How to dye blonde balayage hair back medium /chocolate /dark brown ?

[tinnytot]

I'm naturally dark brown.
I have dark brown roots and blonde balayage.
The balayage looks a mix of yellow /ginger
Since November I've spent £1000 on my hair trying to get it nice.
I spend £85 every 6 weeks and can't afford it.
I'm going to dye it back brown myself.
I know I need to replace the red that's been taken out of my hair.
Would I be ok putting a warm brown /mahogany brown on ?
I can't justify more money to hairdresser

I think it’s worth the investment to go back to the hairdressers one more time to have them colour it darker then going forward use a box colour but going from blonde to dark needs doing properly tbh.

A semi permanent warm brown will probably work, it might need reapplying quite often, but will allow the bleached parts of your hair to show through a bit which will stop it looking too solid.

A grand on hair!

Watching with interest, as I could’ve written your post. Can’t afford the time and money on the maintenance and just can’t seem to shift those gingery/brassy tones, so I’d rather go back to my natural colour. Would be happy to spend the money on a final salon correction if it truly was a one-off, but I always find salon dark dyes turn orangey after a few washes and then I’m back there again!

I haven't found a solution other than cutting it off or letting it grow out. I cover mine but usually within a week the blonde is showing back through. I spend a lot of time in the sun though which my speed the process up a little!

Bought these two ..going to give it a go this afternoon
Wish me luck

I wouldn't Use the Chocolate!
I bought 2 boxes of this on my Blonde balyage, and it first turned my Blonde a Faded pinky colour , then I put another box on and roots went bright red and the rest a muted browny red!

Original Hair, first box dye of sake Make Chocolate and 2nd of chocolate
Lots more red tones than I wanted. Not even 2 boxes of Ash brown still haven't covered!
Now I have a Scabby Scalp & wish I'd left it alone or gone back to Hairdresser!

*same

@Scoleah ah I like the colour in the last pic.
I'm planning on doing the mahogany brown first then seeing what it looks like.
Then maybe putting the chocolate on.
I don't know what to do for the best

I'm going to advise you to return to your hairdresser to get back to your natural colour. I've had home-dye disasters and it cost a lot more to get it fixed at the hairdressers than it would've cost if I'd initially gone to the salon!

Scoleah what do you use to style your hair? I have some waves but unstyled they’re a random mess.

@SinkGirl I do it with a Straighteners!
Couldn't Grasp it at first but they said if I curl it with a Straightners/wand then straighten the ends to give more of a Wave look than a curl!

I do it before bed, Whack a load of hairspray on, then brush it out in the Morning

I'd also recommend getting it done professionally. The blondecends will need to be pre-pigmented and then an all over colour used. Get regular trims until all the previous blonde ends are gone.

You might end up ruining your hair and then spending a fortune to repair it

@tinnytot That's great if that's the colour your going for then.. I wanted more Brown than Red. I spoke to L'Oréal's live chat that advised this colour and said it would be more of a Brown than a Red & it really wasn't. All my ends have faded to more of a browny colour now but roots are still bright!
Goodluck OP, hope it turns out How you want it! X

@Scoleah I really really love your hair colour in the last pic, it's beautiful! Looks like it really suits your colouring as well (from what I can tell!)

I'm another one who wants rid of the balayage. As much as I love being blonde, it's too much maintenance and I'm too lazy to keep the colour looking bright. I'm bored of it now too, fancy a change!

I was planning to get he salon to take me darker and then just maintain at home myself.
I just can't be bothered booking in at the hairdressers just yet though... it always takes so long and it's sooo boring

I'm wondering now if I should just whack a box colour on it.

@WhoLurvesOrangeSoda Thank you! I've been red many times, but as it wasn't my plan this time, I just wanted Brown, I really hated it! But looking at it now doesn't look as bad as I thought, It made my Blue eyes Pop though!
Went through lots of fuss adding Ash colours to it, and suffered the sore scabby scalp!
Haven't had a Hair mess up in Years (my Hair was natural before I had the Blonde put in and I hated it) and dyed it as soon as I got back home from hairdressers because I was too polite to say I didn't like it.
Goodluck with everyone that's planning on box dying. With all the Money I spent trying to go back Brown I'd def spend the extra and have it done properly first before keeping it up yourself at home!

I did a similar thing the year before last. Used a Josh Wood hair colour, then tweaked with Josh Wood shade shots.

this one really cooled down any brassy gingeryness. It took me a couple to do it due to long hair.It took a couple of rounds of that to get to the shade I wanted.

As the shade shot is cheap I used one every month or so for a while to top-up. I also found it extended the time between redoing the main dye. I did that every 3 months, using a slightly lighter shade each time so as not to over darken the colour.

After six months the colour was stable enough I was just able to switch to touch of silver shampoo to blend in regrowth.

I found that gave me enough time to grow out the balanced bits to a length I was happy cutting.

Having been in your position where I was using home dyes for MONTHS before I got the colour anywhere near where I wanted it to be I would recommend going back to the hair dresser one more time, and then use a box dye going forward if you want.

If money is an issue see if there is a hair dressing college around that take models, or a hair dresser either. There is a great one near me that when you book in you are with a student under supervision and the price is nothing compared to what you pay in the hair dresser.

Also, all over colours should be cheaper than ballyage.

I had a blond baleyage. Initially, I went to the hairdresser to dye it brown (a couple of times) but have since had a go myself. I think my hair looks alright.

How did you get with the box colour @tinnytot? Brave enough to post a pic?!

Did your Hair come out Okay @tinnytot ?