HELP!!! Hair dyeing disaster and want it lighter now...

[PavlovtheWitchesCat]

well. I say disaster. It is not terrible. I have been dying my hair dark brown. But I have lots of grey and short hair on one side. The grey has not been taking the colour well and is quite faded near the roots, making it look a bit like I am thinning!

So a lovely mumsnetter advised me to use peroxide on the roots for 5 mins or so to open up the cuticles in readiness for colour.

It has worked ok, but not perfect. there are a couple of spots that are not quite dark enough. I am sure others won't notice it really but I do, I want it done properly!

So, I have come to the conclusion that possibly I should go a couple of shades lighter, or maybe even blonde, perhaps I am just going to dark now (about two shades darker than my natural colour, apart from grey).

But, my hair is now quite course and dry so I have some questions to ask to help me look good again:

1. If I dye my hair lighter I am going to have to strip the colour away completely do this, or can I just put another dye on top of this one?

1. If I have to strip it back, is this going to damage my hair badly? If I am able to go over with another lighter colour will this damage my hair?

1. If I decide to stay this colour, is there anything more I can do to get the grey hair to take the dark colour better that it has already? I used Boots botanics (again) as I was afraid the peroxide would not work well, is the problem that the hair dye is not good enough quality?

1. If I keep the same tone but change the make, will I do damage to my hair by adding another colour over this one?

1. What can I do to stop it from feeling so dry? I used the stuff that came with the hair dye?

I cannot afford a hairdresser to do my hair properly right now, so am relying on your wisdom to help me ladies!

1. also meant to add, and then I used Aussie 3 minute miracle conditioner for 10 mins as well.

bump?

ok, so maybe I will consider adding some lowlights? to distract from the patchiness. I mean it is not hugely patchy, but just a half shade lighter for example just behind the ear/above the ear.

how easy are low lights to do? how do i do it? How easy is that to maintain?

Right. It was probably me that suggested "pre softening" with peroxide. Its something that should ideally be done with professional dye but should in theory work with the box stuff. Perhaps not!

So your hair is dry. I had this. In the past, oil treatments had worked but I was finding even they weren't stopping the strawish/haystack feel. I'll come back to that in a minute because I did find a solution and it has lasted.

If you strip back using colourB4, it wont damage it but it might dry it a bit more. It will neither improve or damage you, in terms of internal structure, but it might dry you.

You can't dye lighter with a box dye over a dark shade. You either strip it or have highlights at the hairdresser to lighten up.

In theory you should be able to cover grey as dark as you want, but you might need professional dye. I can advise you on this and how to do it. Boots Botanics is pretty pissweak world. If you want to stay dark, do, but move on to Loreal Majirel or similar. I can tell you how. And you probably won't even need to "pre soften".

I personally think you should go over the "not quite dark enough" type bits with professional dye and stay dark if that is what you want, then maintain your roots thereafter. I can advise on how to do this with a bit more info about how you would describe your colour. I'll be back on soonish, just doing kids dinner.

If you want to go lighter, I'd suggest you go to a hairdresser.

Once you have achieved your correct colour, a home keratin smoothing treatment should sort the condition, more abou that later.

Wait on isn't Boots Botanics a Semi???

batty no, this is the permanent one, they do a semi too and, funnily enough that actually stayed darker at the roots for longer!

ok, so using professional colour is the way to go. I am happy to do this. I do like dark, just thinking that maybe I am too grey for it unless I go hairdressers. So L'oreal Majirel to touch up the not quite so dark bits or when I next do the roots? I am looking at it a lot today as I walk past mirrors etc to see if there are patches of light, there are none that would be noticeable to someone who did not know me/was not closely inspecting, but then, I catch a light bit at the crown of my parting and think oh no, that is a faded bit! then look closely and it seems to be the light, so I do want to do it again properly, but I won't need to wear a hat until I get to do it!

I was not going to buy the botanics one again, but I got so about what one to get, so I ended up going with what I know, but agree I don't think the colour is strong enough and am prepared to try something else. While I am not wanting to pay an absolute fortune, I am happy to pay more than a fiver for something that will look good now.

re: the dry hair, it feels dry, is dry, but looks relatively glossy for some reason! any advice is greatly appreciated.