I love dyeing my hair too much!!

[lizashley]

I am new here and just want to say that I have been brutal to my hair the last couple of years and would like everyone's opinion on something....I REALLY wanna dye my hair white, number 1 cause I think it would be cool, but also I think if I do this one last damaging thing to my hair it might actually be better for my hair in the long run with the frequency I normally dye my hair.

I figure if I just bleach it out to a blank palette so to speak (which I understand is a very damaging process), it might actually be less damaging because then I can use temporary hair dyes which are not damaging and change my hair color pretty much as often as I want. After that all I have to worry about is touching up my roots.

Does this make sense and would this work? I can't give up dying my hair as much as I know I should, but I'm just one of those girls who loves to change her look and her hair constantly. Thanks!

[Varney]

Why can't you use temporary dye now?
Personally, I can't imagine anything more damaging then bleaching your hair until it's white. It's probably better to use ordinary hair color once a month then to bleach it multiple times and then only use temporary dye. Besides, you will not be satisfied with your roots when they grow out. And most likely return to ordinary hair color soon anyway. Since the result of temporary color won't be the same on your roots.

[HairFaerie]

Any time you remove color you run the risk of severe damage (especially bleach). If you are depositing (adding) color, it is still damaging but not as much as bleaching.

Been there, done that. I am a "color addict" too.

I have discovered some better alternatives from the health food store and I recently discovered Garnier Nutrisse. I can't say they don't damage but at least they keep it to a minimum and I still get to change my color! :)

Also, what Varney said is sound advice.

[Rocket22]

I vote NO and that being a BIG no on the bleach till it's white.. but of course it's your hair, but if you fry it all off you wont have any hair to play with... (been there done that) :)

[lizashley]

I can't use temporary hair color now because my hair is too dark. And with the roots, I would bleach only those as they start to come in, then apply more temporary hair dye. I was looking at a bleach from Sally Beauty Supply and there is one with great reviews that is supposed to be less damaging than most other bleaches.

[lizashley]

Also with a purple toner that will help to take out the yellow brassy tones and make the hair more white, instead of constantly bleaching to get it whiter and whiter...I know it may take a couple bleaching tho...I'm still doing my research and weighing the pros and cons, thanks for the replies so far!

[bluesnowflake]

Definitely no to the going white- it's just about the most damaging dye color you could get- going lighter will always cause more damage. It may look like a good idea now, but afterwards you will probably regret it. Besides, you would have to keep going back to white if you wanted to keep changing. Obviously the best thing would be not to dye, but you could look into less damaging herbal forms of dyeing. Just be careful- some, like henna, are permanent! If you absolutely can't give up dyeing or doing it considerably less often, growing your hair long is probably not going to work out.

[spidermom]

The only woman I know who bleaches her hair out to white has light baby duck yellow-colored scalp area with dark roots, and her hair looks like somebody or something chews it off just below shoulder length. It's not an attractive look.

[chrissy-b]

If you go white then dye temporary dye over the white, I'm almost positive the temporary dye won't be all that temporary. I've bleached my hair white before and it broke off in chunks. Then, when I used a temporary dye it stayed that color until I grew it out and cut it off. Not only will you be damaging your hair, you probably won't get the results you're after.

[lizashley]

Chrissy, what kind of temporary hair dye did you use? I was gonna try manic panic. O and just a little more info about my hair I had bleached it several months ago, not my whole head but almost (really really heavy highlights), then a few months ago part dark bown hair dye back over it. I was thinking about trying to use a hair color remover/color corrector before bleaching to get as much of it out before I have to bleach it...maybe that will require less bleaching...

[musicallberrii]

If you are really set on going white and using temporary dyes, then I would recommend going ahead and doing what you want.. and when you get sick of it, cut all your hair off and let it grown in virgin. Either way, if your hair is anything darker than a very pale blonde right now (and especially if you have dyed it before or multiple times) then it is going to feel awful after you bleach it. No deep-conditioner or whatever can fix damage caused by multiple dying sessions AND bleaching to white. Right now my hair is mid-back length, and I dye my roots every 6-8 weeks. My hair is dry and I have to do a lot of moisturizing, search&destroy, and deep treatments to keep it looking semi-healthy. Once I get to my goal length, I will be doing major trims every month to get rid of all the damage and it will probably be years before my hair is finally at the length and level of health I want. Basically, what I'm saying is even if you are careful with dying, you will still get some damage. At the most, I would recommend going a shade or two lighter or darker than your natural color.. and using deposit only color if you want. If you are dead set on unnatural colors in your hair permanently, then I would grow out virgin hair and bleach from there, and touch up the roots as needed.

Of course, it's your hair and you can do what you please with it =) I don't know what type your hair is, and if its resistant to damage, etc, so you might be fine to dye it and deal with the damage.. either way, its just hair and it will grow again!

[musicallberrii]

Oh also, I just saw that you said you were looking at Manic Panic dye.. In my experience, Manic Panic doesn't last long. Check out Special Effects hair dye (you can order online at http://amphigory.com/special_effects_hairdye.html). It lasts months, much longer than Manic Panic (my MP faded after the 3rd wash from a teal to a cruddy yellow, and I was using conditioner with dye in it to touch it up after washing. Special Effects purple lasted for over 3 months on my hair). You might have to order Special Effects online, but imho it is worth the shipping and semi-expensive cost. It is some of the longest lasting and brightest hair color you can get for unnatural colors!

Also, if you click the color names on the website I listed above, you can see pictures and read testimonies from customers... I'd definitely recommend Special Effects over Manic Panic though!

[Maverick494]

When it comes to dying my hair, i've been pretty much everywhere. Started with pitch black, then white, then blonde, then brown again, etc. etc.

Some things I learned
#1. There is no such thing as bleach that damages less. The only way to make it less damaging is to use less of it and don't keep it on your hair as long. Which means you won't get to the white colour you're aiming for...

#2. I know someone with great looking white hair. It's my dad and this has been his natural colour for atleast 10 years now. Everyone trying to fake it with bleach will never get the same result. It's like trying to imitate pitch black asian hair with a chemical black dye. Ain't gonna work.

#3. Roots are a pain in the @ss. When you go white, you will have to touch up your roots EVERY TWO WEEKS. Trust me on this. That is, if you want to prevent yourself from looking like Pepe le Pew.

#4. Skintone. When I was at my lightest I noticed that my skin wasn't fair enough to make it work. Likewise, when I had black hair, I looked so pale, it made me look like a corpse. When it comes to extreme's like these your skintone may ruin all the fun. Do not underestimate this!

#5. Hair condition.

I have dyed my hair since I was 18 and I'm 23 now. 5 years in total. I have also, more or less been growing my hair since that time. Well, I started at BSL and I'm still not at waist AFTER FIVE YEARS! In essence, I'm trying to tell you your hair gets so fried it looks like you seriously burned it. This is beyond dead ends, split ends and a dull look; this is about hair that looks ...well, fried.

Anyway, I get that this is in your head. I'm stubborn like that too. But if your natural haircolour is dark, you are going to look horrible. Also, I don't get what you want to achieve with the temporary dye. It will not make your roots blend with your hair, if that's what you are aiming for.

Ofcourse it's your choice and go ahead if you wish, but if you do it atleast let a hairdresser do it. Expect to be stuck in a chair for a looooong time though...

[lizashley]

No, I'm not trying to blend my hair with my roots with temporary dye, I just want to mix it up. I've wanted purple hair forever but I'm sure after I've done that I'll want to move on to something else...thats why I was looking into the manic panic dyes cause they don't last long.

[lizashley]

Here is a link that shows some people with white hair achieved with the help of manic panic's virgin snow...http://www.manicpanic.com/besthaircolor/virginsnow.html

[Lianna]

Those pics look pretty. I have dyed (lighter) hair too but I don't know advice for white bleached hair because I've never had. I think it's important to know your length goal, if isn't way toooo long, I think you could manage with care. I see waist length light bleach highlights on a daily basis. I read a lot around here about people with bleached hair can't grow past shoulder or something like that, I just don't believe because isn't what I see everyday. Maybe they just liked shorter hair. Where I live there's sort of a pressure for women to keep hair long/longer than APL at least.

So what's your goal length and hair type?


ETA: I love dyeing my hair too! :) Though I stick with medium blonde now.

[Artsy]

lol you have to be naturally light blond to get to bleach your hair platinum:) If your virgin hair is darker than light brown, no point in even trying.
The main issue that you have based on your story is that your hair is dyed with something darker and the best you will get is patchy yellow if that's going to be bleached at a salon. That's if any hair colourist will take on this job. If you try it yourself, you will most likely end up with a very short pixie:))
Your best bet is to grow out the dyed dark parts, cut it off, and then bleach if you still want to get platinum, and now all you can is to get a wig;)

[2vette2camaro]

If you are looking for temp color then Manic Panic will work but it lasts NO time and I have light blond hair. I use Special Effects, which is an all natural, all organic color. I presently am "Cupcake Pink" although my sig picture is Atomic Pink (my fav) mixed in with some Manic Panic purple. I just ordered Pravana Chromasilk and am going silver because I have always loved white/gray/silver hair.

[2vette2camaro]

If you are anything but blond, I would recommend that you do a deep dark purple OVER your existing haircolor instead of bleaching. Cool color doesn't look good on unhealthy hair

[Lianna]

I'm sad to read a post so full of negativity such as yours, Artsy. :( What you say it's not true, a lot of factors are involved in this, not all dark brown hair will melt with the touch of bleach. We could give more accurate advice knowing her hair type.

Hey, I'm not sure you need you hair WHITE to do a color over. :)

[lizashley]

As I said I have bleached my hair before, and it really didn't damage my hair much more than it already was with my continuous hair dyings. I will start with strand test first before I go and bleach my whole head tho! :) And I'm not really wanting to grow my hair super long, it is already mid back, and I'm sure with bleaching I'd lose an inch or two, but like I said I'll strand test first and see how that goes.

[lapushka]

Looks like you already made your decision. Oh well, live and learn. :) We've probably all done things to our hair that we really wanted to do while we knew it was damaging, all the while ignoring good advice. ;)

Like other posters have said, it really *is* extremely tough on your hair to go from a dark color to platinum / white, and to keep it up - even if it's only your roots. The darker your hair is, the tougher the bleaching process will be on your hair, so don't be surprised if it feels like straw and breaks easily or falls out at the root in places (esp. if bleach is applied to your whole head (and scalp), vs. highlights).

If after that you're going to keep changing and mixing up colors, meaning: bleaching again, changing colors again, bleaching again... Well, your hair is going to suffer the more you keep processing the same hair. Chances are things could go wrong after a while, or you could even end up with broken (chemically cut off) hair.

Trust me. Been there, done that.

Don't let anyone fool you into thinking there is such a thing as less damaging bleach. It still is bleach, it still will strip your hair of color, and it will end up damaged no matter what.

If you are going to color, best to stay close to your own color, by going a shade to a few shades darker or lighter (maybe with a streak of color in it to start). Stay far far away from bleach unless you are willing to sacrifice hair and length.

[missfortune9335]

Bleaching your hair until it is white is going to be *very*, very damaging no matter what, and if you plan to use temp. dyes after that you will still have to continue to bleach your roots before re-coloring to get an even match. If you really want to do it, it's up to you of course. You don't list your goal length with your avatar/info, if your goal is pretty long (BSL or longer, IMHO) I'd envoke the two week rule here. It can be extremely frustrating to try and get hair to grow past APL when the length is breaking off due to bleach damage. On the other hand, if you're going to keep your hair on the shorter side and you can trim to keep up with the damage, it will look really fun :)

[missfortune9335]

Ahhh, I see you've already made up your mind. In that case, good luck to you and post picturesof the new colors! :D

[lilravendark]

I went completely white if you do it in stages and not bleach every day like I did it can be done, instead of bleach the last time I used loreal perfect blonde but girls with dark hair have also reported good results with a japanese brand called palty, when you get to that light yellow stage, use a good toner I think I used schwarzkopf. Everybodys hair is different so research around but I have to say the upkeep is a pain in the butt especially with dark hair I got a pic of my white hair in my albums section if you want to see how it was when it was white. Good luck with it btw have you tried temp hair dye in foam form it seems to show up better in dark hair.

[jenwexler]

How about just bleach the tips to test it out? That in itself is a cool look and you can change it to funky colors when ever you want. Get bored with it and the damage? Cut it off =] It would only be 2 inches at the most anyway.

[McFearless]

My only advice would be to do it in steps. Maybe someone could chime in and explain using coconut oil to lessen the damage?

Good luck! If you really want to do it I think you should. Get it out of your system and have fun with your hair.

[Montage]

Doing it in steps would probably be worse in terms of damage, it's better for the bleach to be on the head for as little time as possible. All in one go would be best :)

As long as you know what you're doing with the bleaching process, you'll be fine. If your hair is in good condition and strong (as you've said it is), personally I doubt that getting it white would make it that badly damaged. Chop the ends off and away you go!

Colours are fun, experiment! White hair sounds pretty lush, really. And if it all goes wrong, it'll grow back eventually, such is the magic of hair. Just remember that it'll be a bit more delicate, so condition well etc.

[Lianna]

If you got your hair to mid back while bleaching you must have been doing lots of things right. :) Congratulations!

[Sweet_Decadence]

I've bleached a friends hair before from a dark, dark brown to white before and in all honesty the damage was pretty bad, even using a toner but you already knew that.

While yes you would be able to put pretty much any colour over it, it will stain, even Manic Panic. So if your wanting to change your colour a lot your probably going to have to bleach a lot. I sae you mention that you wanted purple hair...you can put purple over blonde to somewhat gingerly coloured hair and still get great results, speaking from experiance dying others hair purple.

I'd really feel inclined to say no, personally.

[Artsy]

I'm sad to read a post so full of negativity such as yours, Artsy. :( What you say it's not true, a lot of factors are involved in this, not all dark brown hair will melt with the touch of bleach. We could give more accurate advice knowing her hair type.

Hey, I'm not sure you need you hair WHITE to do a color over. :)
I am not being negative at all. Considering the factors mentioned by the OP, the main problem is not in lightening brown hair. The actual problem is that bleached hair has some sort of dark dye in it in unknown colour. If someone wants consistent platinum/white colour after dark dye, it might not be possible. The result can be very patchy. It is a completely different story if someone decides to lighten virgin brown hair. Obviously the damage will be there, but the even colour is possible. If someone is looking for healthy hair, bleaching from dark brown is only possible to some caramel shade of blond, but not white. This is all I am saying:) The most damage someone can get from any bleaching/chemical hair dying is damage to follicles, but that's a different story:)

[knux]

It seems this is something that you are already set on this colour, in which case I would say go for it. I know that once I get something in my head, it will bother me forever until I do it.

For a while I did white peak-a-boo highlights on my nearly black hair. I always put a lot of Moroccan oil in the dye, then after wards I dipped the dyed parts in oil, then tossed on a nice thick layer of a hydrating hair mask, wrapped it up in a shower cap and slept on it so that it had hours to soak up.

Good luck!

[Lianna]

I've seen patchy results, but that can happen with natural hair too. These people just lightened the darker parts to match, and continued til all was white/platinum. My hair is lightened from dark brown hair dye, but it's only to caramel shade. And I left some darker parts (lowlights) on purpose. :)

The "negative" part was about only light blondes achieving white hair, I know dyes/bleach can damage, but lots of people have healthy hair even after. My hair is healthier now than when it was virgin. There would be always a way to have "healthier" hair, but some people don't wanna pay such prices as virgin hair, when their level of health is fine.

[2vette2camaro]

I have been bleaching my hair since I was 16 and my hair is now WAY past BSL so like the other poster said- you must be doing something right. Maybe we just have really strong hair cuz my hair dresser comments all the time how nice my hair is. The exotic colors do show up on lighter hair more vibrant. I plan on NEVER going without color and to sacrifice a little is worth a lot in the long run n terms of experimenting with various colors.

[AnnaMarie]

I say if you want to dye your hair white blonde, then do it. You'll just have to accept your hair will most likely be weaker because of it, you may have to trim more often therefore your it might take longer to get to your goal length. But hey you may as well have fun along the journey right? :)

[pepperminttea]

Could you live with a short pixie cut on yourself? Or less? It's a worst case scenario, and if you want to try to go white I'd say go for it (you only live once, after all), but do be aware that a very short cut could be a necessity after the damage. Having said that, if you could pull it off, a white pixie cut would look pretty awesome, and with a short cut, the damage isn't around for long before it's trimmed off.

[lundmir]

Lol, we must be some kind of kindred spirit because I just went silver. I had white a few years ago before I cared about my length, and while the damage wasn't as extreme as it can be, it was definitely noticeable and I had to handle my hair relly carefully. I got lazy, so I ended up with the cutest pixie ever.

I'm at waist length, and from about my shoulders to my ends, I've dyed about 17 times, everything above, bleached twice, and who knows how many deposit and veggie dyes on everything. I don't get split ends or white dots, but my hair appears to be magically strong.

That said, my hair was a bright pink/red to black gradient (roots bright pink, ends black), so I waited for my color to fade to a dull orange (not fun, I hated the color), toned it with diluted blue and purple dye to an ash brown, and bleached the dark parts to a dark blond. I toned my light hair (a straw color, the lighter reaches my chin) with a mix of conditioner, red, and purple dye.

It is a bit dark because I used too much pigment, but that will wash out so I'm happy, and will tone the darker blond tomorrow with a stronger dilution of dye. Some of my ends are still very dark, but I dig the gradient look.

That said, I do advice you to go to a professional if you don't have experience dyeing your own hair, home bleaching can go extremely bad, and you don't want a chemical cut!

Whatever you decide, definitely look into this threat to protect your hair, since you like to dye so much: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=10495

Coconut oil does wonders to protect my hair, and as a treatment.

I wish you the best!

[lizashley]

Thank you so much for all your responses, both good and bad! Well I decided maybe I won't do white right now, but I would still like to lighten it so I can do purple. I did a strand test with a color remover and it worked pretty well, didn't lighten my hair back to the bleach color (but I really didn't expect it to), but it did lighten it significantly! So I went ahead and did the rest of my hair and it is much lighter. It isn't a bad color as is but I really want to try maybe Manic Panic purple haze hair color...it is supposed to show up on darker hair with extra processing time, and from my research seems like a pretty safe dye. Pretty much any info I can find about it says it isn't damaging at all, but I'm gonna assume it will cause some damage. I'll start with the ends as was mentioned and if it damages my hair too much I'll cut it off...if it works great, I'll do the rest! I'm excited...

For those of you who said I must be doing something right, my hair is damaged some but honestly considering all I've put it through it isn't that bad. I have also used the S&D method long before I read it here, that may have helped some too, although its a pain in the butt!!

[Lianna]

I remember someone a while ago that had rainbow hair. Her natural hair was strawberry blonde. She said she only had to bleach to get the light pink color, so you should be able to get purple without going white first. :) I'm sorry I can't tell you more than that, she didn't stay around here because people said her hair was to be "very damaged" and such...She tried to defend herself and posted some beautiful shiny photos of her long hair, though.

[Fufu]

Actually there are no bad comments in my opinion. Everyone is just giving their personal views :)

Manic Panic purple haze hair color sounds cool, looking forward to see your hair picture if you don't mind sharing.

I bleached my hair before few years ago and did 3 ash colours, ash green, ash pink and ash blue on my hair. Lots of people told me it's damaging, I still go ahead because I wanted to see how those colours will turn out on me. After having the hair colour for approx. 4 months, I chop off all my hair off to pixie hairsyle because my hair was very dry. After I grow my hair out, I phased out bleaching totally.

I'm still a dyeing hair lover, every 4 to 6 months and have strict haircare routine for my coloured and highlighted hair.

If you are fine with chopping your hair off when they are damaged, feel free to experiment any colours you want.

[stinamoo]

Do you want white for it's own sake, or only so you can put temporary dyes on it? If you want a pinky purple, you will only need to bleach to yellow. If it's a blue-purple, maybe slightly paler, but you will only need to go white for the very palest of temporary dyes, and medium blue.

It will be much less damaging to your hair to go yelllow rather than white, and if you wish to change the colour often you may need to bleach out the temporary dyes - it's worth reserving a little of your hair's strength for that!

[spidermom]

Time may well give you white. Mine is becoming more white/silver all the time. I used a product called Punky Rose-Red for fantasy color last spring, and it lasted about 12 weeks, fading just a little every time I washed it until it finally faded completely away. I loved it and will doubtless do it again.

Have you considered starting with one strand to see how your hair takes it?

[autumn_pixie]

Um - I didn't read all the posts so someone may have said something about this already but I did this about a year & 1/2 ago. My hair was shoulder length. I thought I could bleach it white and then only do my roots. The problem I had was it was only white for about a month and then began to yellow and turn brassy even though I used purple shampoo. The color was really hard for me to maintain and I had to use a pale blond box dye on it several times to keep it white, I also tried using a toner a few times. In the end I was not able to keep the color and I am still trying to grow the damage out now, my hair is still shoulder length. I don't know if it was just my hair that reacted this way, but I thougt I would share. If I could go back I would not have done it.

[Rini]

Wait a few years and your hair will be naturally white like mine :D Sorry, that was a bit glib!

Perhaps you could post on a hairdressing forum where there are people who are expert at these sorts of chemical processes? People on LHC are mainly focused on cultivating healthy hair and often that does not involve chemical processes. I'm not saying you can't dye your hair in order to have healthy hair, just that there might be less damaging ways of doing it (and the constant colour changes that you like) which expert colourists might be able to help you with. Personally, all I know is that chemical dye = damage, and it's not something I want to continue with myself.

Good luck to you! You'll find some great deep treatment recipes on the boards if you want to help your hair recover after you colour. :flower:

[lizashley]

Ok, so I dyed some of my hair purple, not all of it. Maybe someday when my hair is in better shape. But anyway here is the picture. I really like it!
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=720243&l=0d28ac62ef&id=100000040456011

[lizashley]

I don't think it posted it, lemme try another way...

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=720243&l=0d28ac62ef&id=100000040456011

[Avital88]

Well what can i say. I totally understand the look you want to achieve and it will certainly look nice.. For a week or three.
After your hair will just break ,your roots will look as dark as night,and you will have spiderweb quality hair especcially of you want to go there from a dark color.I know this because ive been there.
My hair is now finally recovered an my hair is twice or might be 3 times thicker now. Please take our advice instead of ruin your already damaged hair..

[UltraBella]

I own two salons, so I am telling you this not to be unkind, but to be brutally honest with you. If you do this, your outcome will be one of two possibilities. 1). your severely over-processed hair, stripped of every last bit of natural color and in absolutely dreadful condition, will take the temporary dye as if it is permanent and you will NEVER be able to wash it out. A temporary color does not lift your cuticle so the color is not deposited in the hair shaft, just on the outside temporarily. Your hair will be so porous from the bleach damage that the color will penetrate the hair shaft and permanently stain it.
2). your severely over-processed hair, stripped of every last bit of natural color and in absolutely dreadful condition, will not have the capacity to hold any color at all, temporary or otherwise. It will all just rinse away within a few washings and you will be back to white, fried hair. Not even a filler color will work, or if it does work, it will be the undertone you are left with. Do you like green ? How about orange ?
I have seen both these scenarios happen. What I have not seen -ever - is someone bleach their hair WHITE and have it look healthy. Breakage is inevitable. It may show up a day, week, month later but it will show up.
Do you have a plan for if this goes terribly wrong ?
Once again, I am not trying to be harsh, but I see the results, and the tears, of this kind of extreme processing all the time. I have not met a single person yet who was happy with the results from bleaching their hair white. Sometimes the remorse sets in after the fun wears off, but it always sets in eventually.
Think very very carefully about this..........

[kwaniesiam]

Do NOT try to bleach your hair white. I did it, on a pixie length cut. It was great for about a month but so damaged and breaking off in clumps I shaved my head. Have a look at my album when you hit 25 posts, I have pictures in there.

[Freki]

One way I have compromised on my desire to have both colorful hair and long hair is that I bleach my bangs and color them, while leaving the length of my hair alone (or use henna on it). This works well, because I have dark hair and it would be too damaging to bleach the entire length. But my bangs stay fairly healthy because I have to trim them so frequently.

I get to have my cake and eat it too.

This is the blue I had up until recently:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v242/LupineLullaby/061810181426.jpg

One word of warning, even with fast fading dyes like manic panic (and believe me, I've used every veggie dye known to man), they leave some color behind in bleached hair because of how porous it is. You have to bleach again if you want to change colors drastically.

[lizashley]

I did not bleach my hair white guys, but I did bleach and dye some of it purple. I appreciate all the responses, I will try to lay off all the hair dye! lol. I know I have been bad to my hair, but i just got out of the military and have been dying to do something crazy with my hair since I couldn't really do much while I was in. I'll try to be better tho!!

[kwaniesiam]

I did not bleach my hair white guys, but I did bleach and dye some of it purple. I appreciate all the responses, I will try to lay off all the hair dye! lol. I know I have been bad to my hair, but i just got out of the military and have been dying to do something crazy with my hair since I couldn't really do much while I was in. I'll try to be better tho!!

Guess I should read more than just the first post :lol:

I highly recommend Aphogee two step protein treatment from Sally's to keep bleached hair from getting too damaged and breaking off.

[Fufu]

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=720243&l=0d28ac62ef&id=100000040456011

Whoa your hair colour looks great :) Many congratulations.

You have lovely smile too ^^

[lizashley]

Thanks fufu! And Kwaniesiam, I have thought about trying that, I saw some good reviews...have you used it yourself?

[kwaniesiam]

Yes, it literally held my hair together when bleaching it and I've used it on others successfully as well.

[lizashley]

I will have to try that then, thank you!

[lapushka]

It's a good thing you tried it on parts of your hair first. It looks really nice, BTW! I'm still glad you didn't bleach/dye all of it. It's a neat effect, actually, the purple streaks!

[Maddy25]

I'm glad to hear you didn't go all the way white so it isnt as damaging :) I was going to suggest perhaps if you really wanted to try it, then bleach a streak or two white and dye those different colours

http://www.hji.co.uk/hjimages/images/qhs30144/hji/medium/2008-purple-streak.jpg

or another option is to dip dye your hair, that can look pretty cool and the dye and bleach would be just on the ends.

Oh and I wanted to warn about one thing using manic panic on very bleached hair....I've done is so many times....

Some colours never will fade out all the way.

I went from this

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n296/addie2525/user23755_pic45852_1248633501-1.jpg

to this

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n296/addie2525/rry.jpg

For some reason some places just catch colour and wont let it go! I had to go to a hairdresser and get my hair dyed dark brown after this because they couldnt get the pink out.

Oh and a member here called PegasusMarsters, she bleached very light to use some wicked manic panic colours on her whole head, it was gorgeous, you may want to talk to her if you want to know more :)

[jesis]

Horror story ahead.

My hairstylist and I bleached the bottom half of my hair regularly for 6 months. I started noticing damage but ignored it because I thought it looked cool. When I finally decided to go back to brown, the damaged bleached ends of my hair were anywhere from 3 to 6 inches shorter than the rest. I am trying to cut the damage out slowly but if I could go back in time I would tell myself NOT to do it. Worst hair mistake of my life.

Hope this helps. :)

[Anywhere]

I'm glad you found a way to get a nice color without damaging your whole head.

I enjoy dyeing too but.. my hair falls out whenever I do and ends up in bad shape (yaaaay fine hair :rolleyes:).
One of these days though, I plan on using manic panic on my unbleached hair. One of these days!

[SwordWomanRiona]

Even if I have sometimes thought about it, I don't think I want to come near to permanent dyes/bleaching. Those products tend to be so damaging for one's hair it isn't worth it. Especially with my very fine hair, it would be ruined! I really like copper hair, but I will stick to henna for now - it doesn't lighten your hair (sigh), but it creates rich red tones and coppery highlights, and your hair turns so shiny and soft I really don't mind (much) the fact that I can't get light copper with it.

Anyway, my advice would be - don't bleach TOO much, it could really ruin your hair, and I think that a well-conditioned, soft, silky hair is generally much more important than the colour proper.
But, whatever you do, good luck with your future experiments!:)