Dyed my hair lilac. This isn’t lilac. It’s permanent.

[mycatsmellsbad]

My natural colour is very dark brown so I really wasn’t expecting great results from a box of ‘live’ lilac colour.

I’m really surprised it’s made my hair look so much lighter but it’s certainly not lilac. Is it a disaster or do you think it’s ok?

It's nice. You could try using the Bleach London pearlescent shampoo, that will tone down any brassiness and add a subtle pinky tinge to it.

I knew my hair was too dark for it to look like it does on the box, I just thought it might give a hint of purple at the most and really didn’t want anything drastic. Serves me right for not checking it first.

I’ll definitely get a toner and leave it rather than risk dumping more colour on it and let my hairdresser sort it out properly when she’s back in action!

And yes I realise now my original hair colour is not dark brown after years of bleaching it I don’t think I ever got over the shock of going back to my roots.

It's not a disaster by any stretch. It does look nice. A toning shampoo will get rid of any "gingeryness".

On a positive note, it looks like we won't be going back to normal for a while yet so it'll probably all fade/grow out and look no different in several weeks. And you have lovely hair regardless.

Some of us are going to look far more shocking (in the hair department) after lockdown

Would be interesting to see how it looks now & how different from the first pic!

As others have said those XXL box dyes have bleach in them to lighten your hair first to then deposit the colour. All permanent colours do this to a greater or lesser extent, because peroxide will lighten your hair slightly, but this one has actual bleach in it to get a bit more lift. However, as with all these products, the bleach in it isn't that strong and will not lift your hair that much, hence the level you have come out with. It's possible that the lilac dye in there has stopped it going too orange. I think the colour in the first pic you have posted is lovely actually!

Unfortanately purple shampoo or a purple toner is not going to do that much on hair your level of colour, as purple shampoos only really work on light hair, they will tone yellow but not orange. That Pearlescent shampoo mentioned above is lovely, but I know from experience that your hair needs to be very very light for it to do anything (inside of a banana skin is the guide colour they say). You would need a more blue based toner to cancel the orange make more of an ashy brown colour (Fanola No More Blue Shampoo is supposed to be good for this?)

As I said though, I think it looks nice as it is!

The problem is that all permanent dyes contain bleach; even brown ones. So you've treated your hair to a low level bleach.

The brown ones don't contain bleach but they do contain peroxide which, depending on the vol, will lift your hair one or two levels. These XXL ones though do have bleach in them but even that won't be strong enough to lift the hair enough to get a lilac dye to show up - those pastel XXL ones are really designed for hair that is already dark blonde and just needs a bit more lift to be able to show pastels.

Even if you put straight up bleach and developer on brown hair it is hard to get it light enough for pastel colours in one go, unless you absolutely wreck your hair!

I’ve found an old box of semi-permanent lilac dye - forgot I had it. Got to be worth a try? It says it can be used on highlighted hair

Ah now you’re going back on your promise from yesterday.. Im no hairdresser. Do you want to risk it? It will probably come out. But once bleached, Semipermanent colours may not ever wash out completely.

Do A Strand Test First .

And a Patch Test .
You are doing an Over-Dye , you cannot predict just from box numbers how it will turn out .
Or if your scalp will react

Agree with 70isalimit read the small print too. I expect it contains peroxide (low level bleach) so the most likely outcome for your brown hair is that you'll make it more orange.

If you want to experiment you can get non permanent wash out pastel colours to try. You can even buy coloured hair spray or hair chalk. Some do take a while to budge...say a couple of weeks but at least you're not adding peroxide to your base colour.

Unless you've already chucked your lilac dye on? If so how did it go?

Ooh yes. Update please!!

I used a pink on my ombré hair. I’m tempted to neon pink the ends. It isn’t too light at the moment so should have a nice pale pink effect. (And if all else fails The stuff I have is semi permenant will fade and my hairs long enough that by the time my hairdressers open it should be ok to just chop it off and start again - boob length hair at present!)

Dd has dyed her hair red and I have gone purple. Both of us were brown, her lighter. The resultant colour is bright red for her and purple for me. Worked fine.

Looks really lovely!

update: decided against risking the lilac so chucked it in the bin. Dp has bought some medium brown dye (despite me asking for light brown) but I’ve done a strand test and it doesn’t look green. Off to put it on now. I may or may not post a photo.

Mid brown will definitely be a tad darker than your natural colour. I’m dying dhs hair atm. He’s too dark for mid brown really but light brown also wasn’t available where we are. Realistically I think he needs something in between the two. I’ve bought a blonde and I’m going to add a bit of that to the mix but not too much to see if I can get it to go a little bit lighter. He’s not keen. Idk If it will work. If it doesn’t, I can just put brown on top a couple of days later!

How’s your hair @mycatsmellsbad. I came back to see how you’ve got on. I hope it’s ok! I agree, it’s a blinking minefield trying to buy the right products.

I bought a Revlon creme gloss in color 000. Im hoping to just inject some freshness & shine, although I’ll still have my roots. Taking of which I’m very surprised to see there isn’t any grey 😮. I’m no spring chicken either.

Thanks @therealhousewife thankfully the shade was just right and it almost looks back to my natural colour. It’s a bit patchy round the ears but now I know what colour to use I’ll just top it up. Such a relief as despite the lilac colour turning out alright it really didn’t suit my colours.

It’s been a while since I’ve used box dyes but pleased with how well they cover greys (though I don’t think I had any the last time I used one)!

I love your natural colour OP but you’re very lucky to suit lighter too! Interesting as I’d have said you’re naturally medium to dark brown as I would myself but I’ve now got so much grey I’m not even sure anymore.