Hair Dye Question

as far as getting black out, bleach is the best method, but you'd be best off to have a professional or someone very good at hair dying do it or you'll end up with 37 different shades of blond/brown/orange. this is not as big a deal if you are going to dye over the lightened hair with, say, brown or red, but if you are trying to get back to a nice, natural blonde color, it's going to be tough.

as far as blonde to black goes, ive done this twice with varying degrees of success. i should say that i dont trust hairdressers, so much so that i havent had a hairdresser cut my hair since 1989. traumatic high school cuts, i guess. i should also say that when i was blonde the first time a hairdresser acquaintance talked me into letting him get my blonde to a 'moviestar' shade. $350 and 3 and a half hours of bleach/foil/heatlamp/repeat later, the roots were dark, brassy yellow and he'd given up. if you go to a salon go to a colourist, not a hairdresser/stylist.

so, heres how i did it at home. this is tricky and ill advised.

the problem with hair thats been dyed a darker colour is the red they put in the dyes. red is really hard to get out. i bought l'oreals 'superblonde' which rocks and can bleach your hair up to 8 shades lighter. this isnt a dye. this is bleach - its blue and its meant to strip the hair pigment so use it carefully.

to get the red out it'll probably take a few applications. it took me 4 or 5, i think, but my hair is really thick and curly so its difficult to bleach and throws out dyes really easily too. so, adjust according to your own hairtype.

my hair went from black to bright orange to bright yellow to duller yellow over 5 days. the object is to get it as dull a yellow as possible then use a dye (natural blonde, light blonde, whatever) over the top. i was having a lot of trouble getting the yellow/gold/brassy tones out of my hair and found that using a 'light ash blonde' (use loreal preference - other 'ash' coloured products ive tried actually turn your hair grey and forget 'magic silver white') after using superblonde gets rid of it really well and in one application. from there you can make it any blonde you like.

obviously this damages your hair somewhat. everyone will warn you away from doing it but if youre set on it then just make sure you use a really good conditioner (pantene hydrating curls is the best for moisturising) inbetween applications and tug on strands to make sure your hair isnt getting weak or porous while bleaching. if it is get the bleach out, condition, and leave your hair alone for a few days. i was careful and ended up with what i call 'doll's hair', you know that shiny blonde dolls have? not too natural but i wasnt going for natural at that time. if i had been i could have got it with a different shade.

Two harsh lessons I learnt:

1. once youve got the dyed part blonde DONT use superblonde on the roots. your natural hair doesnt need to be bleached. just use a normal dye. my hair ended up broken and dry and wrecked after about two years of using superblonde to touch up.

2. if you decide to go back to brown or black, dye your hair red first. i put a dark brown dye in my bleached hair and it came out seaweed green (because there was no pigment). i thought it looked kinda neat but my boss didnt.

the second time, i grew the black out first. it took forever but once it was all my natural hair colour it took one application of a blonde dye and i was blonde. easy peasey.