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Growing out natural hair color?

february2003bride

february2003bride

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Jan 18, 2005
Messages
3,558
Has anyone gone from highlighting their hair blonde to growing out their natural - darker- hair color? I highlight my dark blonde/light brown natural hair color to a very light blonde. I''m tired of the up keep, the expense, and am a little worried about the chemicals. So I thought I''d try growing out my natural hair color and the last time it was highlighted was in January 2010. My hair now has 2 1/2" of roots and it''s not looking so good with the platinum blonde two tone look.
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It still somewhat blends in but another inch (and my hair grows pretty fast) it''s going to look horrible!

I see my stylist next week and am wondering if I should do some type of low lights that are close to my natural hair color? I don''t want to cut it short either. It''s medium-longish and I''m growing it longer. Has anyone grown out their natural hair color and was happy with the transition?

Thanks!
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A couple of years ago I went back to my natural colour, which is a strawberry blonde from the dark reddy brown I had dyed it for 2 years.

My stylist tryed to put as many highlights in the brown bit as possible to make it blend out a little more seamlessly but to be honest, I still looked like a friken idiot with two toned hair for some time.

I think you're right and your stylist will just do as many low lights as she can to make it blend easyer, maybe doing a little more or a little darker each time you go. It is worth it in the end if you can deal with the stripey hair in the mean time.
 
I went through this a few years ago. I just simply went down to the drugstore and bought a haircolor DIY box that most closely matched my roots. Make sure it''s permenant.

It worked great for me.

Good luck!
 
My hair is normally brown, and I went very very blonde with it and while it was beautifully done and the perfect color, like you, the upkeep was insane money wise.

I ended up getting it dyed a brown that was similar to my natural color and just continued to do that for a very long time....it ended up taking close to 2 years to to fully get the blonde out. It wasn''t visible or anything, but me and my hairstylist both knew exactly where it was and how far along it was in the growing out process because of the texture.
 
Oh I should also mention, that I was dying it about every two months by myself and then when it was about 3 inches away from being completely out of my hair, I chopped the last 3 inches of my hair off and then stopped dying my hair, and since the color of the dye and my hair was similar there was no problem with roots anymore
 
I keep forgetting to say things..

Yes, I love the way my hair is now...a lot of people compliment me. But my secret is that I get it glazed which just adds a slight tint and makes the hair very very shiny...its not permanent dye or anything. Theres even clear glaze.
 
I am a light brunette by nature, but due to sun exposure i do have some natural highlights from the sun after the summer. I don''t get highlights at the salon (althought i have gotten them twice, years ago).

If you have roots and they are bothering you, i don''t think lowlights are your best bet -- i had my stylist do a semi-permanent color on my whole head and it gave me a really even beautiful tone. I still could see the difference in color where my lighter colors were, but it evened everything out and gave me a new canvas. it washed out in a few months too.

I have also used a OTC -- clairol natural instints, which is a rinse in - semi - permant dye that washes out in a month.
 
I''ve never just let my hair grow out like you''re describing, but I did have my colorist dye my hair back to my natural color after being blonde for three years. It looked good and I kept it dark for a few years, then was blonde again for a while, and now I''m a brunette again with highlights and low lights. I agree with 4ever''s advice, I went from blonde to brown that way. I just remembered your other thread about this, I posted before and after pictures in it (let me know if you want a picture of how it looks now).
 
Have her color the whole thing back to your natural color--or as close to it as possible. This will stop the noticeable outgrowth you''re seeing and hating right now and make a more seamless transition.
 
Date: 5/7/2010 11:35:38 AM
Author: Italiahaircolor
Have her color the whole thing back to your natural color--or as close to it as possible. This will stop the noticeable outgrowth you're seeing and hating right now and make a more seamless transition.
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Yep, and please don't buy a kit from the drugstore. I've heard that when brown hair is bleached, the red pigment is removed so if you were to dye your hair yourself, the color over the bleached part could come out really weird (purple or even worse). It's best for a pro to do.

I had this done myself a few years ago. I am a natural brunette but I'd been highlighting my hair blonde for a few years. I decided to go back to being a brunette, so the stylist colored my whole head a chocolate brown, right over the bleach.
 
I would spend the money to get it professionally dyed closer to your natural color. When I went through this a few years ago my cousin (a cosmetologist) actually dyed it quite a bit darker than my natural color but since I didn''t want to dye it anymore it acutually worked out well that by the time my roots grew out enough to be noticeable the rest of the dyed hair had faded to match almost perfectly. I was really freaked out when she did this as the color she dyed it was so dark, but it really worked well. If she had dyed it my natural color(a light brown) on top of the blonde, my hair would have ended up fading to be MUCH lighter than my natural hair color by the time all my hair had grown out.

I also had pretty long hair at the time and decided to cut about 4-5 inches off at one point cause I wanted it to be all my natural hair color.


It was a pretty long process but SOOOO worth it. I love having low maintenance hair now.
 
HI:

Yes. In order to cover my ever increasing quantity of grey--I colored my hair from brunette to dark blonde. The upkeep was time consuming and costly and really did not get rid of the grey anyway. In fact it was accentuated due to the lack of contrast, as my hair was all blonde!

I went to a great colorist in town and she recommended continually lowering my base until it was back to my natural color. She achieved this with low lights--and within three visits of a full head of lowlights I now have my natural dark base, low lights and some residual blonde on top. Yes my grey is present but I have embraced it and when I get some "roots" it is so natural looking b/c the low lights are close to that. It all blends in and the contrast with the lighter dark blonde on top all works. Also I like the process being gradual--not such a "shock" from being all light to all dark again. It was very natural as the lowlights were the "right" color for me--no one knew I was changing my color, but me!

Takes a bit of patience. In hindsight I wish I not lightened my base as high as I did, but that is life. I actually like the mix of colors but having my base back to its natural makes upkeep a lot less costly and painful--I don't need to lowlight as often. My colorist clients are all "blondes" so she has a great feel for what color I needed--and finding someone who is on board with you might take some doing, but is worth it. Good luck!

cheers--Sharon
 
I would just ask your stylist to dye your hair back to your natural color, or at least put in some low-lights. It will absolutely help your hair to grow out better without the stripey look.
 
years ago I decided to dye my very light blonde hair a dark brown... my eyebrows too - it was horrible!! I didn''t look right at all. I started trying to dye it my old color and had to about 5 times before it got back to a reasonable close shade (preference BB9.5 lol) and I think that works best...

Pick a shade close to your natural color and dye your whole head that color... I don''t think I''d worry about low lights or high lights until you establish a good base color close to your own.
 
Thanks everyone! It''s been hectic so I haven''t been able to get back to this thread but wanted to thank everyone for their posts. I see my stylist this Friday and have decided for now to get just a trim and no color and think about it a bit more. I''ve attached a picture of my hair, lol, so you can see and be honest if it looks horrible! I asked my best friend and she swears that it blends in right now, lol.

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hehe - its funny, because my natural color is as light as your dyed color (less yellow more platinum though) and I dye it darker - about the shade or your natural color (but more yellow lol). Either way you look like a natural blonde, I wouldn''t worry about what i see in that photo.
 
Yep, I would get some low lights to blend the colors until the light color grows out. That way you will feel more comfortable.
 
Date: 5/11/2010 9:42:08 PM
Author: february2003bride
Thanks everyone! It''s been hectic so I haven''t been able to get back to this thread but wanted to thank everyone for their posts. I see my stylist this Friday and have decided for now to get just a trim and no color and think about it a bit more. I''ve attached a picture of my hair, lol, so you can see and be honest if it looks horrible! I asked my best friend and she swears that it blends in right now, lol.
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Your friend is right! Your root colour blends very well, and while it''s not exactly the same as the longer piece that''s being held up, it works. Money saved.
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I think the thing to remember is that natural hair color looks darker at the roots and gets lighter as it grows. That being said, your current hair looks like you were at the beach and your hair is being sun kissed rather than "dyed hair growing out". I don''t think you''ll have to worry about the dying as your grow!
 
Wow, I really don''t notice roots when I look at that pic at all! Nobody but you would really be able to tell.
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I did this a few years ago. I went to the hairdresser and got a semi-permanent about a shade or so darker than my natural colour. Then I got a half-head of really thin highlights and lowlights so the colour wasn''t too "blocky" and bland, but still natural looking.
 
Here''s my thread from when I dyed my hair to the color of my roots year and a half ago. I haven''t regretted it since!

Linky
 
I agree that it really doesn''t look that different. I would let it grow out a bit more and see if you can see a big difference at that length. It''s hard to go cold turkey on hair dying and just deal with roots for a few months but I think yours could really look ok like that.
 
Thanks everyone! Now that my boys'' soccer season has started and I''m out on the sidelines a few hours a week, the sun has lightened up my roots a bit! I''ve already decided to just get a trim tomorrow. If I can avoid highlighting my hair until the grey starts poppin'' up, then I''ll be a happy camper! Thanks again!
 
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