A million questions-all in one shot (with pics)

[MisStarrlight]

I need help!
Both my hair & nails are a mess!

First with the hair...
I'm a natural redhead & about 6 months ago I dyed my hair black. I <3 my black hair, but the upkeep is a pain in my bum. (If I don't do my roots every 2 weeks, it looks like my scalp is on fire.) That & I kinda miss being a redhead...I get tons of attention as a blackhead, but it was more as a redhead (yes, I like to play into that firery personality stereotype)...that & I got a killer new tattoo about being a redhead that doesn't make all that much sense right now.

Soooooo...can anyone recommend a way to get my hair back to red without having to loose too much length? It's taken about 2 years to get my hair to my shoulder blades & I kinda don't wanna loose all of it-if I can avoid it anyway.

And since I'm going to have to get it cut at least a bit, can anyone recommend a style that's got a bit of an edge (can be styled, but mostly doesn't need more than 5 minutes to be done)? I was considering getting bangs (like Chelsea from The Next Pussycat Dolls), but I'm scared that having bangs on my forehead during the summer will be a disaster. I want it to be funky, but I'm looking for a teaching job, so it can't be as crazy as it would be if I stayed at MAC.


And now for the nails...
I had acrylics for a bit, but recently (about 2 months ago) soaked them off. My nails have never been good-really thin & bendy, but since I took the nails off, they've been worse....worse than any other time I've ever worn fakes.
And now my nail bed is receeding or something...like, the white part is further down than it should be & they're red & kinda hurt like a hangnail. I've had to clip my nails down because water & such gets trapped in there & I figure that will cause more problems than clipping them & letting them "heal" & grow back.
I <3 the way that my nails look longer (but pretty short as far as fakes go...maybe a cm above my finger tips), but I don't have the money to keep them up & don't have health insurance so, as much as I'm guessing that I should go to a doctor, that is out of the question too.

Ok, picturessssss...

My current hair:

Natural color:

Chelsea (the one in the front):

My nasty nails:

 

[Shimmer]

Take multivitamins for your hair and nails, that'll help with your nails growing back out normally.
Did the person use a drill on your fingers?

As far as your hair goes, you're going to have to go to a salon nad have the black lifted :/

 

[amoona]

I'm not good with hair but the nails really don't look that bad. You have to remember it takes a while for your nails to recover from fake nails. It's been a year andnow my real nails are finally growing normally. Just like you I always had really weak bendy nails too ... I had a biting habit. I used to put that Sally Hansen hard as nails (or whatever it's called) and I just brushed that on to give my nails a little extra strenght. I got over my biting habit andnow I just keep my nails short and they're fine.

 

[Ms. Z]

Your Raven hair looks so pretty, shiny & healthy; I used to dye my hair black too and loved it. Bad news, you can't get light hair again unless you let that color grow out or bleach it (which should be done professionally). Did you ever hear once you go black, you never go back, well that applies to hair dye.

I stopped getting the wraps years ago because they ruined my natural nails. I had to let that grow out and use nail hardners because they were so weak they hurt.

Good luck.

 

[MAC is love]

Wow- I think your hair looks gorgeous either way. Sorry I don't know much about hair. But anyway...I got my nails done a couple of months ago, and me being impatient, I ripped 'em off. Anyway, my nails ended up allllll screwed up (worse than yours, but they did look like yours) so I went to a place to get them fixed. The guy kinda "buffed" the top of my nails and then fixed them up & painted them with a clear coat. They're normal now, and he charged me like $12 I think. So I suggest you go do that!

 

[user79]

Go to a salon and get a head of foils. That's what I did, but wait a while so the black looks really washed out. The longer you can wait, the better, because then your hair won't feel overly processed. I'd say wait at least a month or 2 since colouring until you get the colour lifted. Your hair will thank you for it. It is hard because the hair starts to look gross and washed out, but it's worth it. I had jet black hair for almost a year, then waited like 4 months between colouring and went to a really great stylist who lightened up my hair with foils. It's best to do it in stages, if you bleach your whole hair, it will be toast!

 

[Femme]

I know I'm not helping.. but i Love your hair all black. It looks reallyyy gorgeous on you!

 

[Inspired]

Your black hair is nice, but your red hair is stunning! It's a gorgeous kind of red! Anyway, you can't get black out unless you "decolour" it. With your lenght of hair, I would let a hairdresser do it. Those decolouring products can only touch your hair for a few minutes or they ruin your hair. After they took the colour out, they will put a colour simular to your natural hair on it. That way when you get roots, they'll match your hair.

 

[faifai]

Oh my GOD is your natural haircolor beautiful! The black looks really nice with the paleness of your skin, but the red is to die for. With the length that you have, and the fact that you've had to continually redo the roots, I'd say you pretty much have to go to a stylist to get the black removed. I would definitely say that you shouldn't try to do it all at once either, it will turn your hair into a fried, spongy mess if you try to strip all that black all at once. So...get used to wearing cute hats while you go through the stages?

And post pictures when you're all done!

 

[MisStarrlight]

Thanks girlies!

Yeah, I figured I'd have to go to a salon to get my hair done...and if for some reason I was stupid enough not to, I would get the professional dye stuff...I can do a lot myself (cut/color/etc), but I really don't trust myself with this big of a change...I've seen too many people go from black to puke green.
My hair is actually healthy enough to endure a 3 hour round of bleaching, but I'd rather not do that again...so yeah, foils sound good & then I can get that pretty multi-tonal red thing going on....I dunno about waiting for it to grow out/fade though. My boss likes to give me shit if I wear a hat for more than 3 shifts in a row.

Any opinions on the bangs?

And do nail hardeners really work? Is there any particlar brand that is better than another? I have a couple floating around my house (Nailtiques 2, Sally Hansen & then one I bought at Sally's that I tore of the lable of), but I never remember to use them often enough to see results.

 

[Tubachick02]

At a salon they should have several ways of lifting it outt, make sure the asses your hair first, a good colorist will not process it if your hair is not in good shape. Until then deep condition your hair 2x a week and take somee vitamins for both the hair and nails.. For your nails i use Sally Hansen Nail Strengthner with fiberglass along with cuticle oil, the cuticle oil will help the new nails grown in stronger.

 

[Krasevayadancer]

Nailtiques, nailtek, and opi's nail strengthener work great. Also, regular manicures are really helpful towards getting longer, stronger, prettier nails

 

[gator_tots]

For your nails try using Sally Hansen "hard as wraps" polish. It's about $5 USD at your local drug store and it comes in a blue bottle. It strengthens your nails. It's worked wonders for mine!