So, up until a couple days ago I had (dyed) black hair.
I decided to bleach it (first mistake) so I could lighten the color.
Then today I colored it red.
Now, my hair is red, with a few distinct black spots in it. For some reason apparently the bleach didn't take everywhere.

Now I know that I need to get it professionally done. But seriously, I'm BROKE.
If I put my hair in a ponytail it is semi-tolerable. You can still see a few spots, but it isn't nearly as bad. If I wait, say, a week then perhaps try to cover it all with a brown color, do you think this will work? I don't want my hair to like.. break etc.
I KNOW I'm an idiot. I'm just trying to fix this as cheaply and easy as possible.. if that is possible.
Any suggestions would be highly appreciated.

3/26/2006 11:27:13 PM

I know a girl who reminds me of Cher
She's always changing the color of her hair
She don't use nothing that you buy at the store
She likes her hair to be real orange
She uses tangerines

3/26/2006 11:30:52 PM

you emo bitches and your damn black hair

3/26/2006 11:38:07 PM

If you're trying to go red and don't mind it being permanent (as in, not fading as much and unable to bleach out) then I'd try using henna, since it doesn't have chemicals and won't fry your hair.

If you just want to stick with chemical coloring, I'd say that you should get a good deep conditioner (like Aussie's 3 Minute Miracle) and apply it to your hair every night, leaving it on under a shower cap with a hot towel wrapped over it. That should help repair the damage you may have now and possibly protect it from breaking when you dye it again. If you want an even better deep treatment, mix the conditioner with honey and aloe vera gel (without alcohol in it) and microwave it. The honey will help your hair hold in the moisture and aloe is very nourishing and calming.

3/26/2006 11:42:45 PM

I say you rock it like it is and call anyone who thinks it's weird a bourgeois dinosaur.

3/27/2006 2:42:05 AM

lets see a picture

[Edited on March 27, 2006 at 3:40 AM. Reason : actually, not that interested ]

3/27/2006 3:39:39 AM

YOu shouldn't dye it for at least 3 weeks. No where that does porfessionally will touch it for like that long. I dyed mine and it reacted and my hair turned purple and it was horrid.

I wore a hat and washed it compulsively with non hair color protector shampoos. I found that geez I cant remember (next time I go grocery shopping I will look for the name) actually was washing my permenant hair dye out of my hair. So after a week washing it two times a day it was bright purple.....

After 3 weeks, I went and had it redone. YOu have to save both packages and know the name or they won't touch it either, cause over processing will cause your hair to fall out. LEt me tell you how badly my head burned when she redid it cause of the chemical reaction.

Good luck

3/27/2006 3:50:21 AM

Quote :

"I say you rock it like it is and call anyone who thinks it's weird a bourgeois dinosaur."

I love the term bourgeois dinosaur. It sounds cool and is fun to say. Kind of like boozebag, it's such a cool word you still smile when someone is saying it about you.

3/27/2006 5:47:37 AM

Quote :

"I say you rock it like it is and call anyone who thinks it's weird a bourgeois dinosaur."

that is pretty much your only option if you care about the health of your hair -- does it basically feel like straw? Bleaching dyed black hair is pretty harsh and as mentioned above, if you do anything else you risk hair loss (except henna, as a girl mentioned, but I don't know how that would turn out. . .) I dyed my hair black and went to a salon to try to reverse it, but the most that they could do was strip and highlight lots of sections to make it multidimensional -- they wouldn't bleach and color it since that's too damaging to the hair. This was back in December and I'm still trying to get my hair back in shape and as soft as it was before -- maybe you have stronger hair than I

The suggestions above are great, but def. do not dye your hair for awhile -- maybe go into a salon and ask when it would be best to try to dye it again (that shouldn't cost you anything) -- but for now, condition the hell out of it and, if you have the money, try some reconstructive therapy (like a protein or kinetin mask) ; those will be around $15-$20 and NeXus has some nice stuff, if you can afford it

it sucks, but it's only hair -- it will get better! Good luck

3/27/2006 9:39:12 AM

wow no one said it yet.. just shave it off and retry....

3/27/2006 10:02:55 AM

When I screwed up my hair by dyeing it black I had to wash my hair over and over with a clarifying shampoo (pantene) with a little bit of baking soda mixed in to fade out some of the color, that really tried it out. And I moisturized it as much as I could with the Aussie 3 minute miracle and lots of tresseme conditioner. Finally after 2 months one of the directors (highest level) at mitchell's said she would fix it (no one else would because it's really hard to strip hair correctly). She had to cut most of it off, it was really long and she cut it above my shoulders and stripped it, made it orange and then colored it and it turned a really dark dark brown. Now my hair is back finally normal, very soft, natural color, and longish. It's been a year and a half and lots of hair growing vitamins.... I'm never screwing with my hair again, never going cheap again either.

3/27/2006 10:21:08 AM

Good advice in this thread - I wouldn't put any more color or bleach in it.
When I want to fade a hair color, I use Prell shampoo. It's dreadful shampoo but it will fade the color that's on your hair now quite a bit. I imagine a clarifying shampoo would have a similar effect. I'd also go to Sally's and pick up some quality deep conditioner to put in your hair once a week to counteract the effects of the bleach/color and harsh shampoo. I've been in a similar situation and my hair turned to straw... I eventually cut most of it off. Needless to say, since then, I haven't colored my hair at all. Good luck!

3/27/2006 11:56:53 AM

def don't touch it again. pick up some deep conditioners (joico and kerastase are awesome but i doubt affordable if you are broke. pantene and loreal make some decent ones that aren't too expensive) and use nightly to try to salvage your hair and scalp from the chemicals. call around to smaller salons and ask their color prices *and don't be afraid to tell them your problem and tell them you don't have a lot of money. they might feel badly for you and be willing to help). back home, i only paid $30 for a colorist. and she was awesome. if you call around you might could find someone who could fix it and be quite affordable. you don't need an aveda colorist who charges $100. if you call, you can find cheaper. and they will be much more suited to actually fixing the problem and not frying your hair than you. remember to take the boxes to them.

3/27/2006 12:36:20 PM

I read in a magazine (I want to say Real Simple) that dish soap (like Dawn) will strip color out of your hair.
But this is obviously something you shouldn't hold me to.
I was wondering if anyone else had heard this.

3/27/2006 1:37:44 PM

why can't you have just learned from this experience and wait for it to go away and not dye it anymore

3/27/2006 1:40:24 PM

darker color is less damaging than light, because it's easier to add color than to remove it

but my advice is to just wait it out. You could try using a color-depositing conditioner to darken the whole thing without dye. Those tend to be expensive though, in the $20-$30 range

3/27/2006 4:41:27 PM

At the salon I work at this could be easily fixed for less than $50...which I know is still a pretty penny, but it's worth not having hair you hate.

What's your natural color? The best thing would be to bring you back to that and the type of color that is used to darken hair is very conditioning(called Shades EQ by Redken) and will help take away some of the damage you have done. Lightening it anymore will cause it to break(if it already hasn't) and red is a hair color that fades so badly...it will probably be orange in a few weeks.

3/27/2006 4:44:14 PM

Dawn will just strip your hair and make it even more damaged. DO NOT USE A COLOR CONDITIONER! They are meant for hair already that color and will turn your hair a horrid color if you try to use it alone. You can buy box color from the store if you want to go back to brown-the spots of black will blend in and it would only cost you around $10.

[Edited on March 27, 2006 at 4:45 PM. Reason : ]

3/27/2006 4:45:26 PM

Thank you all for your help.
I'm just going to cleverly pin it for a few weeks to hide what I am now terming "the ladybug condition" before seeking further help.

And ^^ I'm not in Ral. but if your salon can fix it for 50$ I might PM you later for more info about booking an appointment.

3/28/2006 1:41:58 AM