To dye or not to dye

[indarican]

Hey Ladies!!

Got a question for you. I am trying to figure out if i should dye my hair back to its original color or very close to it. I now have very light golden brown hair, its pretty but its killing my ends. I am going to give up the color and stick with just one chemical (relaxer) at least until my hair is healthy enough to stand both... Many many many years from now. My hair is incredibly damaged, from all the different things i have done to it in the last couple of years... blond hair,highlights, at home coloring jobs, BKT, texturizing to relaxers, no moisture. It feels like hay on my head especially the really light parts, there is actually one part of my hair at the end that feels like an explosion of split ends even soaking wet. Im trying to figure out if i should dye it back to its original color or just let the color grow out? If i let the color grow out im going to look a hot mess, and if i dye it again i risk doing more damage, I know darker hair dye is not as bad for your hair, so what do you ladies think?

 

[FlawedBeauty]

if your hair is already as messed up as you say, i would let it grow out. or maybe you could do a rinse, or henna for color?

 

[indarican]

if your hair is already as messed up as you say, i would let it grow out. or maybe you could do a rinse, or henna for color?

Im not sure how to use henna... is it a protien or a moisturizer?? how often do i use it? Got lots of questions.

 

[FlawedBeauty]

henna can be used to naturally dye hair. i dont know much about how its used for coloring only that no chemicals are used to dye it. you can find info here http://www.hennaforhair.com/mixes/ and im sure others will be of more help, or u can do a search as i believe there are tons of threads on the subject.

Im not sure how to use henna... is it a protien or a moisturizer?? how often do i use it? Got lots of questions.

 

[CurlyMe08]

I have always colored my hair and whenever i went darker on prelighten hair, i would just use a rinse it adheres to the previously colored hair. So I agree with Flawedbeauty to just rinse it so that further damage wont occur. Deep condition and leave in condtioners r ur best friends when dealing with chemicals. Trust I have been in ur shoes. It will all grow back

 

[curlicarib]

If the damage is as bad as you say - stay away from the chemicals. I had light brown to blonde hi-lites, and they damaged my hair badly. I left the chemical colors alone and started using henna. The henna strengthened both my weak colored strands and my healthy (relatively - at the time) non-colored strands. However, it did turn my hi-lited strands various shades of red. I didn't mind the red so it never bothered me. And the red gets deeper with every application. But if you don't want the red, you can add either alma (for shades of brown) or indigo (for shades of black).

The picture in my siggy is after three applications of henna. If you look really hard, you can see the tinge of red at the ends. Today, after numerous applications, the red is only visible in the sunlite and at the very ends of my hair. Infact, my mother swears that I dyed my hair black - go figure.

As for the damage, it is still there and I'm growing it out, but I am convinced, had I not stopped using the chemical color and changed my hair care practices, I would have lost all of the hi-lited strands. Now, I dc twice a week and henna a minimum of once a month, often times twice a month. I never use heat and I keep my hair in stress free styles (twists, bantu knots, etc) 98% of the time. Occasionally, I'll get a broken hair, but you can visibly see and feel that it is one of the damaged hi-lited strands, so I don't get too crazy about it - I pretty much expect to lose all of them eventually. But the most important thing is that I'm not walking around looking BUSTED! And my hair is SUPER HEALTHY! If I didn't tell you, you would never guess that I have damaged strands.

If you decide to go the henna route and need help, feel free to pm me.

HTH

 

[indarican]

I have always colored my hair and whenever i went darker on prelighten hair, i would just use a rinse it adheres to the previously colored hair. So I agree with Flawedbeauty to just rinse it so that further damage wont occur. Deep condition and leave in condtioners r ur best friends when dealing with chemicals. Trust I have been in ur shoes. It will all grow back

With the rinse doesnt it wash out after a while?? i co wash quite often, will that make a difference?

 

[Lady S]

I'd use a semi-permanent like Clairol's Beautiful Collection or a demi-permanent like Natural Instincts.