Help from hairdressers- box dye turning greys ginger?

[Scorpion84]

Any advice appreciated

Im 41 with naturally dark brown hair

I have my hair dyed at the hairdressers twice a year and in between cover my greys with semi permanent dye on my roots only ( never used a permanent one )

I use L'Oréal medium or dark brown

im noticing my greys are now looking gingery in certain lights

Am I using the wrong colour dye ?

I recently used an L’Oréal Nudes and my greys are now bright orange.

Honestly covering greys is a shit show if your are brunette. Box dyes even if they cover fade then the developer lightens your natural hair colour and as it fades and over a few rounds of dyeing even the none white hair goes a kind of reddish ginger. Then grey hair actually grows faster so as you dye it the grey hair shows up in a couple of weeks and stands out against your dark hair all the more.

I think its why so many women go for highlights or go lighter because its just so hard to keep up the coverage and look natural.

Brown dye (unless stated ash) will have a lot of red in it and a semi will always appear lighter on your greys, so fades more quickly, revealing the lighter red that you’re seeing as ginger.

Try an ash brown semi instead? But in my experience these can come up darker and flatter even than the same level/number 5 warm or neutral tone.

A brown dye numbered 5.5 will be warm and one numbered 5.1 will be ash.

This explains:
https://thehairaddict.net/the-universal-hair-color-numbering-system-explained/

I wouldn’t jump to perm dye as the semi keeps natural tones and highlights (it’s what I do for my greys!).

I have just changed from light ash brown to light golden brown (am brunette) as I needed to leave the dye on longer and longer to cover the greys, and the ash brown made it too dark.

I am very happy with the colour of the light golden brown - which I need to leave on for 10 minutes more than the stated time otherwise the greys are still visible - and am now hoping it will not turn ginger!!

It cost me £50 for a cut and £6 for the dye as opposed to my usual £110 for cut and colour though so that was a good saving if it stays looking ok.

Thanks all

I did fancy highlights but my hair is dark and when tested my hairdresser said the strip went orange as I have lots of warm tones in my hair naturally.

is grey blending a real thing as I see it lots on instagram but don't know if it's a social
media fad

Personally I found DIY jobs on my hair never ended well - ruined towels, bathroom looked like an abbatoir after the reds and no matter how long I left it my hair was still jet black - but my scalp, ears and forehead were the promised colour for weeks afterwards.

Going lighter is good advice, but going to a hairdresser if you can afford it is better.

Local colleges and training salons often have substantial discounts if you are willing to have a student do it. The supervisor will always step in if needed to make sure you get the intended result.

You’ve answered your own question, you need to use a permanent colour to get the coverage you need- semi permanent just isn’t powerful enough. I used wella koleston (sp) for years in a cool/neutral tone before giving up and getting highlights

I use golden brown (5.3) on my hair and it works fine.

My natural brunette hair also has warm tones in it but I prefer this shade, the red looked very harsh/fake to me and too obviously like box dye

I think even with ash browns they still fade to a warm / reddish tone over time and there isn't yet the same colour correcting products for brown hair the way it exists for blonde hair.

Grey blending seems to fall into two types:

10 hours in the chair with multiple lifts and loads of toner; looks great for a week then must be a brassy light blonde. Looking at you, dude in the US.

A gradual process over several months to maintain the balance of depth and grey.

Both cost thousands.

I’m stalking following a hairdresser in the Midlands who does the latter, she’s done a few ladies with similar dark hair to me, and I am going that route if I decide to take the plunge in a few years.

Who are you following ? are they on insta as I'm in the midlands 😂

Swoon - yes she’s on Insta 🙂

I could have written this myself OP- are you my twin? I've used casting colours, also a semi for years. Same brown colour but for the past year or so, its getting more ginger. The tips are looking paler and more strawberry blonde! I was dark brown as a child but now look balayage with blonde tips, orange middle, a brown root, before getting to the grey re-growth.

I've had bad experiences at hair salons- tried highlights and they over processed and the hair in foils snapped off. Went for a chestnut colour and it came out purple. Another place used thinning shears near my scalp so I had months of sticky out bits growing out. I also hate spending hours sitting in a salon. Maybe a permanent home colour is an option.