Ok, so for the last year or so i have been dyeing my hair. first with store boxes, then "unnatural" colors. I have bleached it twice in about 7 months and it seems fine. I most recently used Raw deep purple, however, after 2 months it is fading pretty badly, as those colors tend to do. I am naturally light blonde, with very non-porous hair, necessitating the use of bleach. So as I said it is currently a faded purple, much darker in some spots than others. my question is:
Do I need to bleach my hair before dyeing it back to blonde, or should a permanent color just go over the purple?
Thanks

Please do not apply a permanent hair color on your hair. It will make matters worse. If you want to go from purple to light blonde, you will need to strip or bleach your hair to a pale yellow stage and then apply a toner. I would recommend that you let a professional fix your hair.

Im having the same trouble at the moment. Ive been using Schwartzkopf XXL Colour - Cyber Purple. Recently I consulted a salon about the issue at hand and the stylist told me not to bleach it as it kills your hair (which I already know). She insisted that I tried semi-permanent dyes - brown in colour - for a bit to get the health boosted more. Then she suggested I try a permanent brown over which I'd get blonde highlights. It takes time I guess but bleaching is just hair suicide! :( Hope this helps and good luck!

Ok, so for the last year or so i have been dyeing my hair. first with store boxes, then "unnatural" colors. I have bleached it twice in about 7 months and it seems fine. I most recently used Raw deep purple, however, after 2 months it is fading pretty badly, as those colors tend to do. I am naturally light blonde, with very non-porous hair, necessitating the use of bleach. So as I said it is currently a faded purple, much darker in some spots than others. my question is:
Do I need to bleach my hair before dyeing it back to blonde, or should a permanent color just go over the purple?
Thanks

You won't be able to dye your hair back to blonde simply by using a permanent color over the purple. "Color won't lighten color". You may have to bleach it, but before you do that, you should use color remover, ColorFix, Color Oops, Igora Phantom. Those products will dissolve most of the artifical color so that it can be washed out. If you don't get it all out, it will "redevelop" simply by reacting with oxygen in the air, so you may need two applications. There may be traces of residual artificial pigment that will have to be bleached out.

If you attempt to bleach the purple out before using color remover, you will probably fail -- and after doing that, ColorFix and Color Oops will no longer work at all (overoxidized pigment can't be dissolved).

PrettyLady is correct that you will most likely have to lighten to pale yellow and then tone it.