Getting rid of brassy tones without making whole hair same colour... and low damage?!

[hairhair]

Hi everyone! I have decided to ask for some advice on here even though I've actually Big Chopped my hair and am happy with the bob, since this is a cool community with a lot of people who know stuff about hair.

Anyway, without giving my entire life history, my hair is the fairly typical thing where when I was young it was blonde, it gradually got darker and darker, and it's overall a dark brown colour that I actually really like. But there is sunbleaching that doesn't look good with the bob style.

Basically, I want to dye my hair so it stays the same colour it is coming out of my head.

My main questions are:

1. How can I do this with minimum damage? Use dye but skip the developer step because I don't want to lighten?
2. What colour range is realistic for this? I don't want to end up looking like it is noticeably too dark for my complexion, and my natural hair colour is already unusually dark for my complexion, I think. I am thinking this colour ("Natural Light Brown") would be realistic: http://shop.coles.com.au/online/national/clairol-nicen-easy-natural-hair-colour-dark-brown-120

Thanks! :)

ETA: Another massive goal I have with this is to AVOID having to worry about roots showing and/or dye my hair every six weeks or whatever. Because I figure if I'm dyeing it the exact same colour as the roots, and the issue with bleaching only starts when the hair is about 3 inches long, I should only have to dye it every four to six months as the virgin hair starts to bleach. Is this even possible? I know I'd have to get a dye that's a REALLY good colour match for my hair root colour...

ETA2: Pic of my hair and you can also see some of my skin. http://i1169.photobucket.com/albums/r519/Echidna23/344257bb-e21f-4d23-b034-401786ec88f8_zpsvdm9m4e5.jpg (http://s1169.photobucket.com/user/Echidna23/media/344257bb-e21f-4d23-b034-401786ec88f8_zpsvdm9m4e5.jpg.html)

[Nellon]

Why not use a semi? Like a foam semi from goldwell, wella or swarskopf (spelling?) fex? That way you won't have to worry about damaging your hair, or not getting it right...

[ooo]

Are you in Australia? Asking because you posted an Australien Link and I don't know what products you have there.


1. How can I do this with minimum damage? Use dye but skip the developer step because I don't want to lighten?

I recently read up on that. Won't work, but there are lots of deposite only dyes you can use.


What you can do:

Use sunprotection for your hair.
Use a Shampoo and Conditioner for brown hair.
Use deposite only dye. like this dark chocolate (https://www.haircrazy.com/shop/hair-dye/adore/dark-chocolate/) colour.
but some deposite only dye into your normal conditioner to freshen up your colour.
there are losts of products to keep brown hair brown or make brown hair browner, but I'm not sure what is available where you are.
lots of non damaging options without developer. I'm sure you can come up with something.


just remembered. for a while I liked my brown hair very ashy. so I used all that silver shampoo stuff for blondes to get rid of brassy tones. this might also be an option for you.

[hairhair]

Thanks Nellon and ooo!

I think I will try a semi or demi for now (I realised the one I linked to is a demi anyway - says eight weeks but they seem to last longer on me, perhaps because I use a gentle shampoo) and see how it goes.

Thanks for the tip about the anti-brassy stuff ooo! There is actually a company around here (Scwarzkopf Live) that does a silver toner demi, so I might try that to begin with. :)

[ooo]

FYI demi have a developer in them, I would not use that. since even with the mild developer it makes the hair lighter underneath. when the colour washes out, it might leave your hair lighter than before. So once the colour is washed our, you are back to the same problem, just worse.

[lapushka]

Why not use a semi? Like a foam semi from goldwell, wella or swarskopf (spelling?) fex? That way you won't have to worry about damaging your hair, or not getting it right...

That's Schwarzkopf, in case OP is looking for products.

[Qz]

I had serious brassiness from using hair dye to cover my grays, and used a lot of extra products with my dye (some type of red-out stuff, anti brassiness stuff, etc.) and none of that worked more than just very temporarily. I tried exactly what you're talking about as far as the color itself, just trying to get a good match to my natural brown and have it all blend. That didn't work for me, it seems any dye did just enough damage to my hair to give it the brassy look.

It was an aggravating cycle back when I did dye it, it looked great the first couple of washes after coloring, then that brassy orange-ish hue would come creeping back in. I don't miss that, it was pretty hideous looking to me. Even going to the salon and forking over a lot of money for a pro dye job didn't slow or change that nice color to brassy cycle, not a bit.

The way I finally really got rid of it was to cut off the dyed portions of my hair and stop dyeing altogether. No dye, no brassiness in my case. Of course now I'm just about half gray and my old chestnut brown color has faded out too, but I much prefer that to brassiness on myself.

[sumidha]

Deposit only vegetable based dye. Adore, Manic Panic, Spcial Effects, Pravana are all the ones I can think of off the top of my head. You can mix blue/green dye with your conditioner so that it tones out the orange/red every time you wash your hair. :)

[Nellon]

You can also buy food colouring and mix into schampoo/conditioner! I do that sometimes and it works! And that would also be blue, green, a little red perhaps. You can search for it, how to counteract brassiness with food colours.

I bleached out henna :) And I use all those things (not nessecarily at the same time though): silver schampoo/conditioner, blue+green food colouring in conditioner, semi foam colour. And they really save me from chopping it off.

[Adorkable One]

I would avoid anything that requires developer if you're worried about damage.

I would recommend a direct dye. Adore offers plenty of "natural" shades. The benefit of a direct dye is it colors the hair without lifting the cuticle or lightening your natural color. Hence, no damage! The only issue is they don't stick well to unprocessed hair, so it will eventually fade, and you might have to reapply. That might not be a bad thing though, since you just need a subtle wash of color to darken the ends. It's not like you have to worry about damage with direct dyes. Here is a link of swatches for colors they have. http://i.ebayimg.com/images/i/331094613459-0-1/s-l1000.jpg

Henna is a good option too if you're just looking to cover up the color and keep it that way. I wouldn't recommend it if you plan on changing your hair color a lot.

[butterflybutton]

Thanks Nellon and ooo!

I think I will try a semi or demi for now (I realised the one I linked to is a demi anyway - says eight weeks but they seem to last longer on me, perhaps because I use a gentle shampoo) and see how it goes.

Thanks for the tip about the anti-brassy stuff ooo! There is actually a company around here (Scwarzkopf Live) that does a silver toner demi, so I might try that to begin with. :)

The schwarzkopf live are semi's so you won't have any re growth problems there!! I'm a big fan of their silver toner. You could even use one of the brown shades if the difference is very noticeable now, and then top up with the silver toner when needed.

[Ingrid]

Am I the only one who does not see the brassy tones in the picture? Maybe it's time to recalibrate my monitor...

[molljo]

Am I the only one who does not see the brassy tones in the picture? Maybe it's time to recalibrate my monitor...

I don't think it looks brassy either, honestly. I see warm chestnut brown, which is a really gorgeous color, but nothing I would categorize as brass. The lighting is dark, though, so maybe it looks unpleasant to OP in sunlight where the warm tones are more pronounced?

[sumidha]

Heh, speaking as a fellow brass hater, I think it always looks more noticeable to you than to other people. And, as molljo says, they tend to come out way more in sunlight, versus indoors. :)

[Ingrid]

Perhaps. I've been growing out brassy hair for 3 and a half years now and I guess it looks way more pronounced than in the picture provided by the OP. Brassy hair has a lot more orange undertones. But yeah, maybe in that particular picture it's not that noticeable :shrug:

[Nellon]

http://www.schwarzkopf-professional.co.uk/skp/uk/en/home/products/colour/igora-expert-mousse.html
http://www.goldwell.com.au/products/color/demisemi-permanent/soft-color/ (the first one on this page, the soft colour)
Here's what I use and I really really like them both!

[Deborah]

I think your hair color is beautiful and don't think you should do anything to change it.