_fred_
December 9th, 2018, 03:03 AM
Hi all :) I'm looking for opinions from people who enjoy dying their hair.
I'm trying to devise a hairdye plan for the next year or so.
The situation:
Eventually I want to transition to henna, but not yet. I'm thinking once I get close to waist, so maybe in a year or two.
I haven't bleached in 12 months, and my roots are getting depressing. They're very subtly purple in places (over my natural dark blonde), and the rest of my hair is a mix of pinks and purples, with some extremely faded areas of very pale blue at the front. I've posted some photos at the bottom which show the range of colours in there right now.
I strongly dislike my natural colour, but I want more length before I finally transition to henna, and I don't want to put more purple over my roots because it's totally gonna stain - but only in a subtle way that takes forever to wash out, not in a vibrant colourful way that I can enjoy. In case you hadn't guessed, I'm not a fan of subtle colour on my hair.
[ETA - I gave up bleaching to give my scalp a rest, and to grow out a darker base for henna. I have a feeling henna over my natural hair will give me the shade I want more than henna over bleach.]
What I'm looking for:
A strategy for enjoying my hair that will enable me to transition to henna once I feel I have enough length to get the look I want.
What I want out of this:
I would like hair that looks intentionally and evenly coloured, that's bright and vibrant (or pastel) and makes me happy to see it.
This might sound easy, but I'm in the land of indecision right now.
These are the options I've so far considered:
* Bleach bath the already-bleached lengths and take it back to pastel for the year. Keep dye off the roots. Cost: damage, potential mess if I overlap bleach onto bits of my roots. Benefits: control. Back to pastels, no more purple bathroom. I get to use up my stash of pink and purple dyes.
* Get my stylist to do it instead. Cost: money ;_; Quality of hair. Concern about damage, concern about communicating what I want and ending up with a caramel ombre or something, but at least it'll be a professional doing it, and I can maintain the pastel myself.
* Transition to henna earlier than planned. Costs: time, energy, I won't be able to have that final fling with pastels. Potential for the hair to go a muddy colour where the purple clings more strongly, though I could bleach bath first. Benefits: glorious colour that doesn't fade, and that I can put direct dye over to boost it to a range of reds and super deep pinks.
* Forget about pastels, and keep dying the lengths with diluted direct dyes to maintain a bright, happy colour and hopefully distract from the root situation. Costs: purple bathroom, fading, time spent re-dying each week or fortnight. I'll need a good old supply of Patience not to keep hating on my roots. Benefits: The sun might give me some natural highlights. I need to use up that stash of dye! I might still need to bleach, but it won't be until next year, by which point I might be OK leaving the hair to fade naturally for about 6 months (which is what I feel it'll need to get most of this colour out! Seriously, Color Freedom is an AMAZING range, and the pinks and purples have serious staying power. As does MP Fuschia Shock, which I'm pretty sure is the culprit for my roots still having a purple sheen).
Nightmare scenario:
So much damage I'd have to cut.
Muddy hair.
I'm not too concerned about damage. I've bleached bathed often enough in the past to know the Good News about coconut oil, and to know what my hair can take. Right now my lengths have been bleach bathed at most twice (where there was overlap each time I did my roots). I have a little breakage, very few splits, some areas of bent ends, and a few fairy knots. I S&D regularly.
I'm more worried about the colour going muddy/brown. I'm planning on testing henna on sheds before I transition, but there's so much variation in my colour right now that I don't know if that'll be all that helpful at this stage.
Right now I'm down about the colour, but pleased that my hair at least feels nice - despite that I've been using a clarifying shampoo this last month to force fade. I credit Shea Moisture leave-in with that, it's so good.
OK, that was a lot! If you made it all the way through that, thank you.
And now for the pics:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ZOX9I6Zdym-1mf7soDxnaxqA3PCAkO-Qc2q3cy1rxC9z7zGN7JCv-rDgiwLZ3g7xUll4b6oEA-AOhuuPaIigUIuEfv-vmoOyTKAJ_anIOTPgbVfKNfkN0ZVsHs1TiNL_7ZVVws5KG0h7i waoyg2uLI-jbzTvol1_dwifMcCMuyo-FO_GGfY8QdkhH-4joX3JU9m2ca3bsW6m_kFWVK1IEthVUwDe8YbG4xD2cOMiIdqk Sy5TA4MbUBfpPe0rGDzk69_Dvfsmd3FL2vZjOsPX4k-kWVT6ivKJikYnOEZBO0v-3REMs1tWiw-qphpMTCNLC_rOSElmI8ZxznNRm1ShbzcNy1IJ8LyppjKa3PE1e cOo1CXwL7jS69ghSTfOAT-4yXe-MQJGpahvQA28E0AN4Yk4NgGasiKJ1MaZOIzOzKsLX6IZ4J8CX9 7s9zoAn9l63YZWGQiXymgJIbLVxRtd_rF-dD8X-HC4UV8ytqdPbq1_wwMI7DfJraYUbAud1RE9-mS84QF5i25nO0VgKGxHw5_5-cLdYe5QfacXxWjCACR3XxeI0uRIboyRaX-N7Av7MTAH82PEdkNmaYB79nkNYYxAkX-NVu_YQD7YETqn6cFbNSGOs_YCkWUATmO6UKqci66I8MXwni6fg lwnjJ1-fggjociJG7jYH1zQH0gODOU434vxz0cdoQTVO6qkRmPJ9mZ_Bq og8tVgDCM3Q90=w331-h587-no
Upside down back of my head shot to show the blue staining which is at the front when my hair's down:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/KQajiW9ZLKZh13sGKScqlPjDf3YixWnoh0WfP5chjaSG4GUb9c S3RGWxxI4TGaMsUNsEVkIrzaGa73F4fr82EeyHEZlBlhqIIjQ9 G_Hzm3HiSK1qmimOu1-cQwTu1sKG7C3ecqDoprvxW0aARe-ZasbH7ARrWKZqabstfMR7KuxGVQVVC6q4ZiAdAWc54HB_-q8yNWJYrHJEQa3yMg1WmS3QFDOGFZuLVVUC1TKEGoGPHiG-I5Tg1rQRtnPCob4cul7uGDoAS41v4TCis2y0vxATr4psr62lgx tfihDX1JcEA5qr-u-VfxbAgh1Y9KyhaocQ3ilEinGpXRd1rFFciGa0BkS34q4nvB96Q iIw7_ojtKCbHjvXZwv_gCE7GDbpRO8J7GhrDvr7RuB4M1Mq0HM vdvWifW5vPF0k5guDd6jORSAtpRHBaBhwfY0LUJIc8W5MYVT20 gqJYT9ikFcb3nA84CVP6kZzJADi8xM7P0QNJn9PZufRbaazrfG Hcyv6gXrrEYeGzf2925gEI6YQ6-PvC8b_nEV7dp_LWe2Peh--0IamvByYO6VueeslQ9wbEiJEFqfHG-nWzkhrNIqIzbYwuh5qvRSfaBjvTzOPh6PI36xmHh5TV9moLod5 _o-AmDwbJe3hv7tCFAzJgNXrwOh32jlPBMKFmBt9IaC_Tp-K3y_YBzlr-PmdDquvrmnOYGQsyG0B6lVwU5fq3cY=w331-h587-no
And this shows the root regrowth and something of the base colour I'm dealing with. It looks alternately blonde, grey and brown depending on the light.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/xGxjbcj4dX-Gybd-JWdSes6RgWekQJOBiUlxX2bqHKr_P7WS_-M9xHvzLGwyneIIy5VePoHTqX1cHhjJwqg-v8cHxlELYZNk9EMEOBMnsaCH0Ks3hsiry9xllDRm4zjAnNm_dN L9wsUKUTt49DdeLWvZgIHHzK6BFE9hDA1HrmRt8Msok8w81Efy J_aYas4J-h9IB0bpY0zZP3Qww5BPDnjijTxWsEZcr9J5HChcmTPqnKQIonA 4MXVYCqlOZR9I_iWW2ia8nq9MelBSXWjlGMbG--MVHL4bO1c5ZkhlDFQuz3P6vaQPMfndUVqjLyaMwawSRrlA_fQ5 XXdRr45wqALT0Xuve_bu2nVgmeJNXw7vpy0wpOYlwWmTs6kZ5r OjF1WKKyODAEI61OV7AxPj1aVMDrCbD8DP21kOna-kAyqOl07vw3cgyZqdV_uqnMDd_9JZRWB8CgPf1id4nxAYEwN98 hIKu2eKFjhu_wS27UZfqkC2xvwOAxcAfaotML9ueU1ZdM4wIbW ekVd4wzHjv6uGKtMdPnnpOf4Q17ssbXoDrq0ha4T9yBzOosvoE o4Xx7GVaEi9gLVI86cVBhSCZBLsBMqIkBAmOXEfdttpI9D_pPR wPAB0VOW7KbH65woqIHPRXFXXQ5eFgDJi9iAhp90vpPhdKpVpl 0ZnkU5HxI8OUunvvAa_O-L03xHtoI-eQdwmeDTaiDzoeG8P1Z8=w331-h587-no
And this is my last length shot, from the 2nd Dec. The colour has faded since then, but it shows the overall effect, including a bit of rootage there.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ErtaCn6QoEVHSvd6CEqZMev1oxOE4NFdi-zQLyPLIpaUesiiJ3XsohBh13qDW3pCD9X-KZOnV-HktjKG9JjrSM2inbetybABLSpkEH8i8o2LXrn4XynJcRSRyqd1 cKz9FvkjwN-7P31xmvMlsiJlLI6ISUY6FXicsjKdnrQBZKjB_HQk_X2xRX12_ v5ABa4_BrrxoAPq3Trt26nk7ZGK3nHJVc3VFiCVsvl3FqJOlCY 1cTuMiwmYEK0SwzbHtU_f9yCxuKedPdYBYGI1aHTxYRwCamXuv-ifBlT95SfxaAUdIO1nLZId8Qg2cXI2shDhQKWtVqUpEYuDXR0c 4b_4vYb7yiKEyi6hZAkla4BrAOgfWCt2DLvojGmBPMyQ7KGSBO Q1cvBbHAL65pWBRixGkKFh3VoS7i_jVlnT1Gk_AFws1IygV6wg fhR-0JSvAOg8yMY2gQJY5PYrs66pQvt6HCQw8uE2X1XUMdVHDh-5MTC6Bz7moC9BleOXMMoQi5kJNFY1KiuWJRZKpdVruzQWSn4ad COiXgjDv2ATz6WdJslRayNLgE3cQoOjeOMpzJVe7LhvbopdbAa F1mJ10e_jpiVwUid-itZB_TAJuAt8E7pFXZGdmHSdv5N34srBCBuQIEh5kyXdqN8yCD X2kAMnxBXVM3KL2rp291cPIbf1kR-cPdy7sLO5xAqFjsTsNznNcsLgTk0ivCYi74AJmBM=w331-h587-no
I'm trying to devise a hairdye plan for the next year or so.
The situation:
Eventually I want to transition to henna, but not yet. I'm thinking once I get close to waist, so maybe in a year or two.
I haven't bleached in 12 months, and my roots are getting depressing. They're very subtly purple in places (over my natural dark blonde), and the rest of my hair is a mix of pinks and purples, with some extremely faded areas of very pale blue at the front. I've posted some photos at the bottom which show the range of colours in there right now.
I strongly dislike my natural colour, but I want more length before I finally transition to henna, and I don't want to put more purple over my roots because it's totally gonna stain - but only in a subtle way that takes forever to wash out, not in a vibrant colourful way that I can enjoy. In case you hadn't guessed, I'm not a fan of subtle colour on my hair.
[ETA - I gave up bleaching to give my scalp a rest, and to grow out a darker base for henna. I have a feeling henna over my natural hair will give me the shade I want more than henna over bleach.]
What I'm looking for:
A strategy for enjoying my hair that will enable me to transition to henna once I feel I have enough length to get the look I want.
What I want out of this:
I would like hair that looks intentionally and evenly coloured, that's bright and vibrant (or pastel) and makes me happy to see it.
This might sound easy, but I'm in the land of indecision right now.
These are the options I've so far considered:
* Bleach bath the already-bleached lengths and take it back to pastel for the year. Keep dye off the roots. Cost: damage, potential mess if I overlap bleach onto bits of my roots. Benefits: control. Back to pastels, no more purple bathroom. I get to use up my stash of pink and purple dyes.
* Get my stylist to do it instead. Cost: money ;_; Quality of hair. Concern about damage, concern about communicating what I want and ending up with a caramel ombre or something, but at least it'll be a professional doing it, and I can maintain the pastel myself.
* Transition to henna earlier than planned. Costs: time, energy, I won't be able to have that final fling with pastels. Potential for the hair to go a muddy colour where the purple clings more strongly, though I could bleach bath first. Benefits: glorious colour that doesn't fade, and that I can put direct dye over to boost it to a range of reds and super deep pinks.
* Forget about pastels, and keep dying the lengths with diluted direct dyes to maintain a bright, happy colour and hopefully distract from the root situation. Costs: purple bathroom, fading, time spent re-dying each week or fortnight. I'll need a good old supply of Patience not to keep hating on my roots. Benefits: The sun might give me some natural highlights. I need to use up that stash of dye! I might still need to bleach, but it won't be until next year, by which point I might be OK leaving the hair to fade naturally for about 6 months (which is what I feel it'll need to get most of this colour out! Seriously, Color Freedom is an AMAZING range, and the pinks and purples have serious staying power. As does MP Fuschia Shock, which I'm pretty sure is the culprit for my roots still having a purple sheen).
Nightmare scenario:
So much damage I'd have to cut.
Muddy hair.
I'm not too concerned about damage. I've bleached bathed often enough in the past to know the Good News about coconut oil, and to know what my hair can take. Right now my lengths have been bleach bathed at most twice (where there was overlap each time I did my roots). I have a little breakage, very few splits, some areas of bent ends, and a few fairy knots. I S&D regularly.
I'm more worried about the colour going muddy/brown. I'm planning on testing henna on sheds before I transition, but there's so much variation in my colour right now that I don't know if that'll be all that helpful at this stage.
Right now I'm down about the colour, but pleased that my hair at least feels nice - despite that I've been using a clarifying shampoo this last month to force fade. I credit Shea Moisture leave-in with that, it's so good.
OK, that was a lot! If you made it all the way through that, thank you.
And now for the pics:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ZOX9I6Zdym-1mf7soDxnaxqA3PCAkO-Qc2q3cy1rxC9z7zGN7JCv-rDgiwLZ3g7xUll4b6oEA-AOhuuPaIigUIuEfv-vmoOyTKAJ_anIOTPgbVfKNfkN0ZVsHs1TiNL_7ZVVws5KG0h7i waoyg2uLI-jbzTvol1_dwifMcCMuyo-FO_GGfY8QdkhH-4joX3JU9m2ca3bsW6m_kFWVK1IEthVUwDe8YbG4xD2cOMiIdqk Sy5TA4MbUBfpPe0rGDzk69_Dvfsmd3FL2vZjOsPX4k-kWVT6ivKJikYnOEZBO0v-3REMs1tWiw-qphpMTCNLC_rOSElmI8ZxznNRm1ShbzcNy1IJ8LyppjKa3PE1e cOo1CXwL7jS69ghSTfOAT-4yXe-MQJGpahvQA28E0AN4Yk4NgGasiKJ1MaZOIzOzKsLX6IZ4J8CX9 7s9zoAn9l63YZWGQiXymgJIbLVxRtd_rF-dD8X-HC4UV8ytqdPbq1_wwMI7DfJraYUbAud1RE9-mS84QF5i25nO0VgKGxHw5_5-cLdYe5QfacXxWjCACR3XxeI0uRIboyRaX-N7Av7MTAH82PEdkNmaYB79nkNYYxAkX-NVu_YQD7YETqn6cFbNSGOs_YCkWUATmO6UKqci66I8MXwni6fg lwnjJ1-fggjociJG7jYH1zQH0gODOU434vxz0cdoQTVO6qkRmPJ9mZ_Bq og8tVgDCM3Q90=w331-h587-no
Upside down back of my head shot to show the blue staining which is at the front when my hair's down:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/KQajiW9ZLKZh13sGKScqlPjDf3YixWnoh0WfP5chjaSG4GUb9c S3RGWxxI4TGaMsUNsEVkIrzaGa73F4fr82EeyHEZlBlhqIIjQ9 G_Hzm3HiSK1qmimOu1-cQwTu1sKG7C3ecqDoprvxW0aARe-ZasbH7ARrWKZqabstfMR7KuxGVQVVC6q4ZiAdAWc54HB_-q8yNWJYrHJEQa3yMg1WmS3QFDOGFZuLVVUC1TKEGoGPHiG-I5Tg1rQRtnPCob4cul7uGDoAS41v4TCis2y0vxATr4psr62lgx tfihDX1JcEA5qr-u-VfxbAgh1Y9KyhaocQ3ilEinGpXRd1rFFciGa0BkS34q4nvB96Q iIw7_ojtKCbHjvXZwv_gCE7GDbpRO8J7GhrDvr7RuB4M1Mq0HM vdvWifW5vPF0k5guDd6jORSAtpRHBaBhwfY0LUJIc8W5MYVT20 gqJYT9ikFcb3nA84CVP6kZzJADi8xM7P0QNJn9PZufRbaazrfG Hcyv6gXrrEYeGzf2925gEI6YQ6-PvC8b_nEV7dp_LWe2Peh--0IamvByYO6VueeslQ9wbEiJEFqfHG-nWzkhrNIqIzbYwuh5qvRSfaBjvTzOPh6PI36xmHh5TV9moLod5 _o-AmDwbJe3hv7tCFAzJgNXrwOh32jlPBMKFmBt9IaC_Tp-K3y_YBzlr-PmdDquvrmnOYGQsyG0B6lVwU5fq3cY=w331-h587-no
And this shows the root regrowth and something of the base colour I'm dealing with. It looks alternately blonde, grey and brown depending on the light.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/xGxjbcj4dX-Gybd-JWdSes6RgWekQJOBiUlxX2bqHKr_P7WS_-M9xHvzLGwyneIIy5VePoHTqX1cHhjJwqg-v8cHxlELYZNk9EMEOBMnsaCH0Ks3hsiry9xllDRm4zjAnNm_dN L9wsUKUTt49DdeLWvZgIHHzK6BFE9hDA1HrmRt8Msok8w81Efy J_aYas4J-h9IB0bpY0zZP3Qww5BPDnjijTxWsEZcr9J5HChcmTPqnKQIonA 4MXVYCqlOZR9I_iWW2ia8nq9MelBSXWjlGMbG--MVHL4bO1c5ZkhlDFQuz3P6vaQPMfndUVqjLyaMwawSRrlA_fQ5 XXdRr45wqALT0Xuve_bu2nVgmeJNXw7vpy0wpOYlwWmTs6kZ5r OjF1WKKyODAEI61OV7AxPj1aVMDrCbD8DP21kOna-kAyqOl07vw3cgyZqdV_uqnMDd_9JZRWB8CgPf1id4nxAYEwN98 hIKu2eKFjhu_wS27UZfqkC2xvwOAxcAfaotML9ueU1ZdM4wIbW ekVd4wzHjv6uGKtMdPnnpOf4Q17ssbXoDrq0ha4T9yBzOosvoE o4Xx7GVaEi9gLVI86cVBhSCZBLsBMqIkBAmOXEfdttpI9D_pPR wPAB0VOW7KbH65woqIHPRXFXXQ5eFgDJi9iAhp90vpPhdKpVpl 0ZnkU5HxI8OUunvvAa_O-L03xHtoI-eQdwmeDTaiDzoeG8P1Z8=w331-h587-no
And this is my last length shot, from the 2nd Dec. The colour has faded since then, but it shows the overall effect, including a bit of rootage there.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ErtaCn6QoEVHSvd6CEqZMev1oxOE4NFdi-zQLyPLIpaUesiiJ3XsohBh13qDW3pCD9X-KZOnV-HktjKG9JjrSM2inbetybABLSpkEH8i8o2LXrn4XynJcRSRyqd1 cKz9FvkjwN-7P31xmvMlsiJlLI6ISUY6FXicsjKdnrQBZKjB_HQk_X2xRX12_ v5ABa4_BrrxoAPq3Trt26nk7ZGK3nHJVc3VFiCVsvl3FqJOlCY 1cTuMiwmYEK0SwzbHtU_f9yCxuKedPdYBYGI1aHTxYRwCamXuv-ifBlT95SfxaAUdIO1nLZId8Qg2cXI2shDhQKWtVqUpEYuDXR0c 4b_4vYb7yiKEyi6hZAkla4BrAOgfWCt2DLvojGmBPMyQ7KGSBO Q1cvBbHAL65pWBRixGkKFh3VoS7i_jVlnT1Gk_AFws1IygV6wg fhR-0JSvAOg8yMY2gQJY5PYrs66pQvt6HCQw8uE2X1XUMdVHDh-5MTC6Bz7moC9BleOXMMoQi5kJNFY1KiuWJRZKpdVruzQWSn4ad COiXgjDv2ATz6WdJslRayNLgE3cQoOjeOMpzJVe7LhvbopdbAa F1mJ10e_jpiVwUid-itZB_TAJuAt8E7pFXZGdmHSdv5N34srBCBuQIEh5kyXdqN8yCD X2kAMnxBXVM3KL2rp291cPIbf1kR-cPdy7sLO5xAqFjsTsNznNcsLgTk0ivCYi74AJmBM=w331-h587-no