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Thread: Looking for opinions from people who enjoy dying their hair.

  1. #1
    Member _fred_'s Avatar
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    Default Looking for opinions from people who enjoy dying their hair.

    Hi all I'm looking for opinions from people who enjoy dying their hair.

    I'm trying to devise a hairdye plan for the next year or so.

    The situation:

    Eventually I want to transition to henna, but not yet. I'm thinking once I get close to waist, so maybe in a year or two.
    I haven't bleached in 12 months, and my roots are getting depressing. They're very subtly purple in places (over my natural dark blonde), and the rest of my hair is a mix of pinks and purples, with some extremely faded areas of very pale blue at the front. I've posted some photos at the bottom which show the range of colours in there right now.
    I strongly dislike my natural colour, but I want more length before I finally transition to henna, and I don't want to put more purple over my roots because it's totally gonna stain - but only in a subtle way that takes forever to wash out, not in a vibrant colourful way that I can enjoy. In case you hadn't guessed, I'm not a fan of subtle colour on my hair.

    [ETA - I gave up bleaching to give my scalp a rest, and to grow out a darker base for henna. I have a feeling henna over my natural hair will give me the shade I want more than henna over bleach.]


    What I'm looking for:

    A strategy for enjoying my hair that will enable me to transition to henna once I feel I have enough length to get the look I want.

    What I want out of this:

    I would like hair that looks intentionally and evenly coloured, that's bright and vibrant (or pastel) and makes me happy to see it.

    This might sound easy, but I'm in the land of indecision right now.

    These are the options I've so far considered:
    * Bleach bath the already-bleached lengths and take it back to pastel for the year. Keep dye off the roots. Cost: damage, potential mess if I overlap bleach onto bits of my roots. Benefits: control. Back to pastels, no more purple bathroom. I get to use up my stash of pink and purple dyes.
    * Get my stylist to do it instead. Cost: money ;_; Quality of hair. Concern about damage, concern about communicating what I want and ending up with a caramel ombre or something, but at least it'll be a professional doing it, and I can maintain the pastel myself.
    * Transition to henna earlier than planned. Costs: time, energy, I won't be able to have that final fling with pastels. Potential for the hair to go a muddy colour where the purple clings more strongly, though I could bleach bath first. Benefits: glorious colour that doesn't fade, and that I can put direct dye over to boost it to a range of reds and super deep pinks.
    * Forget about pastels, and keep dying the lengths with diluted direct dyes to maintain a bright, happy colour and hopefully distract from the root situation. Costs: purple bathroom, fading, time spent re-dying each week or fortnight. I'll need a good old supply of Patience not to keep hating on my roots. Benefits: The sun might give me some natural highlights. I need to use up that stash of dye! I might still need to bleach, but it won't be until next year, by which point I might be OK leaving the hair to fade naturally for about 6 months (which is what I feel it'll need to get most of this colour out! Seriously, Color Freedom is an AMAZING range, and the pinks and purples have serious staying power. As does MP Fuschia Shock, which I'm pretty sure is the culprit for my roots still having a purple sheen).


    Nightmare scenario:

    So much damage I'd have to cut.
    Muddy hair.

    I'm not too concerned about damage. I've bleached bathed often enough in the past to know the Good News about coconut oil, and to know what my hair can take. Right now my lengths have been bleach bathed at most twice (where there was overlap each time I did my roots). I have a little breakage, very few splits, some areas of bent ends, and a few fairy knots. I S&D regularly.

    I'm more worried about the colour going muddy/brown. I'm planning on testing henna on sheds before I transition, but there's so much variation in my colour right now that I don't know if that'll be all that helpful at this stage.


    Right now I'm down about the colour, but pleased that my hair at least feels nice - despite that I've been using a clarifying shampoo this last month to force fade. I credit Shea Moisture leave-in with that, it's so good.


    OK, that was a lot! If you made it all the way through that, thank you.


    And now for the pics:



    Upside down back of my head shot to show the blue staining which is at the front when my hair's down:




    And this shows the root regrowth and something of the base colour I'm dealing with. It looks alternately blonde, grey and brown depending on the light.



    And this is my last length shot, from the 2nd Dec. The colour has faded since then, but it shows the overall effect, including a bit of rootage there.


  2. #2

    Default Re: Looking for opinions from people who enjoy dying their hair.

    I have no experience with the types of dye you are using but happy to offer an opinion

    It sounds like you’re most keen on the pastel option, and it sounds like a good plan.

    Pros: Happy _fred_, the pastels that you love, and you won’t undo all your patience in growing out your roots
    Cons: Possible damage

    You said you’re not too worried about damage and you know your hair and have a rescue plan, so the pros seem to outweigh the cons.

    You really don’t sound like you want to do the purple route anymore because of mess, time, and frequency. Don’t do something that annoys you

    I wouldn’t henna before you’re ready, it’s a marriage and you don’t want to start your love affair feeling miffed that it’s not the right colour

    As to whether you do it or have a hairdresser do it - depends how much you trust your hairdresser. I trust mine, but she isn’t the colourist, so I would find it hard to trust someone else. If you’ve had good results with minimal breakage doing it yourself then maybe that’s the way to do it, but it depends how well you can judge where the bleach is going so you don’t end up dyeing the virgin growth.

  3. #3

    Default Re: Looking for opinions from people who enjoy dying their hair.

    Another thought - if you want to use up the purple dye, do that first, so the roots have time to fade or grow out before you henna. Then you can do the bleach and pastel colours, then henna when you’re ready

    I don’t know if you have trims but if you do, bleaching later will mean that some of the old bleached ends have been trimmed out so less of your hair would be damaged.

  4. #4
    LHC FairyGodMum lapushka's Avatar
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    Default Re: Looking for opinions from people who enjoy dying their hair.

    I'm all for sticking it out and growing it out. Set a goal for yourself, like: "6 inches of natural growth and I can do henna". The henna might be brighter on the bottom where there's bleach, but judging from your pictures it might be a subtly transitional thing, and no strong lines of demarcation. Doing a few more henna's on the lighter bits might solve it very well.

    Finally, are you sure you want to do henna? Make sure it's not a henna that contains indigo (blends), because if you ever want to bleach again, or over this bleach - it's gonna turn green (hope you know that).
    WCC method (washing) --- Rinse-out oil (MO) --- LOC/LCO method (styling)

  5. #5
    Member _fred_'s Avatar
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    Default Re: Looking for opinions from people who enjoy dying their hair.

    Quote Originally Posted by Lady Stardust View Post
    I have no experience with the types of dye you are using but happy to offer an opinion

    It sounds like you’re most keen on the pastel option, and it sounds like a good plan.

    Pros: Happy _fred_, the pastels that you love, and you won’t undo all your patience in growing out your roots
    Cons: Possible damage

    You said you’re not too worried about damage and you know your hair and have a rescue plan, so the pros seem to outweigh the cons.

    You really don’t sound like you want to do the purple route anymore because of mess, time, and frequency. Don’t do something that annoys you

    I wouldn’t henna before you’re ready, it’s a marriage and you don’t want to start your love affair feeling miffed that it’s not the right colour

    As to whether you do it or have a hairdresser do it - depends how much you trust your hairdresser. I trust mine, but she isn’t the colourist, so I would find it hard to trust someone else. If you’ve had good results with minimal breakage doing it yourself then maybe that’s the way to do it, but it depends how well you can judge where the bleach is going so you don’t end up dyeing the virgin growth.

    Another thought - if you want to use up the purple dye, do that first, so the roots have time to fade or grow out before you henna. Then you can do the bleach and pastel colours, then henna when you’re ready

    I don’t know if you have trims but if you do, bleaching later will mean that some of the old bleached ends have been trimmed out so less of your hair would be damaged.
    Thank you so much for taking the time to read all that and make suggestions! I'm liking the idea of using up the purple dye while the roots fade and grow. I have quite a lot of purples and pinks left over, so it'll take a while for me to get through them. And at least then I'll have a more vibrant colour to entertain me as I go along, and hopefully that'll help me ignore the roots for a while. Then I can enjoy pastels after that before changing over.

    I visit my stylist for a trim every six months, but I'm considering skipping my January trim because trims always make me feel like I've stalled for a few months, even though I only have 2cm max taken off. From what I've seen she's very good with colour, and we've already discussed her giving me highlights once I have long enough roots, so perhaps I could get her to bring my bleached bits back to a good base once I've run out of dye! And by that point I'll definitely need a trim, so I can say farewell to the most fragile portion on the ends, hopefully without regrets!

    I'm tempted to go sort out the colour on the faded bits now...


    Quote Originally Posted by lapushka View Post
    I'm all for sticking it out and growing it out. Set a goal for yourself, like: "6 inches of natural growth and I can do henna". The henna might be brighter on the bottom where there's bleach, but judging from your pictures it might be a subtly transitional thing, and no strong lines of demarcation. Doing a few more henna's on the lighter bits might solve it very well.

    Finally, are you sure you want to do henna? Make sure it's not a henna that contains indigo (blends), because if you ever want to bleach again, or over this bleach - it's gonna turn green (hope you know that).
    Thank you for your thoughts I remember reading about your experiences with henna - that sounded less than optimal when you wanted to remove it. Luckily, I've never liked my natural colour, and I spent decades as a readhead of one shade or another, so I'm already sure it suits me and I like it. I've been in a pink mood for several years - on and off, had a ginger and red phase in the middle - but it'll be time to move on eventually. And yes, I'm absolutely sure I want to use henna. Bright red hennaed hair just grabs me, every single time, it's so beautiful. I love it in sunlight, I love the fact it doesn't fade, I love how it looks different in different lights, I love the smell, I love the permanence, and I love how you can dye over it with direct dyes to get really bright colours - and the base colour won't fade! That's the thing I'm looking forward to the most, having a gorgeous base colour that will strengthen my hair rather than damaging it, and where it's safe enough for me to touch up my roots as often as I like. I've used it before many years ago, so the mess and potential difficulties in application won't be a surprise to me.

    That's a very good point re. indigo Happily, I've read up thoroughly on the chemistry/application etc. of henna (and indigo), so I'm forewarned on the pitfalls, plus I'm invested in bright deep reds, so I won't be using indigo at all - there's a danger I might get brown with that, which isn't what I'm aiming for. And as you say, if you bleach it you get green, and I'm definitely going to be bleaching in the future - I'll want highlights so the henna is a mix of reds and coppers (or reds and brighter reds with whatever direct dye I put over the top), so indigo is completely out. But the way henna responds to bleaching is perfect for me.

    I do like the idea of having the already-bleached bits way brighter - like a fire ombre. I just don't think it'd suit me around the face to have everything copper. Been there before, and it's fine until I blush or get warm! I'm too pink for that. I don't actually want to get rid of the bleach, I miss it so much, but I want a good base for the henna so I have to let it grow out.

    I like the idea of setting a goal. Maybe another year of pink and purple on the bleached bits, leaving the roots alone (dislike them as I do). Gonna ponder that...

    Sorry that was such a long reply!
    Last edited by _fred_; December 9th, 2018 at 12:33 PM.

  6. #6

    Default Re: Looking for opinions from people who enjoy dying their hair.

    Let me make a suggestion. You obviously like color. But that doesn't mean you have to CHEMICALLY ALTER your hair.

    Parandas, feed-in extensions, clip ins, and so forth can be used to add color to hair. Since you already braid, feeding in colored hair would be simple and not actually touch your natural hair, while providing the look you want.

    I was unable to accomplish feed in extensions yet, it's a skill I'm just starting to learn. But apparently it's pretty common, particularly in the ethnic communities, and kanekelon hair is stupidly cheap.

    Just a thought, a way to have your cake and eat it too?

  7. #7
    Member _fred_'s Avatar
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    Default Re: Looking for opinions from people who enjoy dying their hair.

    Quote Originally Posted by cjk View Post
    Let me make a suggestion. You obviously like color. But that doesn't mean you have to CHEMICALLY ALTER your hair.

    Parandas, feed-in extensions, clip ins, and so forth can be used to add color to hair. Since you already braid, feeding in colored hair would be simple and not actually touch your natural hair, while providing the look you want.

    I was unable to accomplish feed in extensions yet, it's a skill I'm just starting to learn. But apparently it's pretty common, particularly in the ethnic communities, and kanekelon hair is stupidly cheap.

    Just a thought, a way to have your cake and eat it too?
    You know, I really do need to start trying out parandas, thank you! I'd not even thought about it, even though I admire them on others. I did order a cheap set of hair extensions, the kind that sit on a hair-bad style wire around your head, but they haven't arrived yet (got them on Wish, so whether they'll ever arrive is another matter entirely!). If they ever arrive, I'll be bleaching them and dying them hot pink, should be fun.

    Best of luck getting your extensions to work how you want them to

  8. #8
    LHC FairyGodMum lapushka's Avatar
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    Default Re: Looking for opinions from people who enjoy dying their hair.

    Quote Originally Posted by _fred_ View Post
    Thank you for your thoughts I remember reading about your experiences with henna - that sounded less than optimal when you wanted to remove it. Luckily, I've never liked my natural colour, and I spent decades as a readhead of one shade or another, so I'm already sure it suits me and I like it. I've been in a pink mood for several years - on and off, had a ginger and red phase in the middle - but it'll be time to move on eventually. And yes, I'm absolutely sure I want to use henna. Bright red hennaed hair just grabs me, every single time, it's so beautiful. I love it in sunlight, I love the fact it doesn't fade, I love how it looks different in different lights, I love the smell, I love the permanence, and I love how you can dye over it with direct dyes to get really bright colours - and the base colour won't fade! That's the thing I'm looking forward to the most, having a gorgeous base colour that will strengthen my hair rather than damaging it, and where it's safe enough for me to touch up my roots as often as I like. I've used it before many years ago, so the mess and potential difficulties in application won't be a surprise to me.

    That's a very good point re. indigo Happily, I've read up thoroughly on the chemistry/application etc. of henna (and indigo), so I'm forewarned on the pitfalls, plus I'm invested in bright deep reds, so I won't be using indigo at all - there's a danger I might get brown with that, which isn't what I'm aiming for. And as you say, if you bleach it you get green, and I'm definitely going to be bleaching in the future - I'll want highlights so the henna is a mix of reds and coppers (or reds and brighter reds with whatever direct dye I put over the top), so indigo is completely out. But the way henna responds to bleaching is perfect for me.

    I do like the idea of having the already-bleached bits way brighter - like a fire ombre. I just don't think it'd suit me around the face to have everything copper. Been there before, and it's fine until I blush or get warm! I'm too pink for that. I don't actually want to get rid of the bleach, I miss it so much, but I want a good base for the henna so I have to let it grow out.

    I like the idea of setting a goal. Maybe another year of pink and purple on the bleached bits, leaving the roots alone (dislike them as I do). Gonna ponder that...

    Sorry that was such a long reply!
    It's fine! And I read all of it too.

    You obviously sound determined, and that's good, because henna is a permanent thing, but you know that!

    I wish you good luck on your journey, and keep us posted once you do the henna process!

    Would it be something to do some test strands on the bleached/pastel parts? Just to see if it would be a bad thing, necessarily?
    WCC method (washing) --- Rinse-out oil (MO) --- LOC/LCO method (styling)

  9. #9
    Member _fred_'s Avatar
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    Default Re: Looking for opinions from people who enjoy dying their hair.

    Quote Originally Posted by lapushka View Post
    It's fine! And I read all of it too.

    You obviously sound determined, and that's good, because henna is a permanent thing, but you know that!

    I wish you good luck on your journey, and keep us posted once you do the henna process!

    Would it be something to do some test strands on the bleached/pastel parts? Just to see if it would be a bad thing, necessarily?
    Thank you! (and for sticking it out, it was a lot of text!)

    I'm definitely planning on joining the henna thread once I've swapped over. I love seeing all the gorgeous shades people achieve, it's an inspiration - and also useful to see how it works on different bases.

    There's so much bleach on here that any sheds tested will definitely show the effect on bleached hair, but a chunkier strand test somewhere would probably be a good plan as well. I'm not usually someone to bother testing, I generally just mix the dye and see what happens, but I know I'll need to be far more structured planning henna.

    I've decided to boost the purple on my dyed bits for a while, as per Lady Stardust's suggestion, until I run out of dye. Although this has taken the rest of my meagre supply of Manic Panic, I still have a lot of Color Freedom and some Live non-permanent in purple left in the dye drawer, so it should take me a few months before I've used it all up. Especially as I won't be shampooing the lengths, only my roots, so the colour will stick around longer (esp if I cwc). I'm hoping this will stop me from missing the bleach so much until the last remnants of purple have completely faded from my roots.

    This feels like a plan!

  10. #10
    Member akurah's Avatar
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    Default Re: Looking for opinions from people who enjoy dying their hair.

    If bleach is in your future post henna, you probably shouldn't henna. Henna is notoriously difficult to budge, and if your personality is such that you like to change colors even with any degree of frequency, henna will break your heart. I say this as a former henna head of years.
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