Newbie needing advice on coloring lighter hair

[PinkLemonade750]

Hi All

I want to grow my hair out long for the first time in my life. It's never really been past my shoulders. I love getting my hair cut, and was a salon manager for awhile, so it kept getting shorter and shorter!

Anyway, my main concern is how to color it, and have it look nice. I have dirty blonde hair. Without some highlights it looks really blah. I've tried coloring it a darker brown all over a few times, but my hair won't hold the color for long at all.

I don't really like the look of all over bleaching on myself, and getting it highlighted once it gets longer is really expensive. (It's already expensive, and it's not that long!)

And... even if I did let my natural color grow out I have these highlighted ends that I don't want to lose now that I am growing it. They do blend in pretty decently, but the ends look really light. Once it gets a few inches longer it will look silly.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[chrissy-b]

Welcome to LHC! :)

I apologize, but I'm not quite sure what you're asking. You want to highlight your hair because you think it looks better that way? Go for it. Are you looking for darker dyes that will stay in your hair?

You say you want to color it and have it look nice. Do you mean the color or the health of your hair? If it's the latter there are plenty of things that you can do. Coconut oil, no blow drying or flat ironing are just a few things that come to mind.

If you want to grow out your natural color, and the ends look silly after it's a few inches longer, trim them off.

[Crazycatlady]

Welcome to LHC! I've been here for about a year now myself and this place has so many wonderful members.

I feel like I'm sort of in the same boat as you. My hair was a pixie when I joined and so I have lots of layers still. I was coloring all over before I decided to let it grow and then I switched to high lighting. I was coloring it at home with Preference by L'Oreal, a light blonde. I didn't worry about the damage then because I got it cut so often. When I switched to high lights I started having my hair stylist do it and I only get a few at a time. I alternate high and low lights and I really like the low lights more than I thought I would. In fact, I'm thinking of having two shades of brown done next time instead of just the lighter brown.

I know what you mean about the lighter strands near the bottom, but to be honest, mine really look okay. Especially since I still have layers from the pixie. Can't bring myself to sacrifice the length to cut some of the layers out.

One tip that might help your browns last longer is to try not to wash it as often. I've read several times that it's mainly the water that fades the color, not the products.

Anyway, hope this helps. Maybe try just having a few foils added and not your entire head. That is definately expensive and I've only done that once over the past year. Also, I keep the hair underneath natural...no coloring at all. It's very healthy and seems to provide a good foundation/support for my highlighted strands. :)

[spidermom]

Lots of people have lighter ends without ever dyeing or highlighting their hair. The sun and daily wear and tear does it. It doesn't look silly; it's natural.

Since you like getting your hair cut, I think you'd be happiest if you have small trims on a regular basis. I had a trim every 6 to 8 weeks for the first few years of growing my hair, and yes - it got longer every year. I was averaging about 4.75 inches of length increase per year on that trimming schedule, and my ends always looked good. When I switched to having a trim every 3-4 months, my length increase was 5.5 inches per year, so that's not a lot of difference.

I can't offer any suggestions about coloring because I haven't done it in more than 10 years, except for Punky Rose-Red last spring - a product similar to Manic Panic. That was fun.