I’m naturally very dark-haired, but I’m currently flirting with the idea of cutting my hair shorter and going honey-blonde. So my question is, if you were born with black or dark-brown hair and are now, or have ever been blonde - would you recommend it? What does it do to your hair quality and your scalp? Do you love it or did you come to regret it?
Thanks!
Yes, I went blondish last summer (from dark brown). I wouldn’t recommend it, only because it was a huge pain in the arse. The regrowth happens far quicker then I expected and to maintain blonde just took far too much time, money and effort.
I am currently “light copper brown” much more natural and the regrowth is not much of an issue and it’s light enough to feel summery. Maybe you could try a colour like that first.
Good luck 
I love bleaching my hair, but it’s not something I’d recommend to most people. It really does damage your hair, and you will end up with roots at some point, which will look unsightly until you decide to either bleach it again or dye it back to a normal color.
Then again, it’s only hair, and it does grow back. If it’s something that you’ve always wanted to do, and your willing to let your hair look a little bad as it grows out, go for it.
I have dark-brown hair with a strong red undertone and for months I went from one NYC colorist to another trying to attain “dark ash blonde.” They all said, “Of course, easiest thing out!” and I always wound up with bright-orange Bozo hair.
I finally found the One Honest Colorist in NYC, who told me, “Honey, there are two ways you can get dark ash blonde. One, buy a wig. Two, bleach your hair completely out and recolor it. You’ll have to get the roots done every three weeks, and within a year your hair will look like burnt straw.”
I’m back to dark brown.
dark brown with red hilights. pour on blonde and I get … very red.
I kept it up for a few months until I tried Natural Essence or some brand that was supposed to be “better” for your scalp than traditional bleaches and dyes … and I burned my scalp severely enough I had to wear a scarf or hat for months in fear that a chance breeze would ruffle my hair and cause intense run the car out of the lane pain.
My hair, after six months of bleaching with blonde ‘dye’ is no longer as wavy as it was - but that also might be the natural aging process. Occasionally I’ll get that “don’t touch my scalp or I will kill you where you stand” feeling on bits of my scalp, so I’m not entirely sure what the hell is going on up there.
Brunette with red tones here. It took not one, but two packages of something I think was called “Blondissima”. One package took me to Bozo-clown orange (not pretty) and then next to “blonde”. It was pretty hard on my hair, leaving it dry/fragile. After all the colour’s been bleached out, you can’t really colour it back to ‘normal’ (at least not at home by yourself) so I had to cut it short and live with two-toned hair until I could trim off all the blonde.
If you bleach dark hair light, then colour it, the hair will absorb too much of everything, and end up jet black. Doesn’t look good with most peoples’ colouring–even people with black hair have tones and highlights in it. But mine looked like something you’d find in fake fur or cheap Hallowe’en wigs.
I also used peroxide mixed with water and spritzed it on my hair in the summer. It does bleach enough to bring out lighter tones–in my case, reddish tones, then progressively lighter ones. It’s also cheap (I was in university at the time) but again, leaves hair dry and damaged.
If you’re considering a colour change, it’s likely best to stick to something not too far from your natural colour, and see a pro.
After I bleached too much with the peroxide/water, I coloured my hair back to “brown”. That’s how I learned about the jet black ooginess. And also, it was slimey and broke when combed. Yep, SLIMEY. Not a good texture. And broke in little pieces when I combed.
I got a pixie cut immediately. It was all the real hairdresser could do regarding the damage of bleaching/colouring–cut it off.
I still colour my hair now, though, many years later. But it’s to cover the grey now.
I did it and don’t recommend it. I had the beginnings of dark roots about 5 days later. The bleach burned my scalp. It was expensive and took hours. I didn’t recognize myself in the mirror.
On the other hand, people I knew seemed to think it looked good.
Just recently had my black-dyed dark brown/gray hair bleached and re-dyed medium red/brown. It took 8 weeks, 5 chemical treatments, 6 intense conditioning tratments and a haircut to look like real, healthy hair. Hector, my stylist, was going to be damned if he didn’t get my hair ‘right’ and refused payment the first 4 weeks. I eventually spent 160 dollars and 10 hours in the chair. My roots need to be touched up every 4-6 weeks, but my hair doesn’t looks like straw any more and is soft and shiny. The cut to get rid of the worst of the damage is growing out and my hair is to my clavicles when straightened. Hector was ready to give up coloring and strictly just cut hair, but now he is a self-proclaimed color genius.
Another one here - I’ve bleached, but only to get bright Manic Panic-type colors on my hair, never to get it blond. Definitely don’t do it at home, as your hair is likely to turn Bozo Orange™.
As the others have said, it’s very damaging and it’s very difficult to get back to a natural color. I’d recommend possibly getting extensive hi-lights. It won’t damage your hair quite as much, and it’s less likely to turn it orange. It still involves bleaching, but since it doesn’t go on all of your hair, it won’t be as bad.
As far as bleaching damaging my scalp, I never noticed anything, and I always put it right on my scalp so it would bleach all of my hair (you’re not supposed to do that).
Still being very blonde at 48 years old, I can’t tell you I’d do, but here’s what makes sense to me, a highlighter of 6 years or so:
Have a good colorist put in heavy bleached out highlights, and then add a couple shades of dark blonde or light brown on some of those those highlighted areas to get a natural looking lighter shade. The root issues aren’t nearly as bad and you’ll have 3 or 4 shades of color going that will add depth without giving you that straw, cheap, artificial blonde that we know you don’t want.
About 8 years ago my mum, who’s hair is naturally nearly black, decided to go blonde. At first it looked awful - bright yellow, because it was too dark to go blonde after just one bleach job, but after the third, it was a pretty gold, and now (because I think she’s actually forgotten she was ever a brunette), it’s a very pale, almost platinum blonde. Her hair’s pretty dry, but she uses deep conditioning treatments and hot oils regularly, and it’s no worse condition than a lot of peoples who’ve never dyed their hair.
However:
[ul]
[li]Her hair was about 30% gray when she first dyed it - it’s probably about 50% now.[/li][li]Her hair was naturally very oily before she bleached it.[/li][li]The regrowth is indeed a pain. However, apparently you swiftly become a dab hand at touching up your own roots.[/li][/ul]
Thanks everyone. Now that I see just how much potential damage I could do to my hair/scalp and my budget, this blonding thing isn’t really looking like such a good idea. The problem is my hair is naturally very dark (I’m Anglo-Indian), so I know the regrowth will be severely obvious. I was wistfully contemplating how a warm, honeyish-toned blonde would go with olive skin and brown eyes, but with gooey straw hair? Meh… :dubious:
I think I might either go for some auburn/dark red highlights, or follow this advice:
Any other brunette-to-blondes, please feel free to jump in and tell me more about what it’s like!
Me, many times. I went from dyed black, to platinum blonde in a weekend once. It didn’t damage my hair too much, but I mightn’t have noticed, I had a lot of hair. The thing with blond is, you can’t dye over it easy. The color fades a lot quicker, and leaves your hair looking dull. But YMMV…
A sheila at work came in today sporting blonde with red streaks after being raven-haired previously.
It looked absolutely shocking, and the damage to her hair was extreme. Her follicles looked like they would snap like fried noodles. I would’ve burst out laughing if I didn’t feel so sorry for her obvious plight.
Honestly I have to echo what I first said. If you are as dark as I am (and it sounds like you are) There are many shades wayyyyy lighter then you are but still wayyyyy darker then blonde.
Light copper brown makes me feel blonde, but without the CONSTANT regrowth. It is just a lighter shade of brown but it’s COPPERY and LIGHT! 
I should have added that I got that from a colorist. Oh, and you’re welcome.
I’m anglo-indian, too (with some hispanic thrown in for good measure).
Right now I’m sporting my natural (medium chesnut brown but rapidly greying) color. However, in my 20’s, I was all about the hair dye!
This is the best advice so far:
One caution: get a *good * colorist. I’m sure some will disagree, but my experience has been you get what you pay for–at least until you’re used to it and can tell when a colorist is about to make a huge mistake. Please don’t get a home kit your first few times. I love the look of nice highlights, but I work with too many women who buy home highlighting kits and have striped hair. A good colorist also will tell you what tones work best with your complexion and cut.
Yeah, my hair-colour is hard to describe. It was jet-black when I was a little kid, but know it can best be termed “almost-black”. In that it’s black but has red and brown highlights in the sun. Weird huh?
We’re a rare breed outside of India, I find. I’ve got some Portuguese ancestry, on my Indian mother’s side.