Lovelyish

Bleaching my hair literally ruined it. And yes, a stylist did it.

I am a stylist also and I agree with what you’ve suggested. 

Part of the problem is that people think that because they have natural red-ish highlights/tint, they will easily “go red”. Not true. Depending on coarseness and level of darkness/lightness, some people with seemingly “red-ish” hair will have to go through mega trouble to get and keep their red locks.

Also, I would strongly suggest this client looking into Wen Conditioning Cleansers, if they go the route of red hair and don’t want to really waste their money by watching it run down the drain. A little pricey, but worth the investment, if you’re going to dye your hair.

Enjoy that RED, if you get it…it can be tons of fun!

(Sidenote: Kackie, I would strongly suggest you not using the word “bleach”. It bears a horrible connotation and some stylists don’t believe in using it, like myself. I use “lighteners” that aren’t harsh at all, nor do they have ammonia, yet they get the same results WITHOUT any damage. Blessings!)

I regret bleaching my hair every day. Its so brittle now I feel like I’m balding every time I take a shower. I even had healthy hair before I bleached it, now its completely ruined.

I’m not a stylist, but this is basically what I was going to say.

I think you answered this question very well.

After reading this question the first thing I thought was “Well, duh. A dye adds color, it can’t lift it. And red is obviously lighter than dark brown.”

I’ve both self-dyed and bleached my hair for yearsss and I’ve had it done professionally many times as well.
I have naturally light brown hair with natural blonde highlights so it doesn’t take as much work to lift my color with bleach as it would someone with dark brown hair. The darker your hair, the more you have to bleach it to lift color, which means you have to use a harsher bleach and/or have it on for a longer period of time. HOWEVER, if you want to go RED and not blonde, the bleaching really should not damage your hair too much because you don’t have to bleach it to a very light shade. If you just take out some of the darkness and get it to a coppery color and color over it with a red dye, it should work great with minimal damage from the jet-haired girl’s worst nightmare (bleach).

I have medium-dark brown, coarse hair and have dyed my own hair red for 4 years now. If you use a permanant dye like from the drugstore, it can lighten your hair a couple of shades (I use L’Oreal Feria in the 66 or 67 shade depending on the season and that has always worked well for me), but only a couple of shades. Not everyone’s comfortable with dying their hair on their own, but for me it has worked well. The first time I went red, however, I went to a salon because I had dyed my hair black and had to get that dye lifted before I did anything. Afterwords, however, I did my own.

I’ve bleached my hair once and it actually didnt really damage it too much.. No matter what, colouring will damage it. But I’ve had experiences with bleach when I was in hairdressing school.. lol.. I put on the colour for way too long (on a mannequin, not a real person! LOL) and her hair was all falling out and everything Ruined an $80 mannequin lol

Red is a tough colour to keep.. I wish i could have my hair red all the time b ut its so much work because that colour fades so easily

I bleached my hair once, and it was still soft and basically the same as it was before. The only difference was the colour.

@ButYouSeeTheRealMe@xanga - about the word “bleach”: I use it because that’s what it is. I feel like sugar-coating the term by calling it “lightener” is misleading to the client. Bleach is a scary word because it’s a pretty serious process. I don’t always suggest bleaching, but I definitely want my client to know what they’re getting into. 

Red has always been my favorite hair color. I’m naturally a really dark brown, so how I got to the shade of red that I’m at now, I’ll never know. BUT I got complimented on it all the time when I first dyed it myself. Now that it’s fading back to its original color I’ve had some thoughts about redying, but at the same time I don’t particularly care anymore. I’m sure my natural hair color is pretty, even if I haven’t seen it in a few years.

Bleaching my hair killed it. And ever since then, my hair’s never been the same! *cue dramatic music*. Oh, and when got my hair bleached, it came out DARK BROWN from my black hair… -___-”

Personally, I didn’t find red to be very difficult to keep in my hair.  I have naturally reddish-blonde hair, and last time I used temporary dye (28 shampoos), it stayed red for MONTHS!  I wanted to it fade out for the summer, since I tan easily, but it didn’t.  But I’ve also never noticed my hair feeling damages after dying it – maybe because I go darker?  My hair usually feels less dry when it has dye in it!  But I’d be wary of lightening my hair due to the potential for damage.

@ButYouSeeTheRealMe@xanga - Will lighteners lighten even really dark hair? I dyed my hair once…bad idea. It was a really dark dirty blonde. Now, I knew it would come out way darker, but when I did it, my hair turned dark copper. T.T…and now it’s really, really dry and thin ever since. And that was 2 years ago! 

@Eglariel@xanga - My hair is also a lighter reddish (some would say reddish blonde) color and I dyed it dark brown several times and the color went back to red.  I just dyed it a different red and the red is staying in very well.  I guess redheads can hold on to the red better, IDK.

I have the opposite problem.  I have red hair and tried to dye it darker and it went back to red within a week.  lol

@ohheybbyitscorixx@xanga - Yes! It will definitely bring your hair to a much lighter (up to 9 levels of color change) color! I have med-dark brown hair and using my “Lightener” -it is NOT a bleach- streak my hair to a nice golden-white blonde. I can either tone it, once lightened, or I can completely change the color by using a deposit only color. I enjoy the blonde streaks, so I keep it as is. 

I stopped using “bleach” 7 yrs ago, because I was tired of dealing with the damage it did to my customers’ hair. I would suggest you looking for a salon who is “ammonia free”, such as C.H.I. CHI is awesome! (there are others who have switched their product line to ammonia free, also, but I couldn’t tell you who they are.) 

Also, the copper-ing effect often happens when using the wrong base color combines with your natural color. If you go “copper” that easily, you may need to stick with an “ash” base. Stay away from anything that hints at “warmth” in the label or says “red” anywhere! I hope that helps!
Good Luck and Blessings!

good advice. from the looks of these comments i guess bleaching works for some people but not for others. Ooh ooh do a post about hair bleachig!? Please

I box bleached my hair the last time I did it. What’s important is that you let the hair rest if you do this! I didn’t wash my hair for at least three or four days after bleaching it and kept it out of water too. Comb the oils from the roots down to the tips of the hair to evenly distribute it. I used to work with a part-time hair stylist and she was massively surprised when she touched my (then green) hair. She was expecting crunchy when I said I box bleached it, but it was right back to how it was before I did it.

After reading the question, I already knew the answer. I have dyed my hair at home and with my dark brown hair, I get a purple-ish tint. I accepted it because I didn’t want to lighten my hair. My hair stylist who gave me haircuts wanted to give me red highlights, but it would have been extra expensive because she would have to charge me to bleach the areas first.

@CDannika@xanga - cut it as short as you are willing to go, and hope your hair grows fast?

for all the people saying that bleach ruined their hair- I think it depends on what brand you use. I know some brands are definitely really shitty as compared to others. you probably just want to research and find a brand that has a lot of good feedback.

also EVERY bleach and almost every hair dye does damage your hair to an extent, that’s how it works. as do perms, straightening treatments, and a lot of other things. you just have to get a good reconstructing conditioner and then take care of your hair. 

I bleached my hair twice in a row to get the right lightness, and it was frizzy and dry for a little while, so I used reconstructing conditioner a couple times and then a moisturizing treatment and now, about a week later, my hair is just about back to normal.

My hair is about two steps away from black (one in between my hair in black) according to my stylist and we dyed it a medium red with no lifting. My roots are growing back brown and look way darker than the red hair. She said she didn’t use anything to lighten the color first, and I can tell because it would feel horrible haha. I have no idea what she used but it was freakin’ perfect.

Also, red is notorious for fading fast. My hair is closer to copper now instead of red but I’m very happy with the results :]

Teeheee, I clicked on this article because Selena’s picture is so darn adorable!!! Her shock face looks so kiddish and silly :3 I love herrr!

Bleaching it would’ve helped a lot, It doesn’t sound like the stylist did that though, but YES it does damage the heck out of your hair and YES your stylist should tell you that before doing the beach process. I am a stylist, so I do know how all of this works haha. Red will also stay in your hair until it gets so long to the point where you cut it off after a year or so..even if you color over it, red is the only color that will actually stay with you no matter what and if you color over it and try bleaching it, you’ll see the red again. It’s a painful process to go red and it fades the quickest of all of the colors.

Do your stylist put heat on your hair afterwards? When i get my hair a lighter color they put me under one of those machine things (forgot what they are called) and my hair kinda bakes along with the solution they put in my hair. 

Am I honestly the only one who didn’t get super damaged hair from bleaching it? This actually surprises me because my hairdresser said I had level 3(?) brown hair…which basically means it was mistaken for black half the time. Honestly the only time you can see damage is if I brush it out and it gets all pouffy…but if anything I LIKE the way the bleach made my hair…..it got rid of some curliness and now my hair is nice and wavy…it still takes FOREVER to grow as it always has and split ends are still there…I just avoid heat all the time, something I didn’t do when I had virgin hair.