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?

nice and easy -check the box as some of them specifically say they reduce redness

I've used the colour b4 stuff before with great success after I ended up with much, much redder hair than expected. It can leave your hair very slightly lighter than it was originally though, because the dye has bleach in so will have lightened your hair a bit. So in your case you may just go even more gingery? Not sure what your natural colour is. It also smells like rotten eggs, but it does work!

Hairdresser, now. You can see it as an early reward

Thanks everyone for your kind and understanding help! Thinking about it, my natural colour has been getting darker, and I think it is a shade on from my perception. So lesson learned - get honest help or save up and use a hairdresser. What a wasted Saturday!

Anyway, I have an update, and thought I'd bore you with it as I've found it so useful to search on here for old threads and so frustrating whn they aren't rounded off with an update!

I tried strand tests of the other dye (Nutrisse 7, almond) last night and they did send the colour darker. I mixed it with less developer so it was more like 1:1 rather than 3:2, and did one test strand for 20 mins and the other for 35. They seemed to be about the same. Then I had a panic that my hair would all fall out if I tried again so soon and instead put in an oil treatment overnight and waited to see how it dried this morning.

And... it's ok. Just about ok. Not what I want, but not gingery any more. By using skin makeup to even the tone, I think it looked passable. So my plan is to wait for 2-3 weeks, maybe using a purple shampoo, and then use the Nutrisse 7. Then when I hit my next big weight loss target I can go all out at the hairdressers are get some highlights and lowlights to blend through any regrowth bands and the grey. Exciting!

Or maybe I'll go mad and go henna! Very tempting to get such great condition and bulk out my fine hair.

I think anyone that has dyed their hair at home has had similar mini disasters.
Good plan to wait a bit and then go slightly darker. Bear in mind that brown dyes always come out darker than you think and that dark blonde is essentially light brown. If you don't like red tones, always go for the cool end of the spectrum, as opposed to neutral or warm colours, so look for ash, cool, beige in the name. I think Almond is a cool colour, should say on the box.
If the end colour is not quite right it can be neutralised with a colour toner.

Thanks for the update.