LowLighting - Any Advice?

[Ashera]

I've bleached my hair a honey blonde for about 30 years, but because of various issues am now forced to choose between coloring my hair or keeping the length. I choose length. (at least for now)

My natural color is blackish/brown with side streaks of white and salt and pepper on the top but not in the back. I actually WANT to keep and accentuate the white and grey (I'm an old hippie but adore the anime look) but the demarcation lines between my natural color and the blonde is well.... sucky. (is that a word?)

My niece is a hairdresser and has offered to low light the blonde. (I adore my niece!!!!) However, she lives 500 miles away and will be doing this for her ever grateful Aunt when she comes for a visit later this month.

I was wondering - has anyone here ever darkened their hair with a low lighting technique? If so what issues did it cause or not cause? Any questions I should ask my niece before this excursion? Or should her Aunt be silently grateful for any and all help?

Happy 4th to all U.S. residents and a general Hi to everyone else :)

Ashera

[UltraBella]

I have ! Several times ! I used a deposit only color so there was no damage and I really liked the results. My hair was super soft and shiny. Any time you are just depositing color, instead of lifting it, the hair cuticle is not sustaining damage, which is great :)

[kwaniesiam]

Lowlights are basically the opposite of highlights. She'll take small sections of your hair throughout and place it in foils with a darker color rather than a lighter. It can help blend in the transition but there will still be a lot of blonde present in your hair. Going darker is never going to be as hard on your hair as going lighter. Is the condition of your hair that bad from the blonde, and do you really want to get rid of the color? Having your roots touched up every few months will not destroy your hair if you want to keep your blonde, it's the repeated applications of color to the length that will ruin it over time.

My suggestion would be to try the lowlights, if you aren't happy you can easily have your blonde covered to match your natural color and let your silvers grow out from there.

[Ashera]

UltraBella - thanks for your support! :) Soft and shiny - yes, yes - and btw: I adore the pic of your hair with the waves. Preraphealite!!!

Kwaniesiam - oh, how I wish I could keep the blonde. But, health issues (meds) are causing breakage (I used to have tailbone length hair) and it just can't take the extra abuse. Finances aren't there for me to go to a salon and I've been doing my own bleaching all these years so I do get overlap and that's mostly the problem, especially in the back where I can't be as accurate as I'd like with the bleach.

I'll only have a chance to do the low lighting once until my niece returns - she tries to visit once a year.

Ashera

[justgreen]

Low lights are almost harmless. I get them done once a year through my highlighted hair. I have a dark underneath panel that I keep, and have gray at the temples and some on top.