Anyone successfully grown out highlights/bleached hair?

[hemolymph]

I need some moral support! I am trying to grow out my bleached hair and leave my new "virgin" hair untouched but the two toned look is awful. I feel really trashy looking!

The problem is that I can probably find a hair dresser to dye just the blonde parts to match my roots but the dye does not last. I've had it done before and even permanent color doesn't last well on the bleached hair.. it just won't hold color very well. It usually turns an orange-brown and looks awful.

So I think I just have to tough it out and get regular trims to get rid of the bleach.

Just wondering if anyone's been successful at something similar and how you got through it?

[MicheleClaire]

I had bleached blonde highlights that I repeated several times until pretty much all of my hair was blonde. Got tired of it looking so trashy and asked my hairdresser to tone down the highlights as close to my natural color as would keep. A year and a half later I have 14 inches of virgin hair and only 5 inches of dyed hair (kept trimming it off). It actually doesn't look so bad, I have dirty blonde hair to begin with and since the bleached highlights got toned down a bit, it looks like my hair has this fiery fade to it. It looks weird for the first few months, but once the blonde got past my eyes it started looking better. I'm on my way to classic length virgin hair! :)

[Dvips]

I went blonde from medium brown hair. When growing it out, I just kept applying deposit only color every couple of weeks and trimming. It wasn't perfect (like you said, the color would fade) but it worked well enough and the two tones were much less of a difference than without the deposit only color.

Good luck with your growing out. It may be a pain, but it will be worth it! :flowers:

[Unofficial_Rose]

I'm another one who started out with highlights and ended up much too blonde, and with medium brown roots.

I've been henndigoing over it for 4 1/2 months now and it's improved the condition vastly. The colour fades from the ex-bleached bits quicker, so I have to isolate them so that the roots don't get too dark. It's a bit of hassle, but it's worth it. I really like the colour.

So now you have 3 viable alternatives!

[Katze]

I grew out highlights/bleach and am 99% virgin :D now.

The two toned look was awkward, it's true, and somehow it made me look trashy and my hair look greasy. Now that my natural color has grown in, I am not blonde any more (siiigggh) but I keep getting compliments on it, and it not only suits me better but my hair and scalp are in better shape than they have been in over 20 years. (I am one of those people who started bleaching as soon as my childhood blonde darkened).

What really helped me were half-ups and French braids (they hid the demarcation line), LOTS of trims to get rid of the orange, brassy ends, and PATIENCE.

I was obsessed with being blonde for many years (still am, a really sick kind of self image problem) but can honestly say I am very happy with my hair now.

There is a really funny book on the subject called 'Blonde Like Me' about why we feel this urge to have our childhood haircolor back. It helped me a lot to read it.

So no, you are not alone!

good luck and feel free to PM me for support (and look at my album pics showing the transition...)

Katze

[Ally<3]

I am going through this too. I had a whole bleached to platinum hair from a level 6. I went to the hair dressers to get it dyed to my natural. She left just a couple of blonde pieces in for a bit of interest. It has stayed pretty well (it was about a year ago) but I had "paint drip" effects which I actually loved (and looked natural, as if the sun bleached them). This week I used a deposit only colour JUST on the bleached ends to match my natural and I absolutely LOVE the change. I feel more uniform now and put together. Also gives the hair shine.

I really suggest you try this, there's no damage to you're hair (no ammonia or peroxide), just remember a true semi permanent involves no mixing! If you're mixing 2 or more products it's a demi or permanent and contains peroxide.

[Clarisse]

I grew out high lights too. Cassia helped me tone down the platinum-ness of the high lights :)

[RavennaNight]

I don't get the "trashy" thing.:confused: It takes a lot more than hair to look trashy IMHO. :confused:

[Pandora.]

I was considering growing my bleached hair for some odd reason, but I honestly don't think my hair is that bad enough to be going down that route just yet, as it's not that terrible and it just looks like normal hair IMO. Besides, having half a head of roots is social suicide in my area. I think I would feel really gross and unattractive if I started to do that.

I know people who only get their roots touched up - and ONLY the roots. I think I'd rather do that to be honest. I mean, I know my new growth is very healthy and can probably cope with one set of bleach. I absolutely can't risk looking trashy for when I go into Sixth Form next year really. Also, I'm only 16 years old (which is so not the time I want to be looking my worst!!) eek. =/

[chopandchange]

I've done it! You'll get there in the end!

I wish there were some quick-fix solution I could give you, but there really isn't. It just takes Time and Patience.

[hemolymph]

What brand has deposit only color? I might try it.. but to be honest, I am kind of frightened to get rid of it!! I really like being a light blonde but I don't like the damage that always results!
*sigh*

[MsBubbles]

I don't get the "trashy" thing.:confused: It takes a lot more than hair to look trashy IMHO. :confused:

I think they mean unkempt, or like they appear to not know how to take care of themselves. I mean, that's what I think about it. I totally related to the 'trashy' bit of growing out my highlights. It really can make otherwise clean and groomed hair look a mess. For my part I'm afraid people think I didn't care about myself enough to get a 'proper hair cut' or dye job or something. I know I shouldn't care what people think but when it comes to my roots I do.

[RavennaNight]

I think they mean unkempt, or like they appear to not know how to take care of themselves. I mean, that's what I think about it. I totally related to the 'trashy' bit of growing out my highlights. It really can make otherwise clean and groomed hair look a mess. For my part I'm afraid people think I didn't care about myself enough to get a 'proper hair cut' or dye job or something. I know I shouldn't care what people think but when it comes to my roots I do.

Aaaah. I always under the impression that "trashy" implied low class/ill repute/sl*tty. I was saddened that people would use that word on themselves and no one should tear themselves down like that. Especially since this is such a supportive community I wouldn't want to see someone devalue themselves based on looks in that way. So I was worried that it was an impression/stereotype that society was making them feel. Thanks for tr clarification, I guess the word means different things

[dainaleeo2]

Ah mine is like this...but opposite. I have naturally medium blonde [ash i think] hair, which i used to have highlighted but now is a light brown color. So i'll have light roots, & a light brown ish color growing out haha. Strange.
I think the one that suggested french braiding would be a good suggestion. I've used demi/semi permanent colors as well so that might be a best bet for the old highlighted parts, since it won't really damage. It might fade but it'll make the transitioning easier.

Also, to comment on the trashy part/lingo, as someone else had said, yea i agree that it takes more than hair to look trashy. What i think she meant though was that there is kind of a sterotype of people who go for a very light blonde look, but if they don't keep it up & allow their roots to grow in, which are normally darker/much darker, that makes them look cheap & as if they don't take care of themselves.
Around where i live now they call that [since it's a very...we'll say wealthy, stuck up area] 'white trash'. I don't think it's nice to judge anyone like that, but i think that was where it's coming from. I think you'll be fine though in all honesty. :) If anything you can wear hats & head scarfs [a la Nicole Richie] on your days off/lazy days :)

[RavennaNight]

Anyone remember back in the day big dark roots were the style with bleached blonde hair? It's overdue, the 90's will be back, and it will come full circle again, just like the 80's. (gawd when will THAT go away? At least the 70's weren't that cheesy!:lol: Fashion is never really new:).) But I digress... Roots... I have the opposite problem. Dark blonde roots and black henndigoed hair. Now THAT would be murder to grow out. At least dark roots on blonde hair are more acceptable looking, as most people have come to expect it. Light roots just look odd! (at least on me they do :lol:)

When I was a bleached blonde, way back when, I wasn't very mindful of the roots and sometimes would go 6 months without dyeing them. I think growing darker hair in behind lighter hair is easier, though.

[Ashera]

RavennaNight - I remember the black root days - and I'm hopeful for their immediate return. :)

I'm growing out almost waist length bleached honey blonde (30 years of bleaching it this color) and am two and a half inches in to my natural color - brownish/black with grey running through it and white streaks at the temples.

Yikes. I kinda look like a Zebra.:confused:

Ashera

[melikai]

I've grown out most of my old 'highlights', which after years of doing them meant that I basically had very light blonde hair.

Once my natural colour was about chin-length, I used Natural Instincts and then some other box brand of permanent haircolour, as the Natural Instincts washed out too quickly, to blend the ends better. My ends were already pretty damaged, and this certainly did not help. I've done a lot of trimming over the past year! :D

Since then, I haven't done anything to the length - I have about 4" of bleach left. My hair isn't that much darker overall though, and everyone tells me that it just looks like the sun lightened it. Depending on your own natural colour, you may not need to adjust the bleached part for very long before it looks like natural lightening.

[SapphiraSilver]

Hello. I'm naturally a dark ash blond and I been highlighting it platinum for years and it always looked ok. Almost 6 weeks ago I did the mistake of getting it bleached at the salon and now it is damaged beyond repair. I really regret it, its broken off and is short in some places, and totally fried, so I got a bob cut just above the chin and I have now decided to grow out my natural hair and not put colours on it again.

So if you are thinking of bleaching, please research as much as you can before making the decision. You could, like me end up regretting it, certain hair, like mine, only took one time to completely damage it. Perhaps its better to just keep highlighting.

And now it will take years to grow out my natural and I am impatient lol.
Nice to meet you all.

[McFearless]

I know how you feel. Its hard, and my roots were black! But if you experiment with hairstyles and keep you hair up(its summer so there ya go) it'll be gone with regular trims. Good luck :)

[SapphiraSilver]

I know how you feel. Its hard, and my roots were black! But if you experiment with hairstyles and keep you hair up(its summer so there ya go) it'll be gone with regular trims. Good luck :)

Hello :)
Thanks for the reply. I can't imagine how hard it would be with black roots, especially if you don't want to put any more colours on it. Did you end up growing it all out?

It's actually Winter here, I'm in Australia :) Guess you have to stop checking and thinking about how much is growing, or it will feel like it takes longer!

[SapphiraSilver]

Oh I have a question. You know those semi, mousse things that wash out in 8 washes? is there a colour that you can put on the bleached ends that wont make it go green, or too pink? seems a bit hard to choose what can go on top of such light hair. Something that could make it go a darker blond maybe or light brown? Just to help balance out the colour while its growing out.

[sunshine-locks]

arrrgh i WISH i had dark hair, that i could just use one dark hair dye/henna mix/whatever on but i've been dyeing my hair since i turned twelve (not alot, maybe just about 8-9 times in 2 years? okay thats not so good -_-') and with blonde hair, you have to find the exact shade and tone to dye it back to, so it looks somewhat natural... okay, rant now over :)

[atlantaz3]

Yes I grew out and I agree it looked really bad for a while. Then I did a major chop and hated my hair for a few years while it grew out. But that was more because I didn't like short hair. I stayed grown out for about 2 years and then hit the bottle again with highlights. Same pain when the roots show up but my hair grows Very slowly, which also made the growing out process even worse.
I think tricks with scarfs and wide headbands help in the beginning, then when you get long enough put it up to hide the lighter ends (tuck under the darker length) helps. French braids also worked with me, I thought the different tones looked interesting.
I also did low lights which also washed out in about two weeks, my fried hair did not hold any color.
Just trim and try to be patient - it is worth it.

[Johanna]

I got tips in about 2003, I didn't realise untill about late 2004 that i had a horrible bleach line. From 2004 onwards I stared using dyes and such. But since avout 2009 I have forgoed the dyes. I am at chin length natural now. Forage on!

[Ravenne]

I'm growing out the result of a few years of dye experimentation. From my mouth down is a coppery/gold/brown/red color and my roots are a beautiful dark chestnut with red and burgundy tones (with a silver peaking out occasionally). The color wouldn't be such a big deal but the texture is completely different. My virgin hair is silky smooth, healthy, shiny and just beautiful, I love it. The damaged part.. Frizzy, tangle-prone, it tries to be shiny but the overall effect is somewhat dull. It's really kinda sad. I can't wear my hair down because the damaged part gets tangled and ratty looking within minutes. It's ok, cuz I go with braids and buns most days anyway, but having the option to wear down would be nice. :p Once my demarcation line gets to about BSL I'll probably chop.

[Iron0Maiden]

I have something sort of similar... Im growing out hair dye too, only its darker. If you look at my picture, you will see it looks almost more orange at the bottom, then ashy dark blonde at the top. I recommend maybe dyeing it back to your origional color once you start getting roots, because blonde hair dye does not fade, but it turns yellow-ish. (I've been there!)

Hope I helped!

Oh and BTW, my firend had blonde highlights and that is exzactly what she did to go back to her natural colour. For the first few days after she dyed it back, it didnt look liek her natural color, but then it eventually faded to it.

[Jessikinz]

Oh my goodness I had a very bad grow out 3 years ago. And that was the last and only time I will ever dye my hair. My sister and I got those highlighting kits, and the colour turned out so weird. My roots were bright blonde, and the length would be brown and copper tones. At the time I liked the weird look it gave. But the grow out was awful.

I have very dark brunette hair, and I had 4 colors going on in my hair. Black from a previous dye job, and a light ash brown. And then you add in the color I got from the dye job. Wow, it was something I tell you.

What I did? I grew it out! I didn't dye over the roots or nothing. A lot of updos helped. And no one thought it looked bad. I guess I was the only one. Fast forward to now, my highlights and other colors are at the last 3-4 inches of my hair. I recently cut back to BSL from waist. So much of the color has been removed. I'm actually loving how the ends of my hair is colored and the rest of my hair is dark brunette. I don't trim regularly though, maybe like 1-2 times a year. But if you want the color to be gone, maybe you should do the regular trims?

I don't have much, if any, advice but I thought I'd share my story. From the looks of it you have plenty of advice from other members. Good luck! :D

[IcarusBride]

I grew out bleached hair pretty easily, I didn't have the problem you mentioned about the dye not holding, though. In 2007 I bleached my dyed-black hair THREE TIMES IN ONE DAY, because I wanted to be able to go blonde... Of course that didn't work! My hair was completely straw-like and I was terrified it was going to fall out. The next day I dyed it the most generic brown color ever (I literally walked into CVS and grabbed the cheapest box of brownish dye that I first laid eyes on) and I haven't done anything to it since then (except trim). Now I have (almost)waist-length >90% virgin hair. My hair was definitely pretty straw-like in the begining, but the color didn't seem to fade at all. Perhaps it's because my whole hair was bleached, not highlights, so if it did fade it all did so together, and it wasn't noticable.

Good luck!

[wtchmel]

GOod luck with this, it's a hard road. I dyed to get rid of the incoming gray(was already blonde) also to lighten up my med to dark blonde hair which turned into that shade after having a baby 15 years ago. once you start, it's hard to stop. not sure what your original color is, when i grew mine out(still doing it, kept trying to go virgin, would last for about 2 years, and go back to dyeing it,mainly to try to look younger) it wasn't so noticeable being as my natural color wasn't to far off the mark. if you can get away from caring about what it looks like, and get into how much better it is for your hair and your health, that can help. i hope that you perservere, this is a hard journey, good luck to you.

[Capybara]

I had bleached highlights in my hair (the stripy 90's ones .... :cool: ) and grew them out by doing exactly what you're doing - not dying them again!

My hair is dirty blonde anyways, so the demarcation line wasn't that bad.

What is your natural hair colour? This may give you insight as to what you should do :flower:

[Upside Down]

I am still doing it, and I agree with what others have said about using desposit only color.
I can really understand the frustration coming from a demarcation line. My bleached hair didn't hold henna, and was always waay lighter than the roots. Finally indigo covered it up for me, but it still needs reapplications once in a while. Still, it is sooo much better not having to worry about the LINE.

Happy growing, and I hope you find a solution for your demarcation line soon! :) :flower:

[SapphiraSilver]

Hello :)
It's great to see so many replies and so many people who understand what I am going through and how hard it is. Thank you all so much for making me feel at home. Much appreciated.

[angelperception]

I'm working on growing out my natural color also. Since I've been short (last summer) I've been blonde, red, and brown....and a couple of time with highlights. I'm ready to grow my natural color and see how that looks all grown out- I'm kind of a dark dirty blonde/really light brown.

I dyed mine all a dark brown- it naturally lightened up of course where I had the highlights....in fact, I had a horrible experience with a hair tech trying to highlight that, to make a long story short, killed my hair. In those parts, the hair doesn't take the color the same way. The brown has been gradually lightening up, but is still darker than my natural.

It'll be interesting to see what happens once my natural roots are more visible, but I'm not looking forward to it. :(

[jaine]

I am growing out highlights too but luckily my natural color is almost black. So I was able to cover up the highlights with multiple applications of henna and indigo. I probably did about 4 coats of each, spread over 2 weeks. I got a pretty close match. The highlighted hair is dark reddish brown and my roots are dark golden brown ... it's really only visible in certain lights. I plan to leave it alone ... it's close enough for me. It faded a little bit at first, from black to dark brown, but it doesn't seem to be fading any more.

[Crysania]

My plan was to let my hair grow natural but from the ears down my hair was greenish and damaged ( and had been bleached before ) so i couldnt dye it with ''permanent'' dye just like you because it always fades so quick and damage hair for nothing
so i just dyed it pretty dark with henna/indigo , im thinking id rather have natural roots ( dark blonde ) with the rest a NICE dark red/brown rather than be stuck with gross greenish blonde for 2-3 years !

but after doing that henna/indigo im liking the colour now and im thinking of keeping that instead of growing back my dark blonde, haha !!;)

[lillyofthecelts]

Anyone remember back in the day big dark roots were the style with bleached blonde hair? It's overdue, the 90's will be back, and it will come full circle again, just like the 80's. (gawd when will THAT go away? At least the 70's weren't that cheesy!:lol: Fashion is never really new:).) But I digress... Roots... I have the opposite problem. Dark blonde roots and black henndigoed hair. Now THAT would be murder to grow out. At least dark roots on blonde hair are more acceptable looking, as most people have come to expect it. Light roots just look odd! (at least on me they do :lol:)

When I was a bleached blonde, way back when, I wasn't very mindful of the roots and sometimes would go 6 months without dyeing them. I think growing darker hair in behind lighter hair is easier, though.

I was just reading this thread because I am trying to grow out my bleached hair, and noticed this bit of fortune telling =) 2012 brought back the black roots and blonde hair!

[spidermom]

Yes, been there, done that, and other than taking too long (I cut the bleached ends off completely when my natural hair got to shoulder length), it wasn't a problem. I don't mind the two-tone look, and it never once entered my head that it looked "trashy". You can use scarves and head bands to break up the line of demarcation between the colors, and braiding makes the colors look really pretty.