Aaargh! Home hair colour cock-up

[hushabyehill]

Dyed my hair today with Nice n Easy 106 Natural Medium Ash Blonde. Feel like a bit of a plank because it hasn't work out the way I thought it would. Before I did it my hair was a combination of about 5cm regrowth of my natural brown with quite a lot of grey, and the rest old lush henna colour which I was growing out.

I was trying to give up dye altogether, but got so far and realised I'm just not ready for it yet. Thought this shade would make the grey all nice and ash blond, and the rest a sort of light brown with no red. I did a strand test because I was worried about dying onto the henna and getting an uneven result, but it looked ok; I just think I wasn't very good at judging the overall colour from the small strand, and now my hair is a really unflattering shade of sort of muddy copper.

Can anyone tell me if I can put a darker colour straight on top of it tomorrow? It looks pants :(

Try washing it with head and shoulders to fade the colour.

I have done this. I put a red toned brown over the top and it didn't turn green. It was really shiny actually and a vast improvement on the lion coloured effort that was supposed to be ash blonde. I cringe at the memory...

Arghrrrr.

This is why I always say "noooooooo" when people mention Henna as a "solution" to a hair woe - its not that its unsuitable for all but transitional people should not go there because it has very strange effects (sometimes), and you kind of have to grow it out.

What is done is done.

Good for you for doing a strand test. I know it didn't work as you thought regardless but at least you weren't going in blind.

To be honest, I really don't know if you can keep dying over the top or not. Because of the henna. Anything else and I'd be saying "redye or strip with ColourB4" and then I'd bore you with the pros and cons of each option.

But Henna, I really don't know what it will do. Hairdresser's dont like to touch it either.

My general thoughts are that a light to mediumish brown should cover it or tone it in the meantime but it might be a while before you like the colour. I really don't know if you can bleach henna but if you can, a full head of highlights with your chosen tint added over the top might give a better more toned result...

Thanks for the replies.
dragon: I have some head and shoulders so will try a bit of that.
lipstickgal: lol at 'lion coloured' - that's exactly what it is!
tatty: I'm a bit cross with myself. I know that hairdressers won't dye over henna but I just got really fed up with looking all two-tone and frumpy. My biggest worry was that I'd get a different colour on my natural hair than on the henna, so when that didn't happen on the strand test I think I got a bit over-excited . My hair looks blended ok, just a really yucky colour. Having been brown-haired all my life I really fancied a go at blonde, since I seem to have quite a lot of grey now. This colour just makes me look all wrong. Am thinking I will try a medium to darkish brown on it tomorrow. I even read a recent post of yours recommending the nice n easy medium golden brown, but waivered from that one in the blooming supermarket coz I wanted to try being lighter. Heigh ho. Will see if I can improve it tomorrow.

Thanks everyone.

i know a lot of people rave about nice n easy, but personally i've never got on with them, my hair just doesn't seem to like them. the colour comes out odd, i found the light ash brown came up virtually black, and the dark ash blonde came up far too light and orangey.

maybe try a different brand.

Ash blonde contains a lot of inky blue pigments and can leave a dirty look to the colour.Either wash it a LOT with vosene (better than head and shoulders) or you can strip it with Colour remover but that is very strong and drastic.I would vosene it every day for a week or so and then maybe go over it with a more beige toned blonde.Or go to the hairdresser if you can't face more risk.

Let me just clarify - your natural colour, before henna, was what exactly? Natural brown with grey? Because (I might be wrong about this) I don't think Nice N Easy recommend that shade on a natural brown anyway.

This is quite reassuring actually because reading back it sounds more like you chose the wrong shade (not deep enough) rather than the fact you have henna.

Remember, you cannot lighten artificial colour with box dye - and in fact you can't lighten natural hair much at all with box dye (though more than you might think - but if its not "enough" it will go ginger or rust, regardless of whether you have naturally warm tones in your hair or not)

I think you can make this a lot better with a medium natural shade. Good old 118 Natural Medium Brown. Might be darker than you ultimately want, but the shade will be believable and true to your skin tone in the meantime.

As it grows, if you want to risk it (you can get them to strand test) you can get a tame hairdresser to try a strand test for some highlights to break it up and lighten it.

Every girl needs a tame hairdresser and a tame doctor.

Tatty, I think that sounds like the problem. My natural colour is brown and grey, and I went in all gung-ho with too light a shade. I haven't henna'd it for months because I had started growing it out, so maybe that's something to do with how I got a consistent colour.

I have just gone and bought a loreal excellence 5 natural brown (can't get to the shop with the nice n easy today) and will put it on a bit later. I will be really happy if I can just get it brown for now even if it's quite dark, and really like the idea of trying some highlights at some stage. I seem to have so much grey now which was why I stopped dying it; was having to do it more and more frequently because of the grey in the roots, and got sick of the faff. Presumably highlights will help to disguise the grey roots a bit?

Thanks again everyone. Will report back later :)

Well, I've done the loreal natural brown and it's toned the colour down a little, but hasn't really made much difference at all. Ends now look a bit darker and better than the top section, and a bit reddy presumably from the henna. Noticed with the excellence cream it didn't change colour (or actually go any colour) while it was on my hair - presuming this is right.

So - do I risk another dye, maybe a really dark one? A different make maybe, although I can't get to nice and easy or many other brand choices at the moment. Or will it be too much and do I just have to put up with my weird looking hair for a while. I still have some henna too, but maybe I'm clutching at straws now. Typical as I have a rare night out with dh tomorrow and am very cross with myself now!

Ive had crap results from Loreal. Always get a good result from Garnier Nutrisse though, glossy and rich.

Although I'm not sure I'd recommend you stick another colour on top of what you've got.

Just to update: put some lush marron henna on it yesterday and i'm much happier with it for now, at least. It's pretty bright compared to the colour I used to get, but a huge improvement and I'm much happier. Have decided that I'll stick with the henna again for a while now, but still like the idea of going down the highlights road someday - not sure how I'm going to get there though! The henna is loads kinder to my scalp and it's improved the condition of my hair after the other dyes too. Thanks again everyone for the replies x

Glad you are happy!

I think with henna its "henna" or "not henna" in that you sort of do have to grow it out.

Who knows, you may not have been as happy with highlights anyway and lets face it Autumn is well on its way - another month and all the Autumn clothes will be out and the nights will be gradually drawing in. Highlights are for March/April when you are full of the joys of spring! (though any time of year to be fair, if you have them regularly)