Hello all, first ide like to tell you all that i think that there is a great community on this site and i found some usefull info here.
The thing i've always wanted to do is Dye my hair blonde, I have dark brown hair and i haven't been to the hair salon for over 3 years and i have no idea what i would ask for when i go in. So my questions are,
1. What do i ask for?
2. What exactly does the proccess of dying hair blonde involve.
*My hair is about the same length as the guy in the photo but of course, without the blonde i couldn't find better example.
If I were you, I would proceed very carefully with this. A drastic color change change such as from dark brown to blond has the potential to cause great damage to your hair.
If your hair is very dark brown, it may have red undertones which will make it difficult to get the blond in the picture. I would certainly ask lots of questions of the stylist in the salon and find out exactly the process that would be involved. Most likely, they will bleach out the color and then tint it to the exact blond shade you are looking for with another step. The process is very harsh and can cause the hair to be weakened to a great degree. if you are growing very long hair, this may diminish length potential in the long run. However, to acheive the color you desire, it is entirely possible, if you are prepared to learn to care for color-treated, processed hair. But, there will be a diminishment in the shine and strength of your hair with any type of chemical process. There are different products designed for processed hair which supposedly help to keep it in good shape.
I would certainly also ask the opinion of several stylists to get an idea of how they think very long hair would do being bleached. I wouldn't want you to find yourself a blond with unmanageable, straw-like hair which had lost its vibrancy through color change. I have seen long, bleached hair, and, just in my opinion, one can tell that it is not in the shape that unprocessed hair is in terms of hair quality and shine.
Hope that helps, Bragi
Remember too that you'll have to have your roots done every month to two months, and that's more expense and chemical treatment on your hair.
I'd advise against this.
This Board is littered with tales of those who have dyed their hair this colour or that and found that
1 Chemicals have damaged their hair over a period - or even once off
2 Their hair has become lifeless and fragile and a mess of colours that only more chemicals can mask.
Don't so often this course has resulted in CUTTING as the only way out of an unholy mess.
Hi GuitarMan,
If it's one thing that a lot of us have witnessed over and over again on this site, it's the lamenting of those who have done a lot of damage to their hair from either dyeing, perming, or staightening their hair. Many folks here have reported a lot of horrible split, broken, and severely damaged ends; the frizzies; "lifelessness", etc. And some have even decided to cut off all their hard-earned hair length, and start from scratch all over again... not worth ruining the natural strength and nice texture that Mother Nature gifted you with by enjoying your own natural color, in my opinion.
BUT, I suppose...
If you were to go to a highly reputable salon (and I'm talking $$$$$$$$ here), I'm sure that there might be a stylist or 2 around who could do a good job with minimal damage to your mane. But, then you'd have to keep coming back for more "touch-ups"...
Myself, I used to be blonde (natural color often described as, "honey blonde"); but these days, I'm getting increasingly grey (or maybe I should say, "white"). Occasionally I feel tempted to "hit the bottle' (the color bottle), --- and I have occasionally dyed my beard back to darker. But, the more I've taken excellent care of my mane, the more I've discovered the joy of just accepting the "real me". But, you'll probably find advise from someone else replying that may give you more of the answers that you'd prefer to hear...
- Ken in San Francisco
If you have dark hair then its going to involve bleaching which will damage hair, but darkening hair with dyes wont hurt as much.
I have to agree with the other posters comments or every couple of months it's going to be "get your roots done dear" or "collar and cuff don't match" and we see enough of that already in this country.
John.B
Natural is always best but how about blond high lights - the root thing is easier to deal with. But there is still damage to contend with bleach and long hair.
Zakk Wylde!!!!
I guess you just ask them to dye your hair blonde and they will do so. I doubt that they would bleach it but I'm not sure.
-Mihnea
hi, i'm sorry to chime in with another negative comment but i once dyed (?) my hair--I let myself get talked into it--but I don't blame anyone but myself--and I eventually quit it. I had pro dye jobs every few months and first off all the stuff used seemed kind of nasty--it smelled like it had ammonia in it--but I was lucky because my hair was short then. When I decided to quit it there wasn't much to grow out. See, if you have long hair and get it dyed, then change your mind some day, all that hair that took years to grow is going to have to grow out or get cut off so it's almost like starting over to get back to your real color. For that reason I'd think a long time about doing this.
If you are going to dye your hair blonde, despite of all these bugbears of chemistry, maybe you should try to take a photo of yours and play for a while with Photoshop or any such graphic program (hue shift). Then you'd see it in real.
If it looks good, try to dye one strand - it might be interesting. (but first check it in the photomontage too)
My mom has mid-back long hair, which were dark-brown (almost black), but it started to grow grey quickly and now she has to dye it from time to time. She's not happy with that at all, I'm not sure about the structure, but mine definitely looks more living. Surprisingly, my aunt uses a lot of peroxide for years and I haven't ever heard her to complain about that.