I know there have been lots of hair colour threads, and I'm sorry, but.....

[goinnowhere]

I need help. I have very, very dark brown hair. Grey is on the increase! I have always done semis and demis. Recently tried a couple of permanents, although one was a foam, and another was a 10 min, so maybe only have myself to blame . Then tried Belle Colour 5 after reading about it here. I now have greys not covered, and roots slightly lighter than the rest and its all a bit dull and less shiny. It does not look stupid. I mean you wouldn't laugh and point, but it's not great. Where on earth do I go from here? I want to avoid the hairdressers! Tatty???? Anyone???

I'd strip it with ColourB4 and start afresh.

Sounds like you have some build up...some uneven colour...some dullness...and you want to avoid hairdressers, so you can't bleach (and I wouldn't if you can strip, personally)...

So ColourB4Extra Strength, probably 2 boxes done one after the other, then an 8 wash Semi to cover the ginger, look pretty sketchy for a week, then recolour in a nice, lighter colour, possibly with an ashy tone to minimise ginger unless you like the warmth.

What do you reckon. Are you ready to take the challenge...

Its either that or go to a hairdresser and get a full head of highlights to lighten up your ends, (which they can tone to whatever really) and carry on with the lighter root colour until it all sort of merges in...highlights will break up and lighten the overall effect of the ends...

I do have a box lurking around, but am nervous about the ginger. I am annoyed as it all seemed not too bad until I started on the permanent. Think I may have to go for it! Ok, colour wise. My hair is naturally very dark brown, eyes are hazel. Skin is pale, but oliveish I think. Thanks, by the way!

No worries. Ginger WILL happen if you are dark and have been using permenants or semis (be it hairdresser or otherwise). Its the peroxide that lightens but not enough to make you blonde. Rinse the colour molecules out, and it leaves the ginger behind. Only blondes who go brunette get to escape it with ColourB4 (and typically he uses that scenario on his ad! Ha. Bastid. But be informed!)

I've done it, photos on profile, I braved it out with a temporary for 5 days before folding and doing a strand test, which didn't reoxidise with old colour so I coloured on day 6 I think (or did I do the strand test on day 4 and colour on day 5...can't remember). But you are most at risk of reoxidisation being dark browns. They are the hardest to remove, and the most likely to go darker with reoxidisation. But I think its still worth it. Even if it means you rid a lot of colour build up and end up doing a semi or permo in a lighter brown and getting highlights to lighten up. As you are now, highlights may not even be an option, because of dark colours and colour build up. So you may have nothing to lose.

I did Colour B4 because I had nothing to lose - lots of dark browns and then intense reds, making various burgundy shades and bright reds, such a build up in the end that I decided to start from scratch. I was going to lighten up with highlights but a hairdresser refused me and said she could barely achieve a dark rust on my hair which freaked me out because I wanted rid of all the red - so I used 2 boxes of ColourB4 extra strength, then did a light ash brown on Day 5 (ish). Pics on profile! Went golden blonde after that and am now Medium Golden Brown which I love and I think I will keep for a while.

Hours of fun this hair malarkey

You are a hair genius! What would suit me do you think? I have been dark brown/nearly black my whole life.

BTW your hair colour looks lovely! What was/is your natural colour?

My natural colour is a fairly boring light to mid brown with a slight gold cast to it. I really just try and intensify it slightly now, having been every colour under the sun...

If you have been dark all your life then you need a deep ish colour for now. The most important thing is what is your natural hue/cast? This dark brown that was natural, did it shine gold or red in the sun? Or did it have an indigo hue to it? Were you a bluey black or a brown so dark you couldn't see any other major tone to it?

If blue/indigo/black/cool tones, you need a cool or ash colour, if warm/red/mahogany, you need a golden or auburn or warm brown.

You say your skin is paleish olive and your eyes hazel, you might be cool. Apparently Olive skin is often cool, you may have cool tones. Or not. The key is whether or not it shone red in the sun in its natural state.

If you are warm/red/gold etc then I wouldn't go darker than a medium golden brown if you are trying to lighten up a bit. But I woudn't go much lighter than that or you might go ginger (depending how much grey you now have). Nice n Easy 117 would be a good colour for your roots. If cool, 117A natural medium ash brown might be good for your roots.

For the body of your hair, it depends a bit what colour the ColourB4 reveals. See my result on my photo - that's a Light Ash Brown, yet it looks well into the medium zone. So if you reveal an auburnish colour or a dark ginger, you are already nearly a medium in terms of colour depth so you don't want to slap a medium colour on top of that, even though you will probably use one on your roots in future. You'd probably slap on a Light with a tone that neutralises the ginger.

So even if your natural colour is quite warm, you may not need to add warmth after ColourB4 simply because of your ginger base. You'd do a 114 Light Ash brown then do your roots in 117 Medium Golden Brown.

I know it sounds complicated and risky but trust me, with strand tests you will be fine and can't go too wrong. If your roots and base are all one uniform colour after ColourB4 then you can just slap on one colour but you may need to adjust what you use on regrowth once that comes through, due to the lack of ginger.

I get confused with the warm/cool thing, as I think I am both! I look best in cooler colours - black, white, grey, red. Awful in mustard, beiges, sludgy colours. But. I think when it was natural, my hair shone a bit reddy but I'm not sure now.

I get confused with the warm/cool thing, as I think I am both! I look best in cooler colours - black, white, grey, red. Awful in mustard, beiges, sludgy colours. But. I think when it was natural, my hair shone a bit reddy but I'm not sure now.

Feel like cutting it very short!

i gave up fucking it up myself and got it done at hairdressers
She dyed me a richer nicer brown than my natural cold dark brown and then stuck some really light highlights underneath so you only see flashes of colour.
Looks brilliant now, money well spent imo . My greys are only at my temples for now so not a problem with regrowth.

Goinnowhere, you sound like you have the same colouring & the same problem as me! I followed Tatty's advice a few weeks ago & I am so pleased with the results. I had some ginger issues after having salon highlights in a misguided attempt to deal with the grey. I did the 114 Light Ash Brown all over - I thought it would be too light but it looks just fine (& really natural) over my dark brown & got rid of the weird ginger tones. My natural colour was very dark brown with red tones in the sunlight so I will be touching up my roots with 117 Medium Golden Brown when they come in.

Give Tatty's suggestions a go! I have spent a fortune on salon colours since I started going grey & it always looked a bit unnatural & crap. Tatty is now my hero, she nailed it for me, I am so happy with my hair.

Thanks againTatty! Is there anything you can do for my wrinkles & rubbish skin?!

Wheesht, I am glad you are happy with your hair! So, just to be clear, did you do the ColourB4?

No but I had some hightlights that had gone really pink / gingery & the 114 Light Ash Brown really solved that problem. I guess I was trying to say that I'd be confident to follow Tatty's advice re the ColourB4 if I were you - she knows her stuff! It looks a little bit scary & the week of no colour would be a PITA but the ash brown she suggests would totally take care of any pinkiness you get. Did you see Tatty's profile pictures?

Its true it really is worth doing the ColourB4 if you have any build up and are attempting a colour change - it really does take you back to a workable "base". Whatever colour that base ends up being, there is a problem-solver for it, but when you have loads of pigment build up whatever you have will ALWAYS shine through or dominate the effect.

You can cover your ginger/dogey colour with an 8 wash medium or dark brown which will cover it - you will look perfectly respectable - you can colour after 5 or so days, they say 7 but I did it after 5, it was fine, if you are strand testing which you should, you will know whether it will reoxidise or not by the result of the strand test.

Wheesht I remember your thread and that you were happy but so glad you are still happy and enjoying your new colour! It really is possible to get home colouring right with a bit of strategising, understanding the theory, and erring on the side of caution.

Whoopage!

Another one here who can vouch for Tatty and her excellent advice :)

I haven't posted on here before but have lurked a few times and read her advice on a couple of threads last week. Today I bought some B4Ucolour (extra strength) and used it. Before using it the top third of my hair was mahogany and the bottom two thirds a really dark brown, almost black, due to build up.

The top third came out blond, especially near the roots, certainly not the orangey ginger colour that I got at the hairdressers a few years ago when I had it done there. The bottom two thirds were a mid brown, a lot lighter than they were. I've put a 8 wash colour on in light brown which has improved it and looks okay for now. For next week I've bought a semi permanent by Loreal (28 washes) in 'iced chocolate'. I'm not too bothered about going really light I just wanted to get rid of the build up and for it to look halfway decent at my graduation.

If I hadn't read Tatty's advice I doubt if I'd have even known of the existence of B4Ucolour much less have had the confidence to use it.

That's great Chaotic! It is a good product. It has its drawbacks, depending on your situation, and of course the main one is not being able to recolour straight away due to the reoxidisation issue - hopefully some science boffin one day will come up with some buffer or something that allows you to carry on and colour. Oh, and the smell! Its not mega strong but its pretty yuck. Not as yuck as having hair you hate though!

Oh just to correct you on the product name, not to be pedantic but he does actually do a product called B4U colour which is a shampoo which removes product build up and leaves your hair ph balanced, not to be confused with ColourB4 which is the product you mention, which actually reverses the hair colouring process and allows you to rinse out the artificial colour molecules...

Be as pedantic as you like :) I wouldn't want someone to buy the wrong product because I gave it the wrong name.

Thank you all. I have formulated a plan of action! I am going to do the colour B4 in the summer holidays, when it does not matter as much if it goes funny, and will follow the rest of your advice. You are becoming an institution round here Tatty!

Its about time I was institutionalised