Can I put a box dye over bayalaged hair?

[FenMaxwell]

Hello!

Had bayalage over the summer on my dark hair and despite thinking it was nice at the time, I have grown to hate it. I thought bayalage was when the hair was subtly painted and blended to look natural. What I ended up with is a series of chunky blonde stripes throughout my hair. The lights bits have lifted a lot since I left the hairdresser and it just really doesn't suit me. Far to blonde and ashy on my brown hair. It makes me look so washed out.

My question is can I put a brown box dye over it or will it just look orange? I can't afford to go and have it redone and to be honest I've been put off the experience. If I do decide to have another professional colourist it won't be until after Christmas and I'm not feeling great about socialising with my current hair!

Hello, am not a pro just someone who likes messing with their hair alot... However I wouldn't recommend doing this as chances are it'll turn the ashy blonde very muddy. What you want to do is 'fill' the blonde with something warm like a red and then you can go over with a brown. Hard to advise further without seeing the colours (can you post a photo?) I notice Bleachlondon are doing a product at the moment which is aimed exactly at this kind of predicament. They're called the 'super natural' kits, have a look xx

Thank you for replying. I did think it might not be so straightforward sadly! I just can't afford another £200 so was hoping I could fix it myself. Attached is a photo.

I think the general consensus would be no as it could turn it a funny colour. I think you have to fill the blonde hair with red and then colour brown over it.

However, I had a bleach blonde balayage/ombre on my brown hair and during lockdown when the hairdressers were closed and my hair seriously needed doing I used a £2 hair dye from home bargains called Schwarzkopf poly colour in the shade natural brown 39 and it covered it brilliantly.

I've continued using the same £2 dye, saved me a fortune as I used to spend £70 on a colour at the hairdresser.

Thank you - this gives me a bit of hope!

I've done it a few times I love being blonde until I get sick of getting it done! You need a reddish brown to fill the missing pigment in the blonde, you can then go over that with a darker brown if you like. Make sure you get plenty of colour in going from brown and blonde highlights to brown this weekend and have brought three kits

I love your hair op
(sorry, not very helpful)

Agree, it's not balayage, but the colour Is lovely! Wish my hair looked like that. Sorry, not helpful.

Ah thank you. I liked it when I first had it done and I think on someone with a different skin tone and eye colour it would look nice. I just think it doesn't do anything for me and I'm better dark.

Thanks for being so kind though!

As others have said that looks really nice @FenMaxwell !! But yes as several have said if you are keen to go back brown you'll need to put a light red/copper over it (not too dark, you're just filling!) and then follow with a brown which is closest to your natural tone. There's lots of YouTube vids showing the process. With those highlights you should get some nice tone and dimension running through it xx

Why dont you just try the Shrine drops on it to tone the colour down? There's an ash one. Also ... if you got it done in the summer, how come it still looks so fresh in the photo? I'd love to keep mine looking that good after so long!

OP your hair looks a lovely colour.

OP I think your hair is gorgeous! Could you put a toner on it if you think it’s a bit too bright? I’d be wary about putting a box dye on bleached hair - it could go orange.

You need a toner every 6 weeks or so to maintain a nice healthy looking balayage. It's less expensive than to get it dyed though but it's something to commit to unfortunately. I hate balayages for this reason.

I did it recently with an all over brown box dye and it went patchy and a distinct shade of khaki. Two days later I put a semi-permanent dye on in a warmer brown and it was fine.