washed right out, even when I was a tiny teen with bleached lengths and went to the salon for a permanent colour. My hair just hates blue! I think the indigo has actually all gone too.

It's not really that I'm used to dying my hair persay since I'm actually enjoying not having to bother. It just looks pretty rubbish on me in my opinion. Whatever I do end up doing to my lengths will be a one time event whilst my roots grow out. I think light brown roots would go way better with blonde lengths, for example. As I've stated a couple of times now I'm not looking to mimic m natural colour, sorry if I wasn't clear enough with that. I just want something that doesn't look quite so clashy.

Oh no! :lol: Figures. That would be typically me!

What about doing a semi-permanent all over, so you'll have a more uniform color until it washes out, and then you'll be further along in your growth journey. You could keep repeating until natural hair has all grown out.

[lapushka]

The blue/green from bleached indigo isn't pretty. Its a ugly muddy greyish green.

Yes that's very true, it looks very washed out. It's muddy all right! And dull, nothing vibrant about it!

[pastina]

Go Blonder contains peroxide. Just for the record.

Not sure why it'd be safer to do all these things than do a gentle bleach bath.

[spidermom]

Well of course it's about what you like and not what I like, but I'm going to throw in that I think your color changes are striking; very pretty. But you do you; good luck, and enjoy.

[lapushka]

Go Blonder contains peroxide. Just for the record.

Not sure why it'd be safer to do all these things than do a gentle bleach bath.

I don't think she wants to touch the natural hair that has grown out already.