Blonde hair dyed brown won't go back, help please!

[helosmommy]

For years I dyed my hair red for a few months, faded back to my natural blonde, and then started again. Then one day about two years ago I got it dyed professionally brown and it never recovered. It even seems to be growing in dark, although occasionally there are light root patches. What can I do to fix this? Is there any way or should I just give up?

[ReneeG]

How far out has it grown since coloring it brown? If it hasn't grown out much then you're probably seeing residual dye from your follicles and the shade of the brown overpowering your natural blonde. Ultimately it needs to e to grow out far enough to see your natural color.

It's not supposed to fade back, that's why people go to professionals usually, unless you specifically told them that you wanted it to fade out (in which case, make a huge stink in their salon!). You may just have to grow it out from this color. You can use a color remover such as Color Oops which will remove the dye and take it back to your natural color. It's not damaging, but will dry you out and require a good deep moisturizing treatment afterwards.

If you like the color fading quickly, I would highly recommend buying SEMI PERMANENT dyes at places like Sally's so that it will fade out completely over a few washes.

[Rhoward]

if it was two years ago that it was dyed brown am I right in assuming you are getting your roots done to maintain the brown? Let some serious roots come in, like 4-6 months worth so you can really see what your natural colour really is. Then you could use a colour remover (colour oops, jo-baz colour remover or something similar) JUST on the coloured sections and see what you end up with and then try blend it with your natural colour using direct mousse dyes (e.g. goldwell, schwarzkopf or delorenzo colour mousses)

[helosmommy]

No, I've never had the roots touched up brown. After getting it highlighted blonde six months after the dye when it was a dishwater murky color I tried to maintain the blonde but the roots were coming in dark and it was very damaging to do the blonde so eventually I have up and dyed it red from box dyes a few times. It's now been about 6 months since I've done anything to it and while it is starting to lighten and parts of the roots are coming in lighter it's still far from blonde,

[two_wheels]

I wonder whether your red dye that you used for years had developer in it- most do. That lightens your natural colour and then the dye works on top of that. When it faded, you would think you were back to your natural colour, but really it is a lightened version of your natural colour because of the developer.

Then when you stop putting dye on your hair at all- a double whammy of no more lightening from the developer, plus natural hair is always scary dark for the first 6 inches = you think the dye made it brown forever (which it can't.)

Also if you haven't seen your natural colour for years (even though you think you have- see above) it could have darkened significantly since then.

If you like it light, have a look around here for pre-bleach coconut oil, it is supposed to help a lot!

[MINAKO]

i would suggest color oops and then see what you can to in terms of toning to make it look kind of even. gotta grow it out for a while before you can be certain what your natural color truly is after all these expiriments.

ETA: goldwell and pravana make pretty awesome non damaging toning shades.

[door72067]

A lot of things can factor in to your hair color, age, hormones (did you have a baby? thyroid issues?) medications, vitamins...all can alter hair color

also, how old were you when you first dyed compared to now? Not to mention if your hair was virgin, it was likely sun-lightened (even though you may not realize it) so you would be remembering your natural hair color as lighter than you hair truly is

As others suggested, let it grow for at least a few months to really get a sense of your color.

I urge caution with color removers. I tried that myself (to remove brunette dye over red dye) I ended up very brassy from the color remover.

good luck!

[Seventy7]

If you're naturally a dark blonde, the roots can appear brown when groing out dye. Hair can be a chameleon. I know my hair is getting a lot lighter towards the ends, and that is the color I'm used seeing. So if i only saw a few inches at the roots, I might think my hair is brown too. Be patient, don't put any more dye in and see what happens.
And be glad you didn't get a strong demarcation line.
Do what we all (should) do at an unhappy or uncertain time: put it up and forget about it. It will grow.

[Seventy7]

Here is my double post. Just read the above again. ;)