The Long Hair Community

totie · August 16th, 2003, 01:48 AM

I've had my naturally dark blonde hair dyed a golden blonde all over then just recently I put a semi dark blonde through it to tone down some of the gold, which is alot more natural looking, but it has faded alot already. I can't afford to keep putting a semi through & I don't want to damage my hair anymore. So I don't know what to do!

I found this quote from Feye......(whose hair I admire muchly

)

Quote:

My hair colour makes me feel unique. Most dark blondes either go lighter or darker, and I used to do that as well. But oh the shine that grew back once I let my natural colour grow in!

which is exactly what I want. I've got nearly 3'' (out of 20.5") of natural shiny growth with a few streaks of grey, I like my natural colour but don't really like the gold on the midlengths & ends. Since I plan on growing out to waist, I don't think I could just leave the ends this gold colour, yet I think I'm scared that unless I have a plan that I'll just succumb to impulsiveness and colour with anything.

Can anyone suggest the best thing to do please?

Feye · August 16th, 2003, 02:14 AM

Oh! My hair was mentioned together with the word 'admire'! Made my day

Thank you!

I've let my hair colour grow out twice. Once I grew my colour out from a medium blonde, and that wasn't fun. I could probably dig out some old pictures of two coloured hair to show you. My hair was shoulder length when I started, and I let the colour grow out at the same time as the length. When it was a bit above BS I thought my own haircolour looked too ashy for my taste, so I added a semi-permanent colour of red to it (I first tried the recommended tomato juice, although I didn't have the real thing at hand, so I impatiently slathered on a whole can of crushed tomatoes. Oh my goodness... I had to pick pieces of tomatoes out of my hair for days, and it didn't brighten my colour at all. Not recommended

).

Well, the red didn't wash out, so I had to grow that out as well. But this time my hair was longer and the colours blended quite good. I think I needed a bit more red/golden in my hair until it had gotten long enough to get natural sun highlights. Once my hair had gotten those natural sun highlights I was ok and felt good about it. Also, it's very imporant to wear flattering colours to ashy dark blonde hair. Yellow and orange are the worst colours for me, they make my hair (and skin) look really boring. But that's individual.

I'm thinking that maybe you could ask a trusted hair stylist to help you blend that line between the lighter and the darker hair? Maybe a few highlights to make it look less obvious. *Do* grow out your natural colour, you won't regret it

Joliebaby · August 16th, 2003, 02:21 AM

Hey Totie! I'm not sure if I can really help, but as another blonde I feel I should try...

If your hair is in good shape, you might try coloring over the length with a color that will stay longer than your previous color, and maybe in a bit darker shade than you really want, so that when it fades a bit you get a nice color, and you wouldn't have to keep coloring over and over again.

I would suggest goint to a salon for this, and maybe even having them leave your current color as highlights for a more natural look. This way the regrowth line wouldn't be as obvious either. Because there will be some regrowth line to be seen no matter what you do, it will never be a perfect match, although you might get so close that no-one else need notice!!

The other, very good option is to just leave it alone and let your natural color grow out trimming the colored parts off slowly, which is extremely hard to do.. I think Feye grew her natural color out this way, which is admirable. I always went for the chop for a fresh start, but it was also a pain to grow out a pixie.

Anyway, you will surely get more opinions. Let us know what you decide!

leia · August 16th, 2003, 04:01 AM

If you want to high/lowlight your hair to make sure the growth doesn't look weird, why don't you go ahead and dye all of your hair natural?

I did this once. Since my hair was already "damaged" and I was growing it out, I decided that it couldn't hurt to dye it dark brown. The dye wasn't very strong, though, and every so often I do a coffee rinse to make my hair darker. But if your hair has been able to handle repeated dyeing, I'm sure it won't hurt to color it natural... it's going to grow out, anyway

Joliebaby · August 16th, 2003, 04:17 AM

Leia, I believe the reason to use high- and lowlighting is to make it look more natural, since natural colored hair usually has slight color variations, it's not just one block of color. Furthermore, dark blonde is a very tricky color to get out of a bottle, it will never match one's natural color exactly. There's always less of a regrowth line if there are highlights and lowlights in one's hair. I wouldn't suggest actual highlights though, as they can be more damaging, but create highlights of a more golden, lighter blonde by leaving strands uncolored, and coloring the rest to a dark blonde. That way it will look more natural, as natural long hair (especially blonde) has highlights from sun that are more golden/light. Staright dark blonde from a bottle can look dull, this would create a more vibrant effect.

chamogirl · August 16th, 2003, 12:03 PM

How about a lavender tinted shampoo for toning the gold down?

jules · August 17th, 2003, 04:26 AM

Totie, I had the same problem just recently, I too am growing my naturally dark blonde/light brown hair out from colouring )
Firstly, you might want to get just a couple of inches taken off (all in the name of healthy hair!!), before having your hairdresser apply a permanent toner to the coloured lengths of your hair to tone down the gold. Then use a permanent hair colour that is maybe 1-2 shades darker than your natural colour, on the coloured lengths only. This way, the permanent colour will seem to fade much more slowly, and you will only have to reapply it every six months or so, rather than every six weeks.

Also, make sure that you're using a fade-resistant shampoo designed specially for coloured hair; I'm sure you're probably doing this already but I thought I'd mention it anyway! Whatever you do, don't get a major cut unless you really, really hate having damaged hair - it's much more unpleasant growing out a short cut than colour damaged hair, IMHO!!

Good luck - your hair (and mine!) will be natural before we know it!
Jules xx

jules · August 17th, 2003, 04:38 AM

Actually, I just remembered something from a few weeks ago...
I posted this picture of Katie Holmes at TLHS, who is also currently growing out colour damage... hope this link works...

http://http//katieholmespictures.com.../pg22/o795.jpg

(if it doesn't, just copy and paste into your address line).

I asked people whether or not they would cut their hair if their regrowth was as obvious as Katie's, and the response was quite surprising many said that they thought her hair looked pretty good, that they liked the bi-colour effect, and that she looked like 'a surfer girl in the winter' (thanks helpseeker!) Funny, I thought it looked awful, but maybe that's because I was just going through a similar phase myself, and 'over-sympathised' with Katie's hair problems. It's food for thought, anyway... D

scarlett · August 17th, 2003, 05:31 AM

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/viewtopic.php?t=4661&start=0

This is a link to a thread where Madelaine gave some great advice.

Hollie has used Robert Craig haircolor with success, it is permanenet without damaging. You might want to ask her.

I use a violet shampoo (you can also buy the color and add it to your own shampoo--I do.) and it tones down the gold.

Avoid demi-permanent like the plague if you don't want gold. I tried it one time. It does lighten your hair! And it lightened mine a little, but the worst part was it turned it more golden--permanently. Argh. I have medium blonde that is ashy, and I miss it.

Personally, I'm going to just bite the bullet and let it grow out.

Onward, toward natural hair! You grow girl!

Chamomile betty · August 17th, 2003, 05:54 AM

I am natural med blonde that chooses to color lighter.
But I think I can help ya.

Why dont ya try a color shampoo while your hair is growing out naturally? Or a hair rinse.
Clairol (I think) in pink and grey bottles also makes some leave in color you can use. I know I used a beigey blonde color once and liked it. It's a Rue Rinse.
Go to www.sallybeauty.com and look around.

Hope this helps

Feye · August 17th, 2003, 05:56 AM

jules, I find that picture of Katie Holmes very pretty

I don't mind two-coloured hair myself, and besides, people dye their hair like that on purpose anyway. In my opinion you can wear your hair pretty much however you like, just as long as it looked like you *meant* it to look like that

totie · August 17th, 2003, 03:33 PM

Thanks girls for the great tips, I checked out the links you all gave me and have decided to sit on this for a few weeks until I explore all of your advice. Good things take time, so I'll be patient and wait until I'm really sure on what to do. Thanks heaps, I'll keep you updated and hopefully I can post some before and after pics.

jules · August 17th, 2003, 11:28 PM

Heyyy.... D Totie, I just noticed that you live really close to me!! (Well, on an Internet scale anyway... I'm in Avalon on Sydney's Northern Beaches). I tend to just assume that most people here are from the US, so it's great seeing other Aussies here too!

Take care,
Jules xx