Want to stop dying, what to do?

[Unnamed]

Although I like the colour of my hair (love it, actually), I'm just getting really tired of having to dye it every 4-6 weeks or so and would rather start the process of stopping while my hair is only about tailbone or so and not longer.

My hair is naturally a dark blonde/golden brownish colour (with temples/hairline/random hairs even lighter), and it's been dyed black for a few years. The length is presently faded to a very dark brown, and I probably have about 2" of new growth at the moment.

If the length were lighter than the virgin hair, I wouldn't have this problem, but darker? I'm at a loss as to what would be the best way to go about this, as it's quite a contrast. I keep coming to the same problems when I think about it in my journal, and try not to think about it. But I really do need to figure out how to solve this problem.

My primary thoughts are 1) Dying it progressively lighter, over a couple years or so, 2) Blending/weaving dark into the new growth somehow, again over a long period, and/or 3) Trying to remove/lighten some of the black (perhaps with Colorfix? (off the RC site)) to maybe shorten the 'couple years' off the previous to much shorter and get away from dying sooner.

Problem with the first two is it will take a while and I have no idea how they would look as my hair gets longer. Problem with the last is there is a possibility it won't lift any of the dye (could be anything from no lift, to back to natural colour--I'd settle for at least a clear brown/med brown as that would be eaiser to 'blend'). Anyone done one of the first two with a drastic colour difference, or have thoughts on any of these, *or* just thoughts in general?

My hair doesn't get overly damaged by dying, especially dying darker, so more dying/processing is an 'okay' route as the end goal is to *eventually* stop dying. I'm fairly patient. Cutting short(er) is not an option, as I'll take funky coloured hair over short hair any day.

So, er...what to do? Any opinions, advice, alternative ideas, etc?

[LILBERT]

Well,
I am growing out bleach, its quite colour contrast since my natural colour is light brown. It makes most interesting buns and braids. I personally chose to just grow it out, and i am glad i did and there is only about three inches left.
BUT....
In your case i would say lighten/colour remove it all to match your roots. With a little TLC i dont think it would do too mch damage. And i think you will like it best because you wouldnt have such a colour contrast. You can then just grow and trim on the way, but it wont look so contrasting.

[bradio]

Please dont cut it off.I have given your situation some thought and the only solution is to go MULTI COLORED like a beautifull RAINBOW. Every two months or so just dye the top part a new and unusual color, and you will always be a "TRAFFIC STOPPER! And rainbows are very big right now, I have been seeing them on flags, and automobile decals and such. Sincerely, BRADIO

[heathernm]

I understand what you are going through... but mine is lighter on the ends due to highlighting. I am planning to use Robert Craig's haircolor. I considered the colorfix, but from what I understand it removes the old color to prepare it to be colored again. So, maybe it would work for you? Perhaps you could remove the black and then dye it a color to match your natural color.

Their customer service is great! I would suggest emailing them to ask their opinion!

And I am ... LMAO about the Rainbow effect!



Good luck, and let us know what you do!

Heather

[ChloeDharma]

I have a friend who has blonde hair naturally but colours it black, a few years ago she decided she wanted to be blonde again and tried to lift the black out. Unfortunately it ruined her hair, went a really dodgy colour and made her hair brittle and like straw. I guess i'm just adding a word of warning, be really careful about trying to lighten dark processed colours out of the hair because its very likely to get messed up and given you have very long hair you don't want to take any chances i'm sure.
I personally would advise going to see a professional colourist with a good reputation to help you decide what to do about the colour thing. Other than that i don't know what to suggest, off the top of my head could you maybe use very gentle lightening rinces on the coloured hair like lemon or chamomile to slowly over time lift the colour without traumatising the hair too much? Or maybe once a month mixing some not very strong peroxide with shampoo and leaving that on the hair for a little while to lift the colour gradually? When my mother worked in a salon years ago that was a popular treatment to gently lighten the hair without it looking "dyed".
I'm sorry i'm not being more help, but i hope that gives you a couple more ideas.

[Butters]

Have you checked out Ninikas hair it has a beautiful multi-tonal effect. Maybe some highlights similar to that would help.

[rainkloud]

i have went through this SAME thing. i used to dye my hair to a very dark plum or black cherry red color about once a month for over 5 years or so.
while working at sally beauty supply i bought and used Colorfix. i actually used it twice, once again a week later.
it will make your hair a little dry and delicate, but i was very impressed with how quickly my hair recovered to full strength again.
follow the directions exactly (make sure not to get it right on your scalp) and make sure that you use a cool rinse to wash it out. you should use a cool rinse everytime you wash because it helps to seal the cuticle of your hair. especially important if you are using a product that opens the cuticle to let the dye out.
i used a protein treatment the next day. i didn't want to do anything else to my head that night. i used a moisturizing treatment the next time i washed and then i redid the color fix a week later. since i had so much red in my hair i felt it was a little too copper colored after the first treatment.
i did the protien and moisturizer treatments again and my hair was already getting stronger.
i also used and was happy with the results i got using a red/gold corrector in my shampoo that hairstylists put into dye to help lessen redness. it's a dark purple color in a little capsule. worked great. i put that in my shampoo for about 8 months or so. it slowly helped get rid of all the red.
my hair color is exactly as you described as yours, too.
sorry this is such a long reply. but i would have liked to have had some advice before i did this.
my hair was about waist-length when i did this and it's 'classic' now. the natural color blends soooooo smoothly into the treated part now. the top is a blondish color that blends into a soft brown.
i also absolutly think that Biolage Daily Leave-in Tonic saved my hair. it's full of extracts and conditioners, and it also contains sunscreen.
i spritz my hair with it whenever the need strikes. while brushing, styling etc.
again, sorry for the length of this.
good luck!

[Ninika]

Wanna stop dying? Get a life! Sorry, couldn't resist!

I can not only make bad jokes but also give you some advice, cause I've been there and done that, as Butters has already pointed out. You're in exactly the same situation that I was in a year ago. You have the same length that I had back then, the same dye, the same natural color .... spooky

I've just added a pic from last spring in my journal here, back when my hair was still dyed a blackish/brown.

Here's what I did (my apologies to those who've already read about Ninikas dying adventures in another thread):

I went to a professional hairdresser and told her I wanted a soft transition to my natural color that was also suitable for long hair. She suggested putting highlights in my natural color in the top layer. She used a comb weaving technique, making vertical parts, one after the other very closely together, pulling each resulting section away from the head and weaving the steel tip of the comb through, then applying dye only on those hairs on top of the comb before wrapping it in foil. It's quite simple, really, only hard to describe without pics.

During the bleaching process she kept wiping off a bit of bleach now and then, checking the color of the strands. To make the highlights less obvious she toned them down afterwards with a semi-permanent dark blond tone (I don't know if that was really necessary though, as now the semi-permanent dye is long gone and the highlights perfectly match my natural color).
She actually managed to make it look as if I had some lowlights put into my natural hair color (cf. journal pics).

If you wanna do this, be sure to go to a qualified stylist, please don't try it by yourself and possibly ruin your hair. I paid a ridiculous amount of money to have it done (about €75), but I've never once regretted it.

Yes, the highlights are a bit dry, but that's nothing good conditioning and oiling couldn't handle. I cannot say whether you'd need a trim, because I had several inches chopped off to get rid of whispy ends a few days afterwards anyways. I don't exactly remember how the very ends handled the bleach, but had it been horrible I guess I'd remember.

I hope this rant can help you in any way.

[Ninika]

Originally Posted by Butters211

Have you checked out Ninikas hair it has a beautiful multi-tonal effect.

Thanks for the compliment, by the way

[Daneille]

Out of all of those options lifting color out is the hardest on your hair and the most unpredictable.
Daneille

[bunniee]

Originally Posted by Daneille

Out of all of those options lifting color out is the hardest on your hair and the most unpredictable.
Daneille

I have done this, and it is very damaging when used on the entire length. Ninika's suggestion of getting highlights may be the best way to grow out hair that's naturally lighter than the dyed bits. Ninika, your hair really looks wonderful, and the highlights blend in beautifully.

I'm also dealing with the problem of the length being darker than the roots, only I switched to dyeing with henna about a year ago. My own plan is to continue using henna on the lighter parts, and leave the length alone.

[Pilgrim]

Yikes, Unnamed! The title of your post takes one aback for a second!

Sounds like you've gotten better advice than I could give and especially valuable when someone has been through it. Only other thing I wondered is could you use semi-permanent on the new growth so that it is the same as the length until it is all grown out and then you could just stop using the semi-permanent. Maybe that's not as practical as the other options; just a thought.

Julie

[Elora]

I have no useful input, just that I am also growing out dark dye. I have about 5 inches of brown roots/blonde wispies now and the dye has faded some on it's own. Maybe I'm just lucky or more likely oblivious, but they seem to be blending some themselves and I don't think the difference is so obvious anymore.
So my suggestion would be to just let it grow out and be funny looking for a bit, but that's because I'm lazy, cheap, and trust hairdressers even less with hair dye than I do with scissors.

[heathernm]

Originally Posted by Elora

I'm lazy, cheap, and trust hairdressers even less with hair dye than I do with scissors.

Too funny, but true! I too have no trust in hairdressers especially with dye.

My hubby's family is filled with hairdressers, I trusted one of them with my hair. Well my hair went from brown and thigh length and dark brown to 4" long and bleached. The loss of length killed me at first, but the damage from the bleach is what I'm still paying for.

[E.]

I have no advice for you, but I am suffering the same I love the reddish dark brown my hair is, but I hate how I have to touch up the roots every four weeks...and it is difficult to get the color even because I have tons of brown dye at the length and dark blonde roots Maybe I should try Ninika´s suggestion, but I have henna in my hair and I don´t want green streaks...