A few issues! Help? :)

[sarahkitty]

Well first of all, Hi :)! I'm just so happy that there is a forum dedicated to long hair! It has seriously brightened up my week :)

Anyway, I have a few questions that I was hoping you could all help me with. I wasn't sure what to search for so if you can link me to anything or lead me in the right direction of what to look for that would be great too!

Basically, a few days ago I went to the hair dresser and had foils put in, half a head. I don't really colour my hair that often at all, before this I probably just coloured my hair myself dark brown once every year or so, but I was convinced by the hair dresser that blonde foils would suit me and be good for the summer! I didn't think it would make this much difference in the condition. It really isn't that bad, it's just more dry, I'm not noticing any hair falling out or anything but I hate the dryness. It looks ok when I straighten it but I hate doing that, when I had my brown hair I could get out of bed and go, haha.

The blonde colour in my hair doesn't make it better at all, I feel like the blonde makes it look A LOT more dry than it actually is, it is so frustrating and it has actually made me cry! :o I just feel like that my hair is dry and frizzy and this ash blonde colour - it makes me feel like I'm living in the 80s!!

ANYWAY! haha, I have decided to dye it but I'm not sure if I should do it straight away and then start to treat my hair or if I should treat it, dye it and then treat it some more. Also, I'm really not sure what kind of treatment I should do!? (I'm so sorry, I'm such a noob with hair stuff!)

Another question is, when I dye my hair dark brown the colour fades but I was wondering if there was anything natural I could use to make brown hair look really rich so then I wouldn't really have to dye it after this. I searched coffee because that was what I had heard but then I read on here that it's actually really drying on your hair and my hair certainly does not need any extra dryness right now! haha :)

I'm sorry this was so long! I ramble on when I'm nervous. :p Any help would be reaaalllyyy appreciated! Thanks :)

[cubedcoley]

I am sure others will chime in very soon and I am still mostly a noob myself! I have not even posted pictures, yet! :) However, one very helpful tip is to wait. Wait any impulse out at least 2 weeks. Otherwise, you may end up :brickwall: over a :trainwreck: Make sure you research whatever you are going to do in that time. (There are lots of natural dyes and lots of thread discussing these...) You will be less likely to make the wrong choice, again, then, have to suffer trying to troubleshoot it. This was the best advice I first stumbled on when I started here. Wait, wait, wait at least 2 weeks. Welcome to LHC! This place rocks! :flowers:

[HannahDelicious]

Why hello there, welcome to this community. I am sorry to hear that you did not have a good experience. I also am sorry to say that I am also relatively new here, so I may not be of expert assistance.

A friend of mine who bleached all of her hair used drug store dye relatively effectively to get her hair closer to her natural color. However, it took two applications to really get it to work, and conventional dyes are kind of damaging.

A popular natural dye is henna, although that makes hair red on its own. There are henna mixtures that make different colors though. Unfortunately I don't know any more than that. If you don't get any replies on this, you can type in "henna" or "natural dyes" into Google followed by "Long Hair Community." Plenty of old threads on the subject should pop up. :)

[sarahkitty]

I am sure others will chime in very soon and I am still mostly a noob myself! I have not even posted pictures, yet! :) However, one very helpful tip is to wait. Wait any impulse out at least 2 weeks. Otherwise, you may end up :brickwall: over a :trainwreck: Make sure you research whatever you are going to do in that time. (There are lots of natural dyes and lots of thread discussing these...) You will be less likely to make the wrong choice, again, then, have to suffer trying to troubleshoot it. This was the best advice I first stumbled on when I started here. Wait, wait, wait at least 2 weeks. Welcome to LHC! This place rocks! :flowers:

Yeah, I thinking waiting is a good idea it's just I feel like I can't leave my house with my like this, it feels like I've changed my whole identity! Haha, I don't know if that makes any sense.


Why hello there, welcome to this community. I am sorry to hear that you did not have a good experience. I also am sorry to say that I am also relatively new here, so I may not be of expert assistance.

A friend of mine who bleached all of her hair used drug store dye relatively effectively to get her hair closer to her natural color. However, it took two applications to really get it to work, and conventional dyes are kind of damaging.

A popular natural dye is henna, although that makes hair red on its own. There are henna mixtures that make different colors though. Unfortunately I don't know any more than that. If you don't get any replies on this, you can type in "henna" or "natural dyes" into Google followed by "Long Hair Community." Plenty of old threads on the subject should pop up. :)

I've read a lot about Henna but I wasn't quite sure of what my hair would look like reddish, I can't even imagine it and I'm worried it will cause me to freak out again! Maybe one day in the future when I research it more. I mostly like the idea because apparently it makes your hair thicker, which seems amazing :)!

Thanks guys :)

[xoxophelia]

It is best to let your hair rest between treatments. Honestly, if can wait a month it would be better but at least another week. I don't know how much pigment you had lifted from your hair but if it is a considerable amount you may have difficulty getting your color to "stick".

I would recommend going for a deposit only dye like a semi-permanent which will be less damaging on your already bleached hair. It may be enough to correct your problem. Reducing the frequency you shampoo your hair (research CO method on LHC), rinsing with cool water only, and going 2-3 days between washes will stretch the color. It will also be easier to change your hair color again in the future.

If you don't mind silicone products Brilliant Brunette has some leave ins that do add a bit of vibrancy to hair.

Mixing some extra virgin olive oil with a TBSP of honey, warming it in the microwave for 15 seconds and putting it through your dry hair may also help. Leave it in for an hour-overnight and then shampoo it out.

[Allychan]

Hello I am pretty new here too, but have some experience with the hair bleach and brown hair. You may have to coloour your hair twice to get back to brown. If you brown over the bleach (which is yellow) you will get some delightful green highlights which is probably not what you are going for. Your hair has to pass through the yellow-orange-red to get back to brown. I have learnt this the hard way.
If you are looking for natural I would wait 2 weeks and do some intense treatments using the shea butter & coconut oil recipe in the Articles tab from the nav bar.This should help restore some of your hairs resilience. Then look online for some sachets of Henna one red one brown. I get mine from an Indian supplier on ebay. Indians are the kings of Henna they have been using it for certuries. And if you have seen the hair on an Indian woman it is to die for!