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Last edited by BringOnTheMen; 07-28-2012 at 09:28 AM.





Honestly BOTM be careful with that. I'd never tell you not to do it, because A) I know it will look fanfuckingtastic on you B)Blonde hair+fake tits= the stripper equivalent of the TX C) You want it.
That being said I knew a girl in Albuquerque who was bleaching her hair gradually and it was still looking healthy. She was doing it one treatment at a time and using a lot of deep conditioning treatments. Please get a second opinion.
I had to chop off my hair 4 years ago because I went postal bleaching it and dying it.
"Fake tits are like Kevlar. They don't guarantee your chances of survival but they sure as hell improve it."
Tempest





My hair is black right now, but I've gone from pretty much black hair to very blonde hair. I liked the blonde but if your hair is naturally dark, it takes a lot of maintanence. I managed to go from black to blonde, while keeping my hair healthy. I gradually dyed my hair lighter and lighter until it was at the level of blonde that I liked. It probably took around 4 or 5 dye jobs with waiting periods in between. Don't just dye your hair from black to blonde. There is no way this is possible without seriously damaging your hair. It takes a lot of time.
Also, the shampoo called So Silver by Matrix was a lifesaver for me. It's for blonde hair; you're supposed to use it a few times a week and the more you use it the more blonde your hair will look. It's a bit on the expensive side, but it was worth it.





LOL yes you will. If I could go blonde for financial purposes I would but I would just look ridiculous. If you can do it go for it!!!!
I'm a brunette but I'll be the first to tell you that silicone implanted blondes are the apex predators of the stripping world.
"Fake tits are like Kevlar. They don't guarantee your chances of survival but they sure as hell improve it."
Tempest
Like other ladies have said, it's definitely better for your hair if you do it in stages rather than all in one go as bleach can be tough on the hair. Invest in a high quality moisturizing conditioner as well so your hair doesn't dry out!
I went from dark brown to blonde..but I gradually lightened it...I would def suggest getting it professionally done, although I didn't.
Let me see if I can find a pic to show you..
Darkest...
Lighter...
Going blonde...
And this is my current color..
![]()
I hope your friend in cosmetology school didn't tell you that this was something that could be done in one session (well, it can be done, but your hair will be utterly destroyed and I'm sure you don't want that). She should have an idea of how many levels she can lift in one session while the hair not being depleted of too much protein. It sounds like you are a level 2 right now (dark brown, one level from black), lifting to anything past a 6 (which is going to be like a caramel color because your hair is going to pull warmth) is going to be hair suicide! The healthiest and least ugliest process is to do a few sessions of heavy highlighting. So I suggest lifting to a level 6 and then toning with a cool toned semi or demi permanent (green if there's a lot of red in it, blue if orange, and violet if yellow) to get you by in the mean time till you have your next lightening session. I'd say it should get there in a healthy state with no less than two sessions, doing protein and deep moisture treatments after each. This is bleach you're going to be using, not dye.
P.S. I forgot to mention black, ash blondes, ash browns and platinum blondes generally look good on cool skin tones. Golden brown, golden blonde and warm reds typically look good on warm skin tones.



"We are the coolest mothafuckas on the planet....The sky is fallin ain't no need to panic"... -Outkast





Hiya hun! I have/had highlighted hair (grown out). I then did my root touch up myself, waay too dar, color went down my hair so the highlights I had were covered up. So I went to a lady hairdresser recommended to me, &, I luv it!. I can post pics, but I'm sallow/warm/goldish skin..
How about you try on wigs (just for color) or go in Sally's & put swatches by your hair, just to get an idea? Amanda just did a magazine, I can't remember which one, she lightened hair, & it looks great!
Some great advice on here. Good Luck I know you'll look great!
MANY MEN WANTED TO LAY ME DOWN, BUT FEW WANTED TO LIFT ME UP
-Eartha Kitt
Be prepared to embrace the roots coming in. Always make sure to wait the 6-8 weeks between touch-ups, no matter how pissed off you are at your roots. I used to dye my hair platinum and my hair is very dark brown. Roots generally start showing up after 3 weeks, and they would drive me crazy. And, of course, you will have dumbasses make comments about how "derp dee doo, looks like you need a touch-up!" like they know a damn thing about how to dye hair blonde properly... Don't give in to the urge to touch them up without them grown out enough. I did once, and my hair was breaking off and falling out so badly, I was crying, thinking I was going to go bald. I know my DIY bleaching didn't do my hair any favors, but I think that's the moment I really fucked it up for good. If your hair is really dark and you eventually get to a pretty light color, the roots will very noticeable and you will have stupid comments made about them, and they might drive you insane. So be prepared to have the patience for that ~3 week period where they show up but you still have to wait for them to grow out more. The last thing you want to do after working your way up to blonde is to trash your hair out of irritation with the roots (and the stupid comments about them).
Don't try to win over the haters. You are not the Jerk Whisperer.
Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.





I wouldn't do a solid bleach or high lift. If I were you I would do a lot of different ranges of highlights from light carmel to honey and a really light pale yellow. Look through some hair mags and try to find something you like I think a solid high lift will wash you out. My gf is french canadian and looks spanish and she just went from a brown base with carmel and copperish highlights to almost platnum in highlights and she looks too washed out and 400 later with extensions dying and all she want's to go back and it's only been 3 weeks. I'm sure it will come out nice whatever you chose.





When I was blonde, it was a mix of light & dark ash blonde... almost like a champagne color. Very pretty on our skin tone. I have pics if you'd like them, and I can recommend stylists for you if you'd like. To get blonde though, your best best is to do 3-4 sessions of a full head of highlights. Otherwise it looks weird. And most stylists will force you to space sessions 4-8 weeks apart.
This was essentially the colour palette:
![]()





With highlights you can't get everything highlighted, but through out most of your hair. Once you've done it 3-4 times, it basically covers your entire head. If you dye it all one color, it just doesn't look right... especially with dark roots. Trust me, I made that mistake. Hair dries out over time, so basically if it looks normal and undamaged after being dyed, it will probably dry out & become brittle after like a month. At least thats what i noticed.
When you go, bring a picture of what you want, and ask for multiple sessions of a full head of light ash & dark ash blonde highlights until basically your whole head is covered blonde.
PM your email, I'll email you my pics.





This girl's face and skin tone kind of reminded me of you! Except of course, your eyes aren't wonky.Maybe something in this color family?
![]()
Super down for this thread, wanting to try blonde myself at least once <3





My hair was a really dark brown too before I went blonde.
It took quite a few bleachings until I got it to the platinum I wanted it.
I did lose a lot of hair, but it's been growing out and I feel a lot better.
I have to touch up my roots every 2-3 weeks, but I just do it myself.
I think it's a lot better that you're having a friend who you trust (and knows what she's doing) doing it so there's as little damage as possible.
Also, some stuff that realllly helped (to get rid of the brassy tones) was this product from L'Oreal Paris called Brass Banisher. It's like $9 at Wal Mart.
Good luck! Post pics when you get it to where you want it.![]()





My hair was in this range:
With a bit more very light ash blonde highlights through out. It looked nice, but I had to get highlights every 4-6 weeks & my hair ended up drying out even with deep conditioning & good products.





^ I love that first color! something in those tones would look good on you botm. I also think you would look good with red hair but that's another time and thread. Haha.
My hair is really dark brown, and I got it blonde with huge amounts of highlights, using three different colors. After maybe 3-4 weeks, I went back for more, and then after another month when my roots were looking bad, my hairdresser did a full color of my hair, then highlights on top to make it look more natural. It turned out so good and I've been blonde for years now.
When I moved away from my hairdresser (she was SOOOO good) I couldn't find anyone as skilled as her, so I went back and she taught me how to do my roots at home myself, and now I don't even need to go in for that. I never thought I'd be able to get dark brown roots to go blonde and match perfectly etc, but I did![]()




Essay following:
I've been in the process for about 6 months now. You're at an advantage because you started out with unprocessed hair -- I started out with mid back length hair that had been dyed to a level 2 dark brown over and over. The ends probably had been colored over dozens of times. I've had a nightmarish journey but I stuck with it and I finally have hair I'm happy with. Here's my advice based on many mistakes.
I disagree that highlights are the right way to go for the reason you stated: the contrast between black and blonde is too much. If you continue to highlight until you're blonde you'll still have dark strands, and every time you get more put in you'll wind up bleaching many of the same strands over and over. It's pretty much impossible to only pick out dark pieces. What I recommend is bleaching your entire head and only then highlighting once you reach a good base color (dark blonde/light brown). It sounds scary but you still have a lot of virgin hair and I highly doubt that the highlighted sections will break off after only two rounds of bleach (I probably had five rounds!). You also know now that your hair will lighten to blonde in one session -- this is great! This is called double processing btw. It's how celebs get such great blonde but most stylists won't do it unless you ask.
It's a myth that giving hair time between bleaches will minimize damage. The damage is cumulative. The importance of bleaching in small increments is that you'll know when you've reached your limit. You may find that your hair just can't handle any more once you reach a certain color. If you try to go to a level 9 in one session you will have no idea of the condition of your hair until you style it. You may get lucky or you may have cotton candy that falls out in clumps.
In the meantime you will probably have some red/orange that will be very difficult to tone out. I had this for months and it sucked. Think redhead Katy Perry. Violet toner only works on hair that has bypassed the red/orange stage into bright yellow. Stick through it! As far as touch ups I would recommend waiting it out as long as possible and then having your friend bleach and tone the roots to your base color. When you have a few inches of that you can go back to highlights. I absolutely love darker roots though. Check out Victoria's secret blondes.
Once you get to an acceptable base color you're good to highlight as much as your hair can take. Ask your friend to tone your hair for the maximum amount of time with pure violet toner for an ash blonde when you get to dark yellow. If you do go get to platinum go for a grey one mixed with some beige -- Redken has a great grey toner called Asphalt or Gunmetal (I forget).
Your hair might look and feel fried if you don't style with the right products, but as long as you stay on top of it it'll look fine. Be prepared to cut some off too. I had to take off about four inches but I'm okay going from crazy long to almost nipple length. I can't stress the wonders of Redken's Extreme deep conditioner as well as their All Soft line. When you think you're brassy use Clairol's Shimmer Lights and condition with Redken or KMS's purple deep protein conditioners. You'll know you have the right stuff when they warn you to wear gloves and do a patch test. This doesn't do nearly as much as a toner but it'll keep you from getting more brassy between appointments. You can actually use these every day but I personally need to rotate it out with the Extreme deep conditioner and the All Soft.
You will be obsessed with your hair throughout the process. My friends have gotten so annoyed with me.
I've attached some progression pics from blackish, light brown, to dark blonde. I'm leaving out my 90s highlights and orange ombre mistakes. I covered my face in the recent pics but couldn't find one from when i was very dark so w/e.
Hope this helps!




Never too late to fix it! Just try the double processing anyway. The existing highlights will probably turn yellow again once you bleach it all anyway so you could just use a toner to put the ash back in. You might have slightly purple strands for a little while but I think they'll blend in and then wash out eventually. I have a few grey/light purple strands now but you can't tell -- they just lend an overall impression of ashiness. In the worst case you can do what I did and use a box color to darken and warm the highlights very slightly before rebleaching the whole thing.




Do allover color. I know it might be tough given your close relationship but consider making consultation appointments with hairdressers who specialize in double process blondes (you can do this by calling a reputable salon and asking, although don't take their word for it -- talk to the colorist first!) You can pretend that you got impatient and took matters in your own hands. She doesn't need to know.
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