Problem with ordering 1B is the knots behind the hairline are often visible. I have tried bleaching them but while the knots disappears they seem to be significantly weakened. Result: fullcap sheds to unusable status within a few weeks.

To get round this problem I'm considering ordering blonde hair next time them dyeing it myself to 1B colour using Clairoll 120, which I've used on other lighter brown units to good efffect.

My questions are:

1. is this a sensible option?
2. how long does the colour stay put?
3. if I want to leave some blonde highlights or streaks is it just a matter of wrapping sticky tape around some of
the blonde hair and dye the rest 1B?

yes, its an option. or perhaps you could just order the very front part blonde and then you have very little coloring to do.
DebbieS.

Hi Traco,

One factor to consider is that the donor hair you are getting is Indian which is naturally very dark brown or black to begin with so when you order blond hair, the factory must put the hair through harsh chemical treatments to lift the color. The result is overtreated hair before you even begin to add the dye. Treating it again by adding the color back unfortunately only makes it even worse. See my post about about using fabric dye remover prior to bleaching to lessen the knot bleaching time and unwanted shedding. I have never tried it before but I hear some professionals use this method with EXCELLENT results.

wantmorehair Wrote:Hi Traco,

One factor to consider is that the donor hair you are getting is Indian which is naturally very dark brown or black to begin with so when you order blond hair, the factory must put the hair through harsh chemical treatments to lift the color. The result is overtreated hair before you even begin to add the dye.

It is my understanding that ALL hair is stripped of color and re-colored before being ventilated. If this is the case, it is bleached, re-colored, then bleached again to make the knots disappear. So by ordering blonde and coloring yourself you are actually avoiding the second bleaching.

My next full cap order is going to be all #14 blonde. I am then going to foil off some highlights and color the rest #17 light brown. NO MORE KNOTS!

JRob Wrote:

wantmorehair Wrote:Hi Traco,

One factor to consider is that the donor hair you are getting is Indian which is naturally very dark brown or black to begin with so when you order blond hair, the factory must put the hair through harsh chemical treatments to lift the color. The result is overtreated hair before you even begin to add the dye.

It is my understanding that ALL hair is stripped of color and re-colored before being ventilated. If this is the case, it is bleached, re-colored, then bleached again to make the knots disappear. So by ordering blonde and coloring yourself you are actually avoiding the second bleaching.

My next full cap order is going to be all #14 blonde. I am then going to foil off some highlights and color the rest #17 light brown. NO MORE KNOTS!

Hi JRob!

I can't speak for Toplace, but I can tell you that I recently had this conversation with the owner from another well respected hair supplier. The factory they use does not strip the color from the donor hair when the shade requested by the customer is the same color as the donor hair. I am not a hair expert my any means, but it seems logical to me from a production standpoint as stripping the color needlessly would only add additional labor cost and over treat the hair unnecessarily. Toplace has great quality hair and I would be surprised if their factory wasn’t doing the same but maybe BA or Debbie can clarify this for us since you heard otherwise. Thanks for taking the time to share what you heard. I always enjoy reading the great tips I get from your contributions on Toplace.

Yea, I would like to know the definitive answer to this as well.

I was under the impression that they stripped all of the color and use fabric dye to color the hair to a uniform shade.