STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Chic · Marc Jacobs

ROOTS...HELP!!!!!

Tara · Dooney & Bourke

Hi Chic! I too am victim to my blonde highlights......and my natural color (which only VERY few people have ever witnessed) is fairly dark brown. Here are a few suggestions.....try using a blonde enhancing shampoo. My mother swears by the one from Aveda (and it smells very nice too). Also, do you get foil highlights? I had always used foils until the past ~2 years. Now I get the kind where they paint the color directly onto chunks of your hair. I forget the name, but it sounds kind of like "decoupage". Anyway, using this technique does not give you a blunt root line. Thus, as your hair grows you don't get the telltale dark line. Honestly, it makes a huge difference. I only get my hair highlighted ~3 times a year now!

As a matter of fact, I just got my hair done last weekend, so if you want to see some pics of my highlights, just let me know.

A third & fourth tip from my stylist is to make sure you don't wash your hair before highlights because hte natural oils actually help absorb the dye. I try to go w/out a wash for 2-3 days prior to highlighting. Also, she recommends that you don't shampoo everyday for at least the first couple of weeks (I usually break this rule though).

HTH!!!!

Seashells · Dooney & Bourke

I was also a victim of this horrible trend. I was totally blonde once, it was so hard to go back.

What I did was invest in a great colorist who did exactly what I wanted with my hair. Also, knowing that I inevitably will go back to the awful blonde, I bought a color conditioner that actually contains toner. I got Matrix Biolage and it has worked so well for me. That is definately my biggest secret.

Also, since summer is coming, spf for your hair and the toner will keep it from bleaching again.

gruiz · Kenneth Cole

I had the same problem. I asked my stylist to give me some lowlights (brown) at the same time she did the highlights (blonde) and it seemed to hide the roots for a little longer. I did eventually give up on the highlights for the winter and had her dye my hair close to my natural color. I didn't realize how stressful taking care of my roots was until I didn't have to anymore.

That said, I'll probably go back to blonde highlights this summer. sigh.

blink · Coach

Okay, by now you have already been to your stylist, but...

I did this for YEARS too, since 1990, and I am naturally dark brown. I have been platinum and used to even do my own roots (and eyebrows) for a couple years with bleach and platinum toner. I had the benefit of friends in beauty academy at the time, so I didnt have to shell out tons of $$$ for a stylist. Most of my adult years though, I went to a stylist for two tone highlights about every 6 weeks, usually a light buttery color and a darker rum color. If I was starting to look too blond, I simply picked a darker colors for both highlight and lowlight and that helped my roots look less obvious....and extend the time between touch ups to save some money!

To quit the blond thing altogether, you can either gradually keep getting more lowlights and highlights, each time asking for an increase in the strands of lowlights.

OR you can try dyeing your hair light brown. In order for this to NOT LOOK MUDDY, you need to be sure your stylist understands that you need a light reddish (think strawberry blond) or even a clear filler applied to the blondest pasts, THEN apply SEMI PERM light brown color mixture. With semi-perm color, it will start to fade out, but when applied to bleached hair, it will really not wash out because your bleached hair is like a sponge soaking up a stain. But the important thing is that semi perm color will be an easier transition to your roots, it will appear more translucent than permanent dark pigments, leaving your former highlights actually visible, only darker, and it is less likely to leave behind that muddy look that occurs when you put brown pigment on top of bleached/processed hair.

Chic · Marc Jacobs

I am blonde again! I want to stay blonde and have no plans for going darker anytime soon.

Well this is what happened. My real hair is ashy, so we after a few months it begins to show. So we are going to put a gold wash on my hair every time I go and change the time frame. I am going every 6 weeks and alternate my full highlights to every 12 weeks versus 2 times a year. I also got a color enhancing shampoo from Redken to use every 3 days. I feel better. I trust her more than anything and she always fixes me when I am in a rut.

Thanks everyone! I just wish that they could inject you with something to change your hair permanetly so it will grow in that way! I know too much to ask!