The trials and tribulations of hair dye.

[EasterSundaySimmons]

A fortnight ago I had black hair. It was never meant to be black but continual use of hair dyes meant that no matter what colour I put on my hair, it went very, very dark, resulting in my looking like an old witch!

I used a colour remover and had a gingery result with the last four inches of my hair still being very dark, almost black. I put a light brown hair dye over the lot and it went back to exactly the same black as I started with!

Yesterday I allowed my daughter to bleach it all over. She sounded very confident in her ability to do it but as I sat there and she bleached it, her confidence started to wane!

She did a good job of removing all the black and I went to bed with a hideous yellowy head of hair. It was at least the same colour all over.

This morning she applied a dark cool blonde. It looked hideous and came out a yellowy beige which did not suit me or look nice.

I have now applied a light brown and it will either go black, brown or fall out!

I'm off to rinse it and condition it!

Seriously get it done at a salon

You will WRECK your hair

I was you 3 months ago OP. And I ended up shaving my head. My hair was bra strap length

Bleach is evil.

I'm nearly fifty so have many years of hair dying disasters! Actually, the worse experiences have been with salons and my only problem with home hair dyes is them turning out much darker than the colour on the packet.

So far so goo, I have two packs of loreal casting conditioner on my hair and will leave on whilst I have a bath and then I will rinse off.

It's wet and covered in conditioner but doesn't look black, so I am happy so far.

No breakages as yet and I have thoroughly combed through my hair.

I shall update!

Eyeliner, I would love a shaved head if I could buy wigs that stayed on!

I don't think I will lose my hair as it's very tough. Hopefully!

Fingers crossed! Sounds like you're already doing better than me!

I originally bleached my very dark hair to go pillar box red. It was fabulous for a few weeks but then became a pain in the ass!

I ended up paying £150 to have it fixed in a salon then I put a "chocolate" dye over my bleached then dyed light brown hair. It came out a flat witch-like grey black . That was when I reached for DP's clippers!

I now have a pixie and am planning growing it much longer. I'm letting my very substantial grey grow in and it's scary (I'm 33!) but it's also amazing to be free of hair dye for good! And my hair is so thick and strong now!

Good luck!

Sorry, OP, but I laughed at your post.

Why does due come out so dark.

I dyed my grey last week with Nice & Easy (I can't bring myself to type 'n') Light Golden Brown. It came out jet black.

*dye, not due, obi

I went from black to platinum, but in stages and I had the bleaching done at the hairdresser, there was a yellowy orange phase but I'm through that now :o

It went a light brown but with a yellowy tinge. Quite nice and a million times better than the back but I do need more depth of colour and a deeper brown.

It feels ok but I have now bought this

www.boots.com/en/Toni-Guy-Nourish-Reconstruction-Mask-200ml_1234303/

I got two as they were two for ten pounds.

And I've bought two Olia hair dyes in dark golden brown, but having read the reviews it says they come out very dark! Yikes!

www.boots.com/en/Garnier-Olia-Dark-Golden-Brown-4-3-Permanent-Hair-Colour_1319831/

I think I will go and change them in the morning. To be fair I went to a very small Boots and they didn't have the full range.

I use L'Oreal Magirel 7.31 dark ash golden blonde , very nice shade, not too blond, not too dark,not too golden, looks very fresh and natural. If you keep any hair dye for longer than the recommend time it goes darker, but in few washes goes just right.

Nice n Easy always goes dark brown on me, I won't buy it again. Do you know the best dye by miles is Superdrug's own make 10 minute one, it's always on offer so never more than £4 a box!

barley I loved the colour on the one I bought but it did not last, it was supposed to be a permanent. Does yours last?

When i dyed my hair too dark i went online and to get it a few shades lighter you can apply crushed vitamin c tablets. Cant remember the exact concoction. Look on you tube or google it!! It did work!!! I think it was ant-dandruff shampoo and crushed vitamin c tables or if you can find powder. I put loads and loads of conditioner in it after and it lifted a shade or so.

The amount you're spending on all these home kits could be used to pay a professional hairdresser!

MrsBungle, I was paying a small fortune every mmonth at the hairdressers but decided to diy again.

Once I've got the colour I want it will not be expensive each money and won't take long as opposed to being a long while in the salon.

This morning my hair looks and feels good but the colour is not exactly as I want and I will go a bit warmer but will wait.

Head and shoulders shampoo is well known for fading hair dye

Olia wrecked my hair. That was the last time I bought an 'over the counter' box. I've recommended e-salon.com on here before and still do. It is £17ish and they will do an automatic delivery at whatever timescale suits you. Expensive for a home dye but so worth it.

Could you get it as you want it in the salon and then dye it yourself from there? You could have a look at groupon for local salon deals.

Greengardenpixie is right about the Vitamin C tablets & clarifying shampoo mix to lift colour from hair. I've done it several times successfully.

I've pretty much ruined the condition of my hair over the last several months with all the colours & bleach baths etc. So was trying to be really good and had a few trims & even chopped off a few inches off myself. When I was ready to colour my hair again I used Poly Colour Tint ( I could only get to the local chemist at the time & they didn't have a huge choice) and it came out really nice & surprisingly in better condition! (used own conditioner as it doesnt come with conditioner!) Will definitely use again.

But I always go a shade lighter with home dyes as they always turn out darker than on the box.

MrsBungle, it's not about the money, although it's nice to save some. I didn't get the result I wanted from numerous hair salons so I now cut and colour at home.

I've left my hair alone today. The light colour is growing on me but I will be going darker.

I exchanged my two olia hair dyes for two captain's in iced mocha.

I found an old thread on here and read that hair dyes with numbers 400 and 500 ranges are going to come out very dark so I should avoid and use dyes in the 600 range.

I'm on my phone so can't link to it but it's an excellent post.

I'm also going to make sure I don't leave any dyes on longer than 15-20 minutes as I believe I previously was foolish and left them on far longer than the advised time.

I look so much better without black hair so am very pleased.