Bottle blonde grows long!

[spidermom]

This came up in another thread. Inquiring minds want to know:

1) What is your starting color?

2) How do you get your beautiful blonde color?

3) How do you care for your hair?

4) Any problems that you've solved (such as brassiness)?

5) Last but not least - how long is your hair?

This is meant to be a positive thread to help those who want to go blonde. Please don't be negative here.

If you don't have one already and you can, please include a picture.

[Anje]

I'll be watching this with interest. I've seen posts badmouthing how bottle blond looks, but I'm convinced that this usually comes from the bad cases. The good-looking bottle blonds with healthy hair aren't readily spotted. They look more like natural blonds.

[spidermom]

Yes, enough of the bad-mouthing (self especially). Let's open our minds and eyes and learn from the successes. There used to be a thread like this at the old LHC. From what I remember, it was quite popular.

[flapjack]

The fact of the matter is... if you are of European heritage (or look like you are) and have light skin and light eyes, there are many shades of blonde you could have that would go with the different tones in your skin and it will look so natural that no one ever thinks you're the bottle blonde. Girls and women do it all the time. I'm mixed with Asian and I still pulled it off. With hair ranging from waist to knee length with no visible damage, dryness... and to this day, I have yet to find an actual split end. I had dirty blonde hair until I got older and everyone thought the bright blonde I had was my own. Now my hair is much darker, but I know I could still pull it off without a problem. Many people can.


If anyone thinks all bottled blondes look fake, the joke is on them, hahaha. Half of their naturally blonde friends get it out of a bottle and they have no idea, probably. Edit- the only issue I did have a little of was the brassiness. And you can solve that by using "blue" shampoo. Or... by going lighter, hahaha. But it's not that bad. Some people also look really good with the brassy tones because of their skin, as well.

[Loviatar]

This is a great idea, Spidermom. I'd be interested to read it as I know we have some great coloured blonds on LHC. I'd be interested to read about bottle redheads, too.

[Curlsgirl]

[1) What is your starting color? Light to medium brown mixed with grays (mostly on the crown)

2) How do you get your beautiful blonde color? Mine's not beautiful but I like it I now get highlights and sometimes lowlights at the hair salon. Used to do it myself but couldn't get it even and in my opinion it didn't look as natural.

3) How do you care for your hair? I CWC or wash and condition once or twice a week and usually let it dry by itself with a leave-in conditioner and curl cream.

4) Any problems that you've solved (such as brassiness)? I have I think solved the unnatural and uneven look mostly by going to the hair salon to get it done, highlights and lowlights. My avatar is a few months old. It's not quite that light now but has some darker lowlights mixed in.

5) Last but not least - how long is your hair? Almost waist pulled straight so not really that long by LHC standards but I have had a lot of trims to keep it thick and more healthy looking.

I have pics in my profile.

Oh and I have decided if I can't get to my goal of tailbone relatively healthy I would still rather be a blonde and live with a shorter length.

[Katze]

The fact of the matter is... if you are of European heritage (or look like you are) and have light skin and light eyes, there are many shades of blonde you could have that would go with the different tones in your skin and it will look so natural that no one ever thinks you're the bottle blonde. Girls and women do it all the time. I'm mixed with Asian and I still pulled it off. With hair ranging from waist to knee length with no visible damage, dryness... and to this day, I have yet to find an actual split end. I had dirty blonde hair until I got older and everyone thought the bright blonde I had was my own. Now my hair is much darker, but I know I could still pull it off without a problem. Many people can.


If anyone thinks all bottled blondes look fake, the joke is on them, hahaha. Half of their naturally blonde friends get it out of a bottle and they have no idea, probably. Edit- the only issue I did have a little of was the brassiness. And you can solve that by using "blue" shampoo. Or... by going lighter, hahaha. But it's not that bad. Some people also look really good with the brassy tones because of their skin, as well.

Thread hijack!

I have to disagree. Blue shampoos didn't stick for me, especially after coming to LHC. Also, my bleached hair really didn't look good, since the brassiness contrasted with my cool coloration. And going lighter made the problems worse - real platinum might have looked good, but was almost impossible to achieve or washed out.

I am of Scandinavian/N European descent and arguably already 'blonde' (a bit darker than Spidermom I think). I have blonde eyebrows and blonde eyelashes, and green eyes and pale skin. But bleached blonde didn't look natural on me. I thought it did, and it didn't. My natural color looks much better and I get compliments on it that I never got with bleach.

According to your logic, my sister (full sister, but olive skin, dark brown hair, black eyes) should also look good blonde, but that is not the case. She does look good in henna, though.

This is all to say that I have great admiration for our long haired members who keep their bottle blonde hair healthy. It didn't work for my hair and I have had to learn to like what nature gives me. But for those who can and do keep bleached hair reasonably healthy, more power to them!

It was disappointing at first, but ultimately liberating and enlightening for me, to embrace my tawny, puma colored hair. For all those who think they CAN'T, you can! I did!

end thread hijack.

[earthdancer]

Thread hijack!

Also, my bleached hair really didn't look good, since the brassiness contrasted with my cool coloration. And going lighter made the problems worse - real platinum might have looked good, but was almost impossible to achieve or washed out.

Cool-toned skin usually looks better with ash-blond hair (no reds or golds). Any tone that hints at red can look wrong. My once-blond brother bleached his hair once as an adult, and it was a terrible mistake.

For me, I started out with medium reddish-brown hair, and I need the red tones or my skin looks gray, like a corpse! I tried an ash-blond color once, and it was ghastly. I thought I did something wrong, so I tried on an ash-blond wig, and it was still ghastly. Therefore, when I bleach my hair and the golden-red tones appear, it is a big improvement over my current natural color, which went dull with age to a truly mousy brown (same gray skin problem). I tried growing out a couple of inches 2 years ago and went right back to the bleach, with great delight!

[Curlsgirl]

Okay! Next?

[justgreen]

Ok, I'll play.

1) What is your starting color? Medium to dark Auburn with silver running through.

2) How do you get your beautiful blonde color? I have highlights and lowlights woven in with foils every 4-6 weeks for $40. Plus someone is giving me a scalp massage and pampering me, definitely worth every penny.

3) How do you care for your hair? I used diluted shampoo, mostly Nature's Gate Original Herbal, condition with Sebastian Volume. SMT with the NG Herbal conditioner mixed with Wyoming raw honey, not heated. I'd use SMT every time if I could remember to.

4) Any problems that you've solved (such as brassiness)? I keep the brassies away by doing a final rinse with about 12 ounces of distilled water. This sluices all the minerals off my hair, we have hard well water with lots of minerals.

5) Last but not least -how long is your hair. 40+". I grow in a 'U' shape, so the longest part is over 40". The front part of my hair is waist length.

Pics are in my profile. Those are from summer of 2007, so hair is much longer.