I’ve never heard of bleach making anyone’s hair fall out. It ruins the hair shaft and makes it easy to break off (which can sometimes look like it’s falling out), but fall out of the scalp it will not. The vast majority of people it happens to are those who bleach it several times/are very, very rough with it. If you have dark blonde hair or lighter, you can get away without bleach and only having to dye your hair with a lighter dye. If your hair is darker than that, you’ll need bleach. However, once you’ve bleached hair, put a toner (permanent haircolor) over it to cover up that raw-bleached look and leave it alone!! The only hair you should bleach is virgin regrowth. There are enough color treatments/shampoos out there to keep even the whitest of blondes sparkly and at their blondest, so there’s no need to keep bleaching to freshen up color.
Just before I go for my hair bleach I like to stick my hand in a hole where a scorpion is defending a rattlesnake, then I like to put a bone through my nose cartilage, then I like to tie-dye my t-shirt and wear bell-bottoms for a whole day, then I like to drink the urine of another man who ate magic mushrooms, then I like to be tied down while a razor-sharp pendulum slowly swings lower and lower onto my chest, then I like to wake up and discover that I’ve been transformed into a bug and that really bothers me and my mom.
Oh, bring it on, baby.
I used to bleach my hair too. I quit because I got really tired of the burning and the pulling off of huge melted slabs of scalp.
Hmmm… I’ve always been of the opinion that male hair-dyeing is sissified, unmanly and prettyboy-ish - in the same league as chest hair shaving, pec implants and fake tans.
Just get a good haircut and leave your hair the normal color.
I remember trying to streak my hair when I first started college. I didn’t read the instructions (I had been dying my hair since the 7th grade) and put it from roots to ends, not ends to roots, like the box said. Not smart.
When I washed it off I ended up with platinum blonde splotches all over my head (I have naturally dark brown hair) and looked like, shit I don’t know what the hell I looked like. I tried to play it off and go to classes but I ended up coming home halfway through the day and dying over it, it was horrible!
Anyhoo, hijack over.
Dude, wear a grubby shirt to catch the bleach. I’ve got a whole drawer full of “dye shirts.” And I know there’s got to be better smelling brands of bleach out there, the one I used smelled fine. Look around, try a different brand. Happy bleaching!
I am a natural blonde. (Well, dark blonde, but when I was dying my hair black, the roots looked platnium of course!) Depending on your situation, this might work for you as well: to avoid having to do my roots every two weeks, I would use black, waterproof mascara and brush it into my exposed roots. I could go a long time without having to touch up the roots.
Bleaching your hair repeatedly can weaken it and cause breakage. And L’Oreal Super Blond does have peroxide in it, in powdered form. That’s what the blue powder is.
Just while we’re talking about hair dying, has anyone here tried the L’Oreal Colour Booster? (At least I think that’s what it’s called). My hair is jet black, but when I used the red dye, my hair practically went ginger. Potent stuff.
vanitas, vanitatum
omnia est vanitas
Golden Gun, I hear ya! Back in the day when I was all about having straight hair, I used to get chemical relaxers applied to my roots every eight weeks or so. It was pure torture.
I had relaxer touch-ups applied professionaly and still walked away with chemical burns on my scalp. I have such sensitive skin. Waking up the next day with strands of my hair plastered to a scab covering a healing burn wasn’t my idea of fun. I’ll be damned if my hair didn’t look great, though!
I’m older, wiser and have grown to love my cork-screw, curly and wavy hair (I’ve got three levels of curls going on here in JuanitaTechLand). So do it while you can, Golden Gun. At sixteen, it’s worth it!
JuaniteTech, I have a favorite saying:
Break away from the Creamy Crack!
I guarantee you’ll never go back!
I used to get burns on my nape. I remember how fun it would be peeling off the scabs.
Oh…I’m howling with laughter over here…this is so true.
Yes, please trust RickJay…he speaketh the truth.
So, whatcha doin’ with your hair these days, monstro?
Wild and free, Juanita. Wild, bushy, and free.
vanity, thy name is SDMB.
sigh
-stonebow, who is convinced that there are entirely too many blonde asians in the world as it is, so will never bleach
Right on, monstro. Right on!
If you were truly vain, you’d be either waxing, epilating or shaving your
**
Anyone who doesn’t want their bushy hair is welcome to trade with me-my limp, baby fine, poker straight hair that I have to curl with a large barrel curling iron and set on sponge curlers for four hours just for a HINT of body.
Nature sucks.
Hah, I know what you mean, Guin. When I was younger, if my mom put a clip in my hair, you could literally watch it just sliiiiiiiiide down my hair. I finally got a bunch of hair hacked off a couple weeks ago (it was the old, damaged by hair dye ends, about 7" worth) so I’d have just fresh, healthy, natural hair down to my bra-strap. It turns out that even at 21 years old, my hair is still that fine and slippery. We needed to have my hair soaking wet to cut it, otherwise the hair literally slid away from the sharp scissors.
Dude, enjoy your hair while you have it. I did all kinda crazy hair shit in the late 80s & early 90s. If you’re not enjoying what you’re doing with it, do something else with it. It’s easier to change waht you’re doing voluntary than to complain about it.