Lightening dark brown hair. Advice please!

[Halloumifriesforbreakfast]

Hi,

Firstly, nobody panic! I'm not going to attempt this at home!

I am 35 with long dark brown hair and more than a few greys. Not loads, but a fair few. I have a growing out balayage already, but kept my colour quite far down, but now I'm thinking that the darkness of my natural colour against my pale skin, is no longer flattering.

I'm nervous about the commitment tbh, but given I'm going grey and don't intend to embrace that, I will be dying my hair regardless I suspect.

I'm also nervous about damage. I had treatments during my colour to protect it, but it is definitely a little brittle and there has been some breakage.

Anyway, does anyone have any ideas and/or experiences they'd like to share?

Thanks

Bump

Nobody?

Well you already know to go to a hairdresser. The way I have done it is slowly as as well as being dark I also had darker dye throughout. First time they used some sort of special non bleach lightener and did a whole head of highlights. Went back a month later and she used bleach and toner, again a whole head. I'm going back for a third go. Talk to your hairdresser

I did exactly the same with a hairdresser. I had an initial consultation and cut and went away to use olaplex 3 on my hair once or twice a week for a month to strengthen my fine, thin (awful) hair.
I then went back after a month and they did a bleach cleanse on my hair, and then recoloured it a more mid/golden brown.

I now have the colour done every two months at the salon and I supplement this in between with a nice n easy light/mid brown root dye because there's no way I'm paying to have it done professionally every month

I was conscious as I headed towards 40 that I didn't want to be one of those older ladies who dye their hair an unconvincing, super dark colour. Any good salon will give you a consultation and tell you what they recommend. Go for it!

I had mine topped up yesterday. I'm dark brown too but with mid/light highlights. I keep my roots dark though so I can do them myself. They come through every couple of weeks and would cost me a fortune otherwise.
Every time I wash my hair I sleep in a hair mask though my hair has defiantly suffered

Thanks for the replies.

@Ladyratterley, I hear you! I don't want to end up looking witchy and I think if I just embrace the dark, but not the grey, that's exactly what I'll look like.

I'm a bit more cautious because my hair seems to have thinned a lot of the past few years. I had super thick hair before, so I could get away with it to an extend, but I don't want to lose even more! I've been assured that bleach doesn't make your hair fall out, but I obviously don't want to damage it further.

Yep, I wanted to avoid the witchy look!
I have thinning hair and it seems to make it look better now it’s a bit lighter. The initial bleach wash didn’t seem to damage it. If anything it made it look a bit thicker as it gave it a tiny bit more texture.