Generic mumsy, too dark hair

[Faradalla]

I'm 40 with quite fine, shoulder length hair. My natural colour is (I think) a mid to dark brown. I went grey in my teens and have been dyeing it ever since. I absolutely hate dyeing it and would just leave it if it now wasn't so white.

I used to get a ñice mid brown fading into brown balayage/ombrein salon with a straight cut along the shoulders and a kind of longish fringe. The colour felt warm, the style suited me, it was easy.

I stopped getting the blonder ends done to save money and have been doing mostly home dyes, some version of a 7. They say blonde on the box but come out a light brown. They stopped covering my white roots and so my hairdresser suggested I try a 6. She colours my hair every so often but I normally do it myself.

So I got a 6 and put it on my roots but didn't do good job of spreading it down through the rest of the hair.

The result: very dark roots and the rest different shades of mid brown. My hair is dull, dismal and just seems to reflect my very busy, worn out life with 3 young children.

I told my hairdresser who said the best bet is to let it fade and not re-dye for a while and that it didn't look too bad. Now my white roots are coming through which is adding another layer of awful.

All I want is a nice mid brown, a nice natural colour and nothing fancy. If I didn't have to dye it, I wouldn't.

As much as I would love to pack in the dye, I absolutely hate the white hair look and will definitely not be growing it out.

Any tips to homogenise my hair colour in a natural looking way that looks fresh and not dated? Something to brighten it?

Thanks

If box colour stops colouring your greys then start using professional colour - it's a bit more expensive than box dyes but I started over lockdown and never looked back. I get a really reliable result and it doesn't fade.

Do you like the darker colour or would you rather be a 7 but with your greys coloured?

If your hair is white, I'd consider letting it grow natural. Have you seen some of the incredible transformations when women grow out their hair? Especially when it is really white

I've had to submit to the white. Look up sali Hughes on IG. Get your hairdresser to take you to a platinum blond gradually, use a purple shampoo regularly and you're good. Looks like the white is purposeful rather than just because you're grey.

I was going to suggest going pale blonde too. If you’re white/grey it will likely match your skin tone much better too, and growth will be much less obvious.

Have you tried using a professional wella dye but doing it yourself? Maybe get your hairdresser to correct the colour you have now and ask what shade she is using. You can buy the dye and welloxon for a fraction of the price of going to the hairdressers. I did my own roots this way during lockdown and it looked like I'd been to the hairdressers.
I am sick of dying it every 3 weeks though so I've decided to bite the bullet and go for an oyster blonde colour with just highlights on the white hair instead of a block of colour

Could you maybe go to a specialist hair colourist that isn't your usual hairdresser just for a consultation to see what they think / get a different opinion? You don't have to go through with them doing your hair but will give you an idea on the best thing to do going forward.

This is the shade I'm going for!

My colourist gave me the formula for my light caramelly coloured hair (naturally very dark but 70% grey) so I can do my own roots if I need to.

It's 2x8 SN and 1x7 SN.

Wow thanks everyone! Great ideas and suggestions. Yes, I like being a 7 but without the white hair. No, I definitely don't want to go down the white route, nor the platinum route either. I'm not a blonde apart from a but at the ends in balayage (when I used to get that done). Years ago, a hairdresser accidentally dyed my hair and balayage far too light and it looked terrible. The hair on either side of my parting is totally white but the rest isn't (if we were to remove all dye and see what's underneath) so I'm not even white enough to grow it out nicely if I wanted to.
@DillDanding thank you so much for the formula!

Sorry I didn't tag everyone...my baby was breastfeeding and thrashing all over the place as I typed!

Er nope. Her hair looks so crispy, greasy and stringy, like an old mop thats been left out to dry.

I think the tricky part doing it yourself initially will be getting rid of the dark roots without making the rest of your hair dark too. If you liked the 6 you could just do a 6 full head dye.

I'd do one more trip to your hairdresser, get her to even it out, and put a block colour on in the shade you want and then maintain it yourself.

Because of the grey you'll need to mix dyes to get enough coverage, ask your hairdresser what shades she's used on your hair. On mine I need a pure base colour (4/0) for the greys mixed into a golden brown (4/3) for the shade I actually want. Stick to the brand your hairdresser uses & you can probably buy on Amazon with developer. Just do your roots every few weeks.

I’ve done this exact same thing before. I bought a couple of boxes of ColourB4 and removed as much of all the various colours as possible and then started again. It stinks and takes a few hours to do properly so set aside time!

Then I used a light ash brown dye (which, by the time I’ve left it long enough to take on my greys, usually about 45 mins, is actually a medium ash brown). I did it all over my head the first time to re-establish some consistency, then a week later used a home highlights kit to bring a few of the previous balayage/light tips back through. Now I use half a pack of the same ash brown dye every three weeks to do a cm at my temples and roots. It keeps fine as long as you don’t mix it- just use a bowl for the first half.

Didn’t harm my hair at ALL and looks loads better. I do invest in conditioning it for shine, I always get compliments on my hair.

Now just to find something similarly cheap, easy and successful for my belly fat 😂

Daniel Field does a free on line consultation
He is brilliant and his dyes are far less harsh than traditional dyes

www.danielfield.com/service-page/fast-expert-consultation?referral=service_list_widget

it was free not sure now but think so
The products are cruelty free and vegan
His products cover my grey and look very natural

I found various brands weren't sticking very well but now use Josh Wood in 7 and get loads of compliments on the colour, even from my hairdresser. It comes out a really nice mid brown with a hint of golden but no brassiness.

A woman on another thread (from ages ago) posted her hair using this and it looked fab. The grey had gone like golden brown highlights
www.boots.com/plantur-39-colour-brown-shampoo-10241889?cm_mmc=bmm-buk-google-ppc--PLAs_HeroCompare--Toiletries_Hair-_-UK_Smart_Shopping_Toiletries_Hair&gclid=CjwKCAiAv9ucBhBXEiwA6N8nYFVqsV_SeFsafrepwYMXSz-zQeTAtDgghxyYJQzJGxHBHE95LlipuxoCj6AQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Might be worth a try?