Botched Self Color Attempt

[Jules diamond]

Hey Everyone

I'm writing this out because, as stated in the title, I attempted to dye my hair on my own and failed pretty miserably.

The plan was to use L'oreal Hicolor and get a nice Coppery color, touching up with Pravana afterwards to avoid any more damage.

Unfortunately, only my roots and crown took the color altogether, and the rest of what colored is a lighter reddish brown. Which would be unfortunate in itself, but I'm not entirely sure that the color that my roots took to is flattering at all and I'm seriously regretting it. The plan was to wait a week and recolor the length, but it appears as if i'm going to need to cut off two to three inches instead to avoid the new breakage that was not there two days ago. Other than the ends, it appears that the rest of my hair is alright, if not a touch drier than i'm used to.

As it is now, I don't have any desire to color my hair any lighter, because i'm terrified of the damage that would most certainly result. I've been oiling the ends and leaving in some coney conditioner, but I'm completely at a loss as to what to do with my roots, which I feel silly sporting.

Any advice would be appreciated.

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http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n363/all_for_LOL/IMG_0977_zps902eeab2.jpg
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http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n363/all_for_LOL/IMG_0982_zps49533a56.jpg

[Firefox7275]

If roots took and not lengths you may have had uneven temperatures (scalp heat, drafty room) and possibly didn't use enough product. If you want to lift the copper try a *peroxide free* colour remover such as Color Oops or Colour B4 Extra. Again temperature is critical.

Run strand tests on shed plughole hair don't use your whole head as a laboratory. Also consider skin patch tests on a hidden area of the scalp - both box dye and colour removers are highly alkaline so irritating/ damaging to the skin barrier.

If you dye again do so over coconut oil or add coconut oil to he bottle, consider doing a hydrolysed wheat or soy protein treatment. Get all your hair close to the head not hanging down your back and wear a shower cap.

[Jules diamond]

If roots took and not lengths you may have had uneven temperatures (scalp heat, drafty room) and possibly didn't use enough product. If you want to lift the copper try a *peroxide free* colour remover such as Color Oops or Colour B4 Extra. Again temperature is critical.

Run strand tests on shed plughole hair don't use your whole head as a laboratory. Also consider skin patch tests on a hidden area of the scalp - both box dye and colour removers are highly alkaline so irritating/ damaging to the skin barrier.

If you dye again do so over coconut oil or add coconut oil to he bottle, consider doing a hydrolysed wheat or soy protein treatment. Get all your hair close to the head not hanging down your back and wear a shower cap.

Thanks for the quick reply, firefox.

I had my hair in a shower cap at the time and my hair was drenched in the dye with some protein filler added, which is why I'm not sure why it didn't take. I did a strand test, too, which turned out just fine.

Thanks for the tip about the color oops. Do you know if that'll just remove the copper, or will my scalp be the same color as the length afterwards?

[redredrobin]

Since your roots are lighter, darkening the light bits with a semi permanent that matches the bottom colour could be an option if you don't think you could tolerate keeping it as it is. Then it evens up but you haven't had to dye the damaged ends again.

If you want rid of the red/copper tint altogether, would an ashy brown semi all over help at all or would the red shine through?

Also I would try a 1" trim before committing to 3".

Just wanted to say that although I understand you are not happy with it, it actually looks fine :)

[lapushka]

Just wanted to say that although I understand you are not happy with it, it actually looks fine :)

Yes, I agree. I can hardly see a difference between your roots and your lengths, but in the end it's what you can live with, so...

[browneyedsusan]

Botched?!
I really like it!
I don't know what you're seeing, but I LOVE it. :inlove:
FWIW, my roots are different from the ends. I think most people's are. The sun, lack of sebum, older cuticle, changes things some. My ends are very red, and the roots are lighter and ashier.

[Jules diamond]

Since your roots are lighter, darkening the light bits with a semi permanent that matches the bottom colour could be an option if you don't think you could tolerate keeping it as it is. Then it evens up but you haven't had to dye the damaged ends again.

If you want rid of the red/copper tint altogether, would an ashy brown semi all over help at all or would the red shine through?

Also I would try a 1" trim before committing to 3".

Just wanted to say that although I understand you are not happy with it, it actually looks fine :)

Thank you for replying, redrobin and lapushka!

I'd definitely be willing to try a deposit dye to even out the color.

I'm trying to see how much of the length I can salvage with some heavy oiling of the bottom six inches of my hair and I'll probably do some S&D later today after I wash it.

I'm glad you both think that the color looks alright, I just can't help but feel like I've got tomato soup on my head. :p My friends think that I just need time to adjust to it, but I'm not sure that it'll help things.

[redredrobin]

Thank you for replying, redrobin and lapushka!

I'd definitely be willing to try a deposit dye to even out the color.

I'm trying to see how much of the length I can salvage with some heavy oiling of the bottom six inches of my hair and I'll probably do some S&D later today after I wash it.

I'm glad you both think that the color looks alright, I just can't help but feel like I've got tomato soup on my head. :p My friends think that I just need time to adjust to it, but I'm not sure that it'll help things.

You're welcome. I just had a demi put on my hair to even up some old lines of colour, avoiding my virgin hair. Unfortunately I had to go demi as I struggled to find a true semi permanent in a normal ashy colour that was easily available and had good reviews, but I don't know what colour you are looking to change to so you may have more options. My hair didn't look too bad before, but personally I just got really fed up with the colour difference and I knew that I would not be able to tolerate it until it grew out (which would be years!). For me, the damage of the semi was worth it to get one-colour hair. I had mine done at the salon.

Definitely try to salvage the ends if you don't want to lose length. They do not look bad and might be more resilient than you think.

[jessokitty]

Your hair still looks lovely! I can sympathize if you feel it looks uneven because this happened to me with that same product! For me it happened because the color lifted my virgin roots really well but the lengths had too many layers of color from previous times dying it so not as much color was lifted. What I did was dye the roots a darker red to match the lengths with a low volume peroxide (level 10). Then i used manic panic to keep the color looking nice and bright and even. Good luck!

[Jules diamond]

Botched?!
I really like it!
I don't know what you're seeing, but I LOVE it. :inlove:
FWIW, my roots are different from the ends. I think most people's are. The sun, lack of sebum, older cuticle, changes things some. My ends are very red, and the roots are lighter and ashier.

Thank you! After hearing everyone's opinions, I think I'm going to try and live with it for a little while and see if I warm up to it after all.


You're welcome. I just had a demi put on my hair to even up some old lines of colour, avoiding my virgin hair. Unfortunately I had to go demi as I struggled to find a true semi permanent in a normal ashy colour that was easily available and had good reviews, but I don't know what colour you are looking to change to so you may have more options. My hair didn't look too bad before, but personally I just got really fed up with the colour difference and I knew that I would not be able to tolerate it until it grew out (which would be years!). For me, the damage of the semi was worth it to get one-colour hair. I had mine done at the salon.

Definitely try to salvage the ends if you don't want to lose length. They do not look bad and might be more resilient than you think.

The olive oil's definitely helped things a lot, along with an S&D session for the split ends this morning. I'll keep at that as needed.


Your hair still looks lovely! I can sympathize if you feel it looks uneven because this happened to me with that same product! For me it happened because the color lifted my virgin roots really well but the lengths had too many layers of color from previous times dying it so not as much color was lifted. What I did was dye the roots a darker red to match the lengths with a low volume peroxide (level 10). Then i used manic panic to keep the color looking nice and bright and even. Good luck!

Thank you! I think I'll see if I can learn to like this color myself. If not, I'll definitely take your and redrobin's advice and use a semi permanent dye. Maybe even play around with some different colors with it, who knows?


Thank you again, everyone who helped me out! As always LHC's advice and people are invaluable. :blossom:

[ErinLeigh]

The heat from the scalp develops the color faster and goes lighter. That is why people end with with "hot roots"
The color on the bottom grabs darker as the hair is more porous there. It tends to leech color back out if there is damage so it will even up eventually.
The best way to avoid this is to use a color filler before dying concentrating heavily on the ends of hair. When applying dye do the roots last. That is what I have to do anyway.

I am so glad oiling are helping.
I am always amazed at how well EVOO works. You remove color and help the health of the hair at the same time. :)

[Sarahlabyrinth]

I think your colour looks absolutely fine, myself. Can you give it a few days and see if you get used to it? It's a lovely colour.

[LanaBanana]

I don't have any advice, I just wanted to day that I actually really like the color you got! It's very pretty and doesn't strike me as unflattering from what I can see. I hope you find a solution :)

[Kaelee]

Botched?!
I really like it!
I don't know what you're seeing, but I LOVE it. :inlove:
FWIW, my roots are different from the ends. I think most people's are. The sun, lack of sebum, older cuticle, changes things some. My ends are very red, and the roots are lighter and ashier.

I couldn't agree more! It's BEAUTIFUL!!!!

I also don't see an issue, but then, being a hennahead for years means I'm used to lighter roots/darker length. That is just what happens overtime with henna. But even natural hair isn't all one flat color all over your head, there are highlights, lowlights, fading from the sun, etc. "All one flat color" tends to look fake in my opinion.

[HazelBug]

That same sort of thing happened to me when I was lifting black dye from my hair. I used bleach to remove the dye, but it turned my roots a very light almost white blond. The rest of my hair was a very red blond. I tried toners to get the red calmed down but it didn't work. So I ended up coloring over it with a medium-light brown. When my roots started coming in the color had faded just enough to blend pretty well with my new roots. Of course I was trying to get close to my natural hair color (dark blond with reddish tints). It was a pretty frustrating experience to say the least. and it will take forever to cut the dye out. (plan on cutting a few inches off at the end of the year or begining of next year) I will have to cut about 14 inches off over the course of time to get back to virgin hair. Fortunatly my hair grows fast.