Growing out blonde highlights, embracing my natural hair colour!

[Strawb3rryBlond]

Hi guys, long time lurker/first time poster here

So I've decided that I've had enough of bleaching the heck out of my hair. It costs me way too much (around $200 per hairdresser visit) and I'm just over it. I haven't really seen my natural hair colour since I was 14 (I'm 21 now) but judging by my regrowth it appears to be mostly strawberry blonde with some lighter/darker bits mixed through. (Perhaps something along the lines of this PIC, but that might just he wishful thinking on my part).

I've been toying with the idea of growing it out for a while now, but a couple of recent hairdresser visits have tipped me over the edge. I have a pretty good head of hair and it has always taken the abuse relatively well, until the last two times, the hairdresser must have changed their products or technique or something because I have noticed quite a bit of breakage. My hair is significantly thinner - though it's probably still considered to be 'thick' by most peoples' standards, I have definitely noticed it.

This made me really think about WHY I feel the need to have my hair a totally different colour than what it is naturally. And the truth is, most of the reason why I dislike my natural hair colour is due to a couple of remarks that were made to me by a childhood friend (enemy). She said that my hair was the same colour as our orange/yellow school shirts, and so the hate of my natural hair colour began (and so did the highlighting). Only now am I realising how ridiculous this all is.

Anyway, enough of that nonsense, time for some pictures. Now my hair has been highlighted again since these pictures were taken (darn it) so it is in slightly worse condition than pictured here. My hair actually looks totally different colours, but these photos were taken only one day apart (funny how lighting works, eh?)





My hair was highlighted about 2 weeks ago so there's now regrowth to show you unfortunately, but the pictures will be coming soon, don't worry.


I have no idea how I'm actually going to do this. Cutting off large amounts of hair is totally out of the question, I'm way too attached to it. My regrowth doesn't come through too bad so I'm considering just letting it grow and not trying to dye over the top of the ends or anything. Once the regrowth gets past my ears it will probably look like ombre/balayage (hopefully). Thank god the 'regrowth' look is in.

Once I get some regrowth happening I will be off to the hairdressers for a big trim, trying to get rid of the majority of layers, at least until I'm done growing the blonde out. I assume it's easier to keep hair healthy with regular trims when you don't have layers to contend with.

Wish me luck! And if you have any suggestions or advice please chime in!

[Scarlet_Celt]

I'm sure growing out the dye will take patience, but there are plenty of people on here growing out dye and they still have gorgeous hair You can do this! SingingBird comes to mind as a good example of a person with gorgeous long hair that looks amazing despite having old dye on a significant portion of the length.

[aspartame gram]

Welcome to the fold!

Your hair doesn't look that damaged, so don't go in and chop it all off! It's traumatic to make a drastic change like that, especially if your roots aren't much darker than the highlighted portions. I cut my hair after it was around MBL because I have medium to light blonde hair color and the rest was a bright henna color. The line of demarcation was horrible. It doesn't seem like you'll need to do this though, and I'd look at boards that support those who are growing out their virgin hair color.

Good luck! I'm excited for you! You'll save so much money, too. Heh. That's definitely one of the perks of not dying your hair. I'm pretty happy about it since I stopped a few years ago.

[endlessly]

Growing out dye takes time and a lot of patience - I'm in your exact same shoes right now, so you are definitely not alone! The hardest part is denying that urge to color your hair again - especially when you start to have more new growth and the contrast between your color-treated hair and natural hair becomes more noticeable. For me, what worked best was to dye my length a color closely resembling my roots so that the growth wasn't too noticeable and truthfully, it helped quite a bit. I recently used henna to color my hair (not the best experience), but it didn't cause any damage and the resulting color was much closer to my natural than my previous attempt with a chemical dye.

Because it sounds like your natural color is somewhat close to the color-treated portion, you hopefully won't have that "awkward transition" phase to endure. And yes, like you mentioned, it just so happens to be a popular look right now, so that will again work in your favor. As far as trims are concerned, wait and see. You mentioned not wanting to lose a lot of length, so as long as you stop using chemical dyes and really baby your hair, the overall health should improve. I also recently went in to have my hair evened to one length, but it took me nearly 4 years to grow my shortest layer to a point that I felt comfortable cutting it - I chose to wait until the shortest bit was at tailbone length, which took a very long time! You can always go in for microtrims and just have your stylist touch up the ends to prevent splits, so that's definitely an option as well.

Best of luck! It isn't easy resisting the urge to dye, so just keep your goal in mind and you'll be able to power through.

[Betazed]

Like endlessly, I dyed one last time to get my hair as close to my natural color as I could get. This definitely helped with the growing out process. The worst part, for me, was resisting the urge to dye. It's been almost 10 years since I went dye-free. I'm back to 100% natural color again (excluding the 1 big chunk of blonde I have) but I still feel the dying urge! Since coming to LHC, I've been tempted more than once to henna.

You're not alone. Have patience and I hope you enjoy your natural color (the extra $ in your pocket is definitely a plus!).

[M-L-E]

Welcome! I have been growing out bleach since last year, so it looks like an "ombré" now (So i have been told!) I think micro trims help if your ends start to get too dry and you don't want to lose length. I find conditioners with silicones to be helpful, as bleached hair can become dry and rough and these help to give it slip and smooth down the cuticle, protecting it from further mechanical damage... But each to their own, some don't like 'cones My hair was very damaged and I've had to have a lot cut off over the course of a year. But the progress feels good! Don't give up, your hair looks beautiful.

[meteor]

Welcome aboard, Strawb3rryBlonde!

You are definitely not alone.
I'll say, it's a very long process (with lots of new bleach/dye/etc temptations along the way), but it's very, very rewarding and lots of fun, too, because you learn how to really treat hair well, probably more so than if the hair was all virgin and problem-free.
I went the no touch-ups ombre way and I love it. Some people choose to dye one more time to match colors or blend in the demarcation line with a combination of balayage highlights/lowlights or use deposit-only temporary dye in the demarcation area so that by the time it fades, the ombre stage will be easier to deal with. Those are all awesome options. And it's all up to you, really!

Your hair looks amazing, by the way!

As for maintaining bleached hair in great condition, I highly recommend pre-poo oiling with coconut oil or any other penetrating oil, hydrolyzed protein treatments, ceramides and silicones. Generally, I'd go for intense conditioners/masques and oils.

Here is an excellent article by Nightshade that really helped me at my early stages of growing out highlights: Damaged Hair: Understanding, Preventing & Rehabilitating - http://web.archive.org/web/200812250...e&articleid=79

A few things that help me keep my old blonde highlights without any splits/white dots or any other visible damage:
- no heat styling, no chemical processing;
- wearing hair up to prevent tangles and mechanical damage (and covered with hat/scarf/etc if out in the sun/cold/wind for too long);
- sleeping on silky smooth materials with hair contained (braided);
- careful detangling with a wide-tooth comb only once the hair is dry, no brushing;
- low manipulation;
- using oils as pre-poo treatments, sometimes LOC, oil rinses, and regular gradual oiling (topping up leave-in oil every other day or so);
- diluting shampoo when washing - I can rinse and repeat a couple times, but I almost always dilute it to soften the blow of the cleansers;
- heavy conditioning (I use 10x as much conditioner as shampoo, but my hair is Classic length);
- protein treatments every few months;
- frequent scalp-only washes to stretch full washes a bit and avoid too much hygral fatigue and wet manipulation.


Obviously, those are just some quick ideas that may or may not work for other people (YMMV, as always ), but I really think these are highlights-friendly ideas, as highlighted hair has multiple textures going on and does need additional care to grow long and silky.


Oh and there is a on-going huge thread on growing out dye/bleach/henna that you might find helpful, there is lots of great support there : http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...51155&page=701

Best of luck! And happy growing!

[vpatt]

Good luck on growing your hair out to its natural color! I grew mine out a couple of years back and now I'm enjoying my silver/gray. It grew out quickly because it was so short......now I'm waiting for my length, sigh, lol.

I bet your hair was a much nicer color than that of your frenemy.....which is probably why she told you what she did.

[Strawb3rryBlond]

Thanks for your replies everyone! I didn't think I'd get so many

I am trying to resist the urge to go and get a bunch cut off it It's not my ends that are damaged, it's bits here there and everywhere from the bleach. It's hard to explain, but when they've done the roots they have overlapped the bleach onto the areas that were already highlighted, so it's the overlapped parts that are damaged.

I've decided to avoid my usual hairdresser throughout this process as I don't feel like they would be supportive (very commision based salon, I think. Always flogging products)

Good luck on growing your hair out to its natural color! I grew mine out a couple of years back and now I'm enjoying my silver/gray. It grew out quickly because it was so short......now I'm waiting for my length, sigh, lol.

I bet your hair was a much nicer color than that of your frenemy.....which is probably why she told you what she did.

Funny you mention that, because hers was a total dishwater blonde colour, pretty much grey, no golden tones in it at all. (Which I actually liked) but I do recall her hating it with a passion lol.

[Chocowalnut]

Very nice of you to give your cat privacy hehe and your hair is very pretty. Looks a lot like mine did a few years ago when I bleached it and straightened it all the time. Good luck growing out your natural color, I'm going through it as well. Maybe we'll see you at the growing out natural hair color forum.