Removing black dye?

[amandagoesrawr]

At the moment, I have black hair. I'm quite pleased with it, except I'm a natural blonde, so I get these atrocious pale roots! All in all, it takes too much time and money to maintain the black. So, like the fickle little idiot that I am, I have decided to take it back to blonde.

My hair is very healthy, but I'm terrified that stripping or bleaching will damage it excessively. I'm going to the salon to have it done -- doing it myself did not seem like a good idea at all -- but still... Does anyone here have any suggestions/advice/warnings/etc.?

Thanks!

[MACATTAK]

Bleaching is going to do damage to your hair period. However, if it's already healthy it should bounce back pretty quickly. I'd make sure to get routine trims, deep conditioning treatments, and limit the heat products as much as possible.

[mindlessgapgirl]

My sister just did the exact same thing, she has naturally light brown hair and had been dying it black for about 2 months and she wanted to go lighter...She went to the salon and they stripped it 4 times, and she is now chocolate brown...the other option you have is doing lots of highlights, but there is no guarantee that the blonde colour will come out the same throughout the length of your hair (certain areas might have more dye absorbed)...the best thing is to get it professionally stripped and not expect a certain result at the end, just work with whatever your hair will do and be prepared to spend a lot - it's pricey!

good luck

[flowerhead]

wash your hair frequently too - head & shoulders gently removes dye

[la.petite]

Two years ago I dyed my hair red, which I think is more complicated to remove than black dye (I'm naturally blonde, too).
But about one year and a half ago I was sick of dying it again and again and so I went to the salon and they stripped it 2 oder 3 times and dyed it lightbrown with a little blonde touch. The brown removed itself after a few months and now my hair is blonde again. But lighter as my natural color.
But I'm fine with that even though I look a bit funny with half of my hair lightblonde and the other half darkblonde
Well .. I have a few split ends but at least I'm blonde again
And I know that my hair will recover as soon as it's all natural again

[MACActress]

Black dye is very difficult to remove. When you go to the salon it will probably be quite costly and could take several attempts to strip =/ Going from black back to blonde all at once could be very damaging on your hair, I would suggest going back gradually. You'll probably need a trim once you get the black removed though, and second the deep treatment. Eventually, but not right after you get your hair stripped, you'll probably need a protein treatment, and Sally Beauty supply sells aphogee, which is an excellent one that you can do at home. It also might be a good idea to stop using shampoos and conditioners with silicones and sulfates.

[MissChievous]

I used to have black hair and before going to the salon, I let it wash out as much as it would for a few months before I got it stripped. Basically, my stylist did a head of foils, where he used a bleaching agent with the hairdye to remove the darker parts, and deposited color as well. He didn't bleach my whole head, he did lots and lots of foils. The next time, he did more, until basically my whole head was removed of the black. It didn't seem too damaging at all because I didn't do it in one step, I did it gradually through foiling. It was very expensive but so worth it because it looked great and didn't really damage my hair very much.

[chameleonmary]

I have had to go from black to light brown after similar problems to you... I must say, stripping will be the most effective thing to remove the colour, but you are left with a lot of damage afterwards... in fact, many hairdressers I asked flat out refused to strip my hair, and it has always been in decent condition!

I lightened my hair gradually, which was a little frustrating... I got highlights done all over the hair, then another set of highlights all over a few weeks later... it gradually lightened to the point where I could colour it medium brown with little black undertones. Thats what I would do again, if your only frustration is the obvious roots, I wouldn't rush it!