How long to wait before dying on bleached hair?

[Guest I_play_with_dolls]

4 bleaches

Basically I bleached my hair four time and got it the silver colour I wanted, now that the silver faded it turned into a light ash blond colour. Though I'm okay with being blond I don't want to deal with the regrowth so I want to dye it a darker colour. My hair of course after all that bleaching is a bit fragile at the moment. It's not fried, it's pretty smooth and soft however if you put effort on tugging on it can break easily. The last time I bleached it was either late October or early November.

Do you think by January it should be okay to dye over? Also I've been using the Aussie 3-minute miracle deep conditioner and though it helps a little I'm looking for some other sort of conditioning methods.

[Guest PinkWaffles]

I would give it at least 3 weeks before dying it.  

Darker hair dyes are actually more damaging to the hair than bleaching so, definitely keep putting on a hair mask to hydrate and repair like you've been doing.

Also, you have to keep in mind that your hair may or may not want to grip onto the hair dye- it most likely will "slick off" and have a few patches of greenish brown.  I've had this problem when I bleached my hair blonde and tried to get it back to brown- not an easy process and it will take maybe 2-3 times to get it a nice natural brown color.

  

[Guest soiia]

Since you don't hate the current colour, you can just wait until you see black roots to start considering dying back to a dark colour. While it seems like a waste of money, I do suggest you go to a salon to redye them dark, since drugstore dyes just won't stay on bleached hair for long. The last time I redye my highlights to black, it started to face after 2 weeks.

[Guest Tekashi]

Everything depends on your hairs condition. If they are not rought, don`t break and overall condition is ok - it should be when you`re using good conditioner - I think you should wait 2 weeks.

[Guest katesavill]

I would a couple of months more to make sure my hair is in good condition. 

[Guest LithiumCactus]

Um... you can dye it tomorrow if you wanted to... I mean, your not going to want to put a permanent dye on that anyway because it contains at least 20 developer and therefore lifts. Your hair is blond, it doesn't need to lift anymore. It doesn't have any color in it to lift so instead of getting out melanin or artificial color, it's just damaging the bonds that create the hair structure. And even months from now, it's not like that melanin is ever going to suddenly reappear or anything. When people just go to the drugstore, buy a brown box dye, and put it over their hair and end up with a greenish tint... of course that's going to happen because any box dye in drug stores that's not blond is not MEANT to be used on blond hair because it's formulated for hair that already has that reddish orange underlying pigment... that bleach blond doesn't.

Go to Sally's and pick up a deposit only, no lift dye. Actually no, go on amazon and buy some Redken Shades EQ along with their processing solution, which is basically 10 volume developer. Make sure that whatever color you buy that you get a 'natural'. There's two N's, one means neutral the other means natural. Get like a 7 or 8 N, put that on you hair and let it process and rinse it out. Also get what color you actually want your hair to be, after you put that red, blue, and yellow pigment in your hair, which is what N stands for, you can use one of the other shades EQ to get it brown or auburn or whatever.

The important part is by added that 7 or 8 N, your putting back in enough color to where it won't turn green, and secondly... by using a no lift deposit only color you are not damaging the cortex. I love 3 minute miracle as a conditioner, but to really restore the life of your hair you need a protein based reconstructor.

Also if you use a boxed dye... by damaging that cortex even MORE by oxidation, the color won't hold because since it lifts it's damaging the hair to the point that it can't even hold the pigment in. It just falls straight out of the cuticle the instant you start shampooing it.

That's the big difference that makes a salon experience. Unless we need to lift your hair color by a shade or two or dying your regrowth, chances are we're not using permanent dye. ;P We're using what we call toners, or demi-permanent dyes.

[F00LiiSH x3]

As a Hairstylist, I can say when going darker, you can dye it anytime as long as you don't mix with strong developer (under 10 volume is okay ) In your case, the thing you need is a non-permanent hair color with an activator that works a a glaze. I hope that helps.