Removing red tones from dyed brown hair

[Calaelen]

I am the poster child for getting the brass out. I use Wella Color Touch in a cool brown shade with the weakest developer they have. It closely matches my natural color so there is no demarcation line, and it's cool so it covers all the old orange hair.

And can I just say to stay away from box dyes. They are the reason you are getting brassy. I'm surprised a stylist would recommend them to be honest.

Why do they create brass? Because they use a high volume developer because they want the color to work for everyone since it's a generic box. When you do it yourself, you are able to minimize the damage and get a gentler deposit with minimal lift.

Here is a recent LHC thread about the color touch: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...la+color+touch There are also photos of my hair before and after, plus a photo of my hair when it was at its brassiest.

Just to clear this up, the reason this stylist recommends this colour is because it is not a harsh drug store brand, it is actually made by the same company that does several different proffessional brands (only this one is ammonia free). Not only that, professional product is in most cases no different from most drug store brands. Stylists are trained to say that because they are trained to make sales. Most of the higher end, reputable, hair product manufacturers make products the same as, or better than salon brands.

Also, as most people on here are trying to baby their hair, I recommend things that are a safer alternative. Hence, for different purposes you will find me either recommending henna, store brands, or professional services instead of the common "go see s stylist" answer. I am a trained stylist who refuses to work in salons because of all the BS that goes on in them. I am apprenticing on my own, and have my own clients. You'll never get standard "sell it" crud from me.
That said, hair colouring is a science, and in many cases it does require someone who knows what they're doing, or at least has a good understanding of the way colours work to achieve a desired result. All I am saying is that if a person is going for a one tone colour, and has an easy issue to fix such as cancelling out a red tone, that they can most likely do it at home without dropping triple or more the money in a salon. The product in most drug stores is up to par with salon brands, and it alone will usually do no more damage to your hair than anything you can get in a salon.

[manderly]

Calaelen, thanks for the input, however, I think I need to clear something up.

I did not say to go to a salon. Never. I said to purchase salon products because you can CUSTOMIZE the developer to your needs.

Someone who wishes to dye their brown hair brown and cover old brass doesn't need the 30 or 40 volume developer that comes in boxed hair dye. THAT is where the brass comes from. And THAT is where store dyes vary from professional one....not the color, but the DEVELOPER and customization of it.

If you don't want to lift your color multiple levels, there is no need to use such a strong vol developer.

In the link I posted we purchased our own Wella Color Touch (for approx $20) and our own level of developer and dyed our hair at home.

Here is more information about dying your hair at home and the science behind it: http://killerstrands.blogspot.com/

[GlennaGirl]

Just to clear this up, the reason this stylist recommends this colour is because it is not a harsh drug store brand, it is actually made by the same company that does several different proffessional brands (only this one is ammonia free). Not only that, professional product is in most cases no different from most drug store brands. Stylists are trained to say that because they are trained to make sales. Most of the higher end, reputable, hair product manufacturers make products the same as, or better than salon brands.

Also, as most people on here are trying to baby their hair, I recommend things that are a safer alternative. Hence, for different purposes you will find me either recommending henna, store brands, or professional services instead of the common "go see s stylist" answer. I am a trained stylist who refuses to work in salons because of all the BS that goes on in them. I am apprenticing on my own, and have my own clients. You'll never get standard "sell it" crud from me.
That said, hair colouring is a science, and in many cases it does require someone who knows what they're doing, or at least has a good understanding of the way colours work to achieve a desired result. All I am saying is that if a person is going for a one tone colour, and has an easy issue to fix such as cancelling out a red tone, that they can most likely do it at home without dropping triple or more the money in a salon. The product in most drug stores is up to par with salon brands, and it alone will usually do no more damage to your hair than anything you can get in a salon.

Interesting...thanks for that info!

[vanity_acefake]

I googled your problem and found that ash hair colours should remove the red from your hair. As should blue shampoo (not purple sorry!). So in theory putting an ash blonde or ash brown (if there is such a colour!) wash in wash out or semi through your hair should get rid of the red. I hope this helps.

[Idun]

I have a similar problem. I´m thinking about trying buxus/katam on the lenght. It gives off a blue dye I read, but I´m not sure yet how to use it to get the result I´m after. Never ever will I dye my hair with chemicals again, that´s for sure.

[Calaelen]

Calaelen, thanks for the input, however, I think I need to clear something up.

I did not say to go to a salon. Never. I said to purchase salon products because you can CUSTOMIZE the developer to your needs.

Someone who wishes to dye their brown hair brown and cover old brass doesn't need the 30 or 40 volume developer that comes in boxed hair dye. THAT is where the brass comes from. And THAT is where store dyes vary from professional one....not the color, but the DEVELOPER and customization of it.

If you don't want to lift your color multiple levels, there is no need to use such a strong vol developer.

I don't want to sound argumentative, so please don't take this as such.
I didn't say you recommended going to a stylist, i understood that it was the product you recommended. The Wella Colour Touch is a great brand, and being able to by it in your area if you're not a stylist is lucky.
My point was just to say that very often there is no difference between drugstore stuff and professional product. This does have exceptions of course. One thing I can say with certainty is that most drugstore brands only have 20volume developer in them unless they specify that they are a high lift, or unless it is a very light shade that is chosen. On this note though, they use 30 volume, and not 40 volume because the 40 volume is a liability being as harsh as it is.
Trust me when I say that it is not often you'll find 40 volume peroxide in a drugstore brand. They have colour guides on them to show the colour you can expect to achieve, this is because they do not "use the highest volume so that it will work for everyone", but because they use a lower level of developer to minimize negative scalp reactions.. (Of course there are exceptions to this as well)

[manderly]

Calaelen, thanks for clearing that up. You're probably right about the box dyes and the volume, I was exaggerating.

But would you agree that when one is only trying to deposit color in depleted hair and staying in the same color level that far less than 20 volume is needed or even recommended?

I never did salon dye jobs, I am a box hair dye kind of gal. I've always had success with it - until I was trying to dye back to my original brown and growing my hair out. The need to redye when the color faded (left me orange) and the harshness of 20 volume repeatedly wasn't helping me out at all. Once I switched to using professional dyes with 10 vol (or even 6) developer I got much better results that were actually (strangely) longer-lasting and faded more naturally with no orange like the old days.

I also just wanted to mention that I live in Hawaii, and have no access to anyplace that sells those products. I have purchased them online, most recently ebay. Another great thing about them is you can mix colors to customize your results

[Calaelen]

I definitely recommend using the lowest volume developer as needed for any colour job. Always.
Hmm, I never considered trying to buy colour online, professional or otherwise. I actually am laughing at myself at that one.
When you were trying to get back to your natural colour did you pick colours with a neutral tone in them, or an ash tone rather than say a golden? (sometimes this can be difficult to do)

Very often the problem with fading no matter what kind of colour or level of developer used is that natural hair has certain tones in it that are lifted up with the developer, so when hair fades they show up very clearly, whether it is an ash tone or a red tone. This can be very annoying, myself I have to deal with the red tone, and so I use neutral or ash shades to cancel it out.

The colour I originally recommended in this topic is the one that works best for my hair (of over the counter or cheaper ones) which is what the original poster asked for. I used to use professional stuff, but just got lucky to find an over the counter brand that is perfect for me.

[manderly]

Yup. I have 2 colors in my hair right now, an ash (violet per Wella's chart) and a neutral.

I posted these photos in the thread I linked earlier, but I'll post them again here.

Before:


After:


Not a huge difference, but this is because I've figured out how to not get such bad fading, and that was to stick with the Wella or Sally's Ion Shine and a 10 vol (or less in the case of Wella) developer. Essentially I'm just doing a demi permanent almost deposit-only color, which holds up much better than anything else I've tried.

Here is a good shot of the orange tones I had been battling:

[-simply Venus-]

Use a green toner. =D