Help with Hair Color

[NotDesperate]

I dyed my hair red and I don't really like it! It was like a honey blonde (naturally) and I wanted it to be strawberry blonde but it just looks orange! I did it once before and it looked really nice but I guess in my sleep-deprived state I got the wrong box. What is worse is that I also got a permanent dye! It actually doesn't look bad, I do like it... just not on me. I know I will get sick of it but I don't want to spend $80 at the salon. So this is what I was wondering if I could do... Can I dye it a medium brown and then get a blonde box to lighten it up? That is probably a baaad idea, LOL! I know it will cost an arm and a leg to dye it at the salon because I have really long hair that goes down my back. Oy vey, lol. Next time I am bored, I am staying OUT of the beauty aisle! :eek: :o :rolleyes:

[laura]

Oh dear, I wouldn't dye it again immediately in any case. I would probably wait a bit and hope the red washes out some and then possibly consider doing a medium or light brown later. But you would probably have to leave it there for a bit, too, to keep from totally frying your hair.

But I'm not a professional, and I don't dye my own hair, so don't take my word for it!

[littlemia]

How long ago did you do it? I've used Color Oops before with okay results. It won't take you back to your natural color but it will remove your hair color.

[NotDesperate]

Oh, wow, replies already!

Laura, I don't usually dye my hair either. I only did it once before but I dont think I will do it again! I don't know why I did it, I loved my natural hair color! The only problem with brown would be that I am very fair skinned with blue eyes so it would look weird on me. That is why I wondered if I could do brown then blonde...

LittleMia, thanks for the tip on ColorOops! Where do you get it? I actually have already dyed my hair twice! I tried the red and it was too dark for me so I got a blonde box to lighten it up and it does look better but now that is two times. I dyed it the first time last Saturday and the second time yesterday. Do you think the color oops will still work?

[NotDesperate]

P.S. I also asked on Ask Yahoo (even though you get the dumbest responses!) and someone said red hair dye fades really fast, is that true? It was a permanent box... I want my blonde back! lol

[Tracie]

Red hair color does fade fast (even permanent), per my friend the hairdresser. However, my hairdresser says the do-it-yourself reds tend to last longer than salon red. Don't know if that's true! Maybe a clarifying shampoo or something will speed up the fading process?

[pontmarie]

Red tint does fade the fastest. There are various products to strip the tint off your hair, you can get them at the beauty salon, just make sure you get a really good conditioner, too, because all this coloring and removing will damage your hair. I just did something similar with my hair - stripped the medium brown color to go a few shades lighter - and I am conditioning it a lot. Good luck!

[littlemia]

I got the Color Oops from Walgreens. I think it would work on the blonde but the red has probably been in there too long. I'm far from an expert, though. Sorry! I've had one hair color disaster after another (and most of them were done by professionals) and it sucks but I bet the color will calm down after another week or two.

[Esq.]

I have naturally red hair that I color a darker shade of auburn. Red does fade fast, and salon color red does fade faster than box red, IMO. A clarifying shampoo left on your hair for about fifteen minutes a day will speed up the color fading process. As someone else said...CONDITION! Good luck!

[manda_kate]

I am probably too late for this, but I am a licensed cosmetologist, so maybe I can help.
Red does fade faster than any other color, however, color will not lighten color.
What that means, is that putting a blonde color over the red will not lighten it. To go lighter, you will have to use a color oops like previously mentioned, or a bleach. You can go darker without stripping the color, but not lighter.
You can try using a clarifying shampoo or Pert Plus shampoo, it has a really strong pH to it that helps strip color.
Best of luck to you!

[NotDesperate]

Thanks everyone!

Just wanted to update that most of it has washed out and now it is the very nice strawberry blonde that I intended it to be!

Manda, thanks- I was using Pert Plus (DH's shampoo) because I figured it had to be worse for the color than all my nice shampoos.

[Kanga]

You're right that red dye fades the fastest. It sounds like you've pretty much solved the problem and are happy now, but for future reference you can use baby shampoo to make it fade even faster. Most think it's gentle because it's used on babies, but it's actually the opposite. Whatever they do to make it tear free also makes it horribly drying on adult hair. To keep the red dye, shampoo as little as possible (like every other day or two days instead of every day) and use a shampoo for color treated hair).

With dye (not bleach) you can only go darker, not lighter. If the red didn't fade to a color you were happy with, your best cheap option probably would have been to put hi-lights in it to minimize the amount of red.

There's usually an 800# on the box somewhere who are generally very helpful when fixing color or even just helping you determine the shade you should go with in the first place.