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Mon Apr 11, 2005 7:25 pm  |
I know there are a few hair experts browsing the board so hopefully I can get some good advice!
I have long, dark, fine hair and way too many grays have been popping up. (Can you believe I got my first gray hair at 14? eek) I'm considering going blonde, which will probably require me to strip my hair and then dye it. I'm worried that since my hair is so fine that it might break off due to all of the processing. Is it possible to go blonde without cutting all of my hair off? If it doesnt break off, will it have a dry straw-like texture?
Am I totally insane?
Thanks in advance!! |
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Mon Apr 11, 2005 7:30 pm |
my advice, consult your hairdresser and DO NOT do it at home. I turned out with piss yellow hair once when i tried to lighten  |
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Mon Apr 11, 2005 7:46 pm |
| OMG that's awful! No I definitely do not plan to do this at home. But I know if I step into a salon with my undyed hair they're going to talk me into -something-, and I want to have everything planned out before I make an appointment. |
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Mon Apr 11, 2005 11:52 pm |
| chimera - I also have long, fine, dark hair and have my gray roots touched up each month, with highlighting now and then. At my age (53), I want it to look shiny, healthy and natural. I've followed my colorist to 4 different salons -- he's *that* good! Last year, I wanted light streaks ala Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast At Tiffany's. He said it would fry my hair, even though he's done some chunky, bold highlights in the past. So if you want to go lighter all over without switching to very short hair, I wouldn't recommend it. I sympathize though, because I've had a similar notion myself at times, but I know I'd have to go short and I'm not willing to do that yet (ponytails are such a tremendous convenience at times). Before I found my colorist, I tried several others. Either they made my color look too "dyed", too damaged, or else they totally screwed up and my roots would look lighter than the ends and I'd have to have it done all over again! Good colorists are hard to come by, especially if you have long hair. You could end up looking like white trash if you're not careful! |
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Mabsy
Moderator
 
Joined: 17 Aug 2003
Posts: 9644
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Tue Apr 12, 2005 4:28 am |
I have dark brown very fine hair and have gone blond before which required bleaching it and then dying it blond. I got this done at a really good salon and it cost me a small fortune - I would have never considered doing this myself after I turned by best friend's hair orange one time (he was *not* impressed!).
While the result was good in terms of the hair color, I failed to consider what it would look like with my pale skin - it just washed me out. On top of that, while I think the hairdresser did a good job, the whole process *is* damaging to the hair. I had very brittle hair for quite some time, it was incredibly dry no matter what I slathered on it. It wasn't a pleasant experience for me and I would not do it again. My hair was probably already damaged at the time from perming etc so perhaps if it was healthy to begin with I would not have had problems. I would suggest you find a good hairdresser to go to though. |
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Tue Apr 12, 2005 10:07 am |
| maybe just start with a few streaks and see how your hair reacts? |
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Tue Apr 12, 2005 12:26 pm |
| Thanks for the advice, ladies. I'm now thinking maybe just dying my grays brown is the way to go. I'm way too afraid of having fried hair. It's a shame, too, because I've tried on a few blonde wigs and I look MUCH better with blonde hair! But still, better to have healthy hair than a fabulous color and dry hair..... |
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Tue Apr 12, 2005 4:12 pm |
| You've inspired me chimera! Actually, I've been thinking I should go lighter myself, but not blond. While my current coloring is the same as my [former] natural one, as I get older I think the darkness is a little harsher looking, even with highlighting. Gray hair is nature's way of softening one's look, but who wants to look old??? If I stopped coloring my hair, it would be the proverbial salt and pepper, with most of the gray towards the front. I'm going to ask my colorist if he thinks I can switch to a lighter brown. It's a bitch getting old -- I get weary of the extra maintenance. |
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Tue Apr 12, 2005 8:00 pm |
PLEASE save yourself from misery and let a professional do it!!!!!!!!!!!!
Going from brunette to blond is not something for the inexperienced.
I only say this because I have been there (and more than once, I may embarassingly add)....having to go back and color over to correct could damage your hair even further.
There's a chance you may be able to get away with it on your own with someone's expert advice, but I personally wouldn't risk it. I really wish I hadn't. A lot of my hair broke off this time and it is pretty fine. It's awfully thin now 
Remember, there is a reason why people have to go to school to learn how to cut/color hair!!!
Best of Luck(It's worth the extra $$....trust me!) |
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Thu Apr 14, 2005 8:09 am |
| april -- I agree, lighter hair is MUCH easier on the face. I was amazed at the difference when I tried on a blonde wig. I am now thinking light brown is a better way to go, too. I'm wondering if I can achieve that color without stripping and re-dying my hair. Any thoughts, ladies? |
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Fri Apr 15, 2005 9:27 pm |
Chimera,
I've personally never tried to dye my hair that light (my hair is dark brown as well), but I've had quite a few friends who have tried. One of them is dead set on getting it right and she's tried so many times without success (it's been turning more of an orangey copper colour). I'm no expert, but you'd probably have to bleach the hair first and then they would add colour to it, and bleach alone is super damaging! I think you can always make an appointment and they can do a test patch/strand first to see the results. If you have a good hair stylist or colourist that you trust, that would help a lot. At least go to someone that is recommended by a friend so that you've seen what they can do before. Also, there are repair treatments they can add to the dye, but these cost extra, so make sure you find out the cost first (I once had a dye job and they mentioned treatment, and they added the cost in without telling me first). Oh, and speaking of which, some places charge you double for bleaching and then colouring. I also got caught in this because they didn't mention that at first so my dye ended up costing me double!
If you have any doubts, most stylists do free consultations, so they'll be able to talk you through it without making a commitment.
All this info is just as far as I know, so double check in case I'm wrong! |
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Fri Apr 15, 2005 9:28 pm |
| I just read your post, and I agree, light brown would be a nice change without damaging the hair too much. Depending on how dark your natural colour is, you probably wouldn't need to bleach it or anything like that first. |
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Sat Apr 16, 2005 11:44 am |
Thanks for all the great advice guys! I went ahead and bought a light shade of Herbavita natural hair dye from the health food store. I mixed it with an ash color so that I would counteract that orangey color. It went a shade or two lighter and it looks great! It isn't quite as light as I'd like so I'm contemplating giving it one more go....I guess I won't be happy until I screw up my hair! 
Honeydew -- you were right, I could go a little lighter w/o using bleach. The dye contained peroxide but at least I didn't have to strip my hair! |
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