Questions about going blonde and using heat on hair?

[Blondieee]

Hey everyone! Sorry I always forget to update you guys. Still doing well on gluten free! I'm amazed what symptoms keep disappearing, things I never even knew were related. My vision is even noticeably clearer and sharper since going gluten free. It's amazing!

Okay so I found a hairstylist. She does a famous singer's wife's hair and her hair is gorgeous and looks so natural! She's 5 hours away but much better than all the hairstylists where I live. I consulted with her and she is going to use a hi lift dye on me. She doesn't want to use bleach when I have naturally curly hair that's prone to breakage anyway and then the health problems I've had on top of that. I asked if we could start slow and she agreed. I asked so could we do about 10 highlights and she shocked me and said 7 and that I'll notice a huge difference with my hair being curly. This makes me feel a lot better to ease into it with all the health problems I've had. She's going to mix Olaplex into the dye. Apparently they do that at the salon anytime someone gets their hair colored. The Olaplex 3 (over the counter one) made my hair tangly and horrible so I hope this one works better. Anyway, in addition to that, I bought a beach waver curling iron that I love and am working on getting pretty waves with it.

I have a couple questions:
1. Do I need to use a heat protectant spray before using the curling iron?
2. I haven't been using a heat protectant spray and my hair smells a little like heat. It doesn't smell like heat when they use heat on me at the salon but they use heat protectant. Is that the difference?
3. I saw a girl on YouTube who burned a strand of hair off using a curling iron and she used a cheap heat protectant prior so I can't help but wonder if that contributed. But as long as you get a good quality one, is it okay?
4. If you look up Brittany Aldean, her hair is very obviously bleached and she uses heat on it often and it's natural (no extensions), and it's very healthy looking. And she's able to keep it long. Any thoughts? Is it just about using the right products? She uses Oribe and Unite products. I'm puzzled how I see some girls with bleached hair that is short and breaking off and fried and some girls with bleached hair that is long and healthy looking.
5. I'll ask the stylist this when I go back, but I figured I would also ask here. Do I need to use a purple shampoo every now and then or is that just if the stylist is using bleach and not for a hi lift dye?
Thanks everyone!

[Joules]

Normally the answer to both bleach and heat on hair here would be a defitite no, but still :D

Purple shampoo is used to get rid of yellow tones in blonde hair. If you want cool-toned blond, purple shampoo would be your best friend. Still, ask your stylist.

Heat protectant is an absolute must. It's called protectant for a reason :D of course cheap heat protectants might not work as well. It's always better to invest in a good one.

About youtubers: you have to remember that heat styling always makes hair look better than it is. In "bleached hair that is long and healthy looking" the key word is looking. Even super damaged hair looks fabulous after flat ironing. It doesn't mean it's healthy, it doesn't mean it's not breaking in chunks. Have you seen their hair prior to bleach? How do you know they haven't lost half of it?

Some of them might have lighter natural color, which means they don't have to use high volume developer to lift it. It means less damage. So you have to consider what you're starting with.

And of course, not all youtubers are telling everything to their subscribers, especially beauty gurus. They might have extensions. They might be doing crazy expensive salon treatments regularly to keep their hair looking presentable. They might be using different products than they're saying, because they are being paid to promote certain companies. You just can't know for sure, beauty community on YT isn't the most transparent one.

[lapushka]

I have a couple questions:
1. Do I need to use a heat protectant spray before using the curling iron?
2. I haven't been using a heat protectant spray and my hair smells a little like heat. It doesn't smell like heat when they use heat on me at the salon but they use heat protectant. Is that the difference?
3. I saw a girl on YouTube who burned a strand of hair off using a curling iron and she used a cheap heat protectant prior so I can't help but wonder if that contributed. But as long as you get a good quality one, is it okay?
4. If you look up Brittany Aldean, her hair is very obviously bleached and she uses heat on it often and it's natural (no extensions), and it's very healthy looking. And she's able to keep it long. Any thoughts? Is it just about using the right products? She uses Oribe and Unite products. I'm puzzled how I see some girls with bleached hair that is short and breaking off and fried and some girls with bleached hair that is long and healthy looking.
5. I'll ask the stylist this when I go back, but I figured I would also ask here. Do I need to use a purple shampoo every now and then or is that just if the stylist is using bleach and not for a hi lift dye?
Thanks everyone!

I would *always* use a heat protectant, even though they aren't really proven to work, but especially with the bleach - I would not take chances! Just don't leave the iron on there for longer than you can count to 10 (quickly), so less than 10 sec.

I didn't look up the girl you mentioned, but you have to keep in mind that you can't compare yourself to anyone else, esp. not with the health issues you have been and are facing.

Purple shampoo is no luxury on lifted hair, bleach or no; and a hi-lift color still uses bleach. ;)

[MoonRabbit]

I would *always* use a heat protectant, even though they aren't really proven to work, but especially with the bleach - I would not take chances! Just don't leave the iron on there for longer than you can count to 10 (quickly), so less than 10 sec.

I didn't look up the girl you mentioned, but you have to keep in mind that you can't compare yourself to anyone else, esp. not with the health issues you have been and are facing.

Purple shampoo is no luxury on lifted hair, bleach or no; and a hi-lift color still uses bleach. ;)

I've always wondered about them. Especially the spray kind, I don't see how a few spritzes is going to coat most of the hair to protect it.

[*Wednesday*]

I agree with everything Joules has said regarding “look” and the other things she mentions. It’s perception management.

Have you seen Mrs. Aldean’s hair after it’s washed and dried to access it for damage? It’s gorgeous in photos but it may not look that nice when she lets it just dry. When I looked her up, she is married to a famous singer. She has access to very good high quality products and stylists all the time, not as a treat. As far as what products she is using for her hair to lighten it or if she is using heat on her hair “often” you would not know this. She could be using hot curlers which is not *as* damaging as a curling iron. You are using her as a “hair guide? If you are trying to attaining her “look”, don’t expect your hair to come out looking like that. You’re stylist may not be able to replicate her hair color to the T, especially when it comes to lifting you to a blond.

The girl that burned off her hair has nothing to do with using a heat protectant but that her curling iron was too hot and she didn’t keep the barrel moving along her hair. She held it in one spot. Ooops! Heat protectant is supposed to help by keeping the hydration from being zapped out of the hair. It does not stop, but helps. .

[Dark40]

I also agree with what Joules is saying too. About the purple shampoo. Purple shampoo casts out the yellow and brassiness in blonde hair. Because, I always use it on my highlighted and gray hair. I think the best purple shampoo to use is, "Clairol Shimmer Lights," But I would only use it sparingly. Like, once or twice a month. Because, I've heard on youtube from a blonde hair expert or hairstylist said that if you use Shimmer Lights too often it can become drying to the hair.

[Blondieee]

Thank you for your advice everyone! I like Brittany Aldean's health of her hair. I'm not wanting the same color. I know who her hairstylist is because she's posted it so I could go to the same stylist, but I'm not wanting a super platinum blonde like that. Looks gorgeous on her, but I've had platinum blonde hair before and it looked terrible on me. I'm wanting a golden dirty blonde look so I'm going to someone's stylist who has the color that I'm looking for. So her stylist can just replicate the same thing. But yes I love Brittany Aldean's health of her hair. It truly looks like silk! She made a video of herself curling her hair with the beach waver and before she curled it so before she used heat, it was straight and extremely healthy. But as far as I know, she could've straightened it and then curled it. You're right, I don't know what her hair looks like washed and dried and what products and deep treatments she's using on it. She used an Oribe hairspray in the video. Like actually used it on her hair so you knew it wasn't sponsored, and said she uses Oribe and Unite shampoo and products and uses a purple shampoo once a week. I do want to invest in my hair. I can afford the Oribe and Unite products if that's what she's using. I know she uses the Oribe hairspray but beyond that, I don't know. But both are very high quality products so my guess is she really does use them.

I know she's using a curling iron cause she's made several videos showing her curling her hair with different curling irons. I've never used hot curlers, but I looked them up and that looks scary to me. It looks like it would pull a lot of hair out while the hair is having to sit in that twisted position. Hurts me just looking at it 😕 I tried using rollers a few years ago, they weren't hot rollers but I put one in my hair just to see and it pulled out tons of hair strands. Not for me.

I really love the beach waver curling iron and she made a video on how to use it and showed herself curling her hair with it. Like she didn't just show herself curling a strand and then fast forward to the end like some girls do for hair tutorials. She showed herself curling her whole head with it. But when I use it, I can't get that exact result and I'm scared I'm going to burn myself with it. Does it just take practice? I've used a flat iron before, but this is the first time I've ever used a curling iron. But I only leave it on 4-5 seconds like she recommends cause I'm scared my hair is going to fall out. I believe the girl on YouTube who burned a piece of her hair off left it on for 15-20 seconds so way too long. The thought of that scares me. I don't leave it for more than 5 seconds. Not to sound stupid, but how do you keep the barrel of the curling iron moving along your hair while you curl it? I thought you wrap it around the iron and then hold for 5 seconds and then release it. I don't use the clamp on mine.

I'm still confused about the hi lift dye versus bleach thing. I thought hi lift dye doesn't use bleach but uses peroxide instead. So they're both just as damaging? I'm so confused. I've had several hair stylists tell me they don't want to use bleach on me but they're comfortable using a hi lift dye.

So is it attainable for me to have healthy "looking" hair? To have golden dirty blonde hair that's healthy looking when I use heat on it? Whenever stylists do my hair and use heat, it is healthy "looking" even though it's really not so I see what you mean. But when I curl or straighten my hair myself, it's very frizzy and unhealthy looking. Maybe I just need the right products and more practice? I'm not sure why that's happening. You would think it would always be silky smooth after using heat. I definitely need to get a heat protectant though.

[lapushka]

To be fair, a YT video is just 5 -10 min. out of someone's life; it could be sponsored - you just do not know, and can't know unless they make it known (and a lot don't). That doesn't mean her hair looks the same 95% of the time. I would hesitate to look at people like that to base your own hair care on!

hi-lift dye is always using bleach (dyes contain peroxide aka bleach), you can't "lift" the hair in any way without bleach.

[slynr]

I used to highlight my hair regularly and used a curling iron daily. I used a ton of silicone products that sealed my hair and it looked healthy although it really wasnt. When it was fresh washed and dried it looked frizzy but it wasn't frizz it was damaged. It actually took heat to make it look healthy if that makes sense. When I would get it highlighted he would use a gloss to seal the hair. All that damage sure caught up with me and my hair got shorter and shorter as it slowly broke off from chemical processing and heat. I finally decided that having actual healthy hair that wasn't fried was more important the blonde and "beach curls". Granted I have very fine hair.
What I'm getting at is looks can be deceiving. The problem is you don't know how much your hair can handle until often it is too late.


Sorry about that I should have answered your actual question. Use heat protection and make sure hair is completely dry. Curling iron takes a lot of practice. Just use rarely and with care! Didn't mean to get preachy with above statement but i just worry about hair getting fried. You can tell how scarred I am by the experience.

[MusicalSpoons]

https://bellatory.com/hair/How-to-use-high-lift-hair-color This might go some way towards explaining why high-lift colour is still damaging.


The most popular misconception surrounding high lift hair color is that it is dramatically less damaging than bleach. This is not completely true though. The damage of a high lift dye or bleach are roughly equivalent, and this shouldn't be the primary factor used to determine which product you use.

When you lighten hair with dye or bleach, it is the oxidation from the developer that is causing your hair to lighten. It does this through a chemical reaction with the melanin pigment that is inside each hair. This melanin is what gives your hair its natural color, and by discoloring it with oxidation, your hair becomes lighter.

Damage to your hair isn't a result of the use of bleach or dye itself though. The damage that occurs is a side effect of the oxidation process that is occurring inside the hair shaft. Whilst oxidation is necessary to lighten melanin and activate the dye molecules so that they become permanent, this oxidation also affects the structure of your hair. When the keratin protein comprising your hair structure is oxidized, it weakens, leading to damaged hair.

From this you can understand that damage to your hair is directly related to the amount of lightening that takes place, through the amount of oxidation. If you were to lighten your hair 3 levels with a high lift dye, or 3 levels with bleach, the amount of damage would be exactly the same because although both products are formulated differently, both work through oxidation. The oxidation lightens your hair, and damages it as a side effect.

The main benefit of high lift dye over bleach in this sense is in being less drying and cutting out the additional toning step that bleaching requires. Dryness compounds damage during hair lightening, so anything you do to keep your hair nourished and conditioned during the process will minimize damage. Bleach is a lot more drying than most high lift dyes.

(Bolding/underlining was by me, for emphasis.) Hope that helped clarify things, especially the underlined part :)

Edit: it's good to hear things are a bit better with your health, and that the gluten-free diet is having such a good effect :flower:

[lucid]

I looked up Brittany Aldean, and her hair isn't very long. I think most people will be able to have quite healthy looking bleached hair, if their hair isn't longer than apl to mbl (depending on the person, for me it was bsl).

Keep in mind though, that her hair looks super styled in the pics that shows up on google. That is not what her hair looks like in a natural state. When styled like that, even the most damaged hair can appear healthy and nice. You won't have a team to do your hair and makeup, so it's not a very realistic goal to have hair like hers. Just mentioning it :)

[Joules]

I just looked up her video about the beach waver. Sorry, her hair doesn't seem healthy to me at all. Her ends look velcro-ey, especially at the front, and hair at this length isn't normally so dry, usually it pretty much takes care of itself at that point.

[lapushka]

I guess it's a choice. You either go for very long lengths and healthy hair, or the healthiest possible, or you bleach and see where you'll get with it. I don't much like the sound of "Hi-lift" either. I don't think it's any less damaging. But it's your hair, and you have to decide! Just do it for *you*, not because some celebrity girl has hair like this. It can be seriously disappointing if things don't work out as you had expected them to.

Wishing you luck on your journey.

Keep us posted, and show us a picture when you get your hair done? :)

[cjk]

A sincere question. I glanced at your profile, earlier, and your hair is lovely. As a blond, myself, I know how colors can change in different light, but your color looks to be a dark blond or a blondette.

Is there a reason you want to start down the path of chemical processing? You'll be stuck with it, long term, and your existing hair already looks very pretty.

[*Wednesday*]

You’ve mentioned you have went platinum blond before. Has that completely been cut off? Since you will be using a hi lift dye, I would reconsider if any of that previously platinum dyed hair still resides on those ends. Even just an inch of it. Just throwing that out there. The article posted which I thought was explicit, explained that the “oxidation” process is what damages the hair. Both bleach and hi lift dyes cause a oxidative response from the process of “lifting” color. It’s like saying a Pit Bull and Rottweiler can both deliver a bad bit, just different breeds but you’ll be bleeding.

Is it attainable for you to dye your hair, use heat tools and appear (but not really have) to have “healthy” looking hair? Why compromise? We are not hair prophets. We can’t foresee but we can tell you the likely scenario. You are willfully going down the often travelled road leading to damaged hair. I think everyone would be deceptive to tell you yes, your hair will be fine. Bleach, hi lift dyes, relaxers, perms, highlighting….It’s all garbage to the hair and it destroys it. Sometimes all at once, or a slowly over time.

I have to agree with Lucid, her hair isn’t “long.” I’m not sure what your hair goals are. If you are looking for it to get long, what you are deciding is not in the best interest of your hair. If you want longer hair.

[chomsky]

I have a couple questions:
1. Do I need to use a heat protectant spray before using the curling iron?
2. I haven't been using a heat protectant spray and my hair smells a little like heat. It doesn't smell like heat when they use heat on me at the salon but they use heat protectant. Is that the difference?
3. I saw a girl on YouTube who burned a strand of hair off using a curling iron and she used a cheap heat protectant prior so I can't help but wonder if that contributed. But as long as you get a good quality one, is it okay?
4. If you look up Brittany Aldean, her hair is very obviously bleached and she uses heat on it often and it's natural (no extensions), and it's very healthy looking. And she's able to keep it long. Any thoughts? Is it just about using the right products? She uses Oribe and Unite products. I'm puzzled how I see some girls with bleached hair that is short and breaking off and fried and some girls with bleached hair that is long and healthy looking.
5. I'll ask the stylist this when I go back, but I figured I would also ask here. Do I need to use a purple shampoo every now and then or is that just if the stylist is using bleach and not for a hi lift dye?
Thanks everyone!

Always use a heat protectant. Price doesn't matter, ingredients do. They'll all be made out of the same stuff, trust me. Most importantly, make sure your health is in good condition before using a flatiron, so moisturised, protein levels are good. All that jazz.

The girl who's hair came off held the curling iron on her hair for way too long. It don't take a lot of heat to curl hair.

Brittany Aldean seems to have styled hair 100% of the time, that can hide a multitude of sins. She clearly has the money for professional styling as well, that too can hide a lot of damage. Everyday folk can't afford that nor do they have the time too.

I've got no idea about the purple shampoo though, sorry!

You can have long hair that is bleached and heat styled frequently, but (a big one), it's going to take a lot more time and care than if your hair was "natural".

[Blondieee]

Thanks everyone! I went platinum blonde in 2011 so yes that's all grown out and been cut off. The blonde that I have on the ends of my hair in my picture is just natural. It's very strange. My hair is light brown until it gets halfway down my hair and then it turns a somewhat blondish watered down tea color. Maybe it's the hard water? We put salt in the water but sometimes it gets low.

Brittany Aldean's hair is what I consider long hair. Her hair is the exact length I want. I'm not trying to emulate her specifically. She's just someone I could think of that bleaches her hair and uses heat and it's still long and healthy looking. I'm just wanting blonde healthy looking hair at her length. So it is attainable to have blonde heat styled hair as long as I keep it at her length? I've seen girls with very dry bleached hair that just hits their shoulders or an inch or two past their shoulders cause of all the damage. That's what I want to avoid. I would also think it's less damaging since I'm going with a golden blonde and not a platinum blonde? And the stylist isn't doing my whole head blonde. I like the dirty blonde look. She's starting with just 7 highlights so my hair should be fine with that. Thank you for the compliments on my natural hair. I'm wanting it to be blonder, more golden. But that's really nice of you guys to say that my natural color looks pretty! I will definitely show you a picture when I get it done 🙂

I'm still confused about the difference between bleach and a hi lift dye. The article explained it better, but it said at the end that the main benefit of a hi lift dye over bleach is that it is less drying. And that bleach is a lot more drying than most hi lift dyes. My hair is extremely dry so I would think a hi lift dye would be good for me. Doesn't dryness equal damage though?

When I went blonde back in 2011, I was in good health but my hair didn't react badly to it. The main thing I hated was the color because it was platinum which I didn't ask for and it washed me out and it turned brassy in all different lightings, probably cause I needed a purple shampoo which the stylist didn't tell me. But I was obsessed with straight hair at the time so I would straighten it for an hour every night and wake up the next morning and do it again. It hurts me just thinking about that. And my hair was long, at Brittany's length. I didn't have to cut it. It wasn't splitting. It did get thinner (even the bleached parts at the top that I never used heat on). I know bleach makes your hair thinner. I hope that doesn't happen with a hi lift dye. I certainly won't be straightening for an hour (can't believe I did that 😳 so I'm assuming if it was fine then, it'll be okay now. Especially since I'm not going platinum. Although my health was a lot better at that time so I don't know. I'm getting better and my hair is growing back and I have more energy, but I can't say that my health is like it was back in 2011. It can't hurt to get 7 highlights done to start out with though just to see how my hair handles it right?

[Joules]

I'm still confused about the difference between bleach and a hi lift dye. The article explained it better, but it said at the end that the main benefit of a hi lift dye over bleach is that it is less drying. And that bleach is a lot more drying than most hi lift dyes. My hair is extremely dry so I would think a hi lift dye would be good for me. Doesn't dryness equal damage though?


From what I know bleach and hi lift are basically the same, it's just that in hi-lift there's smaller volume of developer, therefore it's "less damaging" and it lightens the color less than your normal bleach. If you go to a salon they're gonna use lesser volume of developer anyway since you're already almost blonde, so I don't see why you bother choosing.

Think about it: in order to lighten strands you need to somehow get the natural pigment out. There's no healthy way to do it, first of all. Secondly, lightened strands are basically empty, since there's no pigment to fill them up, they are going to be thinner, weaker and breaking off very easily. Again, there's no other way about it. I've seen quite a lot of blondes who just gave up and dyed their hair blonette or even brown (= filling hair with pigment) because they were tired of fighting breakage that inevitably comes with lightening. Bleach is bleach regardless of what you call it.

[Queenofpigeons]

I looked up Britttany Aldean. Honestly, I would be really surprised if she (or anyone with money/in the entertainment business) is extension-free 100% of the time. She won’t necessarily disclose that she’s wearing extensions, and extensions + styling can hide a lot of damage and breakage. Just something to keep in mind.

A few highlights and heat styling might lead to breakage later down the line. I do think that consistently using heat will be a lot more damaging than highlighting your hair once, so I think that your best bet would be to find ways to use less heat on your hair.

[MusicalSpoons]

I'm still confused about the difference between bleach and a hi lift dye. The article explained it better, but it said at the end that the main benefit of a hi lift dye over bleach is that it is less drying. And that bleach is a lot more drying than most hi lift dyes. My hair is extremely dry so I would think a hi lift dye would be good for me. Doesn't dryness equal damage though?

I too was confused, so I did a bit of reading before finding the article. The only reason I can think of for hi-lift dye being less drying is that it's a one-step process and quicker than bleach + dye. Bleach seems to be a two-step process - bleach to strip the pigment, then dye to replace with the desired pigment. Hi-lift sounds like it does both things in the one solution, and can only remove natural pigment whereas bleach will remove dye pigment too.

By the way, what's referred to as 'bleach' contains whatever chemicals that particular manufacturer has used, but regardless off the specific chemicals it is very strongly alkaline. Dye uses developer with the same kind of pH, is also very strongly alkaline - usually ammonia and/or hydrogen peroxide in the mix, which in layman's terms would usually be called 'bleach' too, just perhaps less efficient than the 'bleach' a salon might use. Slightly different chemicals but both damaging, both not 'good' for the hair.

*If your hair is indeed extremely dry, then no, hi-lift dye will not be good for it! But in theory it should be less terrible for your hair than a long, two-step bleach-then-dye process. I have heard that good results can be had with thoroughly saturating the hair in coconut oil the night before, but you'd have to look that up because I don't remember what the effects were exactly. Also, using heat on already dry hair is not advisable, so maybe you could find a routine that really moisturises your hair (though making sure your hair has enough protein, especially the soon-to-be-dyed parts) before starting to use the curling iron.

Genuine question here: do you have to use a hi-lift dye? Wouldn't regular blonde dye do the job, as you are already blonde? Or is it that you want to go more shades lighter than a regular dye would do?

I think it's important to realise that when you come here asking for advice, the responses are not designed to basically tell you that you shouldn't do xyz to your hair; rather the responses are trying to make sure you understand the likely consequences and the other options so that you can make an informed decision :) especially when making decisions that can't be reversed, only grown out (and we all truly know how long it takes hair to grow!) However, going with a few highlights does sound like a sensible compromise, to see how your hair handles it :thumbsup:

[Arciela]

When I looked up Britttany Aldean, it was very obvious to me that she has extensions. Her real hair looks to be between CBL and APL, which is the average length for those who constantly bleach, color, and heat style their hair. I used to get very expensive extensions done every few weeks, and my hair looked very similar to hers.

Personally I wouldn't touch bleach or heat. I have very, very strong hair (It is TBL going to classic and was bleached 3 times) and while my hair is not breaking at all, the quality of my virgin hair vs my processed hair is night and day. The thing is, with bleach, you don't see the damage until much later down the road. Anyone that appears to have super healthy *long* bleached hair has either extensions or heat styled hair, which masks the damage. If I was to heat style my hair right now it would appear a lot more healthy...

In the end it is up to you..but I have been down this road many, many times with my tough as nails hair, and every time I regret it. With heat AND bleach it would break off, I went from waist length to collar bone in about a year of bleaching and heat. Happens every time. I've had my fill with bleach and heat..never touching it again, way too much work and growing it out has been a nightmare thus far. If it means a lot to you then by all means go for it, its your hair..but when it breaks off and becomes difficult to manage due to tangles and all the damage..its not gonna be fun. Unless one has a lot of money and time to invest of going to salons for styling, treatment and extensions, I wouldn't bother. Not worth it! If you bleach and don't use heat, it'll just slowly start to appear damaged and weathered, if you just use heat..it might break off, if you do both..you'll have a disaster, at least I did x.x

I also notice you say you have dry hair? Mine is dry too, the bleach just made it way worse. x.x

I've also done both hi-lift and bleach profressionally, both have done irreveserable damage and made my hair awful. That is my experience, anyway :flower:

[blushy]

1. Do I need to use a heat protectant spray before using the curling iron?
YES! Always use a heat protectant!

2. I haven't been using a heat protectant spray and my hair smells a little like heat. It doesn't smell like heat when they use heat on me at the salon but they use heat protectant. Is that the difference?
You are probably smelling your hair burning when you style your hair....that is most likely the difference.

3. I saw a girl on YouTube who burned a strand of hair off using a curling iron and she used a cheap heat protectant prior so I can't help but wonder if that contributed. But as long as you get a good quality one, is it okay?
It probably wasn't the heat protectant...it was most likely the girl held it on her hair too long, it was on too high of a heat setting, or her hair was already damaged before that (or a combination of all of them) heat protectants aren't bad for your hair.

4. If you look up Brittany Aldean, her hair is very obviously bleached and she uses heat on it often and it's natural (no extensions), and it's very healthy looking. And she's able to keep it long. Any thoughts? Is it just about using the right products? She uses Oribe and Unite products. I'm puzzled how I see some girls with bleached hair that is short and breaking off and fried and some girls with bleached hair that is long and healthy looking.
I have had hair EXACTLY like hers for a long time in my life, and let me just tell you, her hair is VERY damaged...and you can even see she has extensions in many pics of her. Bleached hair only looks good like that when it is heat styled and in every photo of her she has heat styled hair. When I had platinum blonde hair, it would look disgusting and fried and barely have a natural movement to it at all, but when I curled it or straightened it (which I HAD to EVERY day) it would look beautiful and healthy just like hers. If you don't have a lifestyle that accommodates styling your hair every single day, this hair color is NOT for you.

5. I'll ask the stylist this when I go back, but I figured I would also ask here. Do I need to use a purple shampoo every now and then or is that just if the stylist is using bleach and not for a hi lift dye?
You have to use a purple shampoo all the time regularly whether you use hi lift blonde or bleach. Purple shampoo is also very drying and damaging for your hair so be careful. I would recommend hi lift blonde because it is SLIGHTLY less damaging than bleach but it's still bad for your hair.

Over all, I wouldn't recommend you lighten your hair at all. It's a struggle to get it back to health and maintain any amount of length when it is processed. Sure it might look fashionable, but it will break, be dry, expensive, and high maintenance. And if you're looking to grow your hair out long...this isn't the best thing to do to your hair.

[Blondieee]

Thank you for your concern everyone! I know that you guys are just trying to help me understand how damaging going blonde is. However, I have thought this through and I have decided I do want to go blonde. I do not like my natural hair color at all, but thank you to those of you who said it is pretty 😊 I would rather go blonde and not just any heat on it than use heat and keep my natural color.

Brittany Aldean does not always wear extensions. She has worn them occasionally in the past and to me, it is very obvious when someone is wearing extensions versus when they're not wearing extensions. In the beach waver video, she didn't have extensions. That was her natural hair.

My stylist said she was going to use a hi lift dye on me after I told her the color I wanted so I'm guessing it can't be done with just a regular blonde dye. If you're talking about box dye, I can't just apply dye myself especially not with blonde dye which has to be done either in foils or as a balayage by a professional.

I don't understand how it could be so damaging though when back in 2011, I got my hair bleached. The stylist messed up and gave me platinum blonde so you can imagine the amount of bleach used. I would also straighten my hair for an hour and then do the same thing the next day. And my hair was very long (like Brittany Aldean's hair length kind of long). I had healthy ends too. I know that makes no sense considering the bleach and the heat styling, but I was in good health at the time and had healthy ends. Now my ends are really dry split fairytale ends which I never had at the time. And I haven't dyed my hair in 6 years. Maybe health just makes all the difference in your hair?

A couple hair stylists have told me that girls that I see who have the extremely dry (straw like) blonde hair that is really short like to their shoulders or just a bit past their shoulders are rebleaching already bleached hair which you never want to do. Two stylists I saw said they never do that. But one stylist I saw said after a year, I would have to have the whole thing done again. I ran fast lol. And that stylist who said that was recommended to me by a friend who has really short bleached hair that is super dry and breaking off. Whereas a friend of mine who referred me to a stylist who said they don't rebleach bleached hair has long healthy looking blonde hair. Could it just be about taking care of the blonde (deep treatments, good products), not rebleaching already bleached strands, taking Biotin, and being in good health?

[_fred_]

Hi Blondieee :) I'm with you as someone who doesn't like their natural colour, and I can totally understand why you're getting the highlights.

When you say 'I would rather go blonde and not just any heat on it than use heat and keep my natural color', I was nodding along! Giving up heat sounds like by far the best plan. There are still tons of ways to style your hair using heatless styling methods, and loads of tutorials for them online. You can get amazing results without the damage heat styling will definitely cause.

Re. hi lift, IMO it's worth researching a bit of the science behind the products your stylist is using. I'd recommend taking a look on Youtube for videos that explain exactly what hi lift/highlift is and what it does. Something like this could be a good place to start (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chCxhbg3wbI), though I'd definitely recommend digging deeper and looking into the ingredients and the chemistry before you get the work done - that way you'll be in the best place to know exactly what could happen and why it's happening, not just at the salon, but in the months and years to come. I say this as someone who's used a lot of potentially dangerous products on my hair over the years! The more knowledge you have, the more likely you'll end up with a result you're happy with in the long term.

As you'll be getting highlights, I'd strongly recommend mixing your own moisturisng toner using deposit-only dye and white conditioner (no developer!). You might already know this though, so please ignore me if you do :) Mixing your own toner is super easy, provided you're happy to experiment a bit, and it's a good alternative to drying purple shampoos. It's also way cheaper than getting purple shampoos or toners pre-made. Using the hair dye colour wheel (https://www.hairfinder.com/techniques/haircolorwheel.htm) work out what colour toner you need to cancel out the unwanted pigments - the colour on the opposite side of the wheel is the one you need to cancel out unwanted colour. Buy a direct/deposit only dye in an appropriate colour (a good one for cancelling brassiness is Manic Panic Purple Haze), and mix a small amount of that dye into a cup of white conditioner - I'd use maybe 1-3 teaspoons. Then leave on your hair for maybe 10 to 20 mins, and wash as normal. It also doubles as a deep conditioning treatment - I've used Aussie 3 Minute Miracle for this, and have had lovely results. I have a feeling I was babbling about this elsewhere on the forum today as well...

With a self-mixed toner, as with a shop bought toner, it will wash out. This is both a blessing and a curse - if you don't like it you can try something else straight away without endangering your hair, but it does take effort. It's not a lot of effort though!

You say that your ends are currently dry - do you treat them to extra moisture/deep conditioning etc? My ends are super dry, and I've started damping them when they look dry, and using a very small amount of leave-in conditioner over the top to seal in that moisture. It's working wonders.

'Could it just be about taking care of the blonde (deep treatments, good products), not rebleaching already bleached strands, taking Biotin, and being in good health?' I think that's going to be a large part of it, but avoiding heat will be a massive help!

I wish you the very best of luck with this, and I hope you get the result you're looking for :)