Where to start?

[Seducts]

Hi ladies!

I want to improve my hair and grow it long but I have no idea where to start. My hair is in bad condition. It's flat and lifeless, oily a lot of the time. I bleach but don't heat style that often, probably once or twice a month. I have fly aways all the way up my hair. I cannot stop bleaching because my natural hair colour sucks and having hair darker than my natural colour makes me look like death.

I know about protein treatments and have some coconut oil. I can't do CO and I don't have a lot of spare money to buy expensive shampoos. I would probably spend up to £5 on one bottle of shampoo.

I'm just looking for some basic things I can sttart doing to try and get my hair in better condition. Any product recs and advice would be great. Thank you :)

Dani x

[MaryRose]

It sounds like you need to stop bleaching if your going to have any hope for better condition.
How about a pic?

[joflakes]

I'm with MaryRose, your colour might surprise you! How long have you been bleaching for? I'd dyed for 10 years until about 6 months ago when I got it cut to pixie length and I love my colour now!

[Cloelia]

I also second MaryRose. Like you, I wanted to grow my hair out long for years, but couldn't let go of the bleaching because my natural hair color was "dishwater blonde" and I hated it. I know it's not what you want to hear, but my hair absolutely would not grow past my collarbone the entire time I bleached it. I decided to stop the bleach 2 years ago when my sister convinced me that it had stopped looking good. It took a whole year of dying my hair slightly darker than natural and maintaining the length to get rid of all the bleach-fried hair.

And then the funniest thing happened - my hair thickened up a lot, had bounce and volume, and started growing like a weed. More interesting than that, I found out that I actually love my natural color and wouldn't trade it for the world. Something to think about.

All that aside, I would try CWC instead of CO. CO takes dedication and doesn't work for everyone, but CWC made a big difference in my hair and you don't have to buy anything new. Condition all over, shampoo just roots, then condition again from your ears down. And I like coconut oil as a leave in, again from ears down.

I've noticed with my own hair that greasies mean your hair feels attacked or damaged. The more you condition, moisturize, and generally baby it, the less it will be a grease factory.

[pepperminttea]

On the off chance your natural colour is dark blonde, here's a thread (forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=80416) which might be of interest. :D

As for where to start - I'd work your way through the Articles, these three are all well worth reading - Ursula's Standard Newbie Advice (forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=39), Damaged Hair (forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=79), and Keeping Split Ends At Bay (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=8). There's a whole lot of info in there. :) As for products, coconut oil is a great first LHC buy. Use it generously on your hair before washing - give it a few hours to work. I put it on the night before, and wash it out in the morning. You can also use it in very small amounts post-wash (I'm talking barely a fingernail scraping here, rubbed between your palms so they just have a light sheen), to give your hair shine and slip.

[shikara]

I agree with peppermint tea and to stop bleaching your hair. Although you don't like the color your hair, consider that a healthy head of hair, regardless of color, is a beautiful sight!