Should I dye my dark hair blonde??

[ralice]

I've dyed my hair dark brown for the past 10 years. I'm stuck in a rut fashion/style-wise (jeans, converse and a tshirt every day. 'Dressing up' is swapping slim-fitting light blue jeans for dark skinnies) and I really need to change SOMETHING to give me more confidence and to help me feel, well, nice again.

I bought some colourb4 to strip the brown dye out and also picked up some blonde. Only now I'm too scared to go through with it!

If it's not clear from the (terrible) photo, I'm naturally very pale. Blue eyes. My natural hair colour is a mousy brown, from what I can remember! My eyebrows are quite light and generally crappy, I use a brown eyebrow pencil to make them somewhat similar and to fill in gaps.

Help! Should I go through with it? I'm torn.

It's too blonde, isn't it?

[poppym12]

I'd say it's too warm a blonde for you. maybe something cooler would suit your colouring.

[ralice]

Ooh that's interesting. I went for a warm one because I thought it would suit me more than a cool one ('ash' tones, I think it's called?).

[FlameGrower]

I too think a cooler tone would be better. That shade might make your skintone look a bit too pink.

[LucyLot]

Personally because you have a paler skin tone I don't think that shade of blonde would be best for you. I think more of a chestnut (rather than mahogany reddish brown) with some caramel highlights would look gorgeous on you.

[ralice]

Thank you! I never thought to look for a cool tone. I will return the box I have and look for a cooler colour. I might be back later for more advice, ha!

I don't suppose anyone has a specific recommendation, eg Nice n Easy #blahblahblah? That would make my life even easier

[kirinm]

Be careful, I'd recommend a hairdresser. Dark to blonde has a great risk of ginger if not done properly.

[flumplet]

Praps professionally done highlights might be the best way to go as this might come as a bit of a shock and you therefore might not like it.

[Elles01]

Like everyone else has said I think you'd suit more ashy/cool tones.

I've been a similar colour of brunette myself and have also used the colourb4, but found that as I'd been brunette for a while it didn't fully lift the colour (because of the colour buildup). Plus the brunette I was, was quite reddish if it were to fade so going back blonde took so long. I tried with box dyes initially but found my hair was very orange and brassy. (Your hair might react different to mine though!). When my hair did go quite brassy, I used a toning shampoo (called provoke) which had a violet pigment which helps with the brassiness. Just don't leave on too long!

[FlameGrower]

Yes there is a danger of..................

[ralice]

Kirinim, I plan to use 'colour b4' to take the dye out of my hair before I colour it. I have two boxes so that should be enough to take it back to my mousy colour. I think it should be OK to then dye it blonde from mousy??

Flumplet unfortunately I don't have the money for a salon

[spankhurst]

Can I recommend eSalon if you don't want to pay salon prices? They are very good, you email them a picture and complete a questionnaire and they mix a colour for you. They even ring you if they think you need to re-think your preferences.

[ralice]

Elles, thanks for sharing your experience. I'm planning two applications of colour b4 as I have a lot of build up. Fingers crossed...

FlameGrower, I adored Gimme Gimme Gimme!!

[AmberGreyson]

better consult with your hairdresser

[camena]

Have you been using permanent dark brown dye? Because permanent dye doesn't layer over your natural colour. The way the dye activator works in permanent dye strips out a lot of your natural colour and opens up the hair to deposit the dye in. You may find that you have bright ginger hair once you do colour b4 (that's what happened to me).

And you shouldn't use another permanent colour straightaway, it's too many chemicals and your hair won't cope, very strange things may happen. The best thing to do is get a light ash brown semi permanent to put on after the colour b4, then use that for a few months before you go for the final colour.

[SecretPeanut]

I have mousey blonde hair. Even if you strip it first then using warm blonde blonde toner it is likely to look yellow and make your face look very red, especially if you have underlying red tones in your natural hair colour.

Personally i would go for ash blonde.

If the strip doesn't work your going to have to bleach it once, maybe twice before toning.

[camena]

Based on your colouring, cool tones would probably work best as several PPs have said.

[theveryhighlife]

I'm thinking of doing the reverse, blonde to brunette. I the L'Oreal style my hair app to help me make a decision on shade. It might be worth downloading??

[Buttwing]

Is there a training college near you? Or are any salons looking for models? It's always worth going in and asking. My dd wanted her hair dip dying red over the summer I went in and asked at a salon and she was used for training one of the juniors it cost £20 rather than the £80 I'd been quoted somewhere else.
I think that blonde is too orangey for your skin tone but I think doing it yourself is a recipe for disaster!!

[ralice]

You guys have scared me a bit!! I now have 2x colour b4, 2x medium ash blonde and a bunch of brown/reddy-brown boxes in the cupboard for back-up in case it all goes terribly wrong...

Got to do the skin test now so I will report back in a couple of days... Wish me luck!

[MeganChips]

I did it the same way OP, no hairdressers required.

My hair had been dyed very dark brown for years. I used colour b4 and while it worked very well, it was brassy and gingery.

For a few weeks I just kept putting an ash toner on then I started dying it blonde using off the shelf box dyes.

It has worked really well. I am now a dark ash blonde and I love it. Ditch the casting though, you won't get results with that, it's semi permanent.

Go and look at the packs in the supermarket which actually lighten hair. Look at the shade result pictures on the back. It might take a few goes before it's the colour you want and if you want to go significantly lighter you will have to use a pre-lightener.

Good luck!

[MeganChips]

It went this colour eventually although this was taken in artificial light.

Forgive the crap picture, I was trying to edit my face out!

[ralice]

That's a lovely colour Megan! Think it's what I'd like.

The colour b4 box says to avoid permanent dyes after use, so I've got a 'demi' permanent, 24 washes.

What's the ash toner you mentioned? I am a noob, despite dying my hair for years. I just use the kit and then wash it with a volumising shampoo and a colour conditioner, nothing more fancy than that

[MeganChips]

I think it was this one.

www.superdrug.com/Hair/Hair-Colourants/Semi-Permanent/Scott-Cornwall-Colour-Restore-Cool-Ash-100ml/p/499603

Let us know how it goes

[ILostItInTheEarlyNineties]

A semi permanent won't lighten your hair enough. To go from light brown to blonde you will need a hi lift permanent blonde, something like L'Oreal Excellence ultra light blonde. The pictures on the back of the box are very misleading, it depends entirely on your base colour. You may need to bleach it twice so only attempt this if your hair is in really good condition.
To avoid brassy tones, you need to look at using a purple toner afterwards. Bleach London White toner (Boots) is good.

I strongly recommend mixing up some of the dye in a saucer and doing a strand test the day before to check the colour.

[ralice]

Well... The colour b4 did as promised and stripped out the dark colour, leaving a light reddy/orangey colour. Nearly kept it but decided to go the whole hog and put on the blonde dye...

My hair went back to dark brown!! Honestly, it's like I didn't do anything to it! Very confused.

The blonde dye should wash out in 24 washes so I guess I'll try again with a lighter one then, I may go straight to permanent like you suggest EarlyNineties.

All in all: high praise for colour b4, but nice'n'easy can take a running jump!