I'm growing off old bleach on the bottom part of my hair and it's driving me nuts.

I was in the bathroom with the scissors but ended up only snipping the ends of a half dozen hairs.  But I get the urge sometimes to just lop off all the part that has the old color on it, but I would lose some serious length and it might even require some layering to get it off all the tips.

I don't really think the whole problem is hair related though.  I've been having a lot of family stress for a while now and I guess hair is just something I feel like I can control when I can't control anything else.

I'm sorry, I'm getting off-topic here.

Anyway, are there ways to deal with the different textures of two-tone hair?  I don't want to cut it really, because it is just now getting to a point where I can put it up well with only a few used-to-be-bangs sliding out.

Sorry for whining so much.

strawberryfine :(

:-/ Sorry to hear about your family stress.  The first thing I want to do when stressed out is chop all my hair off, too.  Today I was really tempted when I took my little one in for his haircut.

Strawberryfine,  I SOOO know where your're coming from.  I had a chin length bob with heavy blonde highlights in the summer of '03.. I kept it that way for a few months and then got serious about growing it out
about a year ago Dec'03.  I kept highlighting it for a couple more months, though, although I switched stylists and the new stylist did not use bleach(the old
stylist did) and used a high volume developer golden
blonde ( I think she told me) My hair was fairly damaged
when I found this board, mainly due to using the curling
iron and blow dryer with a round brush to make my ends
curl under.  Not on a daily basis, but about 2-3 times
a week.   After trying the tips I saw on the ultimateguide to growing long hair,no heat styling and
changing to SLES or non sulfate shampoos and washing
twice a week,instead of every other day, oiling,ect.
My hair greatly improved, and now I'm below shoulder
length about 1-2 inches( I've been trimming a lot to get
rid of the damaged bleach.  My bleached part is still
damaged, and always will be.  I know eventually I will
have to get it all trimmed off.  But I can't bear to cut it
now because by this summer I could be BSL if I let it
grow.  I saw a movie the other day, and a woman had a chin lenght bob (the cleopatra look_ and I thought, I
should cut it like that, just get rid of all these damaged
ends and start ofver, then I could do henna or put a red
colour on it.  I don't dare to do those things now.  But
that would be losing a whole years growth and I know I
would be really upset with myself if I did that.  SO I'm just
trimming a little at a time, and letting healthy new
hair come in(except that I went and got brown lowlights
on Nov 1st )  that was how I dealt with the two- tone look.  But I don't know if that was the right thing to do.
Sure, It helped with the two tone look, but now I have more chemicals on my hair to grow out.  Oh, well.  I know
where you are about it, I won't cut if you won't.

I forgot to mention that wearing my hair up in twists and
buns help with the two-tone look.  If you can get your
hair long enough to do that, it helps.  I hope your stress
gets better!

No suggestions, but I wanted to offer my support.  Mine are driving me nuts too, but I have a TON to grow out.  I really think I'm going to get my ends dyed to match my roots.  I hate to damage them more, but at the same time, I don't feel like I can do much worse to them than I have.  And then the next 5 years might be a bit easier.  

I've always had two-tone hair.  Some of it is due to coloring, some is just natural lightening.  It used to bother me a lot, but not since my hair has grown so long.

I know this suggestion might not be "politically correct" for this site, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do.  You might want to consider using a hair color to darken the ends to match your natural hair color.  Although this might cause more damage, it will minimize your feelings about your two tone hair.  If you do this, be sure to condition your hair after the coloring.  Try to color only as much as necessary and avoid too  much on the roots.  Use a quality product or have it professionally done.  

You might also consider low-lights.  This would add darker color to the ends without coloring all of your hair.

We all talk about how damaging coloring your hair can be and this is true.  However, I have hair that was colored that is now almost classic length.  No, it is not in the best of shape, but it did survive to that length.  I do plan to trim it off little by little.  I'm telling you this so that you can realize that damaged hair does not always mean it has to be cut off immediately.  You can wait years to trim it if you keep taking care of it now.

I can't believe all this incredible support!
All of you, my friends on this board, are so special to me!

sf :)