A Hair Coloring Tale (advice wanted)

[Betty]

My daughter's hair is very very blonde.

But let me begin at the beginning...

Being frank, we don't have much money to spend on things like hair salons so I've been coloring my hair at home for years. We did the frost and tip cap on my daughters hair a year or two ago and all was fine. She's got naturally light brown/dark blonde hair and that was acceptable.

One fine day my daughter thought it would be fun to go darker instead of being blonde. With my husband's help, they did a color kit at home and she then had brown hair. Weeks later they did it again (the color was washing out a bit) and this time did not do as good of a job and it came out blotchy in places.

Enter my mother in law who offered to take her to a local salon to fix it. She came home with blonde highlights in dark brown hair... rather chola-ish. Not her best hairdo but whatever... it's hair and it grows.

Now it's a few months later and my Mom offers to get it colored somewhere again so it's lighter and more becoming and all that. I say to get something just a few shades lighter then her normal hair color so it grows in more naturally - as we won't be getting it done professionally regularly.

And she comes home really blonde. Stripped out all the color first and then colored it. She used to think her hair was the color of bean dip. (teens come up with interesting comparisons). Now it's more the color of lemon pudding.

So - the question is - how long is a proper time to wait to get the color something more natural? It's not really a good color for her skin tone... but I'm in no rush to have her go bald or damage her hair any further.

Do you think it can be done at home? I color my hair all the time and have for years and when we did the frosting thing we didn't have any trouble. Are their concerns about different kinds of coloring reacting and turning out odd colors or anything?

Any tips will be much appreciated. :)

[BarTopDancer]

No clue. I had maroon hair for years and then to get rid of it I had to strip it out and just let it grow. I would get random highlights put in to help with the blending. Not sure where you live but GoldenWest College has an awesome and inexpensive beauty school (that's where I got the work done).

[Snowflake]

Paging Wendybeth!

[bewitched]

I have dark brown hair that was blond for a bit (same process as your daughter's). I ended up having to cut my hair super short when I went dark again because I found the color wouldn't "stick" to the older, longer parts of my hair. Don't know if that's the case w/your daughter but you may be stuck having to apply semi-permanent color for several months until it grows out (or cutting it off).

[wendybeth]

Bewitched, you are hired!

Betty, your daughter's hair sounds like it's been overprocessed. There is a point of no return with regards to what hair can take in coloring, and with all the processes you've described it would be a minor miracle if it weren't too porous to hold color. When that happens, your best course of action is a semi-permanent color- the trick is determining what hue to go with to counteract any unwanted color qualities. (Brassy, too ashy, etc). What color pudding are we talking about? If memory serves, her hair is on the normal to fine scale in strand thickness, right? Anyway, you want to go with semi-permanent color because it sits on the hair- you don't have to worry about it getting into and staying within the cortical structure. (Over processed hair is very porous, and the cuticle does not lay back down and hold the color molecules in.)

[bewitched]

Bewitched, you are hired!

Betty, your daughter's hair sounds like it's been overprocessed. There is a point of no return with regards to what hair can take in coloring, and with all the processes you've described it would be a minor miracle if it weren't too porous to hold color. When that happens, your best course of action is a semi-permanent color- the trick is determining what hue to go with to counteract any unwanted color qualities. (Brassy, too ashy, etc). What color pudding are we talking about? If memory serves, her hair is on the normal to fine scale in strand thickness, right? Anyway, you want to go with semi-permanent color because it sits on the hair- you don't have to worry about it getting into and staying within the cortical structure. (Over processed hair is very porous, and the cuticle does not lay back down and hold the color molecules in.)

I know this only because I have had fab hair stylists. ;)

I found I could extend my semi-permanent color a bit if I used a color rinse (like my grandma used) as the color started to fade. I tried to keep my long hair but it just became too much upkeep.

[Kevy Baby]

I have two words for you: spray paint

[Betty]

Great advice from everyone (but Kevy of course, heh heh). I hadn't considered her using a rinse as well.

We are talking about yellow-ish hair.... more yellow than any other color. She had ashy blonde orginally. It would nice to go with something less yellow and more brown tones in it.

It actually looks better today then it did the other day - but there is no depth at all like "normal" hair has with strands being different colors as you work you way down to the scalp.

Do we need to wait the 6-8 weeks before trying a semi-permanant or can we try that this weekend?

I'm thinking that when we do it, we try for a gradual darkening bit as time goes by for less suprising results... any merit to that?

On a better note, she's at least using a conditioner every day now (teenagers sometimes do the minimum washing required and that's it) and also an after shower moisterizer/shiny maker product that's making her hair nice and soft.

[wendybeth]

Go with a Natural series dark blonde, Betty. If you use ash, it will only make her hair look muddy, or worse. Natural is more neutral- neither warm nor cool. Dark blonde will make it look light brown, and you're fine using it right away so long as it's semi-permanent. Be sure to apply it as evenly as possible, and and follow the application instructions for previously color treated hair. Gl!

[Betty]

Thanks very much for your help!