I Need Major Advice...How To Fix My Color Mess???

[SunshineHair]

Let me start by saying, I must color my hair, and I cannot dye it all black to blend the color's together because I do NOT pull off black. It is too harsh for my face, lighter/red always works best for me!

Having said that....

My roots are a dark brown w/ lots of silver...An inch from that is the light brown color I have been using from Garnier Nutrisse Color (http://www.google.com/aclk?sa=L&ai=CWxKv-qBLS-jcL5WwtQPhyL3mDszdhI0Bgom2vg754ZBcCAAQAVDCl6qK____ __8BYMmGvI30pNAZyAEBqgQZT9A2l2MAu83BUSz9DFLt2isc8B gKEytDSw&sig=AGiWqtwvUzXg1Mzmu4hbNl-HHuMvNRiTEw&q=http://track.polenord.net/222_redirection.php%3Ftype%3D2%26idc%3D222%26dburl %3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fad.doubleclick.net%252Fclk%2 53B218499898%253B33746519%253Bj%253Fhttp%253A%252F %252Fwww.garnierusa.com%252F_en%252F_us%252Fnutris se_color_story%252Findex.aspx%26part%3D3%26idcamp% 3D95536%26idcat%3D2661%26idk%3D25801420%26s%3DS%26 kc%3D3791633438%26ke%3D) the past year...and that goes to the middle of my back...there down is a reddish brown I bleached then henned almost 2 years ago....The under side of my hair is virgin as I have only been dying the roots on the top of my head with the Garnier to cover grey...

So different areas of my hair have different things done to them! I NEED it all to be as close to one color, and it needs to be a red color! So without melting my hair away what can I do to get it all closer to one color without completely killing it???

I expect some damage, but I need to choose wisly because I want my hair long!!! If anybody has ideas on what to do, and how to prepare my hair, and how to care for it just after let me know!!!! I will be going to a hair stylist in Febuary and I need to know what to tell her!

[Belisarius]

I think lots of pure henna will kinda do what you want. But bare in mind that grey hair becomes somewhat orangy and the other hair will be darker. If that will be visible, i don't know.

[christi.adell]

If you're going to a stylist in February (and she's any good) she'll be able to fix your color problem. I wouldn't do anything to it until then, just be good to it. But don't do any other dyes that she'll have to fix.

[teela1978]

If you want it to be lighter than your natural color, henna won't work in the long run. I'd say that you'll probably have to go with a commercial red dye, and baby your hair a lot.

[Islandgrrl]

Personally, I wouldn't do a darned thing to it until you speak to the stylist if you're sure your going that route.

You should definitely consider both your short- and long-term goals when you discuss your color issues with her/him.

Consider things like whether or not you want to continue chemically coloring your hair or whether you want to go non-chemical and use Henna. Cost may also be a factor.....or not.

You say you like your hair lighter, but your natural color is dark. Henna won't lighten your hair, it will just deposit red into your natural color. Lightening will always involve damage to your hair. It can be done with minimal damage, but from what I understand it's not easy.

If you do continue with chemical color over the long-term, you should be prepared to do lots of nice, babying things to your hair, like SMT, etc, to keep your hair moisturized and minimize the damage.

Good luck!

[SunshineHair]

I called a lady-salon owner and stylist- that a friend told me about and chatted with her, first off she sounded put out and seemed like she was annoyed with what I wanted.

Instead of advocating for my business she said I should just get a friend to dye my hair since I wanted to use the store bought dye I was using already. See I told her I want somebody to cover my roots and virgin hair ( with color I am using now) that is all underneath my dyed top layers. Plus you have to avoid the ends of my hair since thet are already bleached and a color I am ok with. No non hair stylist will be able to dodge chuncks of my hair the way it is right now while making sure to get the virgin hair! I want a professional, I could mess it up on my own if thats what I wanted!!!!

She explained to me she wouldnt use the store bought kind, that it is unethical and if she messed up I could sue her...Ok I understood her view, that isnt the thing that bugged me.

But when I say I dont mind her colors but I cant have a friend do this it was like she just wasnt hearing me...So I am pretty sure I wont be using her, anybody that sounds annoyed wth me will not be touching my hair!

[SunshineHair]

Thank you guys for the input!! I should add, I am not going to use the henna to take my dark hair to a lighter color!

I wanted to add henna after I fix the other issues. I think the henna would light my already dyed hair, but not the virgin. Thats why I want the virgin hair to be the same color as the lighter colord hair...does that make sense??

Heh man this is hard to put into words, if this wasnt my own post I wouldnt even bother to read it:p

[burns_erin]

Sorry you are having such difficulties. All I can suggest is if you are sure going back to henna is not for you, then meet with lots of different salons to find someone who will do what you want. It is your head of hair and to at least a certain extent you deserve to get what you want.

[Islandgrrl]

Thank you guys for the input!! I should add, I am not going to use the henna to take my dark hair to a lighter color!

I wanted to add henna after I fix the other issues. I think the henna would light my already dyed hair, but not the virgin. Thats why I want the virgin hair to be the same color as the lighter colord hair...does that make sense??

Heh man this is hard to put into words, if this wasnt my own post I wouldnt even bother to read it:p

Hmmmm....

See, I think I would go the other way (in fact, I did this a number of years ago...different reason, same result - 2-toned hair!). I would color everything to match my roots and then henna, assuming henna is the way you want to go. You'll have much less upkeep involved as well as no damage to the virgin part of your hair.

But of course, it all depends on what you really want, and only you can decide that!

[SunshineHair]

Islandgrrl Your idea is great, only I cant stand how I look with my original hair color :( I look through my old pics and all the ones where my hair is lighter, they look great but the darker ones dont.

On some people (like me) darker hair is like a beacon that points out everything wrong with you face:rolleyes:

It is a hard decsion, thank you for your advice!!!!

[Islandgrrl]

SunshineHair, I can certainly understand! I think I look much better with lighter hair.

I used to live in Southern California and spent a lot of time outdoors in the sun. My hair was kind of strawberry blonde. I seriously thought that was my natural color. Moved to north Puget Sound. You're pretty much local, you know what the sun is like here....um....hidden! So my hair grew and grew and it was DARK. Scary dark. Lo and behold, I have auburn-ish hair. Who knew? Not I, that's for sure! So I had a colorist dye the length (knee) to match the roots. And I had a WHOLE LOTTA REALLY DARK SCARY HAIR. I wasn't too happy about it, but I adjusted. And it's not as dark as I thought it was!

Whatever you do decide, I wish you the very best in getting your hair to be what you want it to be!

[Oskimosa]

Ok, let me see if I can get this straight:

You have dark colored roots, and multi-toned length that is predominantly lighter than your roots.

You don't want to dye your hair dark to match your roots because you don't feel you can pull off the color.

You do want your hair to end up a medium-to-light red color.

Therefore you want to either
A) Dye your darker roots to match your lighter length before applying henna to ensure all your hair ends up the same red, or
B) Use a commercial dye that will do all that in one step, but worry about containing the damage that will undoubtedly come with it.


There are tips and tricks to minimizing the damage incurred from chemical dyes, but you should know that reds always fade miserably. So, unless you want to dye every 2-4 weeks, you're going to have to henna. If you want your hair lighter, you're going to have to bleach out your roots and then henna. Also, doing a chem dye will still require two steps; or a double process as stylists call it. You will still have a line of demarkation between the various colors.

[Addy]

Remember, if you have a darker dye on your hair length, and try a lighter dye, it will not lift it. It will however give you outrageous root color though. It must be stripped with Color Oops down to where the henna starts.

Color won't lift color. No matter how hard you try.

I'm not sure I'm helping. I do hope you can find someone to do what you want though. I, personally, like your brown hair. :)

[jaine]

I like the brown too.
But I'm biased. :)

[SunshineHair]

Addy Your comment was fine, and thank you :)

Oskimosa I am seriously going to have to think about what I want more, red hair, or long hair because I am not sure if I can pull off both at this time. Thank you for your info!

[Willow]

You can have hair that is long and red. Keep calling around to find a stylist that uses Redken Shades EQ. It's a demi permanent color that will cover gray and causes little to no damage as it is an acid based color that needs heat to process as opposed to regular haircolor that is alkaline and chemically opens the hair shaft. Shades EQ will not lighten your hair though. You will need to stay at the same level but it will change the tone to red and it lasts 6 weeks or so. I'm a stylist and if you were anywhere around me, I would do it for you!

Jennifer