Naturals who have highlights or color please come in. Help me, please.

[Kneechay]

So I have a consultation tomorrow to meet with a stylist regarding coloring my hair.

I hate my color and I think it's mad boring. I want maybe something auburn, reddish, light brown, or some highlights, shoot, SOMETHING.

If not, I'm just gonna put the Bigen Oriental Black in my head.

Please any of you naturals have you colored or highlighted? What products did you use and what were your results?

What should I know ahead of time and what setbacks if any did you experience? Would you do it again?

I have fine hair and I'm worried I'll damage it by coloring. I've read a lot of pros and cons, (more cons), but I'm really just bored.

What kind of alternative changes would you guys suggest if you think this is a bad idea?

 

[kittykhat]

Come on guys! I want to know too.

 

[Mitey Cyrus]

Are you going he Aveda route? If not, that's my one suggestion. HTH.

 

[luvn_life]

I am am a transitioning color girl. I have been transitioning for a year so I think I can help a little bit. I haven't noticed anything bad with my color. I have just had to up my protein treatments. I think if you go a couple of shades lighter your hair will do fine. Maybe try highlights before you go full head. You will get hooked. Make sure the person who is doing it is really good.

 

[LivinMyLifeLikeItsGolden]

Hey Nichi!! I had my consult on Friday and I am going in for my color on Wednesday. Let me know if you get it done before then, I would like to see what you get done. I need to color the hair I ordered too!! I think I am going lift my hair to a chestnut brown and then put golden highlights through it!!

 

[FlowerHair]

I'm thinking about lifting my color a couple of shades to blend the gray a little better.

 

[lilsparkle825]

i love your hair color....but i know how it is, i used to HATE my color when others would think i was crazy for wanting to change it.

my advice is definitely start with a semi-perm. i know toooo many people (myself included) who experienced setbacks when messing with permanent color. if you get highlights, i'd suggest just getting them in the front so that if they DO damage your hair, it's not all over.

 

[Kneechay]

Miteychick, no, she doesn't work at Aveda she's my friend's mom whom I've seen her do great work, so I thought going for a consult with her would be a great idea. why specifically Aveda though?

Thanks so much Luvn-life, so nice of you! I like your color. Are you relaxed? I am nervous because I want something to go well with my skin tone.

LMLLIG, I probably wont get it yet, after the consult, I'll still do more research. Ive heard way too many bad stories.

Here are some colors I've liked

but alternatively, i can go for dark dark, with the bigen oriental black rinse. ive always been a nia long fan and i think it could work because we have similar skin tones

eta: lilsparkle, i read your post after i posted, but im definitely taking heed to your suggestions

 

[I Am So Blessed]

hey nichi, i used just regular bleach and did it myself, as you can see in my siggy i had streaks, my hair is 100% black since a few days ago. got tired of being bleached, my hair has not broken off even with a relaxer. good thing for protein treatments

 

[FlowerHair]

Nichi, I love the first color you posted with the highlights...very nice!

 

[Kneechay]

hey nichi, i used just regular bleach and did it myself, as you can see in my siggy i had streaks, my hair is 100% black since a few days ago. got tired of being bleached, my hair has not broken off even with a relaxer. good thing for protein treatments

hey, thanks for contributing.
but wait, did you use bleach, bleach? As in laundry bleach? How'd you do the streaks and is it safe?

will i need protein treatments even if I'm not getting a relaxer?

Flowerhairm I like that color too, maybe a combo of the streaks and the reddish brown color in Wendy R. Robinson's hair.

 

[I Am So Blessed]

hey, thanks for contributing.
but wait, did you use bleach, bleach? As in laundry bleach? How'd you do the streaks and is it safe?

will i need protein treatments even if I'm not getting a relaxer?

Flowerhairm I like that color too, maybe a combo of the streaks and the reddish brown color in Wendy R. Robinson's hair.

i used hair bleach, but that bleach will also bleach clothes, i wore a black shirt when i did it. by the time i was done bleaching my hair, that black shirt looked like a dalmatian lol. color never takes for me so i have to use bleach, bleach will turn my hair gold in 3mins tops . and yes you have to do a protein treatment with any chemical treatment. if not, your hair will slowwwwwly but surely break. i have never experianced breakage. and i did my streaks with a tooth brush

 

[glamazon386]

I highlighted about 2.5 years ago and the dye ate my hair up. My fine hair couldn't take the color. Everytime I straightened it looked like my ends were chewed up and I had just gotten it cut when I got the color done. I had to get all the highlighted hair cut off gradually. I got my hair highlighted in September. By April most of the highlights had slowly broken off and were constantly clipped off bc of raggedy looking ends. I just got tired of looking at little splotches of color so I told him to clip it all out maybe in June.

I had them professionally done at the salon by a stylist who specialized in color and natural hair. I upped my conditioning and protein treatments but it didn't help. I'd say speak to the stylist at your consultation about upkeep and make sure you stay on top of it to keep your hair healthy. That was the first and last time I've ever dyed my hair and I'll more than likely never do it again. At least not highlights with bleach.

My hair did much better once the highlights were gone. I rarely trim now - maybe 1 - 2 times a year. With the highlights it seemed like every single time I went to the salon it needed to be trimmed. I only had highlights on the top of my head in the crown area. The other thing I didn't like was that the highlighted hair always looked frizzy in comparison to my dark hair too. I generally don't have problems with frizz.

 

[Duchesse]

I have fine hair, as well as my sister. We were on a Bigen kick for awhile, and it left both of our hair very crispy. Bigen is very strong and permanent! I've been wanting to color my hair for awhile, but the end result has always been dry hair. Henna, Bigen, rinses never took, Loreal, I've tried many things. Clairol Natural Instincts had been the best so far for me, but even then, it still made my hair a bit dry. I have crazy grays though, so I stick with this brand.

Your hair reminds me of my own, both texture and color, so I feel you on thinking the natural color is boring.

 

[Eritreladiee]

I don't think I'm gonna highlight again, at least not for a very long time. My last highlights were in Sept/Oct 09 and I didn't keep them for too long.

I have fine hair too and the highlights seriously weakened and dried out my hair. I did one protein treatment in Dec and that definitely helped. Perhaps I should've done more though.

I guess if you do alot of protein treatments before and after, don't go too light, lay off heat, then you could probably manage it.

Here's the colour I did (please excuse the state of my hair lol)

Oh and that Bigen Oriental Black didn't make my hair black afterward. I ended up having to use permanent dye, perhaps henna/indigo would've worked though

 

[loolalooh]

I'm using henna with dye release to get reddish/burgundy highlights. It's healthier than chemical dyes and strengthens the hair by bonding to it. The only down-side is you have to do multiple applications to achieve your desired color. So far I've done 2 apps ... may do another 2-3 apps.

 

[Zaz]

I personally don't like random chunky highlights like the Kerry Washington pic. With highlights, I feel you need low lights to go with them like the lady right above her (the Wendy Raquel Robinson pic). i don't have much advice about colour since I did it pre Lhcf with disastrous results, I'm assuming you'd be ok if you kept up with protein treatments.
Whatever you end up choosing I'm sure you'll look gorgeous

 

[msdeevee]

I am going to dye my hair today using T&T Cherrywood. I was inspired by the makeover on What not to Wear this past Friday where Ted Dyed her afro that hot reddish brown.

I have had dryness in the past when I've dyed my hair but now that I have a steamer I will be doing much more deep conditioning.

Can you all tell me exactly what type of protein treatments your using. Please!!

 

[mkd]

I like all the color that you posted. I have had color for years and I am growing mine out. I love the way it looks but my hair is fine and I just don't feel like it is at its optimum health with the color. Just for full disclosure, I was also using a lot of heat before I started my hair journey so I know that is part of the problem too.

 

[Kneechay]

Can you all tell me exactly what type of protein treatments your using. Please!!

I dont usually do much protein treatments, I actually have a conditioner with some protein in it, so I dont regularly do treatments. I have an aphogee treatment I may try one of these days. Sorry I couldn't help more with this.

After discussing with some friends, reading some posts on here, and other places, I have decided to not do the hair coloring. I really do want color but I also am too afraid of damaging my hair. My hair is fine and I do plan to use heat once in a while (not often), and I don't want any adverse effects. I think if I do decide in the future, I may try henna.

I just am gonna go with a jet black rinse for now, and not even the Bigen because I read on the box it's permanent and some say it can be drying.

Thanks yall for the contributions, but if there are more people with experiences, by no means is this a way to close the thread, I still want to hear from more of you.

 

[Deszdamona]

I have highlights with no trouble although my hair is super thick. I also henna which keeps my highlights looking nice. I'm thinking about going to Aveda to get it lifted a bit. I do stay on top of my protein treatments though.

 

[BlondeByDesire]

I'm color treated and have never had any problems ...

 

[glamazon386]

I dont usually do much protein treatments, I actually have a conditioner with some protein in it, so I dont regularly do treatments. I have an aphogee treatment I may try one of these days. Sorry I couldn't help more with this.

After discussing with some friends, reading some posts on here, and other places, I have decided to not do the hair coloring. I really do want color but I also am too afraid of damaging my hair. My hair is fine and I do plan to use heat once in a while (not often), and I don't want any adverse effects. I think if I do decide in the future, I may try henna.

I just am gonna go with a jet black rinse for now, and not even the Bigen because I read on the box it's permanent and some say it can be drying.

Thanks yall for the contributions, but if there are more people with experiences, by no means is this a way to close the thread, I still want to hear from more of you.

Nichi, I think it's a fine hair thing. Fine haired ladies just have to be extra careful. If I finger comb my hair too hard I can hear strands snap/break. It's just the nature of fine hair I guess. I'm bored with my natural dark brown color too. Maybe I'll buy some colored weave.

And you know some people have hair that no matter what they do to it (even things that may cause damage) it still thrives. My mom's hair is like that. It's super thick hair and is relaxed bone straight. She got her whole head highlighted and then grew the highlights out for the last 3 or 4 years with no breakage or damage. She just got the last little bit cut off the ends. Her hair is about BSL now. She doesn't even take care of it. She flat irons with the iron all the way up, doesn't use conditioner half the time, doesn't use heat protectant, etc. All kinds of nono things and her hair is still thick and healthy. I only had those few highlights in the crown and lost all my highlighted hair even after vigorously taking care of it. I was so upset. I lost a whole years worth of progress. My stylist was even like wth happened to your color??!?! It's not a double process why did it break off?!?! He was surprised. I think it's just a fine hair thing.

 

[tbaby_8]

I'm fine haired and I just colored my hair again a warm medium brown. This is permanent color. I know I have to be careful with my hair because it will break if you look at it too hard.

You can color your hair with permanent color, but you will have to up the moisture and the protein because color can dry your hair out. Try not to go too light because the lighter you go, the more damage you can do to your hair and you will get more breakage.

 

[ConsiderCamille]

This thread is perfect, I've dyed my hair plenty of times before I went natural (and b4 I knew how to take care of my hair) and I never had any problems until I bleached my whole head, led to me having to cut off 7 inches of hair into a bob.

But now that I'm natural I want to do something funky like put one random golden brown streak in my hair (i mean randomly anywhere). That way if it does dry out (which hopefully it wont b/c i know how to take care of it now) it's more easily hidden and my entire head won't be a mess.

Let me know how your color goes!

 

[NaturalPath]

My hair is fine so I know exactly what your concerns are.

If you have never gone lighter than black before

Just be prepared for the dryness that follows. I have gone light brown before with a blond streak and hated it because it loosened alot of my curl pattern; but this was prior to LHCF where I hardly used protein treatments and Dc's.

Nichi: you wear weaves every now and again right? Switch up the boredom by using different colors while keeping it looking natural. I didnt read all the posts so I dont know if this has been recommended

I personally loooooove jet black hair and it makes the hair look very healthy. Browns and reds tend to look dry and not as healthy.

 

[jetbeauty09]

I see you decided not to do it, good for you.

In the past, color ate my hair literally when I was relaxed but since becoming natural, my hair THRIVES w/color (lifting the cuticle). But I have extremely thick hair so that may be the difference.

 

[Ms.Christ3n]

Maybe you should just do a temporary rinse. That way there's no damage and you can get rid of the boredom with your hair. Rinses only last about 5 weeks.

 

[Kneechay]

Hey ladies,
I just got home, I'm going to do a Kiss Express Jet Black rinse instead. I called the lady who I was to meet with today for the color and canceled.

I will do a DC and a protein treatment also with the rinse. Along with you guys and some friends, they said I can experiment with colored weave and see how I feel first. I think that's best. I'm soooooo glad I consulted with yall first, yall dont even know how much.

 

[msdeevee]

I dont usually do much protein treatments, I actually have a conditioner with some protein in it, so I dont regularly do treatments. I have an aphogee treatment I may try one of these days. Sorry I couldn't help more with this.

After discussing with some friends, reading some posts on here, and other places, I have decided to not do the hair coloring. I really do want color but I also am too afraid of damaging my hair. My hair is fine and I do plan to use heat once in a while (not often), and I don't want any adverse effects. I think if I do decide in the future, I may try henna.

I just am gonna go with a jet black rinse for now, and not even the Bigen because I read on the box it's permanent and some say it can be drying.

Thanks yall for the contributions, but if there are more people with experiences, by no means is this a way to close the thread, I still want to hear from more of you.

I always say better safe than sorry so good for you on your decision.

I did my color today. I added a couple of ounces of protein filler to my color developer.

The color hardly took. It lightened my very dark brown hair to a lighter dark brown.

I think in a couple of months I'll go to the Aveda salon to have the color professionally done.