Correcting hair dye mistake?

[BulletFox]

I hadn't dyed my hair since 2002 until a family drama in May this year, after which I was standing in the queue at boots & happened to be level with the clearance shelves, & bought a discounted packet of medium blonde dye on impulse (I suppose it's a parallel of the old adage never to go food shopping when hungry; don't dye your hair when you feel emotional).

I don't like it & miss my old hair colour, I guess a dark ash blonde/light brown.

Since I'm so out of touch with messing around with my hair, would it be ok to buy a dark ash blonde & re-dye? I can't remember if it's ok to do this over the top

You could always use a colour remover first, see how it comes out then dye over that if you're still not happy with the colour. It's perfectly safe to do this and I've done so before. Like it says on hair dye boxes, if you're deciding between 2 colours then choose the lighter one as you don't want to go too dark again. Hth

If you do decide to use a colour remover, I'd use Scott Cornwell rather than Colour B4 as it is kinder to the hair.

I used both one after the other after dying my hair too dark then had a hairdresser tint my roots too red. Neither lifted the colour I wanted to strip but The Scott Cornwell didn't seem to damage my hair as much. Both products lightened my roots and ends but the colour in the middle stayed much the same.

Good luck - in the end I went to a salon for a colour correction.

Thank you both - I'm in a teeny town (there's boots, but not superdrug) but will go to investigate their wares shortly :)

Bear in mind that a colour remover won't remove blonde dye as it's essentially bleach. It sounds like a faff to try Colour B4. It's quite harsh, stinks to high heaven and takes hours to rinse out properly.

What don't you like about the colour? If it's the fact that the colour is too warm for you (gingery, reddish hues) or a bit brassy then you can just dye over it. Stay away from brown dyes. They'll come out far darker than the box suggests.

I'd go for a cool blonde; ash would be best. You can put it over your existing colour. Most home dyes will only lift your hair colour by one or two shades. The picture on the box is misleading. L'Oreal or Nice n Easy ash blonde are my suggestions.

To counteract any yellowy tones, I'd recommend a purple toning shampoo to use afterwards. Lee Stafford (Boots) is brilliant for eliminating brassy tones.

Thank you so much for this

I dyed it an ash blonde last night & it's my natural colour again & I love it. I didn't like having yellow hair, it felt so unnatural

Fellow ash blonde here, I hate the yellow look too. Glad you had a great result