I Have Had Enough, I Am Going Natural! (long post)

[trillcat]

I am saying goodbye to the bleach and letting the natural hair grow!
I love being this blonde, but, I have a decision to make here now that my hair is getting to be what I call long (waist) do I want bleach blonde, or do I want really long hair? My hair will not survive another bleaching, this I know. It is in need of a all over head redo to freshen up the color and do the roots, and that will kill about 6 inches of hair. probably more.
I am loving my hair at waist, It has been a long, long road to get here from a pixie ( I had long hair before I did that) and it is also a struggle with soooooooo much product I have to put into it to make it look not like a bleached poof ball. You all know that fried bleached look, I have that. :( Yes, my pics look sleek, that is not the real state of my hair, that is 5,000 reshoots to get just one that looks even close to good!
So, I embrace the dark blonde/light brown with a few silvers, and probably more silvers, a lot more, that will show up as I look now to a new goal, all my hair my natural color, at waist, by age 50. I am 44 now, and it took a good 6 years to get to waist from a pixie. (lots of cuts to fix just weirdness) My roots are at a pixie length, so , 6 years. No odd layers to cut off now, but, I'm a gonna be multicolored for quite a while! I will look to my calico cat for inspiration, she is all sorts of brown, black, caramel and white!
That sounds like so long, 6 years, ooof. But the years will go by regardless of how much I want to hit a big "pause" button. When I had the pixie, I thought having long hair again was just a dream, and here I am, long hair.
So onward I go! I think I am going to let it hit tailbone, then maintain, which should be next year, or not , I don't know, I will see how the ends are doing.
I need your all's help though, if you see me posting about wanting to bleach, color, you need to reach through your electronic gizmos of choice to connect to the intrawebz and just Gibb's smack me on the back of the head!

[Theobroma]

trillcat, congratulations on your decision! And since you mention silvers, I would suggest you join the Renegrays -- you can't beat that thread for moral support while growing out dye!

[telegraph64]

Congratulations on your decision, trillcat, and I wish you the best from here on, towards the hair of your goals and dreams.
-telegraph64 :blossom:

[jojo]

Good luck with your growing out; let those silvers sparkle!

[Rocket22]

I completely know your pain, I have decided to have the long beautiful hair I desire I have to give up the bleach as well. It's a tough process but your hair will thank you! We have a thread of giving up the bleach or something like that you should check us out :)

[MsBubbles]

Hoo boy do I identify with you! Like Rocket22 said, here's the other thread (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=51155).

I'm at waist too - with roots about neck length. That's a nice name for your hair color - calico!

[FluffSpider]

Congratulations for your decision of quitting the dye! If you really are having trouble with the two-toned look, may I suggest some toner for your bleached parts, when it gets awkward? The sort of thing which has a conditioner formula to it, and lightly tints hair for a bit. On bleached blonde it should stick around for a while, and make the transition better;also, it would wash out in time for you to go natural;)

[lapushka]

Seconding what FluffSpider said. In fact, why not have a hair dresser match your roots with permanent dye? This way you avoid the growing out nightmare all together.

[CurlAhead]

Good luck! :D And, congratulations on you decision!

[bella77]

I am right there with ya! Although I am currently just a smidgen from APL, I recently put in highlights and my hair is breaking :( so I have vowed to go natural as well. I sit here typing this with cassia on my head right now. My first time, wish me luck. Let's go natural together!! Let the dirty blonde shine!!!!

[jel]

Good luck with growing out, Trillcat!

I must say, even your bleached colour looks quite natural - I'm starting to grow out the red (henna and Elumen) with ash brown roots and there's a very visible difference... Have to check our that other thread!

[einna]

Good luck with your natural hair journey =)

[Honestwitness]

I'm all in favor of anyone going natural. Letting nature take it's course may be a bad thing with some things, but with long hair, it's beautiful! Embrace your variegated colors! It's nature's way of expressing itself.

[trillcat]

Aw you are all so sweet!
It's going to be a long road, but that is OK. I have been down long roads before with the hair, this is just another.
Of course, now that I have decided to grow it out, I want it done NOW! LOL
I don't want to tint the rest to match the roots, not yet anyway, ask me again about a year from now when I have 6 inches of new hair. I did turn all my hair to light brown about 2 years ago, hated it! I think it was too much of a shock to do that all at once.
I like seeing it progress, new goals, seeing it hit ear, shoulder, APL, and on and on. I am a total idiot now though checking the mirror daily, like I am going to have some sort of growth spurt of several inches overnight. Patience, patience patience. * sigh*
I also like saying new hair, it is a freeing thing, new hair, I say it in my head like Forrest Gump seeing Lt. Dan again at his wedding, "New Legs, you got new legs" I don't know why, my brain under this hair is an odd thing indeed.

[ericthegreat]

Congratulations on having this hair epiphany! It takes A LOT of courage to give up a hair color that you know looks good on you but you also know is damaging the very hair you take pride in. Bright blonde is so seductive, it makes you feel like 10 million bucks........I should know;). Still, it was fun while it lasted right? I love medium blonde shade you had in your albums photos!

And don't you dare even entertain the thought of chopping off the blonde as you grow out your virgin roots! The two toned ombre look is very in style right now! If I were you, I'd just slowly trim off the ends while growing out your roots, and gradually transition from your dyed blonde to your natural color.

[MonaLisa]

very brave! congrats! :) Also here, if you ever decide to complain!

[Chiara]

I'm in the process of doing something like this- I decided I'd only have a light streak put in around my face. The rest will be my natural caramel-to-ash blonde colour. After a year of no highlights, I did tone the bleached bit, so that it matches my roots better. But this was only because the bleached hair had gone very yellow over summer.
It has made a huge difference to the condition of my hair, which I love. It takes a while to get used to the different 'balance' in terms of skin tone and eye colour- you might even find, as I did, that you need to experiment with the colour of the clothes you wear near your face, and makeup. It's been fun experimenting!

[Dragon]

Congrats on your new goal of going natural. Good luck on growing it out :) It may be hard but you will get there. Also congrats on reaching waist :)

[Othala]

Fantastic! I wish you all the best.

[trillcat]

Congratulations on having this hair epiphany! It takes A LOT of courage to give up a hair color that you know looks good on you but you also know is damaging the very hair you take pride in. Bright blonde is so seductive, it makes you feel like 10 million bucks........I should know;). Still, it was fun while it lasted right? I love medium blonde shade you had in your albums photos!

And don't you dare even entertain the thought of chopping off the blonde as you grow out your virgin roots! The two toned ombre look is very in style right now! If I were you, I'd just slowly trim off the ends while growing out your roots, and gradually transition from your dyed blonde to your natural color.
No no, the blonde is going to stay as it grows out! It is actually a bit darker blonde now than in my album pics, I know, I know, I need to update, I am working on that (got some personal demons to slay about gaining weight) But I am getting braver about that, mostly because I haven't taken pics in a very long time and am quite curious to see how it looks outside of my reflection in the mirror! It is a good deal longer than my last pics.
My plan is to continue to grow to tailbone, then start trimming as I see fit. Can't say if they will be big or little trims, a lot has to do with how my ends are doing. They are so very thin, and I am over calling them "fairytale" ends when in fact they are just plain old bleach damaged hair. I did a 2 inch cut about, oh, 2 or 3 months ago? Well, it was 2 inches on some parts, an inch on another, nothing on one part, lets just say, the hair was not fairytale, just scraggly and uneven. Big time.
I love love love blonde fairytale ends, but there is a fine line (ha ha) between those, and just being delusional. I was sadly camped out in delusional. I think, and this may change, (this is going to take years), once the natural hair hits waist I will then do a big chop up from tailbone to the natural hair. Again, this plan will probably change a lot over the years, but I am in for the long haul!
I am going to check out the other thread as well, I hope those there won't mind a whole bunch of angst and misery with good doses whining. :)