Can I go back to my normal, ashy colour?

[Georgiecat]

So I naturally have dark ashy blonde hair, and I do really like my natural colour, but a few months ago I decided I wanted a bit of a change, so I used Sun-In (essentially a weak dilution of bleach) to do ombre hair. I actually managed to do quite a nice gradient - from my natural hair colour at the roots to honey blonde at the tips, but now I'm beginning to hate it, because the tips of my hair are a warm blonde whilst the roots are my natural cool blonde, and when I do a bun it's a different colour to the rest of my hair. If I wanted to trim off all the colour, I'd have to get a really short bob, which I can't do because I'm growing my hair out for this show I'm currently in rehearsal for (it needs to be long enough to put into a bun). Would using one of those shampoos designed to get rid of brassy tones help? Are there any hair-darkening products I could use?

[MINAKO]

Shampoos against brassyness might take out orangy or yellowy hues, but wont help much in terms of darkening. If you don't want to apply color to your entire head and go significantly darker, you will have to work in a reverse onbre kind of way back up, slowly meeting your natural shade again, which admittedly can be super tricky, especially with ashy tones. You could try out mixes of Katam and Cassia, probably with the tinest amount of henna. It will take several teststrands to get the mix and timing close enough to a good result tho. You could also try to find a deposit colour and layer it until the covarage is apropriate, keep in mind that you will need a complementary color to go against the warmness. blue for orange tones, violett for yellow and greenish for red. So it would no be unlikely to be in need for one of these special mix tones, as any result coming from a color chart alway refer to natural shades which aren't quiet as warm as something bleached to begin with.
Another thing would be permanent dye, where it's not very common but still possible to find good ashy tones.

I would try the herbal dye first, because it means no damage, but as for chemical dye/color you might want to look up the charts of schwarzkopf, pravana or goldwell, maybe L'oreal as well.

[AcornMystic]

Unfortunately when you use lightening agents they strip the colour, they do not cover or hide the colour underneath like darkening agents do, so there is really nothing you can take away to get the colour back as it is already gone. I can only suggest colouring it with a dye to match your darkercolour. Hope there isn't too much damage as a result, but that is the nice thing about going darker as opposed to lightening. Generally less damage. Good luck! :)

[divinedobbie]

There's a thread hanging around here discussing using diluted manic panic to tone hair. I used manic panic very successfully myself getting my ends from a bright and brassy orange from bleach to a cool really light brown/dark blonde (The manic panic not only cooled my colour but it darkened it a bit too which is nice). If I was you, I'd try that first because you say you don't like the ombre because of the contrast in warmth, but would you like the ombre if all your hair was ashy? Keep in mind you'd have to tone your hair probably biweekly, it won't be permanent. But it's good for your hair and only takes 15 minutes so I think it's worth it :).

[divinedobbie]

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=115585&highlight=tone+brassy+ends+manic+panic

Here's the thread for reference to see different recipes/procedures people used and their results.

[MINAKO]

There's a thread hanging around here discussing using diluted manic panic to tone hair. I used manic panic very successfully myself getting my ends from a bright and brassy orange from bleach to a cool really light brown/dark blonde (The manic panic not only cooled my colour but it darkened it a bit too which is nice). If I was you, I'd try that first because you say you don't like the ombre because of the contrast in warmth, but would you like the ombre if all your hair was ashy? Keep in mind you'd have to tone your hair probably biweekly, it won't be permanent. But it's good for your hair and only takes 15 minutes so I think it's worth it :).

Pravana Chromasilk is say to be a pretty permanent depost dye, at least on bleached hair. They also come in a colorful Vivids range. They also have something like a treatment effect to hair providing lots of moisture and some keratin back to the hair.

[divinedobbie]

Pravana Chromasilk is say to be a pretty permanent depost dye, at least on bleached hair. They also come in a colorful Vivids range. They also have something like a treatment effect to hair providing lots of moisture and some keratin back to the hair.

*quickly runs off to google* thank you! I've never heard of this. I looked into elumen, wella, and another one that I can't remember the name of as people said they were deposit-only but then I was told they aren't true deposit-only dyes and do have some ammonia-like chemicals, hope this one is promising!

[MINAKO]

Ys, you should totally check those out. I think Elumen is not too bad, but it doesn't last very long and some people complain about the locking product as being too cone heavy. I hated la riche directions and manic panic for how light and fluffy they made my hair feel afterwards, the colorpayoff is quiet good and some people might like their hair light and fluffy so i can't really call that a con, but it did nothing for me increasing the shine either, so i might as well roll with something that does both.
I currently use up my stash of revlon nutricolor, which is "only" a color masque, but it does work very well and it even comes in shades like blue, firered, violett and such. very easy to use.