[Sticky] Share your Bleaching Horror Stories

Ooh please don't ever use sun in.  It's not a gradual lightener--it's peroxide that is activated by the heat of your scalp.  It's so bad for your hair, you have no idea.

I'm sorry for everyone's bad hair times 🙁

Oh :-0 il not use it again! Thanks for letting me know

these story's are horrific T_T
i've noticed they all seem to be out of ignorance or horrible hair dressers, i honestly dont trust hair dressers with my hair i rarely go, i've had the same hair dresser for 6 years and shes amazing but i've never had her dye my own hair i've only ever trusted myself to do that, besides shes very judgmental.

i've only bleached my hair twice onces was the under layer of my fringe 2 years ago which was from black dyed hair, im amazed now reading these but within the first bleach with 30 vol and blue bleach  for 30 mins my hair was already blond. im so glad it didnt end badly like these, but i also dont exactly understand how i happened.

I used to double process all the freakin time back in 2011 lol, especially when I was blonde. We don't have toner available locally and I was dumb enough not to buy online so I would bleach my hair and then tone with a light gray dye (permanent) right after. My hair was always crunchy! Had it all chopped to a pixie cut October 2011 and ordered toner online.

I remember when I first went pink, I diluted Cherry Bomb in conditioner and momentarily FREAKED!!! at how loud and vibrant it was. I took it to Twitter and a Twitter friend was all "Oh my! Can you dye it back to black (my natural color) and re-do the whole process?"

I was all R U CRAZY.

this is a great thread!

i bleached bathed on sunday and have rather uneven results..... every time i am tempted to do another i am going to read another horror story

After about 17 years of dying my own hair with no problems apart from occasional dryness that could be easily fixed with the right products, I've ended up losing all but an inch of my hair after having it fried by a hairdresser. After reading this thread, it seems I'm not the only one to have experienced the "wait...this has been on for a worrying length of time" thoughts, and the "triple processing? ah, I'm sure they know what they're doing..." - never again. What's left is like hard straw. I've managed to soften it slightly, and give it some life back with a Cherrybomb/AP care package. At least it now has some shine and a little more condition, but the breakage continues. A diet of regular treatments, coconut oil, argan oil and tender loving care, then I think it'll be the chop once I have enough for a virgin hair pixie cut. My trust in the professionals has gone 🙁

HELP I'm on the verge of becoming a horror story! My one thick, long, luscious chestnut brown hair (you get the idea) has now become thin and brittle and a lot like candy floss after repeatedly being abused over the last few years by numerous box dyes/salon dyes/bleach/peroxide and its now a bit black, a bit red, a bit brown and generally a bit meh…  SO! I've come to the conclusion that I have to cut it all off and start again or at least cut about 7' off but I'm contemplating one last attempt to get rid of the black and get to a nice amber/ginger colour, I'm just about to reach for my colour B4…what is the likelihood that I'll wake up bald? can it take one more battering…has anyone actually ever lost most of their hair from overdoing the dye?  (I would rough guess that I've dyed my hair about 15 times this year) Oh and laying off the dye isn't really an option as thanks to genetics I've been blessed with loads of grey hair at 27!!!

Colour b4 will dry out your hair which isn't usually damaging but since yours is already cottony i would be tempted to leave it. Also because of how porous your hair will be you might find that the smell sticks to your hair a lot longer than it usually would on a healthy head. Get the damage cut off, dye it close to your natural and find dyes that match to keep up your colour but only use them on roots instead of all over to give your hair a rest. Unless it is a vegetable dye like the ones on beeunique then they are safe to repeatedly use. Also invest in a good protein and conditioning treatment.

Reading all these makes my horror story seem like a dream!

I'd gone from box deep purple, bleached with 40% vol bleach for an hour, my hair seemed fine after drying, a bit dry at the ends so I covered my hair in repair conditioner, shower cap and went to bed. The next day I washed out the conditioner, dried my hair with my hairdryer and then put box red on top. The result was a hideous pinky-orange-blonde mess.

Luckily, I was well overdue for a haircut so kept doing overnight conditions for a week before going to the hairdressers and having 7 1/2 inches lopped off. (My hairdresser is lovely and styled it so nicely for me I cried with joy because it looked so nice after she was done.)

She told me that the same thing had happened to her before as well, she's very experienced in dying hair and usually has neon red and black highlights. She's the only other person I'd trust to dye my hair except she charges an absolute bomb for it!

eeek, 40 vol and then a box dye?! glad your hairdresser could save your hair!

She is a lifesaver honestly! I have definitely learnt my lesson!

my horror stories have come from letting so called professionals at my hair i spend $80+ to have my hair dyed from red black back to blonde the lady put a color stripper on my hair & left me came back washed it off i almost freaked as i looked like a multi colored leopard but i thought ok she knows what she doing dont freak i should have run there & then she then try to bleach my hair but this just made it worse & then none of the colors she tryed would take to to my hair i went home looking like a multi colored leopard 6 times before i gave up & just dyed it my self back to black red & i have scene been very reluctant to allow any hairdresser near my hair i try again 7 years ago to go back to blonde but i just ended up screw my hair so badly i had to cut it all off to above my ears from just above my butt 🙁 ive never been near another hair dresser other than for a small chop tho ive had plenty of horror stories of cutting my hair wrong too LOL & ill never try to go blonde again ...... i currently use 40vol with my Affinage b red for 30min & as much as some you keep say NO ive seriously not found any issues my hair not dry & awful feeling like it was with bleach (& my red is stronger & last much better only my ends fad badly but i dont used the Affinage b red all over i use directions over the whole head ...... i have to say i really love it my hair dresser friend did suggest 30vol as my roots arent too dark & should get the same life & effect .... i may try this just to see but i havent had any issues & ive used it for over a year like that now .....

40vol IS bleach, though. You are bleaching your hair...

And also risking burning your scalp very badly. the Affinge dyes aren't supposed to be used with 40 vol.

If you're dying the same colour each time then I'm guessing you're retouching your roots, in which case 40vol is a very bad idea. I used 40vol in a bleach bath recently (daft moment, picked that up rather than 30 vol) and even though I diluted the mix down heavily, a blob landed on my shoulder and two weeks later I have a dry sore patch there still. Never again.