How do you lighten dark hair?

Question

I am naturally blonde. I have dyed my hair darker and darker over the past few years. It is now black. How can I lighten my hair?

Answer 1

Visit a Salon.

Answer 2

Some of these answers are almost spot on, others are rubbish!

Me and my best mate had the long process job of bringing her hair from black (she went through a gothy stage) back to her natural blonde colour.

We are both trained hair stylists. First i used a colour stripper (please get this done at a salon) to remove as much of the colour as possible, then put a high lift tint with a bit of bleach in to give it a kick. It doesnt lift as light as bleach, but doesnt knacker it so much either.

Also, as we were leaving the underneath dark, it would have been too much of a contrast.

I put a few lowlites through the underneath (as its very patchy when stripped)

We carried on like this for a few months. But let the underneath grow out. She now has her gorgeous light blonde colour back, and as the underneath was left to grow, we could then bleach it up without the risk of it snapping so we could dye it pink.

Oh and the tip about dying a warm colour like red....ignore!!!!!! That will only drag the whole process out as red is worse to get out the hair than black!!!!!

Answer 3

you can alway's use lemon's. other then that that ask another qustion even right here about if anyone has had a bad experiance with highlights or dieing their hair. then if the out come is what i will expect it to be show your dad the results and tell him that stomping on one's creative style can cause more greater damage then good i have seen more bad happen from parents saying NO to a style issue when the child (or adolesent) turns around tring to find their own way of doing things if not then when they trun 18 they do it out of a overdose on freedom and really mess up. I was a military brat growing up and my father would never let me do that when i asked him if i could make my blonde hair darker he said no so i went out and got blue pink and purple hair dye , and yes it was cute in high school but then i was lucky that it didnt go drasticly wrong i saw others do the same kind of thing and came back with frize or nothing left cause they didnt know what they were doing. PS my experiance is not one to be followed going against my father's wishes did get me a 3 months house arrest so talk to him if you still feel strongly about in a week or two tell him you would rather pay the extra to have it done professionally then do it on your own come up with the money your self to have it done in a salon show him the cash and tell him "your" plan and he may be more calm about it.

Answer 4

I am also naturally blond,but it's a little ash blond and darkened with the time.Now I use a good hair colour like Garnier or L'Oreal and they do not harm the hair much,even after usage the hair looks more shining and radiant.Don't listen to others who might tell you that there's a natural remedy to lighten your hair for example with camomilla etc.It just don'r work..Good luck!

Answer 5

If I were you I'd ask for advice at a Hair salon.
Persistant colouring can change the hair structure & lightening now should be done by a professional.

Answer 6

do it very gradually! get a professional to do it for you, do not just try stripping it all out in one big hit. If you came into me at the salon i would suggest doing a full head of blonde foils and bringing your colour down slowly so you could monitor the conditon of your hair through out the entire process, trying to force somthing like that to happen over nite can cost the condition of your hair, be patient and realise that black is one of the hardest artifical colours to get out of hair, (it will throw alot of red in the process) be patient and trust your hairstylist. Good Luck

Answer 7

Use a lighter shade of Garnier on uor hair and and get results by using it 3 times.

Answer 8

You have to bleach it first then put the lighter colour in that you want buy go to a hair dress and see if they can also help.

Answer 9

You will need to dye it a warm colour first (red) leave this to settle for a week or so then use a pre-lightener then bleach it back to its normal colour

Answer 10

Semi-permanent dye preparations do not contain bleaches, and are therefore safe to use. They can be used at home. Without bleach, however, they cannot color hair lighter than its natural shade.

Answer 11

Using peroxide would lighten it, I would go to a professional salon to have that done as your hair may be damaged if you try yourself. you will need to do it in stages, gradually go lighter to minimise the damage to your hair.