Can I dye my hair myself after all the previous faffing?

[EternalPie]

Its a long story but basically, 2 years ago I went through a crazy phase of wanting my hair black. Hairdresser thankfully refused to do that but did dye it a very dark (almost black) brown. Last year I realised it looked hideous but obviously no home dye would lighten it. Therefore, just after christmas I went to a salon and had it bleached, dyed and highlighted which turned it a lovely ginger with yellow bits I left it for six weeks then went back and had it done again and this time it went a more desirable light brown with blonde bits in.

My current hair is light brown with dull highlights (last done about 8 weeks ago). My question is, can I dye it myself yet?? It would be so much easier for me to just go and pay a tenner for a home-dye and do it myself as I really, really hate sitting in the salon for 3 hours.

Or will it have a disastrous result?

[TattyDevine]

No, you should be able to do it yourself. What colour do you wish to achieve? Are you looking to cover the highlights? Brighten them? Add shine? Or just carry on doing your own roots to cover greys?

What is your natural colour, and what colour do you want to achieve and maintain?

[EternalPie]

My natural colour is a dull mousy brown, I can't decide whether to go slightly darker to a chocolate brown or, because I have pale skin maybe lighten it up with a dark blonde?

What would happen to the highlights? I've heard horror stories of them turning green!

[EternalPie]

How about this?

www.boots.com/en/Nicen-Easy-Permanent-Colour-Blend-Foam-6-5G-Lightest-Golden-Brown_1162350/?cm_re=c9002_9--content--nice_n_easy_foam_65g&cm_sp=subcat_essentials--c9002--c9002_9 or is that too dark do you reckon?

[TattyDevine]

That would be a very good place to start.

What you might find, when your roots start to come through that they might seem a bit lighter or less deep than the body of your hair - but it shouldn't be too much different if you are highlighted. Lets get the body of your hair sorted then if your roots need adjusting going forward we can work that out later.

That would be an excellent colour to use. Your highlights will not go green with that shade as there is very little ash if none in it. They will be "warmed up" and have shine, they will also blend into the rest of your hair a bit more because they will be darkened, but they might still appear lighter than the rest after a few washes but in a good way. It will be a slightly darker, warmer more subtle effect. Depending how dark it comes out you can either maintain it with that shade on the roots only, or you can come "down" a shade for your roots to match up the rest if you get root glow to 117d medium golden brown.

I wouldn't go any darker than that - don't do a "chocolate" - a mid to light golden brown will give you the rich tones that you desire.

I suggest you do a strand test to have a good idea of the result before you apply to your whole head, as I am not a professional and haven't seen you in the flesh. But I think you will like the results of that and that's the kind of shade I was going to suggest to you.

[EternalPie]

Thanks Tatty :) I'll get a box of that one then and I'll let you know how it goes!

[ElsieMc]

Just be a bit careful. I use the light brown shades from either Nutrisse and the Excellence Creme and it does come out dark brown on me. I have also used Nice n Easy and this does the same but the other two seem to give better coverage. My natural colour is darkish brown and as yours is lighter you may get a more moderate result.