disastrous hair colour help needed

[eatyourveg]

Had my hair done yesterday and it has come out much too blonde. I am usually a toffee/caramel colour but now look like a mutton dressed as lamb because its so yellow and artificial looking.

Is there anything I can use (lemon juice, bicarbonate of soda, some other old wives tale remedy) to get it out?

Its meant to fade in 20 washes but I need to get rid of it now before I go into work on Tuesday?

[EcoHappyHelen]

No chance. Modern chemical hair colours first bleach the hair, then add colour on top to the colour of the label on the bottle, give or take.

You could redye it, after testing, with a darker dye and I strongly recommend pure vegetable dyes that wash out, so you can grow out the very blonde bit.

PPD dyes make my head sting and itch so I binned the false red in case of severe allergic reaction (I'm an ex redhead who went dark brown after having kids - OH, the CHEEK of it!) and now I henna mine with Body art quality henna so there's no reaction to the remainder of the PPD dyes in my hair, not that there's any left after I had 5 inch chopped off the other week (it was very very long).

Henna only lies on top and grows out like normal dye but mine lasts better than the old stuff I used to use. The colour is brill, too.

Anyone wants any advice on henna use, ask and you shall receive (I'll start a thread) also if anyone wants to know how to go without washing your hair at all. I started a threat on the Omlet site about non-shampoo hair and it's had thousands of reads now, ditto the Green Living Forum thread I started.

[DonaAna]

It could be a urban legend, but Head & Shoulders Dandruff shampoo might be worth a try. It sometimes fades highlights / strips color.

[needcoffee1982]

what about trying colour B4 from boots, or does that only remove dark colour from hair? worth a look though! if you put a darker colour on lightened hair it will go really dark. i did it and had to grow it out, also faded a bit in the sun but my hair always does

[brookeslay]

ask for them to apply a vegetable toner if they are crap go to a five star good salon guide hairdresser.

[eatyourveg]

thanks all - I read dishwasher soap was good- don't have a dishwasher so I'm going to try Persil liquid before I go to bed. Hope it doesn't all fall out overnight! needcoffee1982 will go into town tomorrow and look in Boots for B4

[bristolcities]

It will not come out because that is just it to much has already come out. The colour has been stripped. You only option is to tint what you've got.

[cerealqueen]

You could put a semi-permanent colour over it - Castings or boots botanics are good but do a strand test first!

[Mirage]

Head and Shoulders does indeed strip out hair dye.My hairdresser advised me never to use it.

[CMOTdibbler]

If its too yellow, the get an Ash Blonde Toner sachet (in with the dye section) and put that in - the purple will conteract the brassiness. Or if you can't find that, look for Silver Sensations shampoo - again, its purple so will counteract

[TattyDevine]

Hmm you've basically gone too light but also its a brassy shade. The brassiness may fade, and/or you can help it along with silver or purple toners, however, it will not darken to your previous toffee colour.

I'd be tempted to chuck a Nice n Easy dark natural blonde over the top of it, then get some highlights to bring me back to a toffee streaked colour but that might be a lot of faff.

In the meantime, if silver/purple doesn't do it for you, you could coat the strands with a Nice n Easy level one which last 6-8 shampoos to get you through to when you can see a hairdresser or to buy you time while you decide on a permenant solution.

You could achieve a more beige or toffee blonde effect with a level one than you could just with a shampooey toner and they dont damage your hair.

[MistyValley]

If it's too bleached then there is no point trying to wash the dye out, as the hair is permanently bleached.

You can darken it to a darker blonde / brown (take your pick of the semis or permanents at the chemist).

If you want to try to keep it light, but just tone down the brassy yellow tones, you need an ash blonde / v light brown colour (avoid anything with 'honey' or 'golden' in the description). I think Nice and Easy do ash tones which are helpfully called 'ash'.

[eatyourveg]

bought some B4 but got it home to find it only gets dark colour out and you can't use it for hair that has been lightened.

Ended up with a nice and easy medium ash - its not so sunny yellow now and although its not my toffee/caramel it is less likely to get sniggered at by my students tomorrow

thank you one and all - think I might just age gracefully from now on