Fuck, hair emergency here!

[Disenchanted3]

My roots are blonde, my hair mid way down is ginger and my roots are dark brown!!!

sorry the bottom of my hair is dark brown

2 sets of roots? ends blonde maybe?

oh jesus my friend did that when we were at uni, she tried to dye her previously dyed dark hair blonde in one go using a home kit - is that what you did?!

ah right.

How long is your hair? Is it long enough to go for the chop?

yes dizzy

I don't want it to be blonde, I wanted to lighten it to but another colour on.

But if i do that now the top haldf will be super light!

I think its because I only had 1 bottle of hair lightener.

if you've been home dyeing, you need to consult this thread first

Get it cut and have some low lites done in your natural colour.

you need to dye it brown all over... an ash colour to tone down the gingerness

oh dear, I think the only rememdy we had for her was to go dark and leave it to 'heal' so to speak

she went all Posh Spice cropped within a few weeks and it was fine

i can't get it cut, I have like 2 inches of blonde hair, i cant get it cut t 2 inches and i cnat g anywhere like this!!

if that's the case as dizzydixies suggests, send someone out to 24hr tesco and get some Feria XXL super light blonde.
Dye only the ginger bits and brown ends.

Disclaimer: will fry your ends a tad.

What shade of blonde are you aiming for?

It is what colorists call "hot roots." The heat from your scalp activates the bleach more so it lightens faster. Has happened to me too. Google hot roots and you may find some helpful ideas. Wikipedia has a surprising amount of info!

DH is going to get more bottles of bleach to do the rest, bless him (has to cycle there, lol)

looking at your profile photo's, your hair looks brown (originally), so what you've done is used a home lightening kit to lighten it a few shades before putting another colour on all over, but the lightener has made it very patchy?

don't panic, 2 options, more lightener on the darker bits, then do an all over colour, or darken the blonde bits by going straight for a darker dye. or try this on the darker bits, someone recommended it after a hair dyeing disaster on another thread at the weekend.

thats an olddd photo lucy

we can't get to boots so going to try lightening it all

ps, i've used one of those lightening kits, they can be very unpredictable, mine was a disaster too, it went a very bright, brassy gingery blonde which had to be toned down all over with a dark ash blonde colour in the end.

Basically you need a neutral or ash toner. Color correction (yes I know I still use American spellings ) is a bit technical at times and I would suggest going to a salon for this.

I can't go to a salon, if I had the money to do that I would have done that in the first place!

It'll get sorted, I don't actually want it blonde, i'm going to die over it anyways but just want it to be even first.

sorry if that sounded snappy, i've just wanted to change my hair for ages and everything seems to go wrong when I do something for myself.

I really couldn't afford the salon, not even a cut there, never mind a whole hair colouring.

disenchanted - could you put yourself forward for a local college training session? ours do them for free and you could use yourself as an example of a fixer-upper?!?!

just a thought

i will fix it myself,

DH has cycles off for Dye now, and will put it on the dark bits.

If that doesn't work I'll have to get a dark brown tomorrow.

sisters were just laughing at my photo on facebook

have you taken a photo??, go on, be brave and post it here, promise to be kind

Take a look at this site, it's tailored to your current situation - good luck!

Blonde Ambition

No worries Disenchanted. I mostly do my own color too. If/ when you do dye over it, it's preferable to use a semi-permanent color. The hair is already porous from the peroxide in the last dye so it will absorb quickly and you'll want to keep an eye on it. Ash colors tend to appear a bit darker than neutral or warm colors even at the same level. (For example, 6A - light ash brown - will look darker than 6N.) Semi-permanents (these are the kits that say something like "lasts 24 shampoos" on the box) tend to come out a little darker than the pictured color too, so factor that in.