Years of box hair dye

[Sarosh27]

Hi, really hoping someone can help me with my dilemma. So I have been dying my hair using box dye for years, to the point where its practically black. I have been to 2 of the top hairdressers in the area to ask if I could have it dyed to a very dark brown (I have realistic expectations that the colour will not lift.) Both hairdressers refused without doing a strand test or even touching my hair. (Also fine as I understand they know the colour cannot be achieved/worried about breakage.) My hair has never been bleached/stripped. My question is I’m wanting to at least move to buying professional hair colour to cause less damage as know box dyes are harsh. I’m thinking of the Wella Koleston dye but have no idea which colour/developer I would need. I have greys and want to avoid colour banding so don’t mind staying darkest black/brown, Any advice would be really appreciated. Thank you in advance

I swear by the Jo Baz Max colour remover (red box, on Amazon). I've used it to take all sorts of colours out my hair including black box dye.

Used it last night to take a strong dark red out and it took me back to a yellow copper colour. I'll attach a photo of what it came out like last night.

Doesn't damage my hair or leave it dry and you can colour again straight away.

@polka6 glad it helped.

The red tinge on black hair sounds lovely!

I think the lighter red strands sound lovely too, but sounds like that's not what you're after.

For grey hair my view is, if the aim is to disguise the greys, ( & btw I think salt & pepper can look great) the long term reality is that gets harder the darker the base is. Because that increases the contrast with the lighter hair & you'll always be fighting more obvious regrowth at the roots .

So main permanent options if reducing visibility of the grey is what you're aiming for:

1. Lighten the base to reduce the contrast. But this can be a lot of maintenance & has to end up quite a bit lighter than black hair to really be effective.

1. Introduce highlights so theres a few more different colours in your hair, this blends the greys a bit more so they "read" as maybe part of the highlight effect among a range of colours. But it's definitely more of a blend than a complete coverage effect. You could try e.g. red/ auburn/ toffee/ caramel/ gold...

I'd suggest a lot of looking at images (preferably real-life not just hair models, so facebook groups, instagram etc.) & have a proper in-person consultation with a professional who specializes in colour. They need to assess your hair condition root to tip, assess your grey % and its pattern.

Or you could try a semi- permanent in dark brown, over time you might be able shift the look of the greys to chocolatey highlights. And using semi-perm means the developer strength is gentler - which I've alread been on a soapbox about in this thread!

Shampoo & conditioner - Beauty & Planet colour safe are good.

Enhancing natural curls can often be achieved by bond building - so I'm going to suggest Olaplex or Pureplex Hair Repair (much cheaper & very nearly as good, at Boots & Superdrug) kit as I've seen people get more defined waves & curls from that. I'm not on commission, but I should be!

They also do a shampoo & conditioner, but I haven't seen evidence those are anything amazing.

Good luck with all this !

@SanpellegrinoIsToryFanta Thank you so much for the tips. A few people have recommended colour b4 👍🏼

@Coveredinivy Thank you for your advice. Very helpful 😊

@MistressWeatherwax1 Thank you so much for the recommendation 😊