Giving up the dye/bleach and growing out natural? Share your progress.

**SouthernSweetie** · June 19th, 2017, 11:12 AM

Right now I'm having a serious issue with my ash brown roots looking dirty compared to the rest of my damaged bleached parts. My natural color is cooler than the damaged bits from the bottom of my ears/chin area to the ends. It isn't drastic enough that people would notice that I'm growing my bleach out, but my natural hair is shiny and healthy compared to the rest of the dull mess that's slightly lighter. All over shiny is great, but only part of it reflecting light well(and slightly darker) looks so odd to me. I vowed a long time ago not to bleach my hair anymore, but maybe I could make an appointment and have them use a little bit of color to balance out the length without incurring damage on the virgin roots? Would that be too difficult to ask someone to do? Is it even possible to make it look good if you're only depositing color on 2/3 of the length?

**lithostoic** · June 19th, 2017, 11:46 AM

Originally Posted by SouthernSweetie

Right now I'm having a serious issue with my ash brown roots looking dirty compared to the rest of my damaged bleached parts. My natural color is cooler than the damaged bits from the bottom of my ears/chin area to the ends. It isn't drastic enough that people would notice that I'm growing my bleach out, but my natural hair is shiny and healthy compared to the rest of the dull mess that's slightly lighter. All over shiny is great, but only part of it reflecting light well(and slightly darker) looks so odd to me. I vowed a long time ago not to bleach my hair anymore, but maybe I could make an appointment and have them use a little bit of color to balance out the length without incurring damage on the virgin roots? Would that be too difficult to ask someone to do? Is it even possible to make it look good if you're only depositing color on 2/3 of the length?

Why don't you just use a toning conditioner?

**SouthernSweetie** · June 19th, 2017, 11:48 AM

Originally Posted by lithostoic

Why don't you just use a toning conditioner?

Hmmm. Why didn't I think of that? Any recommendations on a brand?

**sedruh** · June 19th, 2017, 02:54 PM

Thank you for the welcome- this forum is the only thing stopping me from chopping all my hair off. I don't know much about henna/cassia/indigo dyes but will definitely look into these as these tragic toned highlights all over my head get worse, so thank you for that suggestion! I am thinking of posting pictures of the before and after of this whole debacle...but it's so embarrassing, I can hardly bring myself to.

**sedruh** · June 19th, 2017, 02:56 PM

Originally Posted by Elvi28

Welcome @sedruh you will feel a lot better after joining here. It's helped me tremendous. Something similar happened to me. Bad hair dye trauma and kept getting worse as I kept getting it "fixed". You'll soon see progress I just got to two months and I already have about an inch. It will be all worth it.

Thanks for the welcome! I am counting down the days until I hit just the one month mark. I know the more I fixate on it, the worse the experience of growing it out will be. When I was growing out permanent dye, it was easier to let it go because I could condition my hair and treat it as I wanted. But with this semi-permanent dye in my hair, I'm always anxious of what color my hair will be each time I step out of the shower

**sedruh** · June 19th, 2017, 02:57 PM

Originally Posted by beneaththetrees

That's so frustrating! I joined LHC after a back haircut experience, but it didn't involve hair dye like this. It'll get back to a healthy state and color you like; it just takes a little time. Have you looked at the henna, cassia, and/or indigo forums? I've always been too nervous to try anything but cassia on my ash blonde, still dye-damaged hair, but it might be a good option if you need to color the dye you have now, without damaging it further.

Welcome to the forum!

Please excuse the fact that I did reply to you but without a quote, making it hard to track to whom I was speaking! Clearly new here and have to figure out all the functions

**Elvi28** · June 19th, 2017, 04:55 PM

Don't worry, you'll get there. Although, I will be honest... I didn't see a difference at all during the first month. It's hard but once you get to two months and see the difference it will be easier to "let go".

I have my roots dyed (I don't even have white hair so I'm not sure why I did it) and highlights that start like 4 inches down. I have all sorts of colors, but I'm the only one who notices the flaws. We'll get through it. Hopefully by next year we can look back and laugh at our mistakes.

**lithostoic** · June 19th, 2017, 05:40 PM

Originally Posted by SouthernSweetie

Hmmm. Why didn't I think of that? Any recommendations on a brand?

No idea, I've never used it. Try Google.

**SouthernSweetie** · June 20th, 2017, 11:07 AM

Originally Posted by lithostoic

No idea, I've never used it. Try Google.

I went to Sally's and bought their GVP Shimmer Lights shampoo. I don't think it helped very much so far, but I think the effects will build over a few washes with this product. Not to mention I was too nervous to leave it on for the full 5 minutes as it suggests. I added some of NightBlooming's Moondust Herbal Dry Shampoo to my roots this morning in order to blend them slightly with the rest of the length and that seemed to work quite well. Amazing what a little bit of powder can do. Thanks for the suggestion!