Can any hair colour experts offer advice?

[windy2909]

Hi everyone, hope you’re all keeping safe (and sane) during these terrible times. Not a major problem in the big scheme of things but I’m looking to try to do something to colour my hair at home. I currently have dark brown hair, with greys coming in (there seems to be more every day), a previous root melt colour further down and then blonde highlights. I was long overdue a visit to the hairdressers anyway but have had to cancel due to social distancing. I’ll try to post a pic of hair. I’m not confident trying to replicate highlights or anything and have a young baby so not a lot of time. Could anyone suggest a tint like dye I could apply over all of hair that would take and cover all the different colours? One that won’t affect me going back to blonde when I can get to hairdressers? Not too dark but no red....I’ve been there before and it’s not good to get out of hair. I welcome any suggestions. Thanks in advance.

I’m hoping someone can help me sort this 😂

Hi, qualified hairdresser here. It's really hard to cover dyed blonde hair with a darker colour and get a good result. Brown hair is made up of a whole range of colours, and if they have all been bleached out your hair can end up looking anything from green to orange when you try to cover it. If it's been dyed with hi lift hair colour (not bleach) if you then darken it with permanent colour, you will not be able to lighten it again other than with a strong bleach solution, which is not ideal. I would suggest the easiest thing is to lighten your roots with a hi lift box hair colour - the lightest you can find. Do the roots for most of the instructed time, then brush it through the rest of your hair for the last ten minutes.

Jerome Russell BBlonde highlighting kit is super easy to use and would add highlights to lift your roots (not a hairdresser but a regular home dyer!)

Thank you both lovely ladies for replying. Much appreciated!

@Badtasteflump - my blonde has been achieved through bleach and always a toner. I had a quick look for your suggested colour...would something like this be any good....

@Manda34 - thanks for your suggestion....currently googling to see if it could work for me!

Yes a no.11 hi lift blonde would do it. It probably wouldn't completely match your hair but brushing it through as I said would help blend it. Then if you're not completely happy you can then use a toner - an 'ash blonde' toner if it's too brassy and a 'golden blonde' if you want to add warmth. This way you've not done anything to potentially damage your hair & make it tricky when you go back to your hairdresser at some point!

@Badtasteflump thank you so much! I’ve ordered the colour above online but no toner yet, as I’ll need to wait and see how it turns out. I’ll post a pic if I don’t mess it up too much and if I get the time to do it 😂. Very kind of you to offer advice, especially when facing so much uncertainty about being able to work at all. Bless you! X

You're so welcome. Let me know if u need any more help - I would rather keep busy!

@Badtasteflump Thanks again!....you might regret saying that. I’m already getting the fear about how I’m going to do it.. should have paid more attention and chatted less when at hairdressers. I may have some questions when the stuff arrives if that’s ok? Already panicking I didn’t get enough....only 1 but that was out of my hands anyway....it was the only 1 left 😂

No problem, I seem to have an increasing amount of time on my hands just lately... Don't worry though, there's very little damage you can do with hair colour rather than bleach. The worst that could happen would be that your hair doesn't lighten as much as you'd like - but with bleach you can end up with it breaking off if you get the mix wrong or leave it on too long! Which is why I wouldn't recommend home bleaching 😱

Get fanola purple shampoo. It's the best purple shampoo on the market by a country mile. It's as good as any toner and will give you a lovely ashy colour.

I'm using L'Oréal age perfect beige blonde toner to cover my grey roots and fanola to keep the tone ashy. Act quick though, as toners and dyes are flying off the shelves now!

Thank you @Barkingfuckingdogs. I think I should maybe order some as already struggling to see toners available for home delivery. The shampoo you suggested is available just now so think I need to act fast as you said!

Fanola is incredible. It's not got the nicest smell imo and it stains your hands cos it's so pigmented, so wear gloves (if you can find any to order!) but it's the best bar none.

@Badtasteflump hiya, hope you’re well? So I’m more of a novice than I first thought. Hi-lift colour arrived today and I didn’t realise I had to use a developer to mix it with 🙈. Now need to see if I can get my hands on some. Could you advise me - I’m assuming I would need 12%/40 vol? If I can get any!

Oops sorry I assumed was a box colour with the developer in. But yes 12% will do a high lift. Hope you manage to find some!

@Badtasteflump thanks again. I’m chickening out now! Think I’ve seen the right stuff on amazon but worried about mixing it up wrong and making a big mess. I can’t seem to see any ready to go boxes. If I see one I’ll order it.

Aw I can understand it seems a bit complicated! Normally you would mix the colour with the developer at the ratio of 1:1 but if you want to get a hi lift (as you do) you mix 2 parts developer to 1 part colour, which achieves another couple of levels of lift. You can use anything to measure - for roots a tablespoon might be enough. As you're not using bleach you can't really go wrong 😊

Right that’s making sense to me. Had a look online. Are any of these ok to buy/use?

@Badtasteflump sorry, forgot to tag you in above post!
🙈

@Badtasteflump if you’re a qualified hairdresser, it’s not a great idea to be telling someone to try and bleach their roots at home without even explaining about things like root glow, banding or being careful not to overlap on the previously treated sections.

Hi-lift mixed with a 12 vol peroxide is ultimately more damaging than bleach powder mixed with a 6 vol peroxide. Saying “hi-lift is better than bleach” isn’t necessarily true, and for a complete amateur (the OP) who has zero knowledge of any of the chemicals or processes, she’s risking snapping all her hair off. Also, “the worst that can happen is your hair won’t lighten as much as you like”?? No, the worst that can happen is she will be left with neon peach roots, a chemically burnt scalp, and chewing gum hair.

@windy2909, I really hope you chickened out completely!

Well ginger I disagree. For a start OP isn't using bleach anyway. But I refuse to get into a bun fight on here so I will agree to disagree.

And OP of course any chemical treatment could cause damage if not used correctly. But as long as you follow the instructions, particularly the timing, it should be fine. If you're really worried you can buy a blonde box colour, where it's already measured out for you.

I'm new to Mumsnet and am up breastfeeding when I stumbled on this (and other ) home hair dying posts.
I am a hairdresser. Please, please, please do not put high lift with 40 volume peroxide on your roots!!

1. it will go orange
2. it won't lift out the root smudge (colour doesn't lift colour)
3. it will damage your hair
4. it won't cover greys
5. it won't match your highlights. If you cannot wait to see your stylist, the only thing I would recommend is a semi permanent glossing on roots only in a shade that matches your natural base colour. This will blend greys without doing permanent damage to the rest of your hair. You will end up with a balayage effect over time. A purple shampoo does not work on orange hair. These people that do their own home highlights and blonding successfully are the exception not the rule.

I would not be attempting blonde, bleach, toning or anything like it as a novice. Professional level bleaches are for use by trained hairdressers and depend on base hair colour and strength and an expert knowing what they are doing and how long to leave it on for. I'd rather have grey hair in good condition than completely ruined hair.

Best of all would be to leave it and buy some ColorWow powder to blend out the greys every other day or hair wash.