a hair dye one (for mum)

[Lorelei76]

hi all
as you are the font of all knowledge and I don't have a hairdresser, I wonder if you can help.

mum is 78, dyeing hair forever and now wanting to transition to grey. She has brown black hair. She can't physically get to a hairdresser and doesn't really want anyone in the house so it will be me doing it.

I was thinking it might be easier to transition if we can lighten her hair a bit. Do I just use one of those box colours - permanent - that says it can be used on dark brown/black and go up one shade?

I admit I have no knowledge but I'm sure I remember someone saying it was really hard to lift hair one shade (it might have been someone thinking about really perfect hairdresser colour though, I don't know).

if it goes wrong, can I pop a semi permanent colour on afterwards? She says she's okay to risk it but I would like a back up plan!! At the moment only her roots are grey.

Thanks!

I stopped dying my hair in May 2015. I had it cut short in December and the colour was practically gone by then. Prior to that I tried using semi permanent and wash out colours but to be honest, they never wash out fully, so you are left with an orangey tinge. I think the easiest thing is to cut it as short as you can cope with. I'm 48 by the way, and my hair is a longer version of a silver pixie. It looks much better than the blocked dark brown i had before, where my roots showed every six months. Three of my other friends have stopped dying too. I've had lots of compliments and saved a fortune. My mother in law still dyes her hair but as she has got older, she now uses a blonde dye, previous used dark brown.

Thanks Jingle sorry, I should have said, mum has hair just at her shoulders and won't go shorter

fundamentally, will the lightening by one or two shades actually work or is the risk of an orange tinge very high? I would be choosing a dark brown because her natural colour is brown/black which is what it's been dyed all these years. Is it the combo of bleach and dark hair that leads to a risk of orange?

My DMum has medium brown hair naturally and for the past while has changed to a lighter dye, it has definitely lightened her hair and blends with the grey better (as grey is so much more obvious against dark hair). She uses permanent dye.

I don't think dark brown would lighten at all, I have v dark brown hair and that's the dye I use, it goes pretty dark.

Mrs, yes, I hear so many conflicting stories but a mate of mine dyed his dark hair quite blonde - he left the colour on longer than stated on the box but I thought if he can go blonde, surely mum can go up one shade? I don't know the science though!

are you effectively dyeing dark brown hair to dark brown?

I just dye to cover my grey bits, so as natural as possible.

I'd try a medium brown, it would def lighten it a bit IMO.

And would think semi-permanent after would be fine, if the colour wasn't good, they are pretty gentle.

Thanks, I just wanted to have a back up. I've been doing her roots for her and did once do the roots for a friend who had platinum blonde, but that was a bit less worrying as she knew how to choose her own colour. I don't want to end up giving mum orange hair!!!!

You can only 'dye' hair darker - to go lighter you need to lift the existing colour. E.g. A P
permanent hair dye that is lighter than your natural colour must first lift (bleach) your existing hair colour before depositing the new, lighter colour. However, dye cannot lift dye, so in your mother's case you would first need to strip/lift (bleach) the existing darker dye. It can be a very complex job that can end in horrid results and ruined hair if you don't know what you're doing. Hire a professional to make a house call.

Re. what to request - I would suggest lifting via a load of highlights, then toning those to match her grey. You can do this several times as her natural grey grows out and if done correctly it will avoid the badger stripe. (And actually look good in the process of growing out!)

A P is a typo - ignore; didn't spell check!

Btw, I went through this same process several years ago, with lovely results. But, like many others, I did end up making a drastic chop at one point just to get rid of all the dyed ends.

Last - so buying a dark brown permanent dye like say a Swarchzkopf live - says on the back can be used on darkest brown to black - that won't work at all?

sorry for all the questions. she doesn't want to pay a professional either, she's just looking for a less painful way to be half grey but I'm not sure there is one this is why I don't plan on doing mine!

No, putting on another dye (even lighter) won't be able the old dye. You can use a colour remover (also known as a stripper) and then add a lighter toner once you've lifted some of the old dye - but beware that it's a fragile operation with potentially disastrous results if you don't know what you're doing! Sorry to sound a bit harsh, but it's true. Just be gentle with the colour lifter - keep a close eye on it. And when using a toner afterwards, remember that the hair will be extremely porous, so you choose a shade lighter than what you want - the hair follicles will be blown open from the lifter (bleach) and you don't want to end up with the same dark shade as before.

All said, I would recommend doing a bleach highlight kit as your colour remover and the. toning on top of that. It will help break up the solid dark dye (& will be easier to fix if you find it all going wrong!!!)

Last, now I'm confused.

I was just going to buy a box of permanent dye from Boots or whatever - does the box contain the stuff you said - i.e. colour lifter etc?

but you're saying because she's already got dye in her hair - it's Clairol permanent dark brown - we won't be able to lift it with a lighter colour?

in that case I think mum needs to think again.

Sorry, the first sentence should read:
'won't be able to lift the old dye.'

oh I just read your post again and now I get it.

you think we should buy a separate product to remove her current colour, then do the shade lighter experiment?

Thanks.

Yes, that's correct - the developer in new (lighter) box dye will not be strong enough to lift the old dye. You need to first use a separate colour remover (or bleach highlight kit), THEN you can use the new dye. Otherwise the new dye will just add to the old dye, but it won't be any lighter.

Cross-post! Yes, correct. Good luck!!

You won't be able to lighten the dark hair that has been coloured for years with a lighter colour. You have massive colour build up from continually applying hair colour.
You are best off stripping the colour out with a decolour stripper by Scott Cornwall. This will strip the colour to an orange/ yellow colour. You can recolour immediately after this using a lighter blonde box dye. Then your mum can grow out the blonde, looks less shit than growing out dark hair colour. But I would recommend she goes shorter for ease and condition of hair.

Sorry, perhaps I should have said, Mum isn't white British and with her skin colour - there is a limit to how light she can go. If she was 28 she could do it as a style statement but at 78, less easy - anyway she'd have a fit at the idea.

looking at this is making me think it might be a bit pointless trying anything other than stripping out colour and trying to give her grey highlights or something. I will give her all this info and see what she wants to do. Thanks.

Hi.
I 'm not found what your mom natural color.If she have broun hair hairstylezz.com/best-medium-brown-hair-color-ideas/ I would recommend try henna.
I was able to cover my silvers very well with henna + indigo. I used Rainbow Dark Brown (it's just henna and indigo), mixed with tap water and some vinegar, applied immediately. It's easy to use and I would recommend it to use for your mom!
What's nice too is it's usually available locally, and it's cheap. It comes in a jar so you can just use what you need and save the rest. I used a half jar to touch up my roots every three weeks. I just left it on for 60 - 75 minutes too, so it's quick and easy to use.

Would she pay for a mobile hairdresser? Maybe she could have lowlights for the inbetween stage (and regular cuts)