For those who have grown out hair dye

[lillylonghair]

How do you deal with it?!

As much as I love how dramatic my black hair looks,over the past 2 years I have lost a lot of weight. With the shedding of that weight,I have been wanting to be more natural and have the desire to go back to my roots so to speak. But everytime I start growing my hair color out,I go through feeling really blah looking and boring and washed out.

So for those of you who have successfully grown out your hair dye,how did you deal? And how did you decide that growing out your hair dye was the right decision for you? How do you feel about your natural hair color?

[<3OnHerSleeve]

I grew my hair for about 7 months before I cut out most of the hair dye. Then I maintained. I haven't regretted the decision at all because half my hair was severely damaged which was the main reason for the cut. I wanted to start again at the same time I didn't want to lose the length and it took many months of debating with myself whether to cut or to grow out. Breaking up with my ex decided me. I miss the length, but I really love that it's really MY hair, it's for real and legit. I went through phases of growing out then going back to redying because there's always a significant event or something that makes you go 'no way am I going with my hair looking like this'.
I guess the one good thing about my ex's indifference to my hair was that I didn't feel the need to recolour and I got to liking the 'dip dye' look.

Now on the one hand I love my natural colour, on the other hand I'm infuriated by it. It is Darkest Ashe Blonde and by Darkest I mean you can't get a darker blonde. I only look blonde during the summer otherwise my hair is so dark you can't tell whether it is a dark grey or golden brown. So while it is frustrating that my hair colour is so hard to define, it's good because it is unique considering most dark blonde's seem to bleach their hair lighter blonde.

You really have to know you want to commit to growing hair out, and ignore the hair dye versus your natural colour while it is growing out.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

[Mairéad]

Depending on what you colored your hair with, you could try some of the kits like Color Oops to bring it a bit closer to natural. At least to a point where it's less noticeable. But, if it's henndigo it may be out of the question. Though some members, Jojo comes to mind, have had tremendous success with Color B4 on henndigo.

[spidermom]

I grew out bleach and henna on separate occasions. I let it grow out without doing anything else to it until my natural color was about shoulder-length, then I got the un-natural stuff cut away.

[ladyfey]

I did what spidermom did, grew it out to about shoulder and then chopped the dyed part off. Mine was dyed ultra pale blonde, then dyed red. I love my natural color, Now I wonder what I was thinking in dying it! It is sooo much easier having it natural.

[lillylonghair]

Thanks for the replies! I'd have to grow mine out to at least shoulder before I even considered chopping. Short hair is just not for me anymore. Any type of color remover is also not an option as I have many layers of henna,indigo and black dye over bleach damaged ends.

[xoxophelia]

What is your natural color?

I definitely qualify as somebody growing out hair dye :3.. I grew mine out from black to my natural which is... light brown/darkblonde/strawberryblondehues. My natural color is currently getting close to APL and the black, since I used semipermanent most of the time, has faded to a medium brown with red hues. I am lucky enough that the darkness of my natural and the faded dye hair is similar enough for it to not be horribly obvious.

Things that helped me:
-avoiding the sun on my hair. This keeps my natural from turning more blonde.
-swimming. Faded the dye faster
-oil treatments, leaving shampoo on for longer, warm water. When the contrast was it its worse this faded the color enough for the roots to not be totally horrible.
-accepting that it doesn't look all that great but whatever
-keeping long term goals in mind
-frequent small trims to make progress towards removing dye

Another thing you could give a go is manic panic. There is a raven color that may blend things in enough when you get to the point of having 2-3" of roots. That will fade with time better than normal hair dye.

Like Spidermom, I also just bit the bullet and am growing it out. I would consider a chop but luckily mine blends enough that I don't think it is needed.

[lillylonghair]

My natural hair color is a medium brown with a ton of blonde sparklies and even some white hairs.lol So yeah it is pretty noticable when I start getting roots. It's like my roots almost glow in certain lights.

Did/do you miss having black hair?

[snowfaery]

I'll have to look into some of these techniques. I dyed my hair 10 months ago and the upper layers of hair have faded out in part due to heat treatments and lots of time in the sun and look more naturalish. My lower layers of hair are still the solid black. I want it gone without having to cut it out other than trims. I don't miss black hair at all, it was nice when I did it but I really want to get back to a reddish brown shade which is close to natural I think.

[MissEarlGrey]

It took me 2.5 years to grow out my dye while maintaining the same length. You pretty much have to resign yourself to looking odd for a WHILE. But to make it easier, try and match your natural color before you start growing that way it won't be AS awkward. You'll get to a very annoying point when the top of your hair is healthy and soft and the bottom part still have that "dyed" feeling. I had dyed my hair from the age of 12 to 18, so I had no idea that my natural hair color was so beautiful, I'm so glad I took the time to grow it out now, myself and my family never knew that THAT *point to siggy* was underneath all the dye. It's so worth it, DO IT.

[xoxophelia]

My natural hair color is a medium brown with a ton of blonde sparklies and even some white hairs.lol So yeah it is pretty noticable when I start getting roots. It's like my roots almost glow in certain lights.

Did/do you miss having black hair?

I didn't have it for all that long so it didn't become part of my "identity". It was however fun while it lasted. I think the thing I miss most, to be honest.. is that many men and even women prefer black hair. I prefer my natural now. I think the warm tones liven up my skin and my natural highlights give dimension and interest that the box dye never did. As my hair grows out it starts to look more and more towards blonde and I didn't like dissapointing my boyfriend that I no longer had what was considered dark hair.

Gotta be you though.

I felt indifferent about it at first but now I am so looking forward to being natural 100% again. So, it is well worth growing it out.

[Mesmerise]

I had black hair for awhile, and yeah I loved it... but in the end I chopped it ALL OFF. I am not sure I could handle really bad regrowth (and I damaged it soooo badly by perming and straightening and perming that by then it NEEDED to be chopped).

I think what I'd do would be to maybe try a color remover to get rid of some of the black... or alternatively use demi colors in my hair to blend it better between roots and length.

[Rebeccalaurenxx]

Im growing out my black and it makes my hair look like its, almost floating off my scalp lol because my natural is a light brown, and my roots are at aout an inch. But i can handle not coloring. : )

[pes3108]

Did any of you use semi-permanent dyes throughout the process? My natural color is a golden brown and I've been dying it red for about 4 years. I haven't used a permanent color in over 6 months and every time my roots start to really bug me, I use a semi-permanent red. Has anyone had success with doing anything like that?? I know that no dye is the best for keeping hair healthy, but I just can't stand having noticeable roots

[Debra83]

I started to grow out my natural hair colour again (brown/grey/white), but I couldn't stand that it made me feel like I looked older....so henna/soft black it is for awhile.

[tameriska]

Hi. I have gone through the process of growing out black hair dye (You can see a few pics in my album).
The hardest bit was the roots as they first started growing out, it just looked like I hadn't bothered dying my hair. Once it grew out enough that the colour was long enough that the line reached underneath my bun/ponytail it was a lot easier. Although a few people thought I had a fake hairpiece in as they were two different colours.
I noticed that for me that there seemed to be about three bands of colour in my hair, the dyed black, and a browny reddish bit between that and my real haircolour.
What made me choose to grow my hair out was not only the cost and upkeep of the dye, but the major difference in thickness and condition betwen my dyed and natural hair.
If you can use a wash out temporary dye to help transitition, it will help a lot in helping motivation to keep growing out.
Very occasionally I use the Schwarzkopf Live semi permanent 8 wash range if I want to darken up. I havent had any problems with it washing out, although my hair does not hold dye well at all, and it does make it feel really nice and conditioned at the same time

[Dyefree]

I'm the opposite. I have black hair with the same colouring as you (pale complexion, very dark eyes), but for years I've bleached and dyed to lighten my hair up.

My hair over time and many processes of abuse ended up a i thickness and a strange pooch frizzy mess that I couldn't even begin to type.

So I took drastic measures.

In October 2010 I cut 6 inches to chin.
And a few weeks ago I cut another 7-8 inches to chin.

This has given me around 90% virgin hair with a few dyed parts on the top canopy hairs. (they were a medium brown but have faded to a golden dark blonde- highly unattractive next to my black hair, but I'll keep them to measure progress!)

My hair thickness has gone from a i to a solid iii (5 inch circumference pony tail), my hair is soft, thick and falls into 2c waves.

Yes it's short, much shorter than I've ever had, but for me this is the best hair I've ever had. :touch wood:

So it all depends on you. I'm very much an all or nothing person, and chin was the shortest I was willing to go (I could never do a pixie). And I have never once regretted my decision to chop- it's left me in a great position to grow, but everyone is different... Just giving the other side of the story :)

[tgagurl27]

I'm about half and half now. But i'm hating my blonder ends now because they are thinner and look dryer. I can't wait until it is all my own hair. I'm too scared to cut a big lot off because I just don't think I can part with it. But I think you should just go for it. It saves you a heap of money and your hair is better for it. You could try (as someone else has said) those colour removers but I'm thinking they may be quite stripping/damaging to the hair? But if it works well at least the regrowth won't be such a problem :D good luck anyway

[Tota]

I decided to grow out my dyed hair two years ago, but before that, I went through a terrible procedure. I had BSL dark red hair and wanted to grow it out, my natural hair being dark blond/light brown. I went to many salons to ask for advice how to do that, and all the hairdressers said that the best thing to do is to cut it short (and my roots weren't even 1" long) and wait for it to grow. They all refused to colour my hair so it would match the roots, because, as they said, it would "damage my hair too much".

That was not an issue for me then, so I thought "what the hell, if they won't do it, I will", knowing that if I fail, I can always cut it then and at least I'll have a really good reason:) So I bought a bleaching cream (9% if I remember correctly) and went home and bleached the hell out of my hair, especially the ends. The results were disgusting, something like very bright neon orange. Because this was during the winter holidays, I didn't have to leave my house for a week, and if I did, I wore a hat.

After a week, I went to see my favourite hairdresser, the one of those who didn't want to colour me a week ago. Ofcourse she was shocked, but then she did her magic, mixed a colour, put in on my hair and voila - 45 minutes lates my hair was beautiful ash blond colour. That was two years ago and I haven't dyed my hair since. When my hair grew, the ends were slightly lighter, so by that summer I had an ombre effect and I was soooo happy. Ofcourse my hair was damaged, but by microtrimming and using tons of moisturising products nobody could really notice it except me and those, who wanted to see it (for example my sister).

So it can be done, but most of the hairdressers nowadays will refuse it, because the results can be terrible. I, for one, couldn't take 'no' for an answers, and I guess I was lucky. You just can't know, if you don't try. I'm not saying this is the right way to do it, but for me it worked out allright. I guess I had to do one last really horrible thing to my hair before I stopped torturing it completely;)

[xoxophelia]

Did any of you use semi-permanent dyes throughout the process? My natural color is a golden brown and I've been dying it red for about 4 years. I haven't used a permanent color in over 6 months and every time my roots start to really bug me, I use a semi-permanent red. Has anyone had success with doing anything like that?? I know that no dye is the best for keeping hair healthy, but I just can't stand having noticeable roots

I wouldn't suggest it. If anything, I would look for ways of making due with vegetable dyes. It takes so long to grow out color that you don't want to then grow out semipermanent color. Semiperm *never* fully fades for me.

ETA-if you find an 8 rinse one, it might

[ebba]

I recently used Colorfix from Sally's on my dyed black hair and it was fantastic. I split it into 2 applications and left them on for an hour each and my hair is fantastic.It started out quite red but mellowed out in a few days and now it is back to my natural color. My hair also has no new damage from it that i can tell, and its still shiny and soft. I highly recommend it rather than trying to grow it out, but thats just my two cents :)

[W2]

I'm growing out a reddish color and are trying to get back to my own salt and pepper. Right now it has grown out since may - it could look better, but I'll survive - I hope ;)

[Amber_Maiden]

I'm growing out my hair as well. I want the natural colour again. I tried darkening my hair with herbal dye, over henna and indigo, but it didn't work... The henna is coming through as the dye fades. :( I don't plan on cutting any of the dye out until I hit TBL, then I'll maintain and get the dye out as it grows.

What did you decide in the end btw?

[Nuin]

After lots of dyeing over the years, and then getting tired of growing it out, I took the "nuke the site from orbit" approach by shaving it all off. I was tidying a friend's mohawk with electric clippers one night, and we were drinking wine. Out of the blue, I ran the clippers front to back across my head... after that, well, there was nothing else to do but go the whole hog :D

I loved my normal colour as it grew back, although it was very different from my colour before I had started using henna and other dyes years before.

In the end, it did my hair a really good turn as it allowed me to start afresh. The whole pile has had nothing done to it over the years other than washing and fairly gentle drying.

And I guarantee that shaving it off does not looked boring :D

[clairenewcastle]

I've been growing out dye for the past two years and rather than blend the roots to the ends, I simply stuck out the two tone effect - although I must admit it wasn't easy.

I wore a lot of scarves and hats which helped tremendously.

Good luck with your hair growth journey - it'll be worth it.

[SpinDance]

My natural hair color was very dark ash brown, nearly black. It was graying, and a few years back I decided to have it colored. I continued to have it colored for 3.5 years. It was colored to near my original natural color, but I didn't really like the harshness of it by my older skin. The white/silver was better, softer and certainly natural. However, I stuck with it for all that time until I had a reaction to the dye. Since I had been considering exit strategies anyway, I just stopped.

For a while of course it just looked like I was growing out dye. Yuck. But better then a reaction, so I stuck it out. The dye was supposed to be semi-permanent, and come out after about 28 washes, but trust me, it didn't. One of my mini-milestones was when I saw my silvers in my bun. :)

The part that had been dyed has faded to a warm brown on my dark hairs and golden on my silvers. :( I'm a Winter, so the red/gold/brown is not good on me. But it's growing out. It's been 2 years last July, 2 years 4 months, and my natural dark/silver is down past my shoulders, not yet to APL. It will take probably another 3 years or so to finish growing out at this rate. I don't want to loose the length, and while I don't like the warm tones, I'm not willing to do the chop. If the color difference was extremely pronounced I might though.

[heidi.maryke]

The decision to grow out my dye was an easy one. It was expensive chopping and changing the colour all the time and required a lot of maintenance for it to look good (especially when it was blonde or red).

My natural hair is soft and shiny, and I can't wait to chop off the last of the bleach damage this month!