Help!...getting rid of brassy hair??

[sputnik]

A few weeks ago I dyed my hair (Clairol Perfect 10...NOT recommended, though at least I have no damage). All the hair dye seemed to do is add brassy tones to my hair (I was trying to lighten it a shade or two, from medium/light brown to light brown/dark blonde). It isn't a horrible color... just looks auburn, but I am not really into it. Is there any non-damaging way to eliminate the reddish tones? & even better is there a way to get the color I want? (I had it once upon a time and it suits my skin tone better than my current shade)

This is close to the color it is now (not quite as auburn, I can't find an exact match) :http://vitanetonline.com/images/products/65.jpg

this is what I want!:http://vodianova.net/gallery/index.php?album=unknown&image=01.jpg
an other: http://pics.drugstore.com/prodimg/152822/200.jpg

[Euphony]

Have you checked out the information on Henna for Hair (http://www.hennaforhair.com)? There's all sorts of ways you can color your hair naturally to get different colors/shades.

[sputnik]

Thanks for the suggestion :).
However henna is going to make my hair red, and other options such as Indigo are going to make it darker. I don't want either of those things. I have tried the honey thing to make it lighter, but that did nothing for me. (well it did strip out old dye to a point, but nothing on virgin hair). There may still be a natural option to give me the color I want or at least get rid of this funky brassyness, but I am also quite willing to try less 'natural' options if they will do what I want, which is why I posted it here. If it belongs somewhere else however I'd be happy to move it.

[waidz]

To get that brond color (blondish and brown) you could try the honey treatment (there is a thread somewhere on LHC) which might tone the red and introduce more blonde (first choice for me) - or go to a salon to do it for you rather than try it at home. Your hair would however take some strain from the salon - so you'd have to baby your hair before and after before you re-dye it.
Honestly, many might say use henna, but you aren't going to get those blonde hilights with henna alone unless you're already blonde.

Many will also say don't go to a salon - but ultimately it's your hair and your decision, what's the point of having long hair if you're not happy with it ? Many LHC'ers dye their hair and maintain great condition by taking care of it, no reason why you can't.

Good luck :)

[QueenBea]

I wish I had a great suggestion to "fix" it. All I know is that after 20+ years of coloring and starting with nice colors that always faded to brassy, I stopped coloring last summer. It really stinks to have a "dividing line" but I"m realizing my natural hair color isn't all that bad.

Oh, there is a product you can buy at Sally's though--it will still fade out after 4-6 weeks and leave you brassy--but there is something Clairol makes called "toner", comes in shades of blue or lavendar. You mix it with the 20 Developer and put it on your hair for just 5 or 10 minutes, after you've colored your hair, and the blue tones really help to cancel out the brassy.

Here's a little info about the product:
http://www.thecreativestudio.com/main.jsp?nav=studio/faq/faq_toners
http://www.sallybeauty.com/Creme+Toner/CLAIRL17,default,pd.html

I used it a lot when I was highlighting last year; I just got put out with how much work it was all becoming and quit messing with it---- I also used it after dying my hair shades of medium and light brown, just to tone--even though I was using "champagne beige" shades of toner, it doesn't COLOR your hair that color; it just adds appropriate blue or purple tones IF you were doing a double process blonde.

QueenBea

[Jeni]

Not much help with getting rid of brassy hair, but a suggestion if you dye your hair again. Not sure what color you dyed, but I have found any hair color that says "warm" gives me brassy hair. Even a "neutral" dye can turn my hair brassy. When I dye my hair I use "cool" tones, usually ash blond. My hair doesn't turn very ash blond, kind of in the middle of ash and neutral. Now if you did use a "cool" tone, or have never had this problem before, just ignore what I have said and pick a different hair dye.

Jeni

[sputnik]

thanks for the suggestions!

Queen Bee- I might try that toner... they seem to mainly for really light blonde shades, do you think they would be ok for darker?

Jeni- actually that is really good advice, I usually try to do that (my hair responds like yours to dye) but I got suckered by the color of hair on the box.

[wintersun99]

There are shampoo and conditioner's that are formulated for silver and blonde hair, meant to remove brassy tones - would something like that work?

[iris]

I also think a toner would be your best bet. They should come in different shades - green to counter red tones, blue to counter orange, and lavender/purple to counter yellow tones. I'd think you need the green or the blue, but the best thing to do would be to ask someone in the store who knows what they're talking about, and who can look at your hair directly.

The lavender toners are mostly used for lighter hair (so are the lavender shampoos). Hair goes red -> orange -> yellow as it's lightened (the natural pigment that counters the red/yellow in your natural color, is more flimsy than the red/yellow pigment). In light hair, all that needs to be canceled is yellow, so lavender is the color to use on light hair.

What an ashy box color should do, is add blue/purple/green pigments back into the hair to cancel out those red/yellow tones. Since it didn't, a toner is now the way to get those pigments back in.

Iris

[Jeni]

I have tried the L'Oreal Natural Match, hated it. My hair was the brassiest it had every been. If it had been more red I would of been OK (strawberry blond), instead it was more yellowy/orange- not attractive at all. YMMV of course.

Jeni

[SylphideNoir]

Ah! I just had EXACTLY the same thing happen! NOBODY USE PERFECT10!! I'm back where I started at light auburn instead of light brown. I like to use the motto "Rock whatcha got!" in times like this but I will steer clear of that brand from now on.

[groque]

I know a while back they had those shampoos and conditioners that could tone your hair. Don't know if they are still popular but that would deposit color with out any more damage. I remember Ulta carried some in the professional end line.

[Riot Crrl]

Henna-head here with chemical reply :)

The drugstore dyes in my opinion are not meant to lift more than a shade or two, tops. Even lifting that much, they can tend to get brassy.

It is true that the ashy tones of your pigment lift faster than the red/yellow, for natural pigment at least. The drugstore boxes don't tend to add enough blue/purple back in to counter this, and the reason is a simple numbers game. Reddish/yellowish hair results in less calls to the customer service line than green hair, which is what you would get if you started with lighter hair and they put enough blue in for someone starting from brown.

Toner is the answer. If it doesn't do well enough, perhaps a deposit-only ashy brown color over the whole thing. STRAND TEST either of these options. And they both may have to be re-done regularly.

[SylphideNoir]

Since I've recently cut my hair into a new sexy bob I'm going to go the ManicPanic route. Fun color with fun ends while it grows back out! :rockerdud

[iris]

It is true that the ashy tones of your pigment lift faster than the red/yellow, for natural pigment at least. The drugstore boxes don't tend to add enough blue/purple back in to counter this, and the reason is a simple numbers game. Reddish/yellowish hair results in less calls to the customer service line than green hair, which is what you would get if you started with lighter hair and they put enough blue in for someone starting from brown.

:idea: Thank you for that Riot Crrl, that makes SO much sense.

Iris

[willowcandra]

A few weeks ago I dyed my hair (Clairol Perfect 10...NOT recommended, though at least I have no damage). All the hair dye seemed to do is add brassy tones to my hair (I was trying to lighten it a shade or two, from medium/light brown to light brown/dark blonde). It isn't a horrible color... just looks auburn, but I am not really into it. Is there any non-damaging way to eliminate the reddish tones? & even better is there a way to get the color I want? (I had it once upon a time and it suits my skin tone better than my current shade)

This is close to the color it is now (not quite as auburn, I can't find an exact match) :http://vitanetonline.com/images/products/65.jpg

this is what I want!:http://vodianova.net/gallery/index.php?album=unknown&image=01.jpg
an other: http://pics.drugstore.com/prodimg/152822/200.jpg

When I decided to grow out the red colour in my hair I used regular overnight oilings and smts with lots of honey in--both of those took colour out each time and it's really hard now to see the line between virgin hair and colour. (odly I think the jojoba did most of the colour lifting for me.)

[sputnik]

Thanks again for the advice & comments!

yeah I know lifting more than 2 shades with a store color is hit'n miss. I went from between a 5N/6N to 7N... and I wasn't expecting it to go as light as the picture (I actually wanted a result more like the 6G (a light golden brown) but had read to pic a shade lighter as it tended to be darker than it stated). It didn't lift any color though, my roots are coming in and they aren't as red, but otherwise same shade. It also did not cover grey. Oh well live and learn, my hair is still short enough and in good enough health it isn't the end of the world. I think I'll try a toner and let it grow out a bit more and then decide if I want to try again. I did do a chamomile rinse and if nothing else it looks really shiny! (it seems a wee lighter, but that could be the reflective quality).

Sylphidenoir-the funky color bob sounds like a fab idea too!