To dye or not to dye

[Fancy Mouse]

Disclaimer: I am no expert! I am merely sharing my hair dye experience in the hopes it might prove instructive in some way.

When I made a terrible mistake with black dye on my brown hair (with reddish undertones), I initially got very fine (matchstick-or-smaller width) highlights put through it in dark auburn. I gradually got more done with each trip to the hair salon while the black grew out, and found that it worked quite well without looking too stripey. [huh]

 

[~*Red*~]

I'm resuscitating this thread to ask a pertinent question. I mentioned above that I'm thinking blonde again, and I think I've decided to go for it. I need a change for the new year.

My hair stylist said that I can highlight myself gradually away from the red. I'm planning to switch to Pantene for shampooing as well, as it's so terrible to the color it'll help take it out

Thing is, I do not want the red & blonde stripey look. So, can anyone explain to me how the highlighting from red to blonde works? Is it done to all the hair at once? My new growth will be blonde - will it be left as-is most likely?

EDIT to add: I mean to have this done at salon, FYI.

Thanks all!

It would be gradual, like your hair stylist said, so you'd be going in for highlights every so often. And it would not be stripey at all. Well, it shouldn't be if done correctly. It would look like your Red hair has.. well, highlights.. more natural, I mean. They wouldn't take big pieces of hair to highlight. If done properly, the way in which they do the highlights, the placement (especially around the hair line), the sections (thin), and the pieces(thin also).

It can be done! Good Luck, I'm sure you are a beautiful blonde!! ( I will silently mourn the passing of the red.lol ) Happy New Year!

 

[ShortClara]

Thanks so much all! I think I get it now. But it leads my brain to a possibly stupid question. If they can highlight small sections of hair, why can't they highlight it all at once? I'm sure there's some good reason I'm to dippy to figure out!

 

[Miss Neecerie]

Well bleaching it -all- out is going to be very damaging....so doing the highlights method instead...in my -uneducated- opinion...is going to stagger the damage...so that you don't end up with breakage all at one point....etc.

also, since your natural blond is not going to be exactly the same color as the bleached out blond....the difference as it grows in will again be staggered by the new highlights you get each time.

Its -slower- then just bleaching your whole head and hoping for the best, but its likely to look -nicer- while its all happening this way.

 

[~*Red*~]

Well bleaching it -all- out is going to be very damaging....so doing the highlights method instead...in my -uneducated- opinion...is going to stagger the damage...so that you don't end up with breakage all at one point....etc.

also, since your natural blond is not going to be exactly the same color as the bleached out blond....the difference as it grows in will again be staggered by the new highlights you get each time.

Its -slower- then just bleaching your whole head and hoping for the best, but its likely to look -nicer- while its all happening this way.

This is true.. not to mention that it's easier to control the smaller amount of hair going blond over a whole head. Since it isn't virgin hair, it is going to be much more involved and tedious to remove the red. If you were to do the whole head, it's possible you'd be coming out with some seriously short hair, or very cartoonish yellow with orange hinted hair. When my sister went blond, she was there almost 8 hours and it still had some orange in it.
Over all it is safer for the scalp, the hair and your time and money. Not to mention your emotions!

 

[ShortClara]

Thanks Ladies!

 

[Adele]

...I'm planning to switch to Pantene for shampooing as well...

I can't remember all too well, but I think I've had stylists tell me in the past that Pantene is bad because it builds up or such on your hair, making it look flat (in a bad way). Although that was a while ago, and for all I know they could have made improvements in their products. Basically, has anyone heard this before?

 

[Miss Neecerie]

I can't remember all too well, but I think I've had stylists tell me in the past that Pantene is bad because it builds up or such on your hair, making it look flat (in a bad way). Although that was a while ago, and for all I know they could have made improvements in their products. Basically, has anyone heard this before?

hehe...this is why Clara is switching to it...to -fade- the red out as much as possible as she goes through the process to get to blond.

 

[ShortClara]

hehe...this is why Clara is switching to it...to -fade- the red out as much as possible as she goes through the process to get to blond.

Yes, I'm using it because it's such carp! HA! I'll probably use my good stuff once in a while, too. But if anyone uses Pantene and has colored hair, you are washing it down the drain for sure

 

[Lil' Miss A]

I have light brown hair naturally and i bleached my hair last year so i could dye it a vibrant red.

The bleaching followed weeks later by the red dye almost killed my hair.

It just started to break incredibly easily and my hair is normally very resilient.

Although i am aware a lot of people say this is a no..no... i use henna on my hair now.

I won't be able to die it with a chemical die now, as that really does cause problems, but its stronger, vibrant, not very visible regrowth, its good for my scalp and has no chemicals as long as its from a good stockist.

An added bonus to this is that it gets rid of my dandruff for weeks and also has a very good effect on my psoriasis.

Its a big step to take, but ive found it work it. Its a case of weighing up the pro's and cons. Just bear in mind with either chemical or natural dies, they are hard to get out once they are on, and the combo of bleaching then dying is very damaging, even more so if you want to strip the colour afterwards.

I'm certainly not trying to put you off, but just don't want you to damage your hair like i did.

Good luck with whatever decision you make

 

[Lil' Miss A]

I can't remember all too well, but I think I've had stylists tell me in the past that Pantene is bad because it builds up or such on your hair, making it look flat (in a bad way). Although that was a while ago, and for all I know they could have made improvements in their products. Basically, has anyone heard this before?

My sister-in-law is a beautician and was advised not to use Pantene.

Pantene contains what they call Vitamin B5, this isn't a vitamin apparently but a form of silicone. This can get into your hair folicles and actually loosen the hair so its easier for it to fall out. I don't use Pantene anymore!

 

[Adele]

Yes, I'm using it because it's such carp! HA! I'll probably use my good stuff once in a while, too. But if anyone uses Pantene and has colored hair, you are washing it down the drain for sure

Ohhhh, I see. Hehe, I feel awfully silly now, but a thank you to Lil' Miss A for the information regarding why Pantene is bad. I had forgotten (terrible memory I have, really).

 

[anabolina]

I'm resuscitating this thread to ask a pertinent question. I mentioned above that I'm thinking blonde again, and I think I've decided to go for it. I need a change for the new year.

My hair stylist said that I can highlight myself gradually away from the red. I'm planning to switch to Pantene for shampooing as well, as it's so terrible to the color it'll help take it out

Thing is, I do not want the red & blonde stripey look. So, can anyone explain to me how the highlighting from red to blonde works? Is it done to all the hair at once? My new growth will be blonde - will it be left as-is most likely?

EDIT to add: I mean to have this done at salon, FYI.

Thanks all!

I know you've already got some answers, but I'll answer too since I did this last week. Something about Christmas and the new year huh?

My hair is naturally blonde and I've been dying it red for about 6 months and at Christmas saw all my family members running around with blonde hair and I kinda missed it, so did exactly what I said I would never do and picked up a drugstore stripping kit that turned my hair bright orange (always a good look, eh?). So I went to the salon the next day and somehow forgot my [pics of the original hair color at home. They stripped it again to no effect and then spent 3-4 hours putting in highlights and lowlights. It actually looks pretty awesome right now and I'm going to let it grow out a bit and see how it compares to the regrowth before deciding whether to inflict any more chemicals on my hair. lol My hair has felt pretty dry, but I picked up some keratin rebuilder from Sally's and its worked miracles, I've still got the frizz(it never leaves my hair), but it looks shiny and somewhat controlled. So 5 hours and $200 later, I'm a blonde again. It was nice being red though

 

[ohairas]

Clara do you know what brand of color your hair is now? Is it permanant or semi-permanant?
Nikki

 

[ShortClara]

Nikki, it is permanent - I do not know the brand unfortunately. I get it done professionally.

 

[SarahLouise]

Like others, I had also heard that Pantene was meant to be really good at stripping hair colour, particularly the build up remover shampoo, so I used that for a while whilst trying to fade out my previous brown hair dye (I had stripped out permanent black, applied a brown but it went almost black again.) I did notice a slight change but to be honest after about a month of using it my hair felt quite dry and didn't feel as clean as it should of so I stopped using it. Regular washing up liquid is meant to be good for stripping colour too.

 

[ohairas]

Nikki, it is permanent - I do not know the brand unfortunately. I get it done professionally.

Clara if it's permanant it can be taken out with Pravana color remover, but that line ONLY, that I know of, which is professional. Other removers are basically bleach. This one removes the color only and if you have regrowth it won't even change it! So, if you can find a salon that carries it I would go that route.

Otherwise, I agree with Red and Miss Neecerie. But I wouldn't suggest hiliting it yourself! I can't imagine your stylist would suggest that! Like the others said, the color can lift out very uneven. And here's an important thing,
if you have regrowth, and then hilite, you'll have to leave the bleach on the red a lot longer to lift it up. And if that bleach is sitting on your natural color at the scalp it will lift way to quick, and it is here that many times the breakage and damage occurs.
SO, as crazy as it sounds, you need to either not put the bleach on the regrowth until last, or start hiliting right after the red roots are done, and they will still come up somewhat quicker.

I started to go blonde from red while pregnant. I let it fade as long as I could. Shoot, skip the Panteen and go for the Prell! I also suggest cap hiliting for this as it is more controlled and you're putting the bleach on all at once, instead of when foiling the first foils put in are sitting there forever while the others are wrapped. You can avoid the root area and put it on the middle of the hair strands first, which is hardest to lift. For mine I did the cap, lifted as high as I could before I thought it would be fried, then took the cap off and put on a level 6 natural, ( I used shades Morrocan Sands). This made the hilites about a level 7, (probably your natural color), and toned down the existing red some. From there I continued with foil highlites and toners over the next few months.

Don't expect a nice clear blonde for quite some time, it will still be a golden shade.

If you're not TOO impatient, I would really suggest getting a double foil, one packet being blonde and one being a light auburn.. not red and not your natural, something in between to blend everything while growing it out. Again, the blonde packets I would put one solution on your regrowth and another on the red on the rest of the strand. Rather complicated and I hope you have a stylist you can trust! The formula would be altered slightly each time, eventually not having any red/auburn.

Nikki

 

[ohairas]

Here's some pics of mine after doing what I said, sorry I don't have larger/more clear pics. I'll see if I can find some others!

Here you can see my hilites are almost as light as my blond friend's,

Ok, here's one, not the best of me, but good of the hair, lol... this was fresh after the 6 so it's a bit dark... the shades lightens up tho. And you'd need something dark enough to counteract the red tones. Then start toning with a 7, then lighter, ect.
I think this looks pretty clear after being almost as red as you, and my natural color is about a 5. Not quite blonde here, but the red was gone. Actually this is darker than the above pic, I think I was already getting sick of roots and started to go back dark and eventually went back red.
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=620772925&context=set-72157600477987635&size=l
and
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=620772571&size=o&context=set-72157600477987635

 

[~*Red*~]

Clara if it's permanant it can be taken out with Pravana color remover, but that line ONLY, that I know of, which is professional. Other removers are basically bleach. This one removes the color only and if you have regrowth it won't even change it! So, if you can find a salon that caries it I would go that route.


Nikki

Nikki, thanks for reminding me about Pravana!! I have heard about that line before and heard that it works nicely. Good idea with the cap too.that would definitely save the roots from frying... and you are right, a very good stylist who knows their color removal is the key. It will be a tedious process.

I've also heard, and used baby shampoo to fade...as well as Head and Shoulders. LOL.. but if you canf ind the Prell, by all means!! Oh that reminds me, my dad used this stuff that worked great.....Pert? lol

 

[SarahLouise]

Clara if it's permanant it can be taken out with Pravana color remover, but that line ONLY, that I know of, which is professional. Other removers are basically bleach. This one removes the color only and if you have regrowth it won't even change it! So, if you can find a salon that caries it I would go that route.

Otherwise, I agree with Red and Miss Neecerie. But I wouldn't suggest hiliting it yourself! I can't imagine your stylist would suggest that! Like the others said, the color can lift out very uneven. And here's an important thing,
if you have regrowth, and then hilite, you'll have to leave the bleach on the red a lot longer to lift it up. And if that bleach is sitting on your natural color at the scalp it will lift way to quick, and it is here that many times the breakage and damage occurs.
SO, as crazy as it sounds, you need to either not put the bleach on the regrowth until last, or start hiliting right after the red roots are done, and they will still come up somewhat quicker.

I started to go blonde from red while pregnant. I let it fade as long as I could. Shoot, skip the Panteen and go for the Prell! I also suggest cap hiliting for this as it is more controlled and you're putting the bleach on all at once, instead of when foiling the first foils put in are sitting there forever while the others are wrapped. You can avoid the root area and put it on the middle of the hair strands first, which is hardest to lift. For my I did the cap, lifted as high as I could before I thought it would be fried, then took the cap off and put on a level 6 natural, ( I used shades Morrocan Sands). This made the hilites about a level 7, (probably your natural color), and toned down the existing red some. From there I continued with foil highlites and toners over the next few months.

Don't expect a nice clear blonde for quite some time, it will still be a golden shade.

If you're not TOO impatient, I would really suggest getting a double foil, one packet being blonde and one being a light auburn.. not red and not your natural, something in between to blend everything while growing it out. Again, the blonde packets I would put one solution on your regrowth and another on the red on the rest of the strand. Rather complicated and I hope you have a stylist you can trust! The formula would be altered slightly each time, eventually not having any red/auburn.

Nikki

I went from black to brown, so not the same circumstances as ShortClara, but just thought I'd agree wholeheartedly with ohairas and Red. I would strongly suggest you get it done professionally (my first DIY job was a bit of a disaster) and the colour is most likely to be quite uneven. I kept expecting perfect results each time my hair was stripped (about 6 times altogether) but my whole head was a mixture of dark brown, copper and blonde. I'm not sure if the brand was Pravana but it smelled so awful, exactly like a drain! It also didn't touch your natural colour, only dye. I also had to have the ends bleached as they were refusing to lift. After all of that, a permanent copper colour was applied to even out the colour and then a permanent brown to counteract the red.

The result is not quite the chocolate brown I have my heart set on but it's still quite nice, more of an auburn brown. My hairdresser said that when black is removed from hair there will always be red tones left and they are quite difficult to remove but I am just content with the fact that my hair isn't black anymore! So, get it done professionally, be prepared for several visits (I had 2 and need to go back again), be patient, treat your hair with LOTS of TLC afterwards and good luck!