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

**rosenester** · November 13th, 2023, 01:09 PM

Thanks ETJ Curls, cookies, bat, greengable, & Aerya.

My hair is indeed so much healthier that I am no longer completely frustrated with the bleached parts. I still will be maintaining until they are completely gone before considering longer than HL. It has been a slow-grow out over these years as I trimmed throughout but it’s worth the test of patience when I see clear results like these comparison photos.

Hairy Mclary, In my experience I would not do anymore bleach to try to correct the orange or even anything with developer at all. I agree to try blue shampoo & conditioner and a ash brown deposit-dye if you want to adjust the color.

**rosenester** · November 13th, 2023, 02:30 PM

Ooops double post

**Stray_mind** · November 20th, 2023, 01:12 PM

I lost count of how long i have been dye free. I think half or more of my hair is now my natural color.

**Chasemi** · November 20th, 2023, 05:36 PM

48 days since I last dyed my hair. My hair has been EVERY colour. Every single one. Luckily, in the past few years I was only dying a peekaboo section of my hair (which was infamously bleached 7-8 times, I forget which). This means there's less damage to my hir overall, but that underlayer is pretty bad. I'm also growing out an undercut which is fully virgin. It's been a year since I cut that in, and it's 7 inches now. The last time I shaved the undercut was also the last time I bleached the dyed hair, though I did continue to use dyes, just not bleach for the 10 months following.

Anyways, 48 days ago I dyed the bottom layer back to my natural colour. It's since fading to a lighter brown than what I have naturally, but I've decided to just leave it. I can't wait until I can slowly get rid of it all!

**Obsidian** · November 20th, 2023, 08:48 PM

Its been about 4 months since I last bleached my hair. I now have a little under 2" of virgin growth. My colored hair and natural hair are close to the same level, just different tones so the demarcation isn't noticeable at all.
I've never been fond of my natural very ashy color but as I get older, I'm finding I very much dislike any yellow tint in my hair so dyes are completely out for me.
I'm also on my way to finally growing out the buzz I've had for a couple years. I look a bit like a shaggy mop but I'm ok with that.

**Bat** · November 22nd, 2023, 12:47 AM

Originally Posted by Obsidian

Its been about 4 months since I last bleached my hair. I now have a little under 2" of virgin growth. My colored hair and natural hair are close to the same level, just different tones so the demarcation isn't noticeable at all.
I've never been fond of my natural very ashy color but as I get older, I'm finding I very much dislike any yellow tint in my hair so dyes are completely out for me.
I'm also on my way to finally growing out the buzz I've had for a couple years. I look a bit like a shaggy mop but I'm ok with that.

That'd great to hear you are doing well! I recommend Olaplex 4P shampoo for toning, it was the best one I've ever used for toning out yellow

**angel-baby** · November 22nd, 2023, 01:00 PM

How do y’all feel about color-depositing conditioners and being dye free? I kind of want to use a brunette one every few months to enrich my natural shade as it grows out, and to blend it with the length of my hair as the brown dye starts to fade. But I also want to see my natural color as-is, and I’m worried the color from the conditioner will penetrate the hair shaft too much because my hair has already been bleached and dyed.

**Aerya** · November 23rd, 2023, 04:58 AM

Originally Posted by angel-baby

How do y’all feel about color-depositing conditioners and being dye free? I kind of want to use a brunette one every few months to enrich my natural shade as it grows out, and to blend it with the length of my hair as the brown dye starts to fade. But I also want to see my natural color as-is, and I’m worried the color from the conditioner will penetrate the hair shaft too much because my hair has already been bleached and dyed.

I've been using colour conditioners on and off throughout my journey, and I will continue to do so whenever I feel like it. However, I have never once experienced them affecting my natural hair, and I would most certainly feel differently if they did! It probably varies depending on what type you use and how porous your natural hair is. I have heard some horror stories about the L'Oreal Colorista dyes staining virgin hair, so I would do a strand test before using a new product, for sure. But for me, I've never had a colour conditioner stain my natural hair, and I've kept them on for over an hour to get the most out of the colour.

As for the already dyed hair, I haven't really had an issue with permanent staining with the brand I use now (Maria Nila). It stays fairly well, but it does wash out completely with just regular shampoo. I "dyed" my hair near-black for Halloween using two rounds of dark brown colour conditioner for over an hour each time, and it's completely back to normal now. I have had some staining in the past using different brands though, the worst being an ash brown colour that stained my hair greenish blue and refused to budge. So YMMV, and I would recommend strand testing before using a new product! It's a hassle, but it's worth it to not mess up your hair IMO.

**angel-baby** · November 24th, 2023, 12:40 AM

Originally Posted by Aerya

I've been using colour conditioners on and off throughout my journey, and I will continue to do so whenever I feel like it. However, I have never once experienced them affecting my natural hair, and I would most certainly feel differently if they did! It probably varies depending on what type you use and how porous your natural hair is. I have heard some horror stories about the L'Oreal Colorista dyes staining virgin hair, so I would do a strand test before using a new product, for sure. But for me, I've never had a colour conditioner stain my natural hair, and I've kept them on for over an hour to get the most out of the colour.

As for the already dyed hair, I haven't really had an issue with permanent staining with the brand I use now (Maria Nila). It stays fairly well, but it does wash out completely with just regular shampoo. I "dyed" my hair near-black for Halloween using two rounds of dark brown colour conditioner for over an hour each time, and it's completely back to normal now. I have had some staining in the past using different brands though, the worst being an ash brown colour that stained my hair greenish blue and refused to budge. So YMMV, and I would recommend strand testing before using a new product! It's a hassle, but it's worth it to not mess up your hair IMO.

Thanks for the input! I might try doing a gloss every few months, just to enhance my natural shade. As it grows out I hope I have the urge to mess with it less often

**Aerya** · November 24th, 2023, 04:30 AM

Originally Posted by angel-baby

Thanks for the input! I might try doing a gloss every few months, just to enhance my natural shade. As it grows out I hope I have the urge to mess with it less often

That's totally fair! Just be super careful if you are using anything with developer. I've had my natural hair be lightened by a very diluted 10 vol developer (probably around ~5 vol post diluting) when I tried to tone my hair. It is incredibly disheartening to lose progress when you're trying to make the grow out process easier. At this point I refuse to let any peroxide touch my hair at all, no matter how low volume it is.