Okay..I give in!! What's the secret? (Hair related)

[CaptainButtock]

FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS AND LANGUAGE ALERT.

I have: Naturally dark brown curly hair.
I've always wanted: Poker straight blonde hair.

Because, ya know, why make life cheap or easy for yourself aye?

Fortunately, I have a lovely hairdresser (who I'm on the verge of writing a love-letter to) in a lovely (fucking closed) salon who makes me a natural blonde every couple of months.

I think you may know where this is going right...?

So, there I am on Saturday night, feeling pissed brave and in possession of something called 'Swchwarzkopf Color (sic) Expert Light Blonde'.

How hard can it be?, I think. The people of youtube make it look pretty easy after all...

Fast forward to Sunday morning and the cold light of day....sweet jesus help me!!! 😨

'Light Blonde'??! Fucking Chernobyl orange more like 😬

I thought I'd only done a few tasteful strands, but no, I had in fact done massive orange blotches 😕

I have done loads of research since, but am totally baffled by all the bleach/peroxide/volume/developer/% talk.

Please mumsnet, please tell me the secret to lovely DIY ashy blonde highlights??

Tldr: My fucking hair has orange splotches and I want them gone.

(And yep, I've tried the blue stuff...no joy)

Oh...ignore the voting thing

I didn't ignore the voting thing.

I don't know how to do it but know I wouldn't risk going from brown to blonde without a hairdresser .. I'm guessing it didn't lift anough? Can you get a brown box dye the same as your colour and cover it ( no idea if that will work tbh ) I'm leaving my hair for the experts!! Grey or not ! 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

The secret, young Padawan, is never to bleach your hair at home. It's such a nuanced thing - knowing what ratios to add, knowing how long to leave it on, even knowing where to put it (the heat from your scalp activates it faster near your roots so at home you'd do those last).

Get your Delorean out, we need to go back to Saturday afternoon and smack that shitty box dye out of your paws.

I bleached my hair at home last summer. It all fell out and still hasn't grown back.

Just put a none-bleach dye on top and wait for the hairdressers to open.

Also, brown hair has more orange undertones which is why it goes orange when it's bleached. If you put brown box dye over the orange you might end up knackering it more - you'd need a blue tone to counter the orange (opposite on the colour wheel).

Speak to your hairdresser. Please.

If you want to carry on being blonde, try getting some toner to lift the orange out a bit as a temporary fix and then get yourself to a hair dresser.
Do not try and temporarily dye it back to your natural colour as then its going to be really difficult to get back to blonde as the bleached hair will absorb the colour more so and will most likely irreparably damage your hair when you try to bleach it again.

OP, this is not particularly helpful to your plight, but blonde is hard to achieve. Why don’t you ring your lovely hairdresser and ask her advice?

@FudgeBrownie2019 Oh man...how I wish you'd been there to smite that shit from my pissed up hand

Thanks for the replies all.

It appears I was a fool to even attempt this sorcery at home. Steep learning curve.

So...how about...I go over the orange bits with brown watercolour paint? Or should I use blue? Or have I just completely lost my mind?

Get a blue toner though it'll cost you a packet to tone. I'd get a light brown, section your hair into 4 sections clip it, dye the end first up to the ear as the heat from the head lifts it faster. You should end up a dark blonde while it washes up or leave it. Don't do another blonde.

Nooo don’t dye your lovely hair I bet it’s so nice naturally !

I do straighten mine with keratin treatments and GHDs but I don’t dye it I think it would snap off

Advice wise : could you not just box dye it dark brown, maybe semi permanent, to last until hairdressers open ?

The bleach wasn't strong enough, or on for long enough, or both.

You can do bleaching safely at home, it's not rocket science, but there are basics you need to learn. And toning afterwards is just as important as the removal of the colour bit.

One of the first basic things you'd need to know is what colour your hair is. What 'level'.
www.google.co.uk/search?q=hair+colour+level+chart&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwj6gvTNpOHpAhUFihoKHUEiAbsQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=colour+level+chart&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQARgBMgIIADIGCAAQBRAeMgYIABAFEB4yBggAEAgQHjIGCAAQCBAeMgYIABAIEB5QykhYykhg8WFoAHAAeACAAU2IAU2SAQExmAEAoAEBqgELZ3dzLXdpei1pbWc&sclient=img&ei=SE7VXvq-C4WUasHEhNgL

then you have to chose what level you want to lift it to. 2,3,4 levels up ect. You need to get a strong enough bleach. You need to get a decent toner. You need to check if your hair 'pulls red' ie has lots of red pigment (which gives an orangey tone easily). You need to spend a bit of time learning. It can be done.

This woman explains it all really well :)

Oh meant to add, yes just get a brown dye to match your own and cover it up.

(although you'll have to tell the hairdresser you've done this when you go back)

Who on earth is voting YABU?!

OP, well done for trying, I’ve never dyed my own hair, too scared. And my hairdresser discourages me from anything except light brown highlights in my brown hair.

Can I just say I’m loving the presumably Glasgow patter from the OP here. Bit worried though. My hairdresser is making a dye kit for me to do at home on Saturday

Been there, done that. There is an easy fix:
Buy a box of blue black dye. Get a plastic bowl and mix a generous amount of your usual shampoo (it's better if your shampoo is either white or colourless) with a bit of the colour cream and a bit of the peroxide from the box dye. If your hair is bright orange I would say maybe 4cm of both peroxide and the colour. Wash your hair as normal and when you'd normally do a second wash use the mixture that you just prepared. Leave it on for 3 mins or so and rinse. Orange, be gone!!
This is the easiest fix for brassy hair that I have ever encountered, and I'm Spanish, so my hair is naturally very dark and thick. Obviously as you are only using a tiny amount of the products of the box dye at a time, it will last you ages and you can repeat the process whenever the brassiness comes back.

I used sun in to disguise my dark roots. I covered all the darker section with sun in and then a few days later, I picked out random strands and used the sun in on those only. I know how much lighter tours which have been broken up by lighter highlights. Really pleased

OP I have natural blonde really straight hair - it's dark blonde - I wish it was curly and had volume - we're never happy are we the lighter the hair, the more we have, although ginger hair has least amount of follicles - my hair would soak up a dye like a sponge whereas yours doesn't as it's thicker - you should try having caramel highlights once salon is open instead of blonde, as there will come a time when your hair will start to break and it will lose it's shine - shiny brown hair is much more attractive than brittle, dull hair - one of my friends has wrecked her hair from dying it platinum blonde for the last 10 yrs - it's about 3 inches long all over now as it's broken off - be careful.

Hey! Hairdresser here..firstly don't ever bleach your hair without advice..it WILL NOT go the right shade of blonde you want and may even turn into "chewing gum" as our teacher once told us (this is why we charge you so much for foils and bleaching sooo much can go wrong)..if your going to do it NEVER use a box-tint/bleach. Use a professional grade white or blue bleach bought offline from a salon service. Then depending on your shade of brown-black (we usually wouldn't ever advise you to bleach from black) you will need a good peroxide 12% is for very high lift. 9% is for low lift, and 3% is for dark colours( basically don't use 3% to get hair lighter) then you need a good toner. Wella toners are quite good or if you can't get one of them you need a purple (usually blue if your hairs orange but if you want the yellow tone gone fast use purple) shampoo or hair mask you have to use the opposite colour to the colour you want neutralized so if it's bright orange-blue, yellow-purple..if it's red-blue..you get the idea..last thing I'd say is if when your bleaching it you pull a strand downward and it is very atrechy stop and wash it off right away as your hair has lost its elasticity and will never be able to be saved without a haircut/miracle hairdressers..best of luck to you..feel free to pm me of you need any advice :)

Agree with others. Blonde is too difficult to do yourself. I've been there and ended up with ginger hair! Put a brown on it, get 2 boxes that resemble your natural colour. Wait for the salon to reopen for your blonde highlights.

Watch some Brad Mondo on YouTube for a start.

Girl never ever ever box bleach your hair.

Hair stylists study and practice colouring for years. You can’t achieve what they do at home. Sorry you just can’t.

But as one pp says, you need to tone the blonde with a purple toner. It should remove the orange brassy tones. Don’t throw another box dye over it.

Message a professional for help and buy a sunhat to wear until July

You could invest heavily in spray on brown root cover up (which I am using today to cover almost two inches of grey)

Op I use bleach to lighten my hair first, then dye a slightly darker blonde over it. I use Jerome Russel bleach. And I use toner if it's still not the right colour.

how about a wig?

Another vote for spray-on root cover, which washes out so shouldn't cause you further problems you need to correct.