Hello everyone, I'm new to the Long Hair Community forums, and I really just wanted to introduce myself and to get some support so I can steer clear of the scissors.

I originally cut my lovely long hair into a bob for the first time two years ago, after catching the short hair bug, and since then, I've been maintaining length and then giving up and cutting it back into the bob. With that being said, my current hair length is past my chin/mid-neck length, 15.5 inches when I used the measuring guide when I signed up to the forum, and I'd like to be between 27 inches or 29 inches depending on how I feel when I get there.

My hair colour story is a little bit different, I'm naturally a very pretty ashy blonde, and last summer, I decided to ask for 'natural' highlights at the hairdressers and left with a head full of bleach that didn't suit me at all, after that, I had a semi-permanent pastel pink colour, and since that washed out later in the summer of 2017, I have been darkening the colour with semi/demi permanent dark blonde and dark ash blonde to make the bright highlights less of a sharp contrast from my natural growth, but the demi deposited too much colour onto my roots and so I now have about 3 inches of natural colour growth underneath the top part of my hair, with the top section roots having only 2" of my natural colour.

After my final chin length bob cut on the 26th of January to try to cut as much of the dye off as possible, and one final demi-permanent dark ash blonde colour a week-or-so before that, I haven't cut or coloured since and have been taking really good care of my hair, with very little if any heat, only on my fringe/bangs with lots of heat protection beforehand and now I'm just patiently waiting for my natural colour to come back.

I'm trying to get back to the hair I had two years ago, which was mostly natural, with some very subtle touches of balayage and very long and pretty. I used to wear it up in milkmaid braids with sprigs of gypsophila in it, and it was lovely, I truly wish I hadn't tried to change it up, so now I'm waiting patiently for it to grow it out back to what it was.

Is anyone in the same position of growing out hair dye and their hair at the same time? I'm hoping to find some likeminded souls to share progress and this journey with, and hopefully, if I'm successful, avoid the scissors before the short hair bug catches on. I feel like with patience, I'll be able to get back to the hair I had two years ago. I'll post some pictures of what I'm working towards, to hopefully cement the goal in my mind so that I don't self-sabotage again:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/0uSrIoshX6Bq4SAP2
https://photos.app.goo.gl/3lHe0HyBFiMpUGzP2