I'm giving up and taking the plunge!

[EmmaDStrange]

Well, long story short, I'm a natural medium to dark blonde, but I have been dying my hair since I was about 13, so about 5 years. Up until I was 16 I was dying it a lighter blonde, only by a shade or two and I never had a problem.

Then, I decided I'd suite darker hair better, and tbh, I may well do, people tell me I do so I believed them. And I died it a dark red and then got progressively darker until about september last year I decided to go black.

So, I did, I box dyed it black and loved it. But not for long, as is usual for me!:p
But now I don't want it black anymore, I don't even want it red or bleach blonde, I think I want to return to as close to my natural colour as possible so I can grow it out and thats what I've been trying to do...

... unsuccessfully. After trying three applications of Colour B4 (UK version of color oops) and two pre-lightening kits, I've finally given in, I can't do it! My hair is now currently a patchy, streaky gingery browny blondey mess! My roots are blonde, the sun hasnt helped because its turned them light blonde atm, which contrasts with my brassy orange lifted colour with the occasional patch of dark brown!!! Urgh.

So, I'm going to be sensible... and go to a salon! For the first time... ever. I'm excited and a little nervous that they wont be able to fix it or will charge me or fortune, or, god forbid, kill my hair and cause massive breakage!

Wish me luck! And I'll post pictures soon!

[TazM]

I've been in the same situation, but I just kept messing with it for ages, trying to bleach out the dye, growing it out, giving up and dyeing it black again, then bleaching it again, in the end I had to shave it all off so I'm glad you're going to the salon to get it fixed, I'm really looking forward to seeing the outcome!:)

[HintOfMint]

coconut oil will be your friend. Good luck and hope everything turns out okay! Keep your hopes modest though, it's kind of a crapshoot once your hair has been colored so many times.

[Falcore]

Good luck at the hairdressers!

Just be sure to tell the hairdresser about what you've done previously (the pre lightening kits etc, etc) so they know what to work with. I feel it's always better to go to a salon for lightening hair.

I look forward to an update after - I'm sure it'll look beautiful :)

[EmmaDStrange]

At the salon now, hair colour is on! Can't wait. :)

[Katze]

I was in the same situation when I was 22. Bleached for many years, then dyed blach, then wanted bleached blonde again and cut it short, had it professionally done.

You're young, your hair is there to have fun with (isn't it? :) ) - enjoy!

[Topaz]

Best of luck! I'd love to see Before and After pics if you can manage it.

[Jing]

Hope you are in competent hands and that it all goes well! That amount of messing around can land you with a real, well, mess.

[MintChocChip]

Good luck! :)

[EmmaDStrange]

Finally home after a long day! And I am overall very pleased!

My experience at the salon was fantastic, especially the trim! She took exactly as much as I wanted off and sympathised with my want to have longer hair so was careful only to trim the breakage!
She even used some mixed oils on my ends and I was glad of that! My hair now feels a lot healthier.

The colour however isn't dramatically lighter because, after a consultation and a few strand tests yesterday the hairdresser and myself decided not to use anymore stripper/bleach on it as in the strand test the ends ended up stretchy due to the existing damage from prelightening. So, we went for a nice light choclatey brown colour to cover the patchy orange colour and it seems to be about two shades darker than my original colour, so I'll be interested to see how obvious my roots are when they start growing through.

She has said that when I go back to have my roots done again we will try the next shade lighter so as to hopefully achieve a fade effect to my natural hair colour so that I can eventually grow it out without an obvious growth line!

I was so pleased with my experience, the hairdresser was so nice and understanding, price was okay too! I will post a serious of before and after pictures later on or perhaps tomorrow for everyone who's curious how it looks. :D

[palaeoqueen]

So glad you got a good result, I'd love to see pics :)

[juliaxena]

Pics!!!!! Please! :)

[EmmaDStrange]

FINALLY got some pictures, they're not the best though.

Right, so, here I must have been about 12, but it's the most recent picture I can find showing my natural colour. Please ignore the weirdness, it was a loong time ago.
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o105/Emmy-Lou-94/SS100639.jpg

More recently, my hair has been black, here was that black before I had it cut a few months ago
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o105/Emmy-Lou-94/SS103489.jpg
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o105/Emmy-Lou-94/204735.jpg

Heres that black after one application of colour b4 (like color oops)
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o105/Emmy-Lou-94/SS103499.jpg
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o105/Emmy-Lou-94/SS103495.jpg

Here after 2 applications
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o105/Emmy-Lou-94/IMAG0233.jpg

And colour atm, but for some reason, it looks overly ginery in this picture, it's more golden than this but I couldn't catch it unfortunatel.
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o105/Emmy-Lou-94/IMAG0239.jpg

The haircut I had before the last picture has shortened my hair by 1" back up to 26" so not too bad, I expected her to just chop it all off!!

[Ice Fox]

Sounds like you've managed to find a good hairdresser - which is a bit of a miracle in itself! Good luck withnit all!

[Ice Fox]

Sounds like you've managed to find a good hairdresser - which is a bit of a miracle in itself! Good luck withnit all!
Whoops! - typo! I meant to say 'Good luck with it all' - no allusion to nits intended!

[EmmaDStrange]

Sounds like you've managed to find a good hairdresser - which is a bit of a miracle in itself! Good luck withnit all!
Yeah, was a great hairdresser, dead glad I found them! She even reduced the amount I was paying her because she was so caring about the quality of my hair and removed a treatment I'd previously asked about! She did a strand test and said it wasn't a good idea.
Don't get me wrong, she wasn't cheap, but she was good and well worth it!
She says she doubts she'll be able to get my hair back to its former colour so we're going to continually retouch my new root growth with lighter and lighter shades untill it eventually fades into my true colour. :)