Changing hair colour...?

[Verybadhairday]

I'm thinking about going brown
My hair has always been a natural blonde but obviously it darkens with age. I had it highlighted last year but not sure it actually looks nice :P My roots are much darker and i'm thinking maybe its time for a change!

So my question is, once I die it brown, will it be hard to maintain (my roots dont have much colour to them they are very dull and such a boring colour so won't match the brown im after) and will the blonde highlights show through atall?
Or, could anyone just post their good experiences of changing from blonde to brunette?

Thanks, and sorry if this isnt in the correct section :o

[Fractalsofhair]

If you got it highlighted with a lot of highlights, then yes, your roots will be darker and not look as pretty!

I bet your hair color will look lovely once you grow out the highlights! (My hair is a grayish color)

Also, yes,the roots will be noticeable if you go for a dark brown. The highlights will probably not show thru as blond, though they might not take the dye the same way.

I've never gone brown, but I've gone red and blue and orange(once) and had highlights,and yeah, roots do show up and they look ugly compared to the highlighted hair.

[Kris Dove]

I've went blonde to dark brown then black, and it's very, very high maintenence- the roots look terrible because they're lighter and give you "scalp cleavage" so they really need to be kept on top of. My top tip- I used wash-out toners between doing my roots with the permanent dye to stretch times between doing roots, to minimise damaging my hair with the dye, and keep my colour shiny.

You may have to dye, or pencil in your eyebrows, to match as well. I found myself wearing a lot more, heavier makeup as darkening your hair can drain your complexion slightly.

Onto the positive bit- darker hair can really make your eyes "pop", especially if you have blue, grey or green eyes, and you can wear a lot more colours that can clash with blonde hair. I loved my dark hair and had it for a few years before eventually going back to my roots.

Here's an old pic of me with raven locks- http://s1011.photobucket.com/albums/af236/niceweirdo80/?action=view&current=krissmouse_16714985-1.jpg

[formunkyfrommom]

you can pre treat the blonde streaks by colouring the streaks only with a red brown colour first then putting your desired colour overtop of all you hair
i am a hairdresser and while it would take a long time to explain the importance of pre colouring i can guarentee that it will improve the end result....but maintenance on blonde hair coloured darker is pain just as maintaning dark hair dyed lighter is....the only way to avoid the akward grow out colour change is to only dye your hair 1-2 levels darker where the change wont be as noticable when it is growing out otherwise typical maintenance is about every 6 weeks on the regrowth unfortunatley

[pinchbeck]

You could always apply lowlights instead of changing all of your hair colour or you could apply a semi-permanent hair colour. Your highlighted pieces will absorb the colour and it won't be as damaging as applying a permanent hair colour.

[HildeMV]

I've colored my hair blonde before, and colored it darker after. It falls out after a while so I have to recolor it. My oldest hair(ends) is lighter than the rest, but that doesn't look unnatural.

[Leena7]

Well, I have had a lot of experience with hair dye and brown is definitely the easiest color to change to. Your roots do not sound light enough to cause any bad contrast and dye fades quite a bit over time anyways. In fact, you may need to dye your hair brown 2 or 3 times (not right after another, but each time spaced about 2 months apart) for the color to stick to the highlights. Bleached hair likes to bleed through the brown, but that is the only issue I can think of. If you are thinking of going back to the color of your roots, I suggest dying your hair brown first. No matter which brown you choose, the color will fade and I doubt that the contrast between your roots would be very noticeable as your hair grows out. Brown is a good color to dye because the dark color tends to look shiny and visually mask a some damage. I found brown can also bring attentions to different features than blonde hair. Brown makes some people's eyes and skin really pop.