Have accidentally dyed my hair clown red…

[sizeofalentil]

Bought a box of dye that was meant to give me an autumnal orangey colour (over my mouse-coloured hair) and it has come out clown red!

I don't really mind it, and DH loves it, but is there any toner I could put over the top to make it a more natural auburn?

It was a permanent dye.

I'm not fussed enough about it to go to a hairdressers or strip the colour or anything. If there's nowt I can do myself I'll just wait for it to grow/fade out.

You could accessorise with a plastic dagger and start chasing children about? It's all the rage apparently

Going to admit, it is very on trend right now.

Could stick a couple of seashells on my boobs and dress up as Ariel for Halloween?

I did this once, kids loved mummy's "cartoon hair". I was not so amused. I just used a dark brown dye over the top, it really toned it down and still had lovely red tones all over. Might be worth getting advise from a hairdresser on what shade of brown to go for though.

I don't know of any toners, but the classic Head and Shoulders is helpful for fading dye faster?

I'm not much help - I'd love to know what you used - I struggle to get my natural mouse (with grey) to any level of red.

You could try an ash colour over the top to neutralise the red.

Be very careful with brown dyes if you're not a natural brunette as they will come out far too dark. I would try a dark ash blonde dye, you can use a semi permanent over the red.
Dark blonde will give a lightish brown colour usually, but with the base red colour you now have, it will result in a more subtle reddish brown.

I would recommend Nice n Easy dark ash blonde (semi permanent).

Don't pay too much attention to the picture on the front of the box dye. The colour you end up with is completely dependent on your base colour, a bit like mixing paint. If you have a palette of red paint and mix in a brown shade, you can imagine that you'd end up with a reddish brown colour.

Thank you all for your help. I'm going to leave it red for the next few weeks then try all of your suggestions when I get bored of it. Plan will be - wash it with H&S then put an ash-based temp over the top. Will probably go green, knowing my luck…

Ironically - it's gone a better and more vibrant red than when I actually tried to dye it red before!

MarklahMarklah - I think it was a garnier one, but have used Feria Colour vibrant thing before with great results. When I actually wanted it red, I did that then bought some wash-in wash-out red dye to add to my hair conditioner to top it up.