blonde hair that suits me or dark hair in good condition

[muser31]

please help me decide what to do. i have no budget for my hair. ive been bleaching it myself now for about a year, and have always suited it very light ash blonde, since i have very pale skin and blue eyes - people say i look scandinavian. but the problem is not only the hassle of doing it myself (not easy, especially getting the toning right) but the condition is just getting worse. i don't want to end up like those older people you see with hair thats obviously been peroxided for years. but my own natural hair colour (very dark blonde) doesn't really suit me. ive tried lots of different home dyes and they always go wrong - proper bleach seems to be the only colour that suits me. chocolatey brown colours look awful on me as im cool toned. i really want the condition back in my hair but it seems that i would have to choose between a colour that suits me and my hair feeling nice. am i missing any other options!

Is there a hairdressing college course near you? Prices at those are very cheap. Could you go once for a trim and ask their advice about maintaining condition?

I would rather have the condition. Maybe you are just so used to the lighter colour now that you have talked yourself into thinking that your natural colour doesn't suit you .

I think any colour looks better than that over processed frizz that can happen,

I don't think your natural colour can not suit you. Your colouring extends to your hair. To the degree that as you go grey, your skin colour

Ing will change too. Sorry for weird post. Phone fail!

Natural colour with highlights? Light ash brown home-dye? Your hair sounds similar to mine by the way, although no way would I be brave enough to bleach it myself. At the moment I home-dye it Cairol ash brown colour. You might find that if you went slightly darker you would need stronger make-up colours. (Need in the relative sense that is!)

i was brown before and all my friends have said i suit it much better blonde. so i know its not just me. i did need stronger make up colours when i was darker. maybe my natural colour with highlights would be an option, but that is going to be costly to upkeep. plus tbh i don't really like that look (dark hair with blonde highlights? when i did have dark hair before and asked for highlights, i asked them just to be a little lighter, she did them an orangy blonde they were horrible, and stripy looking!) oh i just don't know what to do. i know it still looks ok for now, but if i keep going it will lose the condition. maybe this winter i will have to just go back :(

Could you go shorter and do lots of treatments?

Totally agree your own hair colour can not suit you. When natural brown I was forever fending off 'are you anaemic?' but when blonde not an issue.

I wouldn't give up on highlights based on that experience. It sounds like your hairdresser wasn't that good. If you asked for very fine ash highlights with lowlights to break it up (from a different hairdresser) it might be better.

Otherwise like nicely said, shorter could be a good option.

In your position I would colour over the hair in a darker cool toned blonde so that when you redo it it is one stage and will lighten up your own hair a couple of shades. Something like a medium ash blonde should do it. If you want to lighten that do a few strands around your face that will be easy to restreak yourself but overall keep the rest of your hair in good condition.

thanks for all the ideas they have really helped. i have been thinking a lot about it and my mum said she would treat me to get it done properly at a good salon, which is great. i looked online and found some lovely light ash brown/dark blonde shades on pinterest (think Jennifer anniston when it was the dark ash blonde not the caramel colours) and i really think i could find one to suit me as long as it doesn't go too dark and be better in the long run

i agree that hairdresser wasn't good. because actually when she did dye my hair back to my natural colour, i did ask for ash brown, but it really wasn't. she didn't really show me a lot of colours, and the highlights really were awful. i think if i go to someone who really knows what they are doing it might work. i will ask them to do something that i can upkeep myself at home, and if not maybe get it done at a training school near me. this will be the better option as ive spent months growing my hair and short just doesn't suit me as its too thick.