Thinking of bleaching blonde

[feralnature]

Ok, so I will go by the 2 week rule....but I am seriously considering bleaching my almost APL hair blonde. I have had it blonde before and LIKED the attention it got me, the way it made me feel and the hop, skip and jump it put into my steps. My husband really liked it too.

I have almost all virgin hair again, took awhile to grow out after cutting off bleached blonde hair from last time(it had been very long before when I had it blonde and then later had dreads which I cut off to two inches from my scalp to remove).

It has taken 2 years to get back where I am. And I want it blonde again. I am turning really grey, which I like, BUT my regular other hair is drab now, not the rich brown color it used to be in my youth. The red highlights in my pics are not noticeable indoors.

QUESTION: If I baby and tend my bleached hair right, like I have learned here on this forum, can it grow in length AND be bleached blonde? or will it break off as fast as it grows?

That is my main concern...bleaching it before it gets more length.

Thanks:)

[SpecialKitty]

The regular catnip tea soak is supposed to help turn greys a sort of blonde color, and keep them that way. I believe there are two active threads in the herbal haircare forum that deal with this (the catnip thread, and the thread on peroxide damage). Sorry I can't figure out how to link to the threads, just now. But maybe you can check it out and see if it might work for you.

If you must bleach, by all means do it, but just remember the damage it will do to your hair. That damage is irreversible, and your hair looks very pretty just as it is.....

[feralnature]

Thnaks SpecialKitty. I haven't trimmed in 15 months so my hair looks stringy in my siggy, i'm holding off on trimming as long as possible. If I do go blonde, it will be as a bleached blonde. I have read as many threads on this forum as possible, doing searches.

[lapushka]

An aunt of mine has between BSL and waist length hair that is highlighted a soft sandy blonde. She's done this for many many years. She's got wavy iii hair. She cares for it extremely well, and conditions it lots every time. It's long but it needs to be babied a whole lot more than virgin hair would ever need to be. She knows that full well.

Better to feel great about yourself and your hair with a color and style you like than to think that because you're on LHC you are not allowed to dye or to style or to cut. As long as you are aware of what you are doing, and you pamper your hair, I don't think it's wrong.

Nobody says you need to have virgin hair.
Nobody says you can't style, cut, or dye your hair.

LHC is just about being aware, I think, and about doing whatever is possible for you to do given your own circumstances, while still feeling great about yourself and your whole look. Extremely long fairy-like locks aren't for everyone. Between short trendy cuts and fairy-like locks, there are a lot of different styles, colors (dyed or no) and lengths.

[wintersun99]

Seems like if you highlighted/lowlighted (NOT a single process bleaching) to blond and than baby'd your hair thereafter, it should rebound (but you know your hair, is it strong enough for this?) Also, you would want to do roots-only touch ups, you would NOT want to continue multiple processes on the length. You'd want to make sure it gets enough moisture and protein and maybe look into Cassia treatments... ??

[Jeni]

Ok here is where people might get into an argument over what you mean by bleach. Do you mean using hair bleach which will actually bleach your hair or do you mean use dyes that contain bleach. To me their is a difference, especially since a lot of hair dyes contain bleaching agents. For example I could use a brown dye to darken my hair but that dye has bleach in it.

If your talking regular bleach- I found it really hard on my hair, and I'm talking REALLY HARD. I also think there is a very small population of people that look good with "bleach blond" hair. I was born with white hair and even I look kind of odd with it now.

If your talking blond hair dye (which I guess is more likely)- I think if you only do roots and take good care of your hair you can grow it long. I'm almost certain there are people here that lighten their hair and have reached at least waist. I see you want terminal length, I have no idea if someone who uses bleach of any kind can reach terminal. I would think with proper care you could reach at least hip but it would probably take more trimming then virgin hair would and take more special treatment. It also depends on your hair, whether it is super delicate and splits and breaks over anything or pretty strong and forgiving.

I think its all just guessing since no one really knows how your hair will deal with it. What color/how light are you planning on going?

I'm a natural blond (med ash I think) who is slowly growing out henna. I love my strawberry hair but I think I'm a blond at heart.

[GlennaGirl]

I dyed (not bleached, but commercial dyes) my hair blonde for many, many years. I thought it got me tons of attention, but when I look back at pictures of myself then, I seriously looked like cr*p. I mean my hair color against my face just looked awful, and I'm not exaggerating or trying to make myself feel better about my hair now; it really is shocking how bad that color looked. And the hair itself...oh GOD. It was a bendy-ish (not wavy...can't describe it), very slightly uneven, frizzed on the bottom mess. Ughhhhhhhhhh!

But I got lots of attention, as you have mentioned. And it's obvious it's because I put my own "spring in my step". That's the really interesting thing here. You can even look bad but still be sexy if you feel sexy.

You sound like I did then, so I'll say that I felt very "drab" once I was a brunette after having been blonde. And I stopped getting the attention. Then I gained weight. And I REALLY stopped getting attention.

Then this past year I started feeling better physically (I'd had a thyroid condition but didn't know it; now it's being treated) and I get attention again! Yes. Unbelievably. 41 years old, fat and without my "blonde hair," the attention comes. And I don't even desire it now since I'm married. It comes anyway. Go figure.

You may think it's a platitude, but it really is true: it's how you feel that makes you sexy. At least to an extent. I mean I'm sure if you walked around with spinach stuck in your teeth, with a torn Ratt T-shirt tied around your head you might not get the kind of attention you're talking about, anyway. :P

Okay, all that said: it's fully your right to bleach your hair. I know when I simply dyed mine, not two-step bleach, it eventually literally broke off in my hands the longer I tried to grow it. Over time, the combination of having been treated, and the age that the hair had been on my head, would just ruin it, no matter how I babied it.

The choice is yours. Not everyone "has to" have super long hair. But if you truly do want long hair, I would advise against bleaching. A few people can grow and get to great lengths. A very few.

Hugs and I hope you find what you're looking for.

[justgreen]

My advice would be to NOT bleach your whole head of hair. I'd go with two shades of blond, foiled in with your dark. And then after that, I'd only get the roots foiled, not the whole hair length. That's the way I've been doing it for almost four years and I have very few splits. I havent' had ANY kind of hair cut or dusting in 15 months.

[earthdancer]

I think it depends on your hair type, and you may not know how it will react yet. My sister dyes her hair dark brown, has BSL hair and it's gorgeous. I bleach my hair very slightly to brighten the tone and I have waist-length, but I never put shampoo on the length, only the roots, and use coconut oil to moisturize in warm weather and VO5 for fine hair in the winter. In defense of the VO5, coconut oil turns hard in the cold, and I found out that when it's on my hair--well, let your imagination run wild. It isn't pretty.

Plus, I use Fructis split-ends treatment and it helps a lot!

[feralnature]

Ok...Three years ago, my daughter did my first bleaching jobs. With the lifts and then true blonde blonde blonde color. My hair was pretty well damaged after a year of her practicing on my head. I didn't mind, she was learning, and doing well I might add. But it was pre-LHC and I would blow-fry and ride around letting my hair blow in her Trans Am and my goats bit the top out of my hair etc. it was looking pretty rough. I could have prevented so much of the damage but was so ignorant. I used such hot water in the shower too. Also, no conditioner made my hair 'fuller".

THEN I went to one of the best hairdressers in Houston, and she gave me BEAUTUFUL color. The blonde looked so natural, very blonde, but yet golden tones weaved in and since I tan well in the summer (always summer here almost) and with the cut along the sides of my face took years off.

So yes, I am thinking the whole bleach thing. But I am waiting 2 weeks to roll this around in my head.

I recently had a health scare that has made be re-evaluate life. I had to have a heart cath last week and was found to have a 20% blockage. So I will have to loose the weight that has crept on since I lost 70 lbs at age 49....the pre-age-50 diet. That's when I originally went blonde.

I realize life is short. I may not live til terminal length with virgin hair and feel the need to be a skinny blonde again NOW! Thanks for the ear:)

[manderly]

Do what makes you happy :)

Blonde can be very hard on your hair, as you already know.

Can you go back to that stylist that gave you the color you loved? Can you continue to afford to go to her regularly to touch it up? If you can afford to be a blonde and it's a color you love, then go for it :)

I wouldn't recommend it if you are tight on money (yuck roots!) or you may resort to whole-head applications from a box which aren't the best option.

I think bottle blondes who do it WELL are gorgeous. Unfortunately I see much more on the other end of the spectrum, the AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I can't believe you did that to your hair!

[spidermom]

If you don't mind making the commitment to keeping up with dark roots - why not?

I've been blonde all my life and it's never done a thing for me.

[Darian Moone]

If you're talking about the shampoo-in hair color like Loreal, Clairol, etc., then I would say that as long as you don't pull the color through every time, but just touch up your roots, I don't see any reason why you should have a problem growing your hair long and color it too.

I've grown mine to tailbone while coloring in blonde, cut it (not because of damage, but because of boredom mostly), grew it back out to hip, cut it again (twice!) this year, and am now growing it back to either hip or tailbone (haven't decided which yet). (All this growing, cutting and dying since I joined LHC).

I'm a bottle blonde and like it that way. PS... I can't find any split ends or damage to my hair at all right now. :D

[~GypsyCurls~]

IMO it's possible in theory. Will it be easy? No. I think you'd have to do regular protein treatments and DT's, and when you do the roots you can only bleach the roots as to not re bleach the hair that's already been bleached...and that's the difficult part, making sure the bleached roots and length are all the same color. Unless you have access to a hairdresser who can do it perfectly, it will be really difficult to do it yourself.

I think you should do what makes you happy, though. if you'd prefer shorter bleached blonde hair to longer, undyed hair that you don't like as much, the choice is clear. Keep us updated!

[Debra83]

I bleached my hair for a few years - and I loved it, but looking back on pics now, I feel it made me look older than I do with dark hair. But, I still love blond. If I can figured out this catnip color thing, I may go back to blond one day. It never grew longer than my shoulders the whole time I did it because the ends were so dry and straw like I would chop them off. I didn't like that part of it. But I wasn't an LHC'er then, and I might try a few tricks different. The biggest pain in the butt though, was when they discontinued most of the blond in the line of bleach I was using - which wasn't as harsh as the regular self-dye jobs out there. I wouldn't do it now, I would try catnip! OR that gentle peroxide way that there is a thread about!!!!! Hey!!!! THERE's an idea!!!!!

Oh well, let us know, and don't forget pictures, and good luck!!!

[chelssix]

Have you considered doing some highlights and then just doing maintenence on those? I think that could look very pretty with your haircolor.
As it's already been stated, only you know what your hair can handle. If your hair can handle it, and it will make you happy, why not?

[feralnature]

Thanks for the thoughtful responses. I would not be doing it myself but would rather have a hairdresser do it. I would travel the 2 hours to Houston each time for touch ups. My family is there anyway and I found a reputable hair salon nearby, in fact, ranked in the top ten in Houston:
http://www.venushairhouston.com/index.htm
or maybe this one:
http://www.cou-leur.com/ also in the top ten.

I know sooo much more about hair care than before. I am thinking I can take care of bleached hair shafts now...before, I made them worse and worse :(

Cool link shows magnified damaged hair; http://www.pgbeautyscience.com/hair-damage.html

[Honey39]

I dunno, I put highlights/lowlights through my hair every three months, and cut about half an inch off. I've been here for about eight months, and my hair is growing really well, and I can't see any damage, but rather my hair looks pretty good! But I do try to do the following stuff - no hairdryer, no heat appliances, conditioner-only washing, no brushing/combing, oiling and all that. I don't know if I could grow my hair to a super-length, but it's grown really fast and the ends haven't broken off at all.

Have you thought abotu putting highlights through, rather than bleaching the whole lot? I think that gives you the colour lift you need, it gradually means your hair lightens to the one you want, and seems to be slightly less brutal on your hair.

Do what you want though - LHC isn't prescriptive and it really is up to you! Just make sure you think through what you really want, rather than just do something on impulse!

[Katze]

really great advice so far.

As a former bleach/dye/artificial blonde, I wanted to chime in. Also, we are hair twins. :)

For years (approximately 1984-2005) I bleached/dyed/highlighted my hair. I always wanted it long, but it never grew long. Salons told me it was "too fine" or "too thin" - but I also blowdried, crimped, curled and straightened with a curling iron, went years without conditioner...

I remember the lovely feeling of being blonde. How special, how unique I was! I had been the only blonde in our family, always got complimented as a kid, and I wanted to hang onto that. Also blonde matched my eyebrows, made my eyes "pop", made me feel sexy...but when I look at pictures, I realize it was, very often, yellow/orange and brassy. I kept going lighter, trying for platinum, but it never lasted very long. The roots always looked really, really dark (my hair is lighter than yours, I think) and were a pain to take care of.

Oh, and LHC treatments, while good for my hair and scalp, further stripped dye out of my hair, making the ends brassier than ever. I am slowly cutting this orange out, almost three years later.

My verdict? It's a choice - blonde or long. Blonde or healthy. At least for fine hair. You can probably get longish, and have it look OK, while bleached/highlighted/dyed blonde, if you do a lot of deep treatments - but remember that vinegar, honey, baking soda, and lots of other things will strip and fade drabbing dyes and toners, giving you more gold/yellow/orange shades - at least in my experience.

Also remember the roots. They will be visible every 2-6 weeks, and even with highlights if you go too long without retouching, you'll look two-toned. If you ever stop, you'll look two-tones.

And scalp issues. If your scalp is healthy, you'll probably be fine, but if you have any sensitivity, these chemicals aren't good for your scalp.

Despite what many claim I never met a stylist who would not pull the dye or bleach through to my ends, or let it touch my scalp. Some were more careful than others, but none treated my hair "like old lace."

ultimately it is your hair and your decision, and if blonde makes you so happy, go for it! For me, it kept my hair looking straggly, thin, dry, and unattractive, even though I sometimes FELT better blonde.

[Velvettt]

With all respect to Katze, it's not a choice of blonde or healthy. There are quite a few of us bottle blondes here at LHC and some of them have absolutely stunning, LONG hair.

When I joined LHC in April 2007, I was using L'Oreal hair colour every 8 weeks, and following the directions on the box to "pull" the dye through to my ends for the last ten minutes. I learned that was a terrible thing to do to my hair and probably accounted for not being able to grow it out before.

Now I still use L'Oreal, but I coat my length with coconut oil before dyeing and I never, NEVER allow the dye to touch anything but my roots. I colour approx every 10 wks now, just the roots.

I cut off half an inch every 2 months and I'm slowly getting rid of the driest, most damaged hair. It's not yellow or brassy, despite the bad lighting in my profile pic. My hair is thin and baby fine and I'm over 50.

Yes, you can dye your hair and keep it healthy and grow it long. All you have to do is take care of it.

[MsBubbles]

My verdict? It's a choice - blonde or long. Blonde or healthy. At least for fine hair. .

This statement is true for me, too. (Don't look at my avatar! It's 'bleached' by the flash in my camera). I'm not sure if my natural color should be described as ash brown, or dark ash blonde, but once my fine, porous hair has been out of my scalp for a while, it inevitably gets lightened significantly by the sun. So additional chemicals or bleaches tend to strip my hair and dry it out and it doesn't look like hair any more at BSL!!

I hope the OP can find a stylist who will cut, or not cut according to the OP's wishes. When I got my hair highlighted I'd always end up with shorter than shoulder length hair, with layers, no matter what I asked my stylist to do. She could never 'not cut' it.

Those who can grow their hair to waist or TB all the while using bleach of some kind, I call them the lucky ones. It's just not going to work for my hair.

[Curlsgirl]

My hair is not extremely long but I highlight/lowlight and the ends have been lightened in the past and aside from a little dryness which I have ALWAYS had it's still healthy too. I say try the highlights road too if you want blond not only because it is easier on your hair but it looks MUCH more natural, gives it depth and requires less touching up at least for me. Straight bleaching all over hair is terrible on the hair in my experience and I too look back on my pictures in horror! shudder:

[earthdancer]

I like my hair a bit lighter than my natural color, and people always assume I'm about 20 years younger than I actually am (54). A teller at the post office totally lost it when I renewed my passport last year. She said out loud: "oh, my god, you must be a lot older than you look! I mean, I mean..." So I love being an almost-blonde (or blonde, depending on the part of the world you're in :eyebrows:). I only touch up the roots, not the length, and the difference in the color between my roots and the new color is very slight. As my hair grew, the length naturally lightened more and more so it looks blonder than it would if it stayed the same color as my crown.

If you want to be blonde and it suits your skintone, I say go for it! It's a totally innocent way to make yourself happy! Truth to tell after my disaster perm years ago, when I had to choose between bleaching my hair and growing it long, I chose the bleach and I still would.:cheese:

[Anje]

You've had your hair bleached before, so you know what it's like when it's bleached. Babying it will help, but I suspect that your hair will behave pretty much the way it did the last time it was bleached. Whether you want to deal with that is really up to you.

If you do this, you realize that you won't achieve the same length that you could with virgin hair. Depending on how your hair holds up, it might get quite long (tailbone+), or it might not make it past APL when lightened. In any case, if you decide to go through with it, you definitely want to find a stylist or a method that will allow you to do roots-only touchups, because your hair will most certainly crumble if you bleach it repeatedly root-to-tip.

[atlantaz3]

My parents just asked me if I dyed my hair or why was it so dark on the last visit. The last phone call with my mom, she brought up the same subject -why had my hair gotten so dark. I told her she was "skating on thin ice". In other words I don't want to hear I'm not blonde anymore. This thread is the exact same thoughts I have been having. Honey has not really lightened up my hair. I haven't had high or low lights put in since August 07 - but it's been a struggle not to! And then my parents ask me where the brown hair came from -ACK! Where's a bottle when you need it.
My hair dresser does really good high lights matching the low lights to my natural color and as slow as my hair grows I could get away with only two sessions a year. But I spent all that time growing out virgin hair. It still breaks; I still have split ends - for the last 18 months or so I have been doing smt and trying all sorts of things to get healthy hair. And that little voice in the back of my head is screaming at me "GET HIGHLIGHTS!" I've waited out the two week rule too many times to count. I tell myself I hate the roots and the two tone which I probably have now. Then I look at the bleached out fried bob I had in 2001 - ish - but I tell myself I wouldn't go that far again.
I'm encouraged by the long hairs who have responded that they are able to color and have long hair. Closer to spring I think I will be making the leap to highlights again.
I say if it makes YOU happy go for it.

[lizelly]

you should if that would make you more confident.

[feralnature]

Thanks for all the comments and opinions, I am taking them all to heart.

Coincidently, my daughter, the one that used to do mt hair, went to the hairdresser today and had her hair bleached blonde. I guess we have some sort of psychic connection...that almost encourages me to go blonde even more.

I was 50 pounds lighter and very blonde with much longer hair 3 years ago. I liked that person. I want to get that back and I feel like changing my hair back to how it was may help me kick-start my diet (well, I have lost 6 pounds post heart procedure).

I will honor the 2 week rule and really think this through. My hair is incredibly healthy right now, my pic does not do it justice. I have some thinking to do. I feel very drab and dowdy right now....maybe that will pass. I'm Bipolar also and don't want to make a rash decision...quite common with those of my ilk :)

[invisiblebabe]

I'm another who does highlights on the top layer only, and only has the roots touched up every 3-5 months. Right now my hair is BSL, and it is thick all the way to the ends at this length.

[SpecialKitty]

Good luck with whatever you decide feralnature! You will make the right choice for you, no doubt. Take good care of your health, too. :grouphug:

[Unofficial_Rose]

Just a suggestion, but some of the desire to be blonde may be to do with the fact that it's Spring and we all feel like being "lighter".

I was blonde for most of my adult life, but started going darker in the Autumn, blonder in the Spring. And when the urge to lighten it up would strike, it was almost impossible to resist. (Plus it felt more like the "old me" - yep the one that was younger and thinner ;))

I ruined my shoulder length dark hair last summer doing this, but then I had henndigo and it had to be cut off into SHORT blonde hair. Didn't look as good as I remembered and now I'm on the henndigo again, but my hair is shorter :rolleyes:! Doesn't sound as though you have any henndigo/green hair issues to contend with.

As others have said, why not start with a few highlights and take it from there. If you like it, you can always add more. If it doesn't look as good as you remember, have some dark ones put in.

Besides, sometimes you just have to do these things, you know? :)

[twilight_faerie]

I have the feeling your mind is already made up about this, so I'm not going to give an opinion. But remember that while you might feel perfectly willing to deal with the extra attention your hair will need and driving the 2 hours to get dyed right now, you may not be quite so willing after the novelty of a new hair color has worn off. Of course, perhaps you're like me, and have to learn things the hard way. Despite the fact that I was warned very much not to bleach over my henna, I did it anyway. I think it was just something I had to do, had to see for myself. And I certainly learned my lesson.

[earthdancer]

If you want to look lighter-blonde without bleaching your entire head the same, you could do as some of our posters have advised and do blonde highlights. When I touch up my roots (about 3 minutes), I usually bleach some random highlights for about 5 minutes longer than the roots, especially in the front and a bit on the sides. I just use the tip of the bottle to make some thin stripes on the surface of my hair first, before I do my roots. I have side-swept bangs; my bangs get trimmed every month so any damage is kept to a minimum. It gives my hair a sun-streaked look and makes it look blonder around my face, which I like.

Most people, unless they are professional hairdressers, assume that my hair color is natural. I have a great aversion to obvious roots! I don't like announcing to the world that I've bleached my hair, but I'm the same way with make-up--I like to keep it as natural-looking as possible, with the exception of lip gloss (my #1 secret to taking about 10 more years off my age).;)

In the winter, I ease up on doing highlights, so that my haircolor looks less sun-streaked. The highlights just don't look right on me in January when we haven't seen the sun in 3 weeks, and even the sunlight has a blue cast.

[feralnature]

Ok, still thinking about it. If I go for it, I think the foiling in of high and low lights will be the way to go. I don't mind traveling the 2 hours to get to the hairdresser as my parents, children and grandchildren all live in the city that I would have to go to (I live on a farm in the country).

When I was blonde in the past, 3 years ago, I knew nothing of hair care, I blow-fried it and did horrible things to it. This time I would know how to treat it.

I will still wait 2 weeks before going forward.

Thanks, will keep yall posted :)

[maskedrose]

I've tried to post in this thread twice now and both times I've had to attend to some minor emergency before I could hit submit. Third time's the charm, I suppose...

I'm going to preface my post with a standard, "It's your hair, do what makes you happy".

However, I personally have never seen a someone with bleached blonde hair that looks good. Eye catching, yes. But good? No. Even the multi-millionares in Hollywood can't pull it off, even with all of the expensive products and $$$ hairdressers.

I love to people watch, and ever since joining LHC a year and a half ago, hair is one of the first things I notice. Personally, I think that healthy, shiny, rich color is so flattering on everyone. The women that look the oldest are the ones who overprocess their hair, tan too much, and wear too much makeup - things that they do to "hide" their age just makes it that much more apparent.

I totally understand the need to liven things up a bit, but, like others, I would encourage you to not do a singe process bleach. I would actually encourage you to not go for blonde, but weave shades of caramel and honey into your naturally gorgeous brunette (think Jennifer Aniston). Have your stylist put the medium/light honey streaks near your face, and honey/caramel streaks through the rest. Also, I would encourage you to only do partial highlights. It looks much more natural and is easier on your hair.

My mom actually just switched from lightening her naturally redish/brown hair to very light blonde to doing exactly what I described above. She really does look 10 years younger and she told me yesterday that she is getting spontaneous male attention when out and about for the first in years. She's thrilled, to say the least (even though she and my dad are very happily married :) ).

The one other thing I'll mention is that even with excellent care, bleached hair just doesn't shine. I only did non-bleach (just toner) partial highlights on my naturally light/medium honey blonde hair, and now that I have an appreciable length of virgin hair at my crown, there is a huge difference in shine, texture and breakage between the two. I see our hair types are very similiar, so even with excellent care you should probably expect a worse difference in your hair, since there would be so much processing involved.

Bottom line? I know you want a uplifting change, but perhaps blonde blonde isn't the way to go. I would try doing a beautiful combination of honey and caramel highlights (with lots of your own color woven through) and see if that is enough to give you the boost you feel you need.

I don't want to tell you what to do with your hair, I just would like to see more women embrace their natural beauty and if they feel enhancement is needed, do it subtly. Just my thoughts, ignore if you wish :flower:

[justgreen]

Excuse me, this is where I have to stand up and disagree....hair that has been bleached doesn't shine? This pic is one of my very FIRST pics here on LCH, 3.5 years ago, taken inside. The last pic was taken last year, outside. I have HUNDREDS of pics taken inbetween....my highlighted (bleached) hair has immense shine, as do others here.
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b168/justgreen_/MyFirstHairSTickBun.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b168/justgreen_/001-2.jpg

The underneath panel is my natural color and has never be processed, dark or light. I am by no means a natural blonde.

[Darian Moone]

Thanks for piping up Justy. I was about to become offended!!! (Me and my supposedy "bad looking" bleached blonde hair! :flower:

[Darian Moone]

Here are some pictures of my dyed-blonde hair over the years. Judge for yourself. If you don't like it, it's your perogative not to color. But please, don't insult those of use who do, okay? :( We sorta like our hair. :flower:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c277/Darian47/FamPhot1-13-08014-1-1-1-1.jpg

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c277/Darian47/SundayAMHair11-25-07002.jpg

[justgreen]

Thank you for jumping in Darian Moone! :flower:

Now, who has some popcorn we can munch while we wait to see what the OP ends up doing? I'm hoping if she truly wants blonde, that she goes with three different shades, woven in with her dark glossy hair. IMHO that is truly hot. :agree: .....but I could just be biased.:D

[Jeni]

My hair was always quite shiny when I dyed it blond. I have seen the dyed to death blond she may be talking about, the kind that looks like if you touch it its just going to crumble It is dull and has no shine but that isn't the case for everyone who dyes/bleaches their hair blond.

I'm quite anxious to see what the OP does too. I'm sure it will be lovely no matter what color.

[feralnature]

Well, now I want to "go blonde" just to prove that an old hag like me can carry it off (since no one supposedly can)...and btw I CAN'T STAND Jennifer Anniston :rolleyes:. So I don't want to try to look like her for sure :)

[feralnature]

oh, and justgreen, beautiful hair!

[justgreen]

Thank you feralnature! If I can do it , I'm sure you can too, if you are getting it done at a salon. I'm sure you've learned thousands of good tips on how to care for your hair, here at LHC. By the way, you are not an old hag....not by a long shot. :smile: I'm going to be 53 years old this year. :agree:

[Darian Moone]

You're not an old hag!!! I'm half way between 50 and 51. We're young! ;)

[maskedrose]

Oh crap, crap, crap. I didn't mean to offend! I promise. I guess it just really came out wrong. BIG sorry! I've always loved your hair Justy and yours as well, Darian Moon - both beautiful examples of highlights gone well.

I was also not trying to imply that all people who lighten their hair look like old hags!!! Nor was I implying that the OP would look like an old hag if she went blonde. I was just trying to convey (and obviously it came out way wrong), that more often than not single process bleach jobs tend to be more ageing than well placed highlight/lowlight jobs. However, I am sure that there are people out there who pull it off beautifully.

Anyway, please accept my apology!

[Cinnamon Hair]

I'm asking this as a brunette who has never colored, so please understand that I know next to nothing about blondes...

When bleaching I always assumed there was a limit to how healthy your hair could be and how long you could grow vs the quality and length attainable with natural hair. Is this wrong? Just for the sake of asking, who is our longest bottle blonde on LHC? I thought there were limits to what you could do with processed hair, in terms of tangles and breakage.

[Jeni]

Cinnamon Hair. I think provided you just do roots, condition well, take care of your hair, etc you could get to at least hip or TBL. I think its an individual thing though, some people can dye the whole length every month and grow to waist, others only do roots and start breaking at APL.

I know in HS I would dye my hair (root to tip) all the time, Faria was my favorite, never did DTs, Shampooed and Conditioned the whole length. My hair was shiny and not bad at all, I never tried to long lengths, cut it when it hit about BSL.

I would be interested in the longest bottle blond here too

[Anlbe]

Dear feralnature,
I'm thinking of doing the same thing too!
I currently use highlights to bring my colour up to a warm, bit of blonde brown, avatar is completely misleading this pic is a better illustration
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=477&pictureid=33113
it looks really natural looking and grows out well only needing to be redone in early spring and late summer.
But as I get older my white skin is getting paler with more blue and green tones in it in particular under my eyes, and my hair I'm looking peaky. So I figure I either need to start wearing makeup or make my hair lighter. At the moment I'm thinking I'm going to go return to the colour I was as a child.
This is also me accepting that my dry brittle hair is never going to get beyond BSL. I grew it for seven years virgin (using George Michael system) and it never got beyond BSL, with highlights it stops at about the same point. The LHC has made my hair better condition and almost shiny! but not longer, so I'm planning to embrace the blonde and be happy with healthy BSL hair!

[Velvettt]

I've already posted on here about my dyeing procedures. I also resent the comment that dyed blonde can't shine.
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb245/Velvettts/pearlstix1.jpg

[DARtheSTAR]

I have bleached my hair a couple times over the years going from light to dark and then light again, its a good think you only need to do it once an all over bleach then just the regular root touchups.

My hair requires much more TLC including more treatments and less washing but I don't mind :)

[brok3nwings]

there are a couple of thoughts i have about this...
first
i have never personally liked any hair that was all overal bleach blonde. Whatever the colour of blonde you choose always seam really bad. And besides... you are a brunette! you will have brassy problems...if you go too light you will end up with yellow and red...all unnatural. Consider this please! The most acceptable way it would be highlights and even so it takes a lot of mantainence, it takes a lot of money, and it costs also your healthy hair.

Second thought. People with fine hair tend to have shiny hair (imo), i see it by observing all my friends diferent hair types... medium coarse hair only shines at the sun...and they have to be healthy for that... also fine hair tends to break a lot more. A friend of mine has really shiny hair, she dies it black, it looks healthy but if you touch or see close its not healthy at all. What i mean with this is that fine bleach hair for me looks nicer then the others... anyone with coarse bleached hair looks terrible. But thats only something i believe from what ive seen

[Velvettt]

Seems to be an awful lot of hostility towards those of us who dye our hair blonde. I don't see this kind of derogatory remark aimed at those who dye their hair red. I wonder why.

[GlennaGirl]

Seems to be an awful lot of hostility towards those of us who dye our hair blonde. I don't see this kind of derogatory remark aimed at those who dye their hair red. I wonder why.

I don't believe it's hostility. There may be erroneous beliefs about processed-blonde (dyed, bleached, highlighted or what-not), but I don't see how that's hostility. In this case, being corrected is a good thing; it's educational. So it's good that we're hearing from people who color their hair blonde but don't experience the same damage that many of us here have.

People are giving their RL experiences, as they see them. I know a couple of people have said they've "never" seen a good blonde dye job. They could simply not realize that a few people they thought were natural blondes process their hair. KWIM? Again, there's room for correction here and it's eye-opening.

We are giving our experiences--I personally didn't give any thoughts about other people's hair, just my OWN experiences, but they were in fact terrible no matter how much TLC I gave my hair (I was COing at the time, finger-detangling, NO hair dryers ever, etc.). If a few of us are stressing the possibility of long-term damage due to lightening hair, it's because we know how devastating it is to think "it's going to be different this time!", dye again and have to drag ourselves back to the hairdressers to have inches and inches of damage cut off (or do it ourselves).

It's just like perming. A few people can perm without any damage, and with natural looking results. A few. Many can't. So people chime in about their experiences with breaking-off hair due to even professional perms, and with seeing our friends do the same thing, and seeing people in public whose hair is obviously very very overprocessed due to perming. It's not done out of hostility, it's done because we have done this ourselves or know others who have done it and we don't want someone else to be devastated, too, on the chance that he or she will be.

Or how about "Don't use straighteners/don't chemically straighten" threads? People are VERY vehement about those. Even though a few people can straighten without noticeable damage.

As to why people don't say this about people coloring their hair red: I have seen people told not to use any chemical hair color, including red, on these boards. Henna is a different story because it's not a chemical process; do you see the difference? It's not because of the color. It's because of the chemicals and our experiences with what chemicals can do and how unpredictable it is whether a certain person will experience very bad results or not. People don't warn others not to use chamomile to bring out yellows, or not to use honey to lighten, etc. It's not the color itself that's the issue.

Chemical brown dyes: darkening the hair uses less peroxide, so you won't see many people worrying about that to the extent of lightening hair.

Just my $.02.

ETA: And by the way, if I could get the blonde results I see from the blondes on this thread, I would be there...guaranteed. I LOVE the look of shiny, long blonde hair. It's my dream hair. I think the blondes who spoke up on this thread are gorgeous and look like angels. (That sounds silly but that's what long blonde hair always makes me think of.)

[justgreen]

there are a couple of thoughts i have about this...
first
i have never personally liked any hair that was all overal bleach blonde. Whatever the colour of blonde you choose always seam really bad. And besides... you are a brunette! you will have brassy problems...if you go too light you will end up with yellow and red...all unnatural. Consider this please! The most acceptable way it would be highlights and even so it takes a lot of mantainence, it takes a lot of money, and it costs also your healthy hair.

Second thought. People with fine hair tend to have shiny hair (imo), i see it by observing all my friends diferent hair types... medium coarse hair only shines at the sun...and they have to be healthy for that... also fine hair tends to break a lot more. A friend of mine has really shiny hair, she dies it black, it looks healthy but if you touch or see close its not healthy at all. What i mean with this is that fine bleach hair for me looks nicer then the others... anyone with coarse bleached hair looks terrible. But thats only something i believe from what ive seen


As I stated in an earlier post, I AM a BRUNETTE who LOOKS better as a blonde. Both folks were/are blondes, I was born with sparse blonde hair, but as it grew it, it was an auburn brunette, after my paternal grandmother. I have medium to coarse hair and it SHINES when it's blonde, inside in the gloom or outside in the bright sun.

I recently took a break, as I sometimes do, and went almost totally brunette, with foils, leaving alot of blonde streaks woven through. I did this because I was TOO blonde and knew it. Those streaks were then colored with a platinum toner to match my natural silver. Since then, of course the brown fades out because the blonde is underneath, so the platinum has gone back to blonde. I'm now going the other way. Yesterday I had light highlights (which means light as in not a lot) and my roots foiled brown in between the blonde. In four weeks I'll go back and do 2 blonde, 1 brown foils.

I've seen horrible bleached hair too, but then, those folks were not members of LHC. So THERE is a difference. It's all in how well you know how to take care of your hair . Also, if you are lucky enough to have it down pat and can do it at home, that is sooooooo wonderful! Otherwise, better see a GOOD hairdresser. :agree:

You can see the growth I've had....and my hair is healthy, my own hairdresser always brags about it....poor thing thinks she has a lot to do with it, but I love her, so I let her think that way.:p

I use diluted shampoo (have for three years), regular SMTs and VERY FEW cones. I use cones maybe every 3-4 weeks, on a whim to use something different.

And now, I'll be polite enough to NOT saunter on over to the Henna thread.:D

[justgreen]

Thank you GlennaGirl, but my bad reaction to henna comes from those that want to get rid of it later on and either destroy their hair or remain with henna because they've seen the destruction of others. I love the look of Henna, much better than the chemical red process.

With blonde, if done right you can safely go brown , and then LATER on , come back blonde, if you know how and take care of your hair.

[GlennaGirl]

Thank you GlennaGirl, but my bad reaction to henna comes from those that want to get rid of it later on and either destroy their hair or remain with henna because they've seen the destruction of others. (snip)

Oh, absolutely. Same thing. Since you've seen this so many times, you can't help but chime in and say, "REALLY think about this, or perhaps just don't do it at all." (henna) I agree with you. I have seen many henna heads have to end up cutting severely. I myself am a former henndigo who didn't end up liking super-dark hair that much after all, and had to jump through hoops even to lighten it to what it is now.

So, it's basically the same thing.

[Unofficial_Rose]

I do love blonde hair :heartbeat and if it suits you best, I'd definitely go for it.

I looked better as a blonde for years and it was well worth the expense and hassle.

The only reason I'm brunette now is that my skintone has changed subtly over the years (plus a few too many holidays in the sun!) so blonde doesn't really work on me anymore.

There are so many lovely blondes on here, some of whom grow their hair really long. But if blonde looks better on you and you have to sacrifice length, it may well still be worth it...

[Demetrue]

I think the problems with hair condition can arise when people, like myself, make the mistake of coloring over the whole entire head every time and then re-highlighting, with bleach, the same entire strands of hair - My hair always looked great the first 2 times I did something like that - then, because I didn't understand that I should have only touched up the roots and not put the high-lift peroxide or bleach mixture on the same piece of hair repeatedly, those strands started to get mushy, rubbery and look like they had been melted and burned. That's why, after 2 years of growing out my hair, I am back at square one - the repeated chemical processing of the same areas of hair eventually damaged the hair beyond repair and it broke off or I ended up cutting off large portions of the ends because they looked fried.
So whatever you do - only allow a piece of hair to have a high-lift peroxide or bleach mixture to touch a piece of hair once, not once a month like I had been doing, then only touch up roots or untreated pieces of hair.

[spidermom]

I'm one of those people who can't get away with lightening my color. I had highlights done by a professional years ago, and those highlighted pieces looked so bad. They puffed up and looked "furry" in comparison to my untreated strands. The condition was truly awful, so I have to advise "proceed with caution."

[brok3nwings]

ok, i havent made myself clear in one thing. When i say i never liked the "fake" blonde im talking about those who do one process only to reach the blonde. Im talking about over processed hair. Going from brunete to blonde in one day. Thats not good for your hair and that doesnt normally look natural. The way i guess is the best is to start doing highlights there will be a point that your hair will look blonde without beeing TOO blonde. normally if you want to change your colour to blonde the best way is to do a lot of thin foils and then use a toner to change a bit your base colour. Anyway, im sorry if i ofended anyone but i am sure noone here has made the process i am talking about, that is putting bleach all over your hair.
justgreen i think your hair has a lovely colour and this is not the first time i tell you this, i am sure your hairdresser is really good. i am a dark blonde and i´ve done some experiences myself and i know its hard to reach such a beautiful colour.
the big problem about this process is that you have to be very carefull cause normally bleach is the chemical used... (Unless you are blonde allready), we need to be carefull about the time of exposure, always ask for a strand test first... i´ve had bad experiences about this, believe me. I once had to cut all of my hair because there was no way i could repair it, no way.

There is one thing i think we all agree, beeing blonde has a lot to do with your skin, eyes, colours... it makes me sad to see true brunnette going blonde and looking terrible ( i live in Portugal, so you know what i mean...) and also i´ve seen true blonde going brunnette and also looking terrible. And thats because it doesnt look right (and this i have only seen on the north european countrys). You see, most of the people here in Portugal that have dark hair, they really have the skin complexion for that, this is a latin country and this is my experience. For example, i am a natural dark blonde and if i went to a light blonde i would really look terrible.

i think that the same as henna, and any chemical die, there should be a lot of information taken care first... i advice to go to a very good hairdresser first.

[JessTheMess]

I say do what makes you happy. I think that as long as you don't blow fry/flat iron your hair and baby it that it will be fine. I "bleached" my virgin hair a few years ago and it was healthy as long as I smothered it in conditioner. It started looking crappy when I discovered the flat iron :rolleyes: I will have to post pictures in my albums

[maskedrose]

I don't believe it's hostility. There may be erroneous beliefs about processed-blonde (dyed, bleached, highlighted or what-not), but I don't see how that's hostility. In this case, being corrected is a good thing; it's educational. So it's good that we're hearing from people who color their hair blonde but don't experience the same damage that many of us here have.

People are giving their RL experiences, as they see them. I know a couple of people have said they've "never" seen a good blonde dye job. They could simply not realize that a few people they thought were natural blondes process their hair. KWIM? Again, there's room for correction here and it's eye-opening.

We are giving our experiences--I personally didn't give any thoughts about other people's hair, just my OWN experiences, but they were in fact terrible no matter how much TLC I gave my hair (I was COing at the time, finger-detangling, NO hair dryers ever, etc.). If a few of us are stressing the possibility of long-term damage due to lightening hair, it's because we know how devastating it is to think "it's going to be different this time!", dye again and have to drag ourselves back to the hairdressers to have inches and inches of damage cut off (or do it ourselves).

It's just like perming. A few people can perm without any damage, and with natural looking results. A few. Many can't. So people chime in about their experiences with breaking-off hair due to even professional perms, and with seeing our friends do the same thing, and seeing people in public whose hair is obviously very very overprocessed due to perming. It's not done out of hostility, it's done because we have done this ourselves or know others who have done it and we don't want someone else to be devastated, too, on the chance that he or she will be.

Or how about "Don't use straighteners/don't chemically straighten" threads? People are VERY vehement about those. Even though a few people can straighten without noticeable damage.

As to why people don't say this about people coloring their hair red: I have seen people told not to use any chemical hair color, including red, on these boards. Henna is a different story because it's not a chemical process; do you see the difference? It's not because of the color. It's because of the chemicals and our experiences with what chemicals can do and how unpredictable it is whether a certain person will experience very bad results or not. People don't warn others not to use chamomile to bring out yellows, or not to use honey to lighten, etc. It's not the color itself that's the issue.

Chemical brown dyes: darkening the hair uses less peroxide, so you won't see many people worrying about that to the extent of lightening hair.

Just my $.02.

ETA: And by the way, if I could get the blonde results I see from the blondes on this thread, I would be there...guaranteed. I LOVE the look of shiny, long blonde hair. It's my dream hair. I think the blondes who spoke up on this thread are gorgeous and look like angels. (That sounds silly but that's what long blonde hair always makes me think of.)

Thank you! It's not hostility - I think GlennaGirl was right when she said that some of us may not have realized that some people bleach their hair blonde because we thought it was natural. For instance, I would have never thought that you were anything but a natural blonde, Velvett. So, I do stand corrected - there are definitely people who have gorgeous long hair that is highlighted/bleached.

My concern was based off of personal experiences, and seeing the bad examples of bleach jobs gone wrong. In my personal experience, my highlighted areas are much more prone to breakage, rough texture and less shine that my virgin underlayer and 6" of new growth. My worry was that the OP has a similiar hair type to mine, so my thought was that her hair might not hold up to processing as well as some, even with excellent care.

However, you never know till you try, right? If you love blonde, then go for it. If it doesn't work out, there are lots of ways to baby damaged hair until you reach a length where you want to maintain. Good luck and post pictures!

[MsBubbles]

I'm really confused. I've read this type of statement a lot on LHC and I never know what people are talking about:


I dyed (not bleached, but commercial dyes) my hair blonde for many, many years.

How the heck can you get your hair lighter, I mean actually a lighter shade without using some kind of bleaching/pigment stripping process? If there is a way , I wanna know! How can you get your hair blonde or lighter with just a dye? I thought 'dye' meant adding color, not taking away pigment. How can you get blonde from brunette strands by adding color?



I would be interested in the longest bottle blond here too

Yeah! Me too! Anybody?


. normally if you want to change your colour to blonde the best way is to do a lot of thin foils and then use a toner to change a bit your base colour.

Again, how can you use a 'toner' to get your base color lighter? Maybe I don't understand the meaning of the word 'toner'. Maybe brok3nwings didn't mean lighten, in this instance. And btw, brok3nwings, why did I think you were in Sweden this whole time?! LOL.

All this talk about successfully long, blonde hair has me sorely tempted to lighten a few strands. I look horrible, dark and sinister with my natural hair color :(. It sprouts out of my scalp light ashen brown, and after a few days of hot sunny weather is ash blonde. I should do what somebody said about waiting until spring/summer and see what happens. I wonder what feralnature decides. I think a few highlights would give you the lift you're looking for.

[GlennaGirl]

How the heck can you get your hair lighter, I mean actually a lighter shade without using some kind of bleaching/pigment stripping process?

Easily, if your hair isn't overly dark to begin with. As I said, I used a commercial dye. That doesn't mean there isn't something in there that strips out color; there is--there's peroxide. I was saying I used a single-step process (a box of hair color) v. using bleach.

As far as commercial/drugstore colorants, go, yes, it is called dye. It does include pigment; it contains first the peroxide to lighten your existing hair color, then the dye to "add" the color that's shown on the box (though your hair will never be the exact shade as on the box unless your starting color is the model's starting color).

I used, for example, L'Oreal or Clairol permanent hair coloring in some shade or other of blonde. From my natural light brown, I was able to get up to light, light colors like champagne blonde.

[GlennaGirl]

Okay, here ya go. My natural color is about like this:

http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=77346&catid=28903&aid=280302&aparam=df5628

And I was able to color (using the one box, one process) up to about this:

http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=77341&catid=28903&aid=280302&aparam=df5628

Sorry to hijack the thread, and I hope this helps.

[justgreen]

Do you mean how long is the hair of a bottle blonde, or how long have we been bleaching?

My hair is 40+" and to be fair, I've been bleaching as long as I've been on LHC, in fact about a year earlier. So almost five years.

[MsBubbles]

Ok! Thanks, Glennagirl. I got a bit confused about the terminology. Thanks for the links, too.

[maskedrose]

My highlights were done with a toner - I'm not sure but I think toners contain peroxide, which lightens quite a bit, though not as much as bleach. I was able to highlight my natural light/medium honey blonde to platinum just with toner. I think you'd need bleach to go from brown to blonde though.

[joyfulmom4]

This isn't really relevant, since it's not real-life, but I just had to share anyway...

Last night I had a dream that I bleached one half of my hair. (Why just one side? I have no clue. It was a weird dream.) Then, the next day I went whitewater canoeing. (Another bizarre twist since I have never been whitewater canoeing and everything is completely frozen here in Wisconsin anyway.) And while canoeing (???) big chunks of my hair kept falling out into the water and were carried away into the rapids. I was freaking out and desperately trying to paddle after them to save them. (For what reason, I do not know.) Eventually I washed up on shore somewhere, completely bald on one half of my head, but with my long hair on the other side! Shudder!

As for the original question, I think you've gotten a pretty good answer. It is possible to grow your hair very long while lightening it to blonde. However, you are at far greater risk for damage, dryness and breakage than if you leave it natural. You know your hair and you are the only one who can decide whether having blonde hair again is the way to go. (Just please don't bleach just one side and go canoeing. It's disastrous! LOL!)

[AmyJorgensen]

I saw this in one of feralnature's posts in this thread. "I could have prevented so much of the damage but was so ignorant. I used such hot water in the shower too." Ok...I'm very ignorant. Is hot shower water bad?

[Darian Moone]

there are a couple of thoughts i have about this...
first
i have never personally liked any hair that was all overal bleach blonde. Whatever the colour of blonde you choose always seam really bad. And besides... you are a brunette! you will have brassy problems...if you go too light you will end up with yellow and red...all unnatural. Consider this please! The most acceptable way it would be highlights and even so it takes a lot of mantainence, it takes a lot of money, and it costs also your healthy hair.



I'm sorry to hear that.

My hair is all over dyed blonde. It is not simply highlights. I don't think my color looks bad. I do not have brassy problem. It is not yellow and red. ???WT??? I'm so pleased you consider highlights "acceptable", however. :rolleyes:.

I have been a bottle blonde for most of my life (since age 14), with just a few stints of going back to brunette. Take it from me - reaching waist is easy. I've had no problem reaching healthy hip and tailbone length either. I've never gone longer though - not because I couldn't but because I didn't want to. As I passed tailbone the hair length just seemed overwhelming to me.

As far as who the longest-haired bottle blonde is on this board, well, it's up to her to talk about it, not for me to name names. Besides which, I'm not sure if the person I have in mind is actually the longest.

[earthdancer]

I've been bleaching for 37 years. It's extremely inexpensive for me, about $6/month for a good box of 04 blond hair dye. Sometimes less if there's a sale. Since I only leave the solution on for 3 or 4 minutes, the damage is minimal. Plus, my hair is only shiny when it's been bleached--why is a mystery, but it's true.

I've been doing it so long that everyone now thinks it's natural, even my grown-up children. The only people who can tell it's bleached are hairdressers, and they aren't alway sure.

[spidermom]

Any hostility that I appear to have about dye, bleach, peroxide, and henna are toward the substances themselves - not toward the people who use them. My hair reacts very badly to added color. Even henna made my hair crunchy and brittle, not to mention orange like Bozo the clown.

[Nightshade]

And now, I'll be polite enough to NOT saunter on over to the Henna thread.:D


Thank you GlennaGirl, but my bad reaction to henna comes from those that want to get rid of it later on and either destroy their hair or remain with henna because they've seen the destruction of others. I love the look of Henna, much better than the chemical red process.

With blonde, if done right you can safely go brown , and then LATER on , come back blonde, if you know how and take care of your hair.

:lol: I was about to say, what did us henna heads do to you? :D

As you said Justy, henna isn't for the faint of heart or those that want to back and forth their color. That's one advantage that chemical colors have over it.

[justgreen]

:lol: I was about to say, what did us henna heads do to you? :D



Oh dang it Nightshade my sarcasm fell flat! It must be because I have a cold.:shrug: :flowers:

[Demetrue]

In regards to hair-coloring products, there is a difference between "bleach" and "dye". Dye uses various concentrations of hydrogen peroxide starting from the lowest, 3% or 10 vol., for deposit only colors, to 20 vol. which is used to cover grays, up to 40 vol or 12% which is used for high-lift blonde colors where the hair is lightened several levels. These peroxides can not take very dark hair up to blonde - for bleaching, powdered bleach, which is made from ammonium persulfate and potassium persulfate, is mixed with the peroxide developer and left on the hair for varying amount of time in order to completely remove color - people use the powdered bleach to whiten hair before using Manic Panic, or following with a light blond toner. Often highlights are painted on or put on hair drawn through a plastic frosting cap, using the powdered bleach (mixed with developer) - I have had problems when I have put the bleach mixture on hair that had already been highlighted. If you just did a few streaks on each side of your part and did not rebleach those strands, and oiled your hair, etc, then you could still grow your hair long without those areas breaking off. OR, if you used a lower volume peroxide/toner mix, then you could add highlights and or lowlights without a huge amount of damage and without using the bleaching powder at all - I wish I had known this in the past. I find that the lower the peroxide volume, the less damaged my hair appeared.

[elizza]

I'm another who does highlights on the top layer only, and only has the roots touched up every 3-5 months. Right now my hair is BSL, and it is thick all the way to the ends at this length.

I'm having highlights about every 3-5 months too. My hairdresser said she couldn't do only the roots because each time other parts of the layer will get the new highlights. Her answer seems to make sense. Foiling single strands is the great difference between highlights and a full colouring and as the highlights blend into the rest of your hair you'll never find out those strands that were previously highlighted.
So the next visit she always puts the colour on each fresh parted strand down to about earlenght where the single strand will blend with the rest of the coloured hair afterwards.
But having reached midback lenght now I'm no longer sure highlighting is the way to go. These days my hair is very, very brittle.

Is there a way to touch up only roots with highlighted hair?

[Gladtobemom]

I've talked quite a bit about MY bad results and why I got them. I try to stick with what happened to ME and the caution it taught me.

I've always urged EVERYONE to do a good swatch test. If that, ahem, woman would have tested my hair, she would have figured out that it wasn't the right method for me.

I think urging caution is a good idea and telling of your own experiences is good too. I think saying that all chemical coloring is "bad" or that if people want to chemically color they should go someplace else besides LHC would be kind of over theline too. (I didn't read the thread, but I remember in the old boards that happened some.)

In my 30s I had my hair golden blonde and it was great. I've since found out she used a single step process and 30 volume peroxide for 25 minutes roots every 6 weeks, 8 minutes combed thru only every 3rd or 4th visit) (ran across an old card she gave me for my wallet with the formula).

I think it's just important to go into it cautiously and be sure it's what you want. Because it's your hair.

I hope it turns out wonderfully well.

[ratgirldjh]

when i was in high school with almost waist length very dark brown hair - i decided to bleach it blonde. my grandma helped me and we used a 2 step process - bleach and then toner. it turned out very blonde - i can't remember the name of the color - but it reminded me of a palomino horse! it was beautiful and everyone at school thought it was my natural color - even though my dad told me over and over again that it did not compliment my skin tone. finally, i decided to dye it back to my natural color and that was impossible. i swam so much back then that the dye would turn greenish in the chlorine and i was out in the sun so much that the dye would bleach out and i had goldish green streaks in my hair!
but what was funniest was the other girls reaction to my 'natural' hair color return. some of them cried! they were like: why would you dye your beautiful blonde hair brown!!!

i ended up growing it out a bit and then cutting all the processed hair off very short - dorthy hamil style. the moral of the story: once you start chemically treating your hair it will never be the same - LOL

have you tried cassia or honey? i talked my friend into using honey and sitting in the sun and it really exagerated the gold tones in her hair. i wonder if honey and lemon juice together and sun-light would have a stronger effect???

good luck - i know how much fun it is to have blonde hair - esp. long blonde hair
once my bf and i got in a fight and i got out of the car at a stop light. 3 cars of boys stopped immediately to 'help' me - i'm sure it was my long blonde hair that got their attention ;)

[Nightshade]

Oh dang it Nightshade my sarcasm fell flat! It must be because I have a cold.:shrug: :flowers:

Nah, I'm sure it's me. I had a long weekend and my sarcasm meter may be busted:

http://www.thelinetohoneywell.com/images/sarcasm_meter.gif

[Nightshade]

Oh dang it Nightshade my sarcasm fell flat! It must be because I have a cold.:shrug: :flowers:

Nah, I'm sure it's me. I had a long weekend and my sarcasm meter may be busted:

http://www.thelinetohoneywell.com/images/sarcasm_meter.gif

[WaimeaWahine]

As a life long chemical dye user...

Life is extremely short. Do it now if you want to do it. All that matters is that you're happy. Hair grows back. :)

[justgreen]

Nah, I'm sure it's me. I had a long weekend and my sarcasm meter may be busted:

http://www.thelinetohoneywell.com/images/sarcasm_meter.gif

That's ok, I'm not up to full snuff....have to watch myself anyway, those slaps hurt!:slap:

[brok3nwings]

Darian Moone im sorry that you feel personally offended by my personal visual experiences... but i think there is a big difference between using only bottle dye (for that normally it is used peroxide) and putting an all over bleach. Im glad you are too that your hair did go so far healthy. Ive seen too many mistakes of people putting bleach on their hair (i mean all hair) to be able to advice anyone to do that... and as spidermom said i say it too, this is not about the people, its about the chemicals itself. My experience is not a good one.

[Loviatar]

I wasnt going to post on this thread but I am now.

My sister's hair is all over bleach. It was done in a medium priced salon, not a Supercuts but not Daniel Galvin or whoever either. It is medium (although made slightly coarser by the bleach and the fact she blowdries) and type ii 2c/3a. She uses aloe vera shampoo and conditioner from Forever Living. She has a mostly vegan diet with occasional tuna :lol: and a lot of nuts, seeds, dried fruit etc and drinks aloe juice every day.

Her hair is shiny.

You can have shiny hair with an all over bleach job. Sis is practically platinum and it still looks good. She has recently been offered a modeling contract and I guess they wouldnt do that if they didnt think she looked good.

[Darian Moone]

Brok3nwings :flower: It's passed. I think it was the way things were phrased. Spidermom said nothing to offend me btw.

[RetroKitten]

I'm having highlights about every 3-5 months too. My hairdresser said she couldn't do only the roots because each time other parts of the layer will get the new highlights. Her answer seems to make sense. Foiling single strands is the great difference between highlights and a full colouring and as the highlights blend into the rest of your hair you'll never find out those strands that were previously highlighted.
So the next visit she always puts the colour on each fresh parted strand down to about earlenght where the single strand will blend with the rest of the coloured hair afterwards.
But having reached midback lenght now I'm no longer sure highlighting is the way to go. These days my hair is very, very brittle.

Is there a way to touch up only roots with highlighted hair?

I would like to know that, too. Dying the whole head instead of highlighting always seemed more healthy to me because when your hair grows, you only need to touch up the roots with the first option, but with highlights it seems like you have to color more and more hair, as they easily blends into your own hair color... if anyone understands what I mean...?

[BritHair]

I am actually off to my hair dresser to touch up my highlights in an hour lol.

I have surface highlights done only and my wonderful hairdresser is very gentle with my hair. Foiling and roots only. I have been prepping my hair with oil and condish all week for my appointment. My ends look great and I feel great.....and that's what is important. The highlights allow my gray to grow in subtly not shockingly. I feel very pretty with them : )

The trade off.....I spend a little extra time pampering my hair.

(4 more inches 'til I can sit on it. )

Just my 2 cents :D

[MsBubbles]

I would like to know that, too. Dying the whole hair instead of highlighting always seemed more healthy for me because when your hair grows, you only need to touch up the roots with the first option, but with highlights it seems like you have to color more and more her, as they easily blends into your own hair color... if anyone understands what I mean...?

That's a good point. A whole-head color might work on some people but for me it looks too fake. Over the 10 years I got highlights my ends became more and more 'filled in' with the highlights, and so after a few years the ends were pretty much all white, and contrasted even more horribly with my roots. I got lowlights a few times but those just washed out again.


I have surface highlights done only and my wonderful hairdresser is very gentle with my hair.

You are SO fortunate to have a gentle hairdresser! Almost as hard to find as one who won't layer/razorcut/lop it all off :)

[Darian Moone]

A little tip for anyone thinking of doing their whole head blonde (not highlights only).

If you are doing it yourself from a store-bought kit (as I do), and are touching up only the roots, after you've applied the mixture to your roots apply a nice thick coating of either a heavily 'coned conditioner or oil (such as coconut oil) to your length and ends and let it sit there while your roots develop (which is usually 20-25 minutes).

Later when you apply the water to your hair and lather up the mixture on your roots, your length and ends are protected from the chemicals as you are rinsing the foamy/sudsy stuff out of your hair. It is usually strong enough to remove enough of the oil or condish to keep your length/ends from being left with a too-heavy/coated feeling, but strands themselves are nicely conditioned and have been protected from direct contact with the hair coloring product.

I do this myself on a regular basis and it has worked great for me.

[elizza]

I am actually off to my hair dresser to touch up my highlights in an hour lol.

I have surface highlights done only and my wonderful hairdresser is very gentle with my hair. Foiling and roots only.

Could you explain how your hairdresser does roots only on highlights? Maybe I can tell mine afterwards. ;)

[BritHair]

Could you explain how your hairdresser does roots only on highlights? Maybe I can tell mine after wards. ;)

She patiently separates the highlighted sections and foil wraps the root areas with the highlight mixture on. After wards she puts a toner on and it evens up the blond highlights new and old. The toner evens the color out and it helps blend my gray as it is growing in. Then she massages conditioner into my hair....that's the part I love the most.

I am very pleased with her because I know she respects my hair and she is really impressed with how healthy it is. Even more so from all the great info from LHC. Too cool :D

[BritHair]

You are SO fortunate to have a gentle hairdresser! Almost as hard to find as one who won't layer/razorcut/lop it all off :)


Yeh, I found her by chance when I was frazzled with the gray. I looked like grandpa from the Munsters. She highlighted my hair and when I ask her to trim, she does only that...trim.

I had gone to a hair dresser once when I was a teen and the woman hacked my hair and I looked like a bay city roller afterwards. I must have cried for a week. It sure scared me off hair salons for a long time.

This one is a blessing :D