Should I strip my hair of brown dye before going blonde?

[PepsiMaxLime]

My hair is naturally very dark brown but I now have so many greys that I think I’m going to have to bite the bullet and go blonde. I want to embrace the greys naturally but I just can’t bring myself to do it! I’m not even mid thirties yet and think grey will age me.

I’ve been dying my own hair for years, should I work on getting rid of the build up before seeing a hairdresser about going blonde? Should I use those hair stripper boxes or will this cause damage?

Any tips for going lighter much appreciated!

Don't have the answer sorry.
I have dyed brown hair and am off to the hairdressers to get a full head of highlights. Hopefully I'll be able to go lighter slowly. I don't think I can afford to go blond without a lot of work and bleach!

Yes remove the dye first.The kits in shops work well,no damage but have to rinse out for ages or it will just darken again.
If you have long hair may have to do it a second time on the ends as its been colored longer.

I wouldn't try removing it first before seeing the hairdresser tbh as you might ruin the condition of your hair.

I'd recommend having your roots topped up with a few highlights on a couple of visits then go just highlights. I went from blonde to mid brown a year ago and have worked my way back to blonde over the last 3 visits.

Thanks all!

Agree with speaking to a hairdresser first!

The process of stripping the colour first may cause just as much damage as colour or bleach. If you then tried to colour/bleach over that damaged hair, you will fry it!

I'm in a similar position to you. Box dyed dark brown for years. I actually bleached my own hair a few years ago and went back to brown last year. I explained what I wanted to do to my hair dresser. She has advised me to leave my hair alone for a few months! No dye at all! She's focusing on cutting the damaged bleached hair at the moment, letting the darker hair naturally fade and in a few months, going lighter. Yes it means awful grey roots right now (but I am prepared for that!). But it means my ends won't melt off.