Blonderexia.

[amaiaisabella]

I must confess. I've been a "bad" LHCer.

For my birthday this year, I professed the desire to take my nearly black hair to blonde. Initially I just wanted blonde highlights, but my family has told me for years they'd like me back to the blonde I was growing up, and when I went to the salon, the girl told me that my hair would lift pretty easily after doing a strand test. Long story short, she didn't leave the bleach on long enough, and left me a brassy orange. She denied doing so, attempted to apply a toner which just emphasized the orange more, and I went through rounds of toning, highlighting, and so on trying to get my hair out of the brassy stage and into blonde. Finally I threw on a light brown dye over it in exasperation.

I finally found a great stylist who has been helping me getting my hair back up to par. We ended up cutting quite a bit off since the majority of it was damaged with my attempts. That's fine since I'm undecided between sticking to chin-length or going for my ultimate goal of BSL. She has done some blonde highlights but the re-growth has been bad so I put a light brown dye over it to help hide the stark difference. I am going back in a few weeks and will attempt to do more ashy toned highlights, but I fear never going blonde at this rate.

I am very fortunate that through a new routine my hair has gotten back to its healthy state pre-damage. However, I can't help but long for a golden blonde head of hair. In some lights my hair will look golden, especially under florescent lights:

http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z20/amaiai64/0_IMAGE_067363x500.jpg

In others it looks more red:
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z20/amaiai64/0_IMAGE_079500x497.jpg

I have read catnip helps enhance blonde tones but I've ended up with a more yellow cast to my hair. I was thinking honey treatments might help but fear of turning more orange than blonde. I'm unsure of how to get around this. I've also attempted violet toners and shampoos but they end up making my hair appear more red and less blonde. I'm not sure how to convey what I want to the stylist, so I've been wanting to try natural treatments in the meantime to at least get me started.

Any advice y'all can give me on working with my color would be much appreciated :flower:

[Kristamommyx3]

I might get blasted for these suggestions lol, but I grew up putting chamomile tea( brewed and cooled) and lemon juice in my hair in the summer. I'm kind of a caramel color with light brown lowlights and. Blonde highlights naturally. My hair bleaches out blonde after a few long weekends on the boat, but it's also colored because it gives my hair more " oomph" . If you have a darker brown, it might pick up orange tones, so I don't really know if tea and lemon would make you brassy or just give you highlights. Does your hair see a lot of sun and salt water? That would give you the most natural tones. Wish I could give you the perfect answer, it's so tricky to lighten up dark hair and get what you want.

[Malibu Barbie]

I'm really sorry someone told you they could take black hair to blonde in one sitting.. This can never be done. I have a friend with jet black hair and her mother is a stylist. Her hair is a very pretty blonde but she had to do it in stages and bleaching is required. Because you have done so much to your hair if you still want to go blonde, keep up with the stylist. Over time you will get there. I wouldn't put anything else on it until you find out how it will react. Color can pull different colors on over processed hair. Good luck

[jojo]

I love it and your hair looks really healthy despite its recent adventure!

Cassia will helps its condition and I tried marrigold leafs when my hair was its natural dark blond colour, it gave lovely golden hues!

[Firefox7275]

Are you brown dyes you used semi permanent or permanent?

[amaiaisabella]

The first brown I used was a demi but this last one was a permanent. I don't want to strip it as I think it'd go back to that unattractive yellow but I'd like to brighten it up a bit.

[xoxophelia]

I think your hair doesn't look blonde just because its not. It looks brown. In the end probably the only way to get it to look blonde would be to lighten it somehow. Since you already have had it bleached majorly and then recolored it I think you should go to a professional for the job. Colored hair doesn't lighten the same way as virgin does so it gets tricky.

Perhaps wait a little bit though to let your hair rest and then go back in a month.