Box dye question…

[SundayNightBluesAreHere]

Whenever I’ve used box dyes, whether it’s medium brown, dark brown, chestnut brown, etc… they always turn out the same extremely dark, almost black, colour.

In desperation to cover my greys, I’ve just purchased a light brown one. If I didn’t leave it for the full 25 minutes, would the end result be lighter?

I’m not a hairdresser, but as someone who’s been dyeing my hair at home for years, I found the more I dyed it, the darker it would get so gradually Ive gone from using dark / mid brown to darkest blonde dyes. I think it might be something to do with your hair absorbing the dye more? I found leaving the dye on for less time didn’t help - it would still be dark, but wouldn't cover the grey so well. As I went lighter with the dye to prevent it going overly dark, I found it could have a ginger / orange tinge so have taken to using toners over the dye to bring it down to more of a neutral / ash brown rather than an orangey brown / brown with an orange glow. As I said not a professional, but hope it might help.
Also, when it has gone too dark, I have used a blonde shampoo which has helped lighten it a little

Do you do your whole head or just the roots?

I find with dye you need lighter than you think.

I have very dark brown hair but I use a 5.3 golden brown. I'm closer to a 4, if not a 3 looking at swatches but they look awful on me.