Hair dying. Dark to blonde, roots problem.

[Fawnsett]

Hi Ladies,
I need some advice. If you went from dark brown to cooler tones blond how do you successfully maintain roots (I don't mean salon, rather DIY).

I bleached my hair a couple of months ago and dyed it nice ash blond. Then in a month and a half or so I just dyed the roots, they were a bit different but quite ok, I thought the next month I would repeat and those parts will get lighter with a new round, while "new" roots will be slightly different again. I was wrong. They stayed the same, and I ended up with a weird patch of hair (it looked way better dark). I thought that of dye lifted my hair 4 tones first time (20 vol), it should lift it 4 tones next time. But it simply doesn't. So I decided to buy a stronger developer 40 vol.. And tried different dye (from Amazon, colour 11a light ash blond and dia light 9.11 milkshake to be darker in case if 11a won't work.

11a + 40vol lifted roots a bit 😳😳😳 but those were pretty orangey still, like 2 tones lighter at best.. and still very different from the rest of hair, the dye didn't work on the rest of hair either. I thought * anyway I'll just use a milkshake tone and just will be darker (supposed to be a dark blonde).. Well it dyed my roots into brown and the rest of hair turned out a dull grey, acted more like a strong toner than a hair dye.. Realising I am an idiot and being quite frustrated I went back to my original dark brown.. Surprisingly, my hair is not ruined... Well maybe for now.. The bad thing is that I don't feel myself good in this shade.

I guess this topic can be titled that's why you don't go for diy but go to salon . But still.. I don't want fancy balayage for myself, I just want a simple colour and I guess there are a lot of people who are doing that at home.

Please, if you can share your experience, I will be very grateful.

Blond pic is what I had and wanted to maintain, and the roots before I freaked out and went to dark again..

I am sorry to bump this up, is that really a stupid idea, and should be done in salon only?

I had this problem and would love to know the answer!

PhalangeReginaPhalange thank you for your reply!

Are you bleaching, then toning? That seems like the most reliable way to get the lift you are looking for. Sounds like you are trying to lift with a colour?

YouTube has lots of great hairdressers - That Blonde Girl Mandy, Brad Mondo (a little iffy, I saw him wreck one girl's hair) or even NamiCho (untrained but has bleached her hair so many times, she's an expert now). Euqina D (sp) is also good, although she does curlier/natural hair mostly.

PotatoScallop thank you so much for the references! I'll have a look.

Yes, I was trying to lift with a colour.. mainly because I thought if initially the first round is going so well for me it, it would be ok without bleach. I was wrong I guess..

I've bleached my hair for a lot of years, my hair is naturally mid brown and I bleach it to a cool tones vanilla icy blond, similar to hour pics but a bit lighter.

I cover my hair in coconut oil over night (put a tow over the pillow!) and then apply the bleach onto the oiled hair in the morning. I use 30 vol as 40 would fry my hair and I just apply to the roots.

I leave it on until the roots turn inside of a banana skin yellow (usually 35 mins for my hair, the coconut oil seems to speed it up). Then I wash it off and use a deep conditioning mask, leaving the mask on for an hour or so.

The next day, or day after I mix up the toner and using a highlight/colour brush I apply to the roots and leave for half the recommended time.

Then I use the brush again and roughly run it in streaks, (blending and brushing it out so they dont look like Ford Escort go faster stripes!!) down the length of my hair in the way you'd do balayage (loads of good YouTube videos on it).

Then rinse again, and finally I apply a purple shampoo and leave it on for as long as necessary (ten mins in my case) to blast the last of the brassy tones out of my hair.

I'm not a professional, but I've bleached my hair for years and its silky and glossy with no damage.

What are you trying to do with your regrowth?

If you want to match it to the rest of your hair, it needs bleach unfortunately.

If you want to tint the roots lighter (as you have done) then carry on, but be aware that lifting hair with tint alone will always leave a warm/brassy/gingery tone. It might look nicer if you use an ash dark blonde/light brown to cover up the warmth.

Your final option would be to let your natural colour grow out and blend the blonde into it. Sort of like a balayage/highlights. Would probably be better to get this done at a salon though

What did you mix your dialight with? It reacted like a toner because that’s what it is. It’s an acid base colour which is designed to neutralise unwanted reflects, give shine and offers no lift. The grey tone it gave you is the correct colour. It’s a steel tone when used correctly but would normally be mixed with other shades or used as a dual toner (put on after a first toner that has eliminated warmth and left a clean even base to work on). The look you are aiming to achieve is a bleach and tone, though that is now a huge job with your brown hair. If you’re really not happy maybe balayage your midlengths and ends with prelightener then tone with any remaining 9.11 and 9vol, or buy a tube of 9.01 to tone for a softer finish. Depends what base and reflects your left with when you lift your hair again.

EatenByDinosaurs thank you! I might just make a mistake going back to dark too soon 😂🙈

It's interesting that even though I have used 12% (40 vol) developer my hair is quite alive.. or is it just for now.

Mnthrowaway20199 thank you! Yes, the original idea was to match me to my son's shade. His eyes are the same colour as mine, but he is naturally cool light-champagne blonde. I have never seen this colour before, maybe he will get darker later on. Sounds ridiculous, but he doesn't look like me and I thought ok if we have the same eye colour, his shade will be good on me too. 😂 and I will be more like his mum.. (On several occasions I had strangers coming to me saying he must look like dad because we are so different.. ).

But I was getting lighter with washes, but actually, the shade looked very good, and I thought I would keep it. But then it was so problematic to lift roots. Just even to match it to the 'base'.

MoBro thank you very much for the explanation of this. I thought dialight was an actual dye, as the colour pictured. I realise now that I actually should not go lighter than 8 at home otherwise should use bleach all the time.

Thank you so much ladies!!

You're very welcome, blonde isn't an easy colour to get right, but I tend to tink of doing your own colour as asteep learning curve!

No advice op but beautiful hair and colour, I’m really impressed that you did it at home!