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Gracie123
January 25th, 2011, 06:50 AM
:waving: Hi! Newbie here!

My husband really likes my hair blond. I experimented with loads of colours when I was younger (I have naturally dark brown hair) but since we got married he pays for me to have it highlighted very nicely at a fancy salon so that I can be blonde.

Thing is, recently I caught the hair growing bug! I've seen all your photos and I want long and glorious locks too! Every time I get my hair lightened they convince me to chop off quite a lot (my hair grows super fast, but not super healthy). :scissors:

So I'm looking for advice:

i) is there a healthier way to be blonde than highlights? I notice a lot of people use henna for health and colour. Is there something similar for blondes?

ii) how can I be more assertive and tell the hairdresser that under no circumstances do I want her to chop my hair shorter! :slap:

Lemur_Catta
January 25th, 2011, 07:08 AM
a) No, the only way to go blonde if your natural color is dark brown is bleaching, and it's always at least a little bit damaging, especially because your hair is naturally so dark. Henna won't lighten your hair. You could try lightening with peroxide after applying coconut oil for protection, or honey lightening, but I don't think it would be the same as highlights.

b) Just tell them "I don't want you to cut my hair" or "no more than 1 inch" and if they don't listen, refuse to pay and ask to speak to a manager.

Anyway, it's not like you can't grow long hair because you highlight, but you will need to take care of your hair very well: being gentle, little or no heat, things like that.
I think that, unless we have very resilient hair, we all can choose only one "hair sin" like bleaching or heat styling...people who can do both and have nice looking hair are rare, wish I was one of them :D

Besides, if you highlight you will probably need to trim your hair. You can either self trim, so you don't have to deal with the pressure from the stylist, or ask them to trim ONLY the amount you want trimmed. Be very specific, go in with a ruler.

I am not an expert on blonde hair though, I hope other people have better answers for you :)

Gracie123
January 25th, 2011, 07:17 AM
Thanks for responding. My hair always seems to be in quiet good condition (to my non-expert eyes) and grows quite fast, so maybe I can have highlighting as my one hair sin.

I never heat style, I always shower in the evening and rag roll/sock curl my hair, so it doesn't get a lot of abuse. There is hope for me yet!

Alvrodul
January 25th, 2011, 07:27 AM
It is possible to lighten hair with honey - look in the section for recipes, henna and herbal hair care. There is also information on honey lightening in the Articles section. I haven't done this myself, so I can't tell you much about it. I think the effect of honey lightening is likely to vary from person to person, and I also think that honey is not likely to lighten your hair as much as you want.

As Lemur Catta said, you can't get your hair lighter with henna. Henna has an orangey-red color molecule. Cassia is another plant that is used to color hair. It has a yellowish color molecule, and like henna, it will not lighten hair. Cassia is often called "neutral henna" because the color is not likely to be noticeable unless the hair is fairly light. It is also often used with henna in order to expand the "color palette" of natural hair colorings.

One thing you can look into to take care of your hair, is use of oils. Coconut oil is one that is particularly good for the hair, and one that most people's hair tends to like. Put a generous amount in your hair as a pre-wash treatment, and add a tiny amount to your hair after washing.
I suggest that you experiment a bit with oils to see what oils your hair likes, and how it likes its oils. That is another thing that tends to vary a lot! Again, look in the section for recipes, henna and herbal hair care!

UltraBella
January 25th, 2011, 07:43 AM
The only way to lighten dark brown hair to blonde is by bleaching. Your ends will need regular trimming, bleach tends to leave splits and dryness but you can certainly still grow your hair long. Just be extra kind to it in other ways. If you start noticing a lot of damage you may need to decide between highlights and length.

rose.grace
January 25th, 2011, 09:27 AM
Anything you do to make your hair blonde will damage it if it's not naturally blonde. Anything.

Rocket22
January 25th, 2011, 09:45 AM
Sounds like you take very good care of your hair except the bleaching.. maybe you could just highlight the very top of your hair which will still make you look blonde and leave the rest natural