Thread: Help! Hair gurus - dyeing question

I keep trying to dye my mousy brown hair blond. It keeps turning out red. Not flaming red or carrot orange - just coppery blond. My mom said that blond dyes that say either "honey blond" or "ash blond" both contain red dyes, but other blond colors do not. Is this true? Can anyone recommend a good blond dye? I'm not looking to go platinum blond, just medium blond. And how soon after dyeing my hair can I re-dye it?

I know I should just get my butt to a colorist, but I don't have the money to do it at this point....

Hi Lilya!
I sounds like you need to put a toner in your hair after you dye it to get rid of the brassiness. Also, be sure you use a hair dye with a violet base. I would go to a place like Sally's or Beauty Alliance and ask them what you can use to remove brassiness. Also, cause it is more for professionals it will say the bases of the dyes. Without seeing your hair and what you want it to look like I don't want to say anything one way or another but this site is very helpful Step by Step Blonding, Bleaching Hair Basics

Your mousy hair contains gold and red pigments, and in order to become blonde you need to get rid of them. Obviously there is a lot of red in your hair. "Honey" is warm. "Golden" is warm. "Ash" in my day was not warm, it was blueish from memory, but you probably need green ("matte") to cut the red.

I was just talking to one of the stylists I was apprenticed to (nearly 30 years ago!) the other day, and we both agreed: to lift colour out of hair, you need peroxide, and to allow the peroxide to do a good enough job, you need bleach. If you want to lift your hair more than two shades, you will need to use bleach.

I'm not a blond (or a pro), but I'd go to a professional, to get the color you want, and then maintain it.
Especially since you've already tried to color your hair. You don't want to do anymore damage.

It's much harder to go lighter, than it is to go darker.

I would have thought you need to bleach your color out, then color it with the color you wanted.
Again....I'm not a pro.

Bleach first, than counter any brassiness. I agree with gothique, for the first time to get it right, go to a pro. Then ask their advice to maintain.

{{{HUGS}}}

I've been a journeyman stylist for 15 years and while I'm not in the industry now, when I practised I used to have some luck with high-lift colour and 40 volume peroxide to lighten up to 3 shades, but really, you should see a professional. I wouldn't recommend attempting a full head bleach at home and the drugstore colours will not have a strong enough peroxide in the box to lift your hair more than 1 to maybe 1.5 shades, hence the coppery blonde result. If your hair is not brassy then you are probably getting the green, (ash), undertone required, but this particular stage is so hard to get past without bleach, and you will probably have to tone it afterwards.

The other thing to understand is that ash can be blue or green, it depends on the level of the colour, or how light/dark it is. You need to know what your shade level is, what shade level you want to be and then you can work out what colour you need to use and which undertones will be required. Colouring hair is really much more complicated than they make it look on those hair colour commercials. I've had to colour my hair on my own between appointments with my stylist and have stood in the drugstore for an hour pondering the various shades of red-brown/brown-red/auburn/mahogany/cherrywood, etc. All I wanted was a 4RB! I never did find the right shade!

Anyway, I digress. I think coppery blonde sounds like a very nice shade! But if you really want to be blonde without going to the salon, why don't you try a highlight kit instead? It is safer than attempting a full head bleach on your own (or with someone who has no experience).

Or, if you live in a city where there happens to be a hairstyling school, they usually perform all salon services for way less. When I was in hair school, only senior students did bleach and high-lift colours on clients and we always had to double check our intended formula/process with the instructor before starting on a new client.

Good luck! I hope you get the colour you want!

Thanks for the advice! I mis-wrote - my mom told me to avoid golden and honey blond, but ash blond would probably not make me a redhead. :) I like the color, but my husband prefers blond so I think I'll make an appt with a colorist. :)

I second going to a hair school. I started going last year and I love it (and the price!).