Do I need to strip my hair? All dyes come out the same dull colour

[Sakura7]

Hoping someone with more hair knowledge than me can give some advice.

I've been dyeing my hair at home for about 5 years now, since I decided to get rid of my highlights. My natural colour is medium brown, and I tend to alternate between these dyes:

• L'oreal Casting Creme Gloss in either Chocolate or Medium Brown
• Nutrisse Ultra Colour in Iced Coffee
• John Frieda foam in 5N or 4BG

All of the above used to look great in my hair, you could definitely notice the colour after dyeing and my hair was really shiny and in good condition. But the last few times I've dyed my hair I've been getting the exact same result no matter what brand/shade I used - just a dull brown colour. And it leaves my hair in really bad condition, when it used to do the opposite.

The Nutrisse one especially used to get me loads of compliments, but I used it yesterday and it looks crap.

Is it my hair? Has the dye built up to the point I can't do anything with it anymore, and if so is something like Colour B4 worth a try?

I suspect and may be wrong but it could just be, as you said colour build up. I dyed my hair for years and years, mainly brown colours.

I got fed up of having to do my roots (I'm naturally auburn) so I tried Colour B4 twice, both times it worked initially but then turned dark again after a few days, so ime, it was a waste of time & money. You could try the Vitamin C & shampoo mix if you want to try & get rid of any dye, sometimes it works. Google for the method. Then maybe try a different brand of dye?

Thanks youvegottobekidding, I might give the vitamin C thing a try before I dye it again. I'm noticing slightly more of a colour at the roots, so it must be the build up.

I did a colour b4 a couple of weeks ago as my ends had gone darker (iced coffee is one of the colours I’d used). Initially I was very pleased it really lightened and stripped the colour back to a light coppery colour. But it gradually darkened over a couple of days and I went over it with a mid brown dye. The ends are no longer black though which is what I set out to achieve.
Beware the smell of colour b4 is dreadful, a sulphur sweaty smell which lingered for days.

Thanks Candleglow, yeah I heard the smell is atrocious. I've seen a different brand called Colourless which seems to do the same job but doesn't stink as bad, might look into that one.