I want my natural color back!

[StrawberryToes]

I have had bleach put in my hair for ten years. I recently got really sick of spending my money at salons to get my roots touched up. I decided that I was going to color my hair at home darker than my natural hair color. I love the color I'm at now, which is medium brown with a reddish tint (my hair pulls red) but I want to grow my hair out and not have to keep damaging it with more dye every 4 to 6 Weeks. Is there any way that isn't too incredibly damaging to dye my hair back to my natural color? I'm naturally a dirty blonde with a hint of strawberry in it. I could use all the advice I can get! :)

[ladyfey]

I did exactly the same thing. I can't speak to the non-damaging part. I dyed my hair as close as I could to my natural and then grew it out. I did end up doing a big chop to cut the damage off, I went from knee length to a bob, but I am past knee now with completely natural hair. I highly recommend going natural, hair is so much healthier and it is just so much easier!

[xoxophelia]

Okay I am just going to guess since we have no photos.. but if you have been highlighting for 10 years, it is possible your hair is a little darker than you remember. Maybe something a little like: http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1366&bih=623&tbm=isch&tbnid=wFkbd2ljIPKTvM:&imgrefurl=http://www.mynewhair.info/hairstyle-image-search/blonde-hair/natural-dark-blonde-color/&docid=FlrQkd7ntqCvjM&imgurl=http://www.mynewhair.info/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/long-wavy-hairstyle.jpg&w=364&h=500&ei=0sBzT6z-N4OCgAerxqlF&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=111&vpy=111&dur=3426&hovh=263&hovw=191&tx=93&ty=158&sig=115153232943266059509&page=1&tbnh=126&tbnw=93&start=0&ndsp=26&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0 ?

Or is it really significantly lighter and you know that for a fact?

If it is relatively close to that picture, I think the absolute best idea would be to wait at least 2 months before trying to match to your natural. That is the minimum because then you will have 1" of roots or possibly a little more. Also, the brown you put into your hair since it was over highlights may fade very significantly. So basically waiting would give you both the best color results and the least amount of damage in the long run.

I know that is kind of a bummer but either way you need to wait for some roots to grow in so you know what to match it to. It is possible if you wait you won't even need to do anything to your hair other than maybe get some gentle highlights pulled through the length a year from now. That all depends on how dark the dye is, how well it fades, and how light your natural is though.

[Joliebaby]

I agree with xoxophelia, you should wait a while to really see what your natural color is like, and let the dye fade a little. You could do deep oilings to speed the process. Then re-assess the situation and you be able to avoid too much damage.

If you still feel the dye is too dark, you could try color oopsing it. You'd likely be left with orangeish hair, because of the previous lightening, but it would be gentler than bleaching out the dye. You could then try to match the color of you roots with a dye. It would of course involve some risks, that you would still not be happy with the results. In the end, the only way to get you natural hair back is to grow it out and eventually cut out the dye.

There is a thread for those who have given up bleach and dye, to support each other :)

[Ocelan]

I agree with the previous posters. I have a lightish brown natural color (I haven't seen it in a few years properly and it keeps getting darker all the time so I'm not sure) and I dyed my hair to dark brown, almost black just before new years. I then decided to stop dyeing and was ready to grow out the dye with horrible straight line between different colors showing in my hair while it grows. A month ago there was still quite a dark contrast between the colors but now I can only tell there's any difference by the colors having a different kind of shine in light.

Here's some pictures for reference and encouragement:

This is from about a month ago. The grayish roots are clearly visible against the dark length.
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=9835&pictureid=127038

And this is a few days ago. It's really quite hard to tell, especially in some lights, where the dye starts and roots begin and could just be confused to shine.
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=9835&pictureid=129573

And I'm still expecting more fading to the dye. This is how I've grown out dye also before and had no trouble with it showing or anything. Glad I put darker dye in my hair and not bleach :)

[Avital88]

i want to do the same now i found out my favourite henna i cant use anymore for a stupid political reason..
I agree with people who say to wait a few months and see what is your natural haircolor before coloring it..Good luck!

[StrawberryToes]

@xoxophelia .. Dang I HOPE my natural hair color is close to that. Haha. I have about 1/4 inch of roots and they look pretty light, but that is against dark/reddish hair, so obviously it will look light. My fiancé loves my hair darker so I'm torn! But thanks everyone for the advice:)

[xoxophelia]

@xoxophelia .. Dang I HOPE my natural hair color is close to that. Haha. I have about 1/4 inch of roots and they look pretty light, but that is against dark/reddish hair, so obviously it will look light. My fiancé loves my hair darker so I'm torn! But thanks everyone for the advice:)

Aw.. well if it is pretty light you may need to strip out the dye eventually if you don't want major demarcation. Still, hold out for a month or two because the dye may fade a lot.

I grew out my darker dye by slowly letting it fade but my natural is a bit similar to the link so it hasn't been too terribly obvious.