Purple- take two. Need advice please

Hello everyone,

Long time since I have been on here. I've had the same hair for over a year now and am looking for a change. This post is going to be long, sorry in advance.

I'll give you guys a quick history of my hair:

May 2012: My first experience with bleach. I applied a box blonde dye onto level 5 hair and got golden roots and ginger length. I was impatient and applied violet by Directions directly over this base. Needless to say it didn't look great. After a wash or two it faded terribly.

July 2012: Decided to get a salon red semi to cover the dodgy colour. Kept up the colour with various semis by directions.

September 2012: Went to a salon to have my roots bleached. She also added highlights. Continued with red colour.

January 2013: Tried one last time to go purple. Used colour b4 and achieved a sandy blonde base with blue staining in the highlighted parts. Again being too impatient, I skipped bleaching again and went straight onto purple. Like before, it looked good for a while but faded awfully.

March 2013: At this point my hair was dry so I decided enough was enough and had about 3 inches of damage cut off and had my hair dyed a permanent salon level 4. I insisted on having some colour, so the stylist bleached a section of hair at my temple and dyed it pink. It's been the same ever since.

I bleach the roots of my pink section every 2 months or so and last month I used Casting Crème Gloss 400 as the brown part of my hair was faded at the ends. I got it cut last week, about an inch, but I am trying to grow it, so avoid cutting it as much as possible. I use hair treatments about once a week and my ends are ok, but because my hair is fine, I am prone to getting split ends easily.

So I guess my main question is, what is the best way to proceed if I decide to try to get purple again? I will be waiting another 4 months or so and will be babying my hair in the mean time. Should I go to a salon for my first bleach (I am going to insist on using coconut oil during the bleach) or should I attempt it myself? If I am aiming for a rich violet blue based purple, what base do I need? Would it be wise to do a colour B4 before attempting a bleach? Is it completely unrealistic to hope to continue growing my hair while it has been bleached? I would be hoping to use Special Effects Deep Purple or Pimpin' Purple.

Ok, I think that's enough questions. Sorry this is so long and thanks in advance for your advice. I'll insert my current hair here so you have a better idea. Thanks  😉