Yikes. Advice on home hair colouring catastrophe please.

[fluzle]

Aargh. Am new to home hair colour - am a natural dark blonde and have had highlights over the years but after a crisis involving the discovery of multiplying grey hairs, decided on a whim to colour it myself. Hmmm, rather wishing I hadn't. The colour - a John Frieda mousse affair - described itself as 'dark golden blonde' but my now-obviously-home-dyed-reddish brown locks would dispute this. Just looks awful with my very fair skin. What can I do to remedy this? It is a permanent dye! What was I thinking??! Can I just dye it again, using a blonde dye? Do I need to invest in a really nice hat?? God, it looks awful! Will be most grateful for any advice.

if you are a dark blonde, i would advise going for an ash toned blonde hair colour for doing it at home. ime, home colours tend to have too much red in them on the whole, so i find anything other than ash, goes too red and also fades to a strawberry blonde. i've never had much luck with the mousse ones or with nice n easy for that matter, i use l'oreal excellence creme in either ash blonde or light ash blonde if i fancy being a bit lighter, both are just a neutral blonde colour.

try head and shoulder shampoo, that will strip out some of the colour, then you could either try colour b4 or just try the light ash blonde i suggested, i've used that shade to strip out an old colour i didn't like.

will put a pick on my profile of my colour so you can see what the l'oreal ones look like if it helps.

Thanks so much for your reply; it's worse every time I look! If you could put a picture up that would be really helpful, thank you. I see a trip to Boots on the cards for tomorrow!

I went to my local hairdressing college, which charged me about a tenner for a bleach shampoo that got the colour out and didn't make too much damage to my hair!
I'm in a similar situation at the moment, highlighted dark blonde hair that is more than a sprinkle of grey now!

pic is up, this is l'oreal excellence ash blonde which is the colour i use most often.

The blonde won't work on the red. You need a trip to a salon/college or use one of these first.

A friend just stripped red out of her dyed blonde hair using a roduct called colour before I think! Amazing results! Get to a chemist in the morning, all is not lost

Colour b4 is good as long as you haven't used XXL dyes on your hair and don't mind smelling of egg for a few days

Head and shoulders or fairy liquid are good at stripping colour but you need to condition lots afterwards. I haven't tried THIS yet but I plan to next time I need to fade mine. May be of use?

I'm sat here currently with bleach on my hair trying to get bright green out.

Please don't do that ^ to your hair OP. Scrubbing the crap out of your hair will roughen the cuticle and it'll look like shit.

Also worth investing in some silver shampoo & conditioner.
They impart violet pigment which tones down reds and oranges, the brassiness of warm blondes or bleached colour remnants. Use of a good toner and upkeep with something like provoke touch of silver can cool colour down enough to prevent having to double process and risk irreparable damage to your hair.
I'm very rusty on kit dyes but always using an appropriate toner after bleaching is essential for blondes and light colours. Also bleach damage to the cuticle can cause very patchy colour uptake so you can end up with more of a disaster than you were trying to fix if you use another peroxide product too soon.
I would tone it down (use the colour wheel for appropriate toner but it sounds like you'll need violet), see if you can live with it while you reconstruct/condition your hair and go from there.
Sometimes toner alone can do the job.
But I would always try that first before applying more peroxide.
Hope you get your ideal colour soon.

Thanks so much, everyone, for your advice. I really feel a complete donkey. Had never even heard of toner before - would this just tone down the godawful reddishness? Would it do anything about how dark it is? I think it is probably this that is making me look so washed out! How do I consult a colour wheel?
Does the colour remover wreck the condition of your hair? My hair may look shocking, but I have to admit it feels lovely - soft and shiny! Great in the dark...

(Interestingly, when I looked on the John Frieda website, almost all the reviews 'noted' the discrepancy between expectations and results. I think I will research more thoroughly next time rather than making a 5 second decision with a pestering 4 year old and teething baby in tow .)

Thanks again. In future will not tangle in business I do not understand!

I dont think ash will take out red tones, its used for the orange brassy tones of bleaching? I would try Colour B4, bit faffy and stinky but very effective. The main point it follow the instructions to the letter. Then leave a conditioning mask on for a few hours, in a warmed towel. Then see a hairdresser :). Let us know how you get on.

Why don't you get a highlighting kit, I use the wella one, and put some blonde in it that way, it's a cap so you will need a friend to do it for you. ..might be really nice with tbe coppery tones in it :)

No the toner won't work on the red especially if it's dark. You need this lifting off either with a bleach wash or colour remover. Can you get in your local college salon? It'd be expensive in a salon. Or maybe get a home colourist to give you a quote?

i have been colouring my hair at home for years, and have had loads of disasters, mainly because the colour on the box is nothing like the results! and the main problem is always too much red.

op, i always use http://www.johnfrieda.co.uk/ProductDetail/Hair-Care/Sheer-Blonde/Color-Renew-Tone-Correcting-Shampoo this shampoo, it's purple and does help keep blonde shades neutral.

like the op, i'm a natural dark blonde and have been in search of a good home colour for ever as all i want is something close to my real hair but to cover the grey, the l'oreal one i suggested is the closest i've found so far.

nipersvest have you tried mixing 2 boxes? You can mix half/half and then the same next time so it only costs the price of one box each time.

Thanks so much for taking the time to give such good advice, everyone. It's much appreciated. Nipersvest, I will be getting my hands on some of the colour you recommended just as soon as my very red head is sorted out!

It is forecast to be sunny tomorrow, sit in the sun and you will soon be a shade or 2 lighter.

Will do!

I'd email the company though as the dye has misled you. Either that or it's been wrongly labelled? It can happen. You may get a voucher for Boots?

i did start a thread ages ago, full of reviews of home dye colours, will see if i can find it, have namechanged since then, so need to remember what my name was back then!

dammit, i found the thread and posted a reply on the wrong thread! sun is sending me loopy

anyway, here's is my post copied,

after i had dd i went a bit mad and dyed my hair a dark reddy brown. i don't think i used colout b4 to strip it out when i went blonde again, think i just used a box of pre-lightener, it went a kind of gingery baby blonde!! looked awful, and i went into work like that as i decided to leave it a few days between dye jobs.

i've been home dyeing for about 15 years, and have a loads of disasters (nice n easy light brown gave me black streaks, and boots botanics dark blonde made me look like i'd henna'd it!) but have also had a few successes. one time i'd just done it with the l'oreal ash blonde one, and the hairdresser (not my usual one tho as she was on holiday) was shocked when i said it was dyed, she said it looked really natural.

and here is the link to the review thread

Just coloured mine red It's already red but needed brightening up so made up a semi.

How's it going op?

I am living with my mishap for the time being. All the shops in our little town were closed over the bank holiday and the thought of packing the tots into the car to go further afield was even less appealing than living with my hair. I think it might have faded a little - looking less 'unfortunate teen' and more 'Madge Bishop' now. Neither ideal at 34, really. Saw three friends, separately, yesterday. One said it was nice (but she is VERY nice), one didn't notice (or perhaps just didn't comment ) and the other was at a loss to understand why I would have dyed my naturally blonde hair . I think I will see just how bad my roots are and then use one of those colour remover thingies. And then I should probably save up for highlights! Good luck to all you other colourers out there and thanks once again for the advice!

Glad you're not so traumatised now The only thing with it fading is it may go pinkish? But then like you said you're getting a remover.

Oh God!! I never considered pink! Luckily I have a good head for hats. And my 4 year old would LOVE it!