by MagentaMSI on Wed Apr 20, 2005 10:00 am
I would ask a salon what to use, and no matter what you use, try dying your hair black again a day or two before, sounds stupid, but I'll explain why I say this.
I went black in the winter, after a while I decided I didn't want it anymore, and wanted to go back to the red hair I had grown to love so much in the past 5 years. I just thoroughly enjoy being a red head, I think it makes any woman look 5x more beautiful. I just missed it so much, I didn't feel like myself, and thought hell, I'll strip it. I had my sister go to a hair store, and she asked what to use, and the woman suggested this stuff, I forget the name of it. My sister explained I have very thick hair. My hair is ONLY shoulder length and I still need two bottles of standard dye to do it properly. She bought two packs of the bleaching stuff, and here were the results.
I didn't have enough to cover everything. My hair felt like a Barbie doll's hair mixed with some straw. My hair came out a dark brown/lighter (barely) black. I can deal with that, no biggie, all I did was put deep conditioner in my hair to sit for an hour, which did help a lot. My main concern was this:
Most came out that dark brown I mentioned, while some spots were light brown. Okay, no biggie, I can also deal with this. But my ROOTS were PLATINUM BLONDE and I looked REDICULOUS.
This is why I say if you decide to strip it on your own, which I DO NOT recommend, dye it black again a couple days before so you don't have the roots problem. Don't worry about it being too fried, when you go darker it just deposits color into your hair, unlike lightening, so it doesn't really hard your hair all that much (this I learned from my friend, who is a stylist). And ask a SALON what they suggest to strip it, and don't skimp out, use whatever they say, and have a deep conditioning mask on hand. I have always been proud of my hair. It's shiny, thick, and very soft and healthy, because I take much care in it. The WORST feeling in the WORLD is to wake up the next day and having your hair feel like disgusting hay.
After I did it on my own I had to go to the salon anyway and get the black taken out. So I would suggest just going to a salon that can do that sorta thing. And buy Kerasilk, if I'm spelling that correctly. It's like $30 conditioner, but worth it. You strain as much water as you can and put the conditioner in and leave it in while you shave your legs or something. I used it 3 times and my hair was back to normal from it's straw qualities in no time flat.
I wouldn't skimp out, I would just go all out and spend the extra money, better safe than sorry. Especially when you are risking going out with black straw with platinum roots. Believe me I know.
Sorry this is so lengthy, but at least maybe SOMEONE can learn from my mistakes.
And like I said, this was a terrible, terrible experience, and I don't wish looking like this on anyone. I don't even blow dry my hair because I'm so into my hair being healthy, waking up and feeling my hair in that condition literally made me cry instantly. A salon is your best bet. At least to even just visit to get a suggestion of what to use for best results. And like I stated, MAKE SURE you dye it black again, so you have a clean drawing board. And a good conditioner is good either way. I left it in my hair so long that it hardened to a shell before I washed it out, and did the same thing next time too. That first one hour conditioning fest made it go from straw to pretty healthy in one shot. After the second conditioning, it was super healthy like usual.
I did this over four months ago, and EVERY SINGLE DAY since it happened, I run my hands through my hair to make sure it's okay. And if I don't, I look at it to make sure it's okay and even. You'd think after 4 months I would believe it was in fact still okay, but two days doesn't go by where I don't check my hair to make sure it's okay since this disaster. It sticks with you
? what is it really called?? 
and it will just wash away and go my natural colour?? 
im kinda scared to bleech it..... please write back!! 
