Hair color ??? to get back to natural

[Florida Mom]

Hi ladies.... I'm still new here and have a question, if you don't mind. For the past 3 months I've been lightening my very dark brown hair... single process permanent color. I want to get it back to natural now (wish I never colored it :(). But I do want to dye it back to dark brown to match; I cannot/will not leave it to grow out..... any advice as what to use to do the least amount of damage? THANK YOU!

[Anje]

Honestly, your best bet is probably to let the roots grow out a little and find a good professional colorist (as in, all he/she does is color) who can then match your roots for you. Ask for a corrective color, make sure you have a consultation with them first.

If you're lucky, you've got friends who sent through this process while in the same town and can tell you about someone good or warn you away from the bad ones.

[Islandgrrl]

I think Anje gives you some really good advice here.

I did this myself a number of years ago (I'm a redhead - talk about difficult to match) and was totally satisfied with my finished results, even though it was startling at first (I went from strawberry to my natural medium auburn on classic length hair at the time). I asked around for recommendations for someone who was a color genius, and ended up with someone who really listened to what I wanted and did exactly that (and he didn't even want to cut my hair).

[Dark Rosaleen]

I agree with the others, go to someone who specializes in hair color. I've done this to match my natural roots and it worked out well.