I've had my hair every color except black. I was a natural blonde as a child,which got darker as I grew up, to a light mousy brown. I started dying my hair around age 16 using "Nice and Easy" from a box. Also did the lemon-juice-and- sit-in- the- sun bit. I have even had Platinum blond to please my husband. That was a nightmare-had to get a professional to lighten my hair, she used very strong peroxide. The roots needed constant touching up every 4 to 6 weeks, and it burned every time I got a touch-up. So I let my "natural" color hair grow in, took about 6 months. I'm now light brown with some gray. Anyhow, if you are making a drastic change, you really can't do it yourself. You need to go to a pro who will remove the old color and apply the new. Or go with highlights, which if applied properly don't need a lot of maintenance, only needs to be done every 6 months or so.Good luck and let us know what you do!

Sorry to read about your hair problems. I am not a hairdresser by any means - hair challenged if anything. But I owe the state of my hair at almost 56 to not over-processing during the years. I greyed in my 20's (iron grey unfortunately - natural shade being auburn). I single processed it over the years to its natural auburn. Note that I have dry, coarse, naturally wavy, extremely thick "Irish" hair. I did not do highlights - actually hair is porous as it is due to coarseness so I appear to have highlights. What is your natural colour - can't tell from your post if it is indeed blonde. Frankly, I think at age 16 you need to give your hair serious rest. I know you won't want to hear this, but I think the best alternative is to cut your hair - as short as possible to still look feminine and to suit your face shape. The fact that your hair is thin makes over-use of the chemicals harder on your hair. I know a woman my age who also had easy access to hairdressers thoughout her life but at age 50 she was told enough was enough - perms, highlights and drastic changes in hair colour - had taken their toll and basically her hair was toast. I would hate for this to happen to you. I see 8 year old kids at the hairdressers having their hair highlighted - by my age, despite the gentler formulas available these days, hair will not be in good shape. I would start first with the haircut and then work from there. And I would steer clear of the black - if it is too start against your skin now, it will be even more so later in life - many black haired ladies go dark brunette. I too am very pale but with a serious yellow undertone. My sisters inherited the gorgeous Irish blue-black hair - how I wanted it - but during 50s and 60s they peroxided it blonde - well they ruined their hair. Actually they didn't even suit the blonde. I once tried on a black wig and laughed so hard - this is when I realized I had such a yellow undertone so had I been born with the black hair, it would not have suited me. So then I tried on a blonde wig - and I thought the black looked bad. This was during the days when everyone wanted hair like Farrah Fawcett's - but did not have the basic necessity - the proper hair type. I have the proper hair type - but don't suite the colour/styles. I really hope you can sort your hair out - it will take some time - this is for sure - but a year from now things won't seem so bad. Just too bad about your prom - so I would do whatever is necessary to start the fix-up now. When I was 5 I had a Toni permanent - my hair looked like Shirley Temple's before the perm - hairdresser should have refused to do it. Had to have it because my cousin with the straight hair refused to have one unless I had one too. My hair, which had been to my waist had to be cut to about 1 inch in length - while my cousin of course was pleased. I have hated going to the hairdresser ever since. And Saturday is hair dye day - can hardly wait. So best of luck to you - and since it is always on my mind - please watch what you use on your skin as well - take it easy on the acids/retinols as they are not for everybody - especially me.

My hair has gotten dry and looks and feels like straw when I get up in the morning and I thought it had gotten thin. Not a pretty sight! Because of all the health problems I've dealt with this past year, I haven't had the time or ambition to do anything about it. Until this week. I made an appointment for a perm and asked if meds could have any thing to do with that. She said absolutely. (I had made a note to ask my doctor when I see him again in January.) I'm taking a blood pressure pill, a blood thinner, and the hormone pill, all new to me. I was wrong about the thinning; she remarked as she was cutting my hair that it is definitely not thin, but still very thick! Yay! She gave me a good haircut so I still have some fullness, and a soft perm, It looks good, but of course I can never make it look that good. I'm going to try the coconut oil and see if that helps. Sue

Well my nephew always claimed his mother was the cause of his raised hairline because she peeled his cradle cap off. This is the only thing I had to back me up and was uncertain if it was true or not. I seen my wife messing with the cradle cap and jaw dropped.