Hair - can I go from red to brown at home?

[JosieRosie]

Have been red for about 14 years and I'm ready for a change! My natural colour is mousey brown but is currently coloured a chestnut-red - not terribly vibrant but definitely more red than brown.
I would like a nice cool medium brown with no red tones whatsoever. My question is - if I use a home colour, will I be able to eliminate every trace of red without ending up with extremely dark black/brown hair? Or do I need to bite the bullet and got to the salon?
Any advice appreciated!

[TattyDevine]

The best thing you can do is try a not too dark colour that is high in ash.

You say chestnut red - that is generally a mix of gold and copper tones suspended within the brown. To tone that you need ash.

If you went to a hairdresser they would probably use something like This professional product but I presume you would prefer a box dye? You want to add ash without really adding any depth at first. So a dark ash blonde is all you need. Clairol Nice n Easy 106D Natural Dark Cool Blonde will kill out a lot of the gold and copper tones without significantly deepening your shade.

[TattyDevine]

It wont "lighten" you by the way, but will deposit ash tones into the hair, thus neutralising the warm ones.

[JosieRosie]

Thanks very much Tatty - getting rid of the warm tones is just what I'm after. That colour looks good, think will give it a go