Hair dyed, don't like it - what now?

[Gentleness]

I was only trying to hide a bit of grey and tone in to a previous dye job that got lighter and lighter unexpectedly! My hair is mid/light brown with natural chestnut lowlights and very fine. The grey is stark white and thicker hair so it stands out. I'm fine being grey, just not amongst darker hair and with this odd strip effect from the previous dye. Really, I just want to look normal.

So I used what I thought would be one shade lighter than usual - Nutrisse 8.13, hoping it would blend into the older dye and hide the grey, and not be so striking as it grows out. I dyed just the long roots, then combed it through for the last 10min, as per the instructions, then waited for a nice shiny light brown..... Nope. It's quite gingery. Not at all what I wanted. I haven't washed it yet, not sure whether to try the head&shoulders thing of it that will make lightened hair worse!

Last dye job was Casting Creme 600 which was a bit darker than I wanted at first and then got lighter and lighter as time went on, leaving an obvious line. I don't know why it would get lighter and am worried this will too.

How soon can I dye over the top? And am I doomed to have hair that will always take on a gingery tone? I need at least one shade darker I think but how to get back to normal without feeling hideous while it regrows?

Shameless bump as I'm going shopping soon and really want to get this changed without making it worse. Looks so fake in daylight. Seriously, but much could make me feel worse about myself these days, but I've managed to somehow achieve it. Expert.

Sorry I don't know, but could you go to a hairdresser? It will be more expensive than a box of dye obviously, but a decent stylist should be able to fix it and / or advise you.

I would highly recommend Lush Henna in cacao brun, the brown shade. It's not red and no chemicals so won't react strangely with the chemical hair dye you have just used. Honestly it is excellent and you can buy it online if there isn't a lush shop nearby. Look at before and after images online. I would only leave the product on for an hour and a half he first time and do it again if you want a deeper shade but it's fabulous and so natural whilst covering greys.

Is it permanent dye? Could try colourb4 to take the lot off and start again? But will make your hair very dry.

Thanks! Not sure whether to battle on now and see if washing tones it down or get straight to Lush! I didn't want to spend on a hairdresser now because I was planning a visit as a reward for weight loss in about a month... Sigh.

It might tone down mightn't it?

It's Garnier Nutrisse. I thought it seemed like one of the softer dyes...

Lush will tone it down and remove some of the red for you. Maybe strip it with a fairy liquid was first (my best mate is a hairdresser and she swears by this!) and then try the Lush Henna. You'll have a brown shade in no time!

All hair dye has a number , it's a universal system . The higher the number the lighter the colour . An 8 is really quite blonde. If you want it darker I'd go for something with some red in it otherwise you'll end up a nasty khaki colour

Can you post a pic of the back of your head so you're not recognised ?

Ok, from the back /side it looks like a nice colour on the photo! But it's so wrong for my skin tone, as in forehead crop... I feel like everyone is staring at me and that is not how I like to live!

The Lush ones seem like they'd be much darker than I am hoping for. Can they do lighter tones?

Do you want to be darker ? Like this maybe ?

Not that dark, but more that tone. My skin tone is pale but nobody finds it easy to work out if it is pink or yellow undertones, until I dye my wretched hair at least! I actually would like that colour it is at the back, but the ginger at the front hairline is way too much. Could I get the front calmer with some root touch up stuff do you think?

This is an 8.3

It's difficult to even out hair colour at home, unless you go a good couple of shades darker.

Could you try colouring a few strands at the front ( hi light type thing) so it blends in a bit , rather than being a block of colour ?

Thanks so much for your help by the way! I'm going to go at it with fairy liquid before deciding to risk anything else. So frustrating. It took me ages to decide what to do and i did research a lot - I think my hair just takes colour fast and gingery! Grrr... I hate people looking at me, and looking at me because I have a clearly messed up dye job is even worse...

I do sympathise , having cocked up my hair a few times over the years .

Colouring hair is just like mixing paint. So if you are very blonde (yellow paint) and stick a plain brown dye on it , you will end up a funny khaki colour . If it's too red /ginger then you need to add a plain brown to it to take out the redness .

Get an ash based colour to get rid of the ginger
Any colours that say ash or cool are fine
Anything with the words copper, golden or warm are not!

If you are talking about lush henna - Im going to be blunt - DONT! It is a commitment. It is simply gorgeous colour but you need to commit to it as you can have great difficulty using a normal box dye over it if you dont like it or it may turn out green - yes green, if you use if over processed hair so soon after dying it with a box dye.
I love lush henna but was well aware of what i was getting into.

Echo what neveraDull says.

Henna and box dyes are an unexact science.
I hennaed over the tail end of a box dye ( I had it cropped but still had 1cm of dye so I was a bit dubious but it went well, I'm a Henna Convert )

But............ I know it wouldn't work to use a dye over the henna (I use one with indigo tones) , I'd go khaki

Thanks never - I needed to read that. I like the idea of henna, but I'm very wary of it turning out Morticia on my feeble hair.

Ok, so I've washed my hair 5 times. Fairy liquid x 3, head&shoulders x1, normal shampoo x1 and conditioned 3 times. It's toned down a bit. Not as much as I had hoped. I felt so exposed just walking round Aldi that I didn't feel brave enough to go into a big shop, so haven't got anything wildly different to use, but I do have the other pack of Nutrisse I had bought because I couldn't decide. (and it was on offer ).

It's 7 - almond, dark blonde. The words golden and warm do not appear on the packaging, though cool and ash don't either. And reviews say it comes out darker than expected. In fact my plan had been to use this lighter one first and then in a month or so, use the other so I was kind of gradually going back to a more normal colour for me, and then let the grey gradually come through and live with it. HA! So much for planning...

The temptation is intense - I'm out all day tomorrow, and I don't want to look silly, or feel like I look silly... Do I have a go with this second box? It'll be 12+ hours later, but also 5 hair washes. If I mix a small amount for a strand test, will I have wasted the lot?

The reason why it's "gingery" is because it was too light to lift your hair properly with whatever developer they put in as standard in the box (I'm assuming 20vol maybe?) so it's not lifted properly and exposed too much of your underlying natural pigment. Washing repeatedly might seem to tone it down slightly but as its lighter than your natural, you can't wash it out like you can if its too dark. I'd go to a hairdresser and get a quasi/gloss over it to tone it down a bit

I think if you're definitely going to do something at home today about it your only option is to go a bit darker with an ash or cool colour. If you want it stay light but change the shade you're going to have to go into a salon. Sorry OP!

The bleach in the dye you used has given it the gingery hue. Don't keep washing it in fairy liquid! All that will do is turn your hair to straw. You can't colour remove blonde shades.
I recommend Loreal excellence creme in natural ash blonde. Apply all over and leave for 45 mins, don't do roots for 10 mins first this time.
To get rid of any brassiness, use a purple toner. Boots Lee Stafford bleach blonde purple shampoo is great. Apply to towel dried hair, leave for 20 mins, rinse out and condition.
As you have discovered, the pictures on the front of the box dye are usually misleading as they take no account of your starting colour.
Hope it works out

Try Nice and Easy in dark ash blonde.

I would try a purple shampoo - I use the Lee Stafford one. I did a box dye on mine, I tried to go much blonder but it went yellow/ginger. My friend and hairdresser told me in no uncertain terms not to dye it again but to use the purple shampoo everyday. I did and after a week or so it had toned down and gone much more ashy in colour. If you like the blonde but hate the gingery tones then that is the way to go definitely. Then when you treat yourself to a trip to the hairdressers they can give you some highlights/lowlights to help with the regrowth!