Ditching blonde highlights and returning to natural brown hair - anyone?

[CoffeeMum]

I have decided my blonde highlights are no longer doing me any favours, for various reasons, and I want to see what my hair is like if I go back to my natural colour. I haven't seen this for about 20 years now, and it used to be mousey and in need of dye, but seems to have got darker and darker and might be fit for viewing now! I would consider using gentle home dyes once my natural colour has grown back in, to add a bit of oomph.

Now, has anyone done this? I would have to get the blonde highlights dyed back to match my natural hair colour, as the regrowth would be hideous otherwise. Is it a case of a one off dye, or would I have to go several times, to keep the old blonde 'covered up'?

And finally, can anyone recommend anywhere really good in London where i can get this done? I am prepared to pay good money if they are going to do a decent job, but would rather avoid eye-wateringly pricey swanky London salons if possible [not my scene ]

Thanks all!!

My hair is thicker btw.

but see that one white bit at front, that's what I want.

I think Diane Kruger looks fab - I like the whiter bits near the front too - hides the grey that seems to be appearing.

I guess I'm just echoing what my stylist said. It's a good idea to layer on the colour so that you have an even application of colour, rather than patchy fading on the bleached bits. And I was told the colour would take better if it had a base to adhere to.

On the first go, I liked that the lowlights seemed to blend into the lighter highlights so that when it did fade it was quite subtle. And don't get me wrong, it was still a big change, just not wham, straight to one-colour brown. Two goes in the salon isn't bad, I reckon. And it was good to wean me off the highlights!

i did this recently, have had highlights for years but frankly i couldn;t afford to have them done at the salon i liked anymore. i have just been dying it myself with a medium brown that i picked up in the supermarket and then keep using it once it fades so every 6 weeks or so, i brought belle colour this time as its only £3 in sainsburys.
i had my hair done yesterday for my birthday and was going to have highlights put in again but decided i quite like just spending an hour in the hairdressers chair rather than at least half the day that it took before. i have long wavy hair and it looks much healthier brown, only thing i find now i i need to take more car eof my eyebrows for some weird reason if i let them slightly overgrow they look very dark, but not sure why that is and probbaly all in my head.

I also grew out my highlights during pregnancy and when I look at the photos of my with dark hair (mid-brown) it is strange - my complexion is better, and my eyes bluer but I looked so drab and felt really invisible. So, I went for a full head of caramel highlights and felt I was back to the real me.

Saying that, last time I did add some lowlights in to tone the whole lot down and I did like that at the time. But now with summer nearly here, I too like the white bits in the front and the shimmery glisteny hair you get being blonde so I am booked in for a full head a week saturday. Can I afford it? No, but then if I went back natural, I hate to think how much money I would have to spend on makeup/clothes to make myself feel like I looked good so for me the highlights are the most cost effective!

I would say go for some lovely lowlights (like jennifer anniston who always has really lovely hair with some golden just literally shimmering through) and it is so easy to change if you don't like it/feel that it doesn't match your personality.

Aveda-wise, when I lived in London I used to go to Fresh Ideas in Blackheath - they were great for colour although in my opinion not so great at cutting

I wanted to do this recently, I already had a lot of brown and had let the high-lights grow out for nearly 6 mths.

I wanted to go chestnut brown but the colorist thought it would be too much of a shock so dyed it supposedly to my natural colour and then did a very few lighter highlights on top.

I was disappointed because I was geared up for a big change but my mum says it looks nice ( - not always a good sign!).

I may ask for darker at the next visit just as a try.

Have you seen Fearne Cottons hair.? She has just had it dyed brown and it looks lovely. It is kind of caramel. I did it a few years ago. I am naturally blonde(ish) but everyone hated it so I am back to my highlights. I do think blonde suits me but I still yearn for a change. good luck

I did this years ago but from full head blonde to brown
They dyed it red first then brown, it took ages

In the end I went back to blonde but with highlights

Oh gawd - thanks so much for all your advice, experience and recommendations. So useful, but I am now so confused! And still completely torn! I do worry that going brunette will make me drab and dreary and that being blonde is part of 'who i am'.

Yesterday i was completely convinced about going brunette, and today i feel sure I want to stay blonde. And I keep swinging between the two opinions - have done so for months now. Looks like i'll have to keep thinking about it, but this thread is incredibly helpful, so I will save it and refer back [especially the salon recommendations - thank you ]

Also, i hadn't discussed it with DH yet, and i mentioned it this morning, so he's going to have a think. NOT that i dress/style for my DH, but he is pretty good at this sort of thing - picks out clothes i would never think of, but turn out to really suit me.

Thank you again ladies, invaluable stuff

CoffeeMum

Did you decide? I am in exactly the same situation as you, will post further details if you pick this up!