Orange hair disaster! Help!

[BreakoutQueen]

I (stupidly) stripped my dyed black hair down to a mixture of light and dark orange. I then thought I could put a red dye on (Garnier Fiery Red) and go bright red which of course ended up bright patchy orange. I then decided a red/purple was the answer so put Feria Purple Power on which resulted in dark orange/red mixed with vibrant ginger. I've now googled how to cover the orange and it's came up with ash tones so I was hoping you ladies could come up with suggestions of brown hair dyes with ash tones to end my orange nightmare.

Crikey, you poor thing! I don't have any useful advice regarding ash tones (sorry) but if you still want it red I can recommend Colour Restore, the red one. It doesn't last forever but it turned my streaky, over-coloured, orangey hair a gorgeous bright red. And if you don't like it, it washes out pretty quickly. Good luck!

I've seen it in Boots when I was getting colour remover. Do you just put it on like a dye?

As you haven't used bleach you're lucky in that respect.
When I dyed my hair a dark blonde it went a horrible murky greeny shade :/ If youve got time on your hands ,like i did, you can use crushed vitamin c tablets made into a paste with head and shoulders and leave in for an hour or two at a time with your head covered in clingfilm. The vitamin c (acid something?) oxidises the dye lightening it and the head and shoulders strip the colour whilst the warmth in the clingfilm speeds up the process. I did it twice until it was light enough for me to put another dye on top. sounds weird but if you google you'll see many people using the same method !!

I think I've read about using silver shampoo to tone down yellow/orange tones. Might be worth googling?

I use Touch of Silver on my hair and it does get rid of brassiness, not sure how effective it would be on bright orange but could be worth a try, I buy the twice weekly brightening shampoo and it's great on my hair which is dyed pearl blonde but when I first went back to blonde from red/brown/purple etc... It did calm the brassiness.

Eek! I used to work reception in a salon & home bleaching has got to be the worst idea ever! My serious recommendation would be to book into a salon for a correction! You'll pay a fortune but you could end up doing more damage.

Other than that most box colours now tell you if they are ash or warm etc. but I think the only way you'll "cover" the patchiness is to go several shades darker in which case you may have not bothered. Look for colours with words like "iced" in them.

I'd at least go in for a colour consultation & get a quote!

Let us know how it turns out.

Did you use bleach or a stripper? If you stripped it I'd strip again then use a wash in washout 8-wash temp dye in a light ash brown / dark ash blonde.

In the mean time, go on face book and search "Scott Cornwall". He will give very handy personalised advice. He just did a Q&A on fashion colours, which might be helpful.

No amount of ash or silver shampoo will tone down home bleach/stripper not in a million yrs, ideally you need to go to a hairdressers and get it evened out, using a colour stain, then a colour all over going either natural or the red you first wanted.
Once your colour is done you will find that it fades really quickly, strippers/bleach makes hair so porous so it soaks the colour up then almost spits it back out, you may have to re-apply sooner rather than later, and invest in a good conditioner/treatment/oil

It's more like a conditioner, slap it on, leave it for half an hour or so & tahduuum! Red. It does stain everything in the whole bathroom though.

I really cant afford to get it professionally fixed Lentil I've read reviews on the colour restore going to give it a shot and then try a chocolate brown semi on top.

One of the other Mum's at school suggested lush henna in the brown but scared orange would shine through.

If you really can't afford a salon correction, then try one of the colour restore products and put a Level 1 ash brown on top (so not a semi permanent like L'Oreal Casting, but one that lasts for 6-8 washes, like Nice 'N' Easy).

I tried to get a deep warm brown colour when I last coloured and ended up with orange roots and reddish tones, not as drastic as yours sounds, but the corrector sorted mine out. Good luck!

Okay- done this myself. Do not apply ash because you will get a khaki cast to the hair where it is lighter. What you need is a warm brown. It will then turn out rich and dark and blend the ginger in so as the colour fades it will look like glossy highlights. It will have to be a warm brown rather than an auburn because you are going to end up with pinky and burgundy patches.

So look for a permanent in a conker brown or chestnut depending on how dark you want it. REmember too that it is likely to be porous so after doing it do not wash your hair for at least a couple of days.

These dyes are pretty good and they are not expensive. I have found them to come out like they should. So look for chocolate or chestnut