Trying to find natural brown dye for my prematurely white strands.

[butterflyball91]

I am in my early 30's and have started to get quite a few strands of pure white hair in amongst my long brown hair (I'm about 10% white I think) They are really noticable and it looks awful in my opinion. Over the past couple of years I have tried a few dyes to try and cover the grey and it doesn't go well. About 2 years ago I tried some boxed dyes all at the natural brown level 5.00 or 5N and they were all too dark and left my hair with an artifical reddish tone. They also didn't really cover the grey and it felt like after a couple of washes they white was pretty visable again, depressing. During the 2 years of covid I didn't dye my hair at all.

Recently I went to a salon services shop where I asked advice and was told to try a dark blonde dye (6.00) with a Dark Violet Ash Toner (6.12) and a 3V cream developer as the redness coming through in my hair would be likely from the bleach in the box dye being too strong.

That all didn't go too well as my hair got a bit fried during the process even though I was only using a mild developer and I had to deal with a few weeks of Frizz and breakage. The colour was initally ok but now again after a couple of washes the colour seems to have washed off the white hair so it is still very visible as well as having the regrowth and the colour of my hair is still so much warmer and redder than my natural colour which is very noticable especially in bright light.

My own natural colour is a mid brown, with blondish reflections ( I was blond as a young child) and a sort of almost greenish undertone as opposed to copper, red, chestnut etc that the brown hair dyes seem to have. I have hazel eyes and I think my hair reflects that hazel colouring.

I just want a hair dye that matches my own natural colour and that covers my white hair without washing out in a couple of weeks leaving me with reddish / gingery hair streaked with white! I wouldn't be dyeing my hair if I didn't need to to hide the white. Its a pain but I am onboard with root touch ups but as it stands I think I'd need to keep redoing all my hair every time as the white doesn't stay covered.

I have wavy hair which is very dry so I always use cool water to wash, only wash 2 x a week and do not use sulfate shampoos or silicones as they make my hair like straw, I also don't use heat to style so I think my routine is colour safe.

I don't want high lights or ombre etc and I can't afford the salon so I'd like to do it myself at home but I'm also fed up wasting my time and money for poor results.

Any advice on how to colour my hair? Is it possible to colour it without using bleach so avoid my natural brown hair getting bleached to a ginger / red tone while dyeing? Is their a true natural brown shade of dye with the sort of cool greenish tint that am after or would i need to tone my hair after dyeing to get that effect?

Why can't they just invent an anti-white hair pill already!

Its hard to find an image of hair that matched my natural colour the one below is close I think.

Also I do think my natural level is somewhere between a 5 and 6 so natural brown to dark blonde but as it is so cool toned it can look quite dark, darker than it is.

I would go to a hairdresser. To me hair colour is too big a deal not to leave to the professionals. I am about 10% grey too, and go every few months to have about 4 different tones in to blend out the greys, rather than have a whole head dye.

Have you tried henna, I know you can get it from loads of places but I like the ones from lush.
Its a bit of a faff to do but it coats white and doesnt wash out

I have a similar problem with the white hair coming through - I'm probably at about 5% grey now and also have mid-light brown hair. A couple of years ago I rashly declared that I was going to go grey gracefully, but that was when I had barely any. My natural hair makes me look tired and old at the moment, so I'm using Khadi henna to cover it until I have much more grey.

The Khadi hazelnut brown is an excellent match for me, and lasts months before I have to re-do it. It also conditions and seems to make my hair feel thicker.

I think permanent dying your hair is overkill tbh I’ve had random white hairs in my very dark hair since uni which have increased in number since I hit 40. I’ve tried highlights, high gloss semi permanent but I’ve found that a colour deposit shampoo is best. I just use John Frieda brunettes defy grey but I’m sure a sulfate free version exists. My hair has a tendency for straw too so I use Phillip Kingsley hair elasticiser every week, aveda leave in conditioner every wash and wonderbalm to style. I don’t normally blow dry hair but I wash it at night and put it in a bun on top of head using a kink free bobble to give myself a root lift.

Have you tried using a simple 6A permanent box dye? I personally use L'Oreal Excellence. The coolest shade they have is this one:
www.boots.com/loreal-paris-excellence-cool-cr%C3%A8me-611-ultra-ash-dark-blonde-gb-10285603

You may in fact find it too cool. If it is too light then use a 5A next time.

It would be the same as the salon recommended, but with nothing to go wrong. I have used brown box dyes for years. I am probably 70% grey and it covers my greys totally and utterly. It leaves my hair in excellent condition. I personally avoid ammonia free dyes as they simply do not look as good after the first week.

The one and only tip I would give is to not shampoo your hair after rinsing the dye out. Slather it in conditioner (the one they supply in the box is perfect), wait a couple of minutes, rinse that out, dry your hair, and then wash your hair the next day or better still the day after that. For some reason that seems to help the dye hold.

I use Clairol Root Touch up in a matching ash shade to do my roots every month or so - it takes less than 1/2 an hour.

The real advantage of dying hair that has a lot of grey is that you get a lot of different tones in the hair, so it looks really natural. The other advantage of grey hair is that you can dye your hair a lighter shade than it is naturally.

Also recommending L'Oréal 6.11 this is the box it's a nice ashy brown

I have a dark blonde on my hair, but I've found a box due i like. As you haven't, id pay a hairdresser.

@PutinIsAWarCriminal If money was no object then I would visit a salon but I did ask around and a colour is £70 at least and I have long hair! I just can't afford it. I'm not sure I want different tones put through it but I'm not exactly sure what you mean by that?

@SpaceJamtart I used to use henna on my hair in my 20's and liked it but it was so very messy! I've been a bit put off Henna because of its tendency to be too red and to make white hair orange!

@TheLeadbetterLife Yeah I just feel too young to embace the grey maybe in my 50's or something but not for long while hopefully! I used to use henna to colour my hair years ago before it had any grey and l did like it but it the colour did tend to come off onto pillow cases and collars considering my hair is long. The Khadi sounds nice, the benefit I can see with henna is that it doesn't feck your hair up like chemical dyes do but I'm really worried about getting the bright orange strands! I keep reading that you need to do a 2 step process with henna and indigo which sounds like a pain but if it did work in one step that would be good. Where do you buy your Khadi, its quite expensive on amazon? Also is it ok to use over previously chemical dyed hair?

@womaninatightspot I actually bought that defy grey set but wasn't that impressed but again the sulfates really make my hair awful. I suppose I could just use the conditioner and leave it in a bit longer? It is kind of overkill to use permenant dye but I really hate the look of them. I might try to use your solution as a stop gap while i decide what to do next and see if I can find a sulfate free colour deposit shampoo. I also bought that just for men shampoo ages ago but i never used it.

@Haffiana Thanks for that tip, I have looked at that box as it looks to be a good colour. I'm always worried the developer in the box dyes will be too strong as I don't really want to lighten my hair any and its still 90% brown. Its good to know though that you found it to really cover your greys and the root touch up seems a good solution as well.

@MargosKaftan As I say above its just not in my budget, especially at the moment! What box dye are you using?

I'm using l'oreal preference shade dark blonde (not the honey or anything else, just dark blonde, think its no.7). I like it on me but might not be what you are looking for if you want something cooler.

I used to use Lush henna and liked it, but Khadi is easier to prepare and easier to come by where I live now. I also find the colour of the hazelnut one is a much better match for my hair than Lush. I don't know about the UK prices - I live in the EU and I think it might be a German brand, so maybe post-Brexit it's expensive to get it to the UK now.

I've used henna on chemically-dyed hair in the past, but I spent 18 months completely growing my hair out five years ago and it does take better now. I find after a few washes the colour doesn't stain pillow cases, so I sleep on an old towel for the first week.

What about contacting the salon at your local college? Prices probably vary town to town but my DD had highlights and cut and finish and cost her £30.

@MargosKaftan love the user name 😉

I don't really know what you mean by 'lighten' your hair. Brown dyes don't lighten, they sort of can't. There is a process by which dye is deposited into the hair, but it isn't really a bleaching. The initial statement you received from the salon about reds being due to bleach sounds incorrect to me.

It may be the case with dying dark hair blond where an initial colour strip step is necessary, but not with browns. I think maybe the salon was talking about the phenomenon of 'hot roots' but in your case, the reds were more likely from actual auburn tints in the brown dye. The answer should be to simply use an ash shade.

@Haffiana Most permenent dyes including the one you picture come with a developer which contains hydrogen peroxide which is a bleach. This is needed as far as I know to lift the cutical of the hair so that the dye can get in and actually colour the hair. I think in box dyes the developer is 20% or 6 Volume developer which does actually lighten the hair to some extent. With Brown hair this is noticable because the developer can slightly bleach the natural hair colour making it more red so that over time as the dye fades you are left with reddish hair or red when the light hits it. Some dyes are colour deposit only but they don't tend to be as permemant where as all permement chemical dyes require a developer which is a form of bleach.

You are right that the developers in box dyes for brown hair won't lighten your hair much but its enough to make brown hair look reddish as the dye fades.

@TheLeadbetterLife I will order some samples online of henna to see how it goes I think the Its Pure brand looks similar to the one you mentioned. I need be careful as apparently you can go from chemical dye to henna but not the other way round!

@MargosKaftan Thanks for the recommendation, thats 2 for l'oreal dyes and I've not used them yet!