Help, color diaster!

[skydancer7]

Hello all!!

It's been a while since I've posted, missed you all!

SO I've really done it now... I messed up my color pretty badly salon says they can fit me in at 2pm and it will "take all day"... but I'm wondering if anyone has tips to avoid this expensive trip.

Background: light ash brown with highlights. I was tired of the highlights and wanted to try a bit of a darker, chocolatey brown. Bought Clairol semi-permanent boxed dye in medium ash brown and it turned out TOO ashy; almost gray/blue in certain lighting. So then I went to Sally's and got Ion Color Brilliance permanent in medium golden brown, with some 20 developer. It turned out VERY dark brown, too dark. Sooooo then I went to the interwebz and saw that a wash with crushed vitamin C might help lighten it. It did, but it also left and orange cast, just like henna would.... oh sh*t.... so THENNNN I thought what the heck, I'm already in a mess here, let's try some Ultra Violet Manic Panic mixed in conditioner as a toner, to tone down the orange. It sort of worked, and now my hair is a very dark auburn. It doesn't look bad, but it still has too much warmth for my skin tone, and is still too dark.

I called my regular hair dresser and she is booked the next 2 days but suggested I wash with Dawn dish soap. Should I give this a try? Or leave my hair alone since it's been so stressed already, and save some scalp/hair oils for the salon visit today?

Here's my natural color with some highlights, then the dark color it has become (just woke up, skin usually has some redness... maybe if I wear makeup the dark color could work...)

[Prism]

Hello all!!

It's been a while since I've posted, missed you all!

SO I've really done it now... I messed up my color pretty badly salon says they can fit me in at 2pm and it will "take all day"... but I'm wondering if anyone has tips to avoid this expensive trip.

Background: light ash brown with highlights. I was tired of the highlights and wanted to try a bit of a darker, chocolatey brown. Bought Clairol semi-permanent boxed dye in medium ash brown and it turned out TOO ashy; almost gray/blue in certain lighting. So then I went to Sally's and got Ion Color Brilliance permanent in medium golden brown, with some 20 developer. It turned out VERY dark brown, too dark. Sooooo then I went to the interwebz and saw that a wash with crushed vitamin C might help lighten it. It did, but it also left and orange cast, just like henna would.... oh sh*t.... so THENNNN I thought what the heck, I'm already in a mess here, let's try some Ultra Violet Manic Panic mixed in conditioner as a toner, to tone down the orange. It sort of worked, and now my hair is a very dark auburn. It doesn't look bad, but it still has too much warmth for my skin tone, and is still too dark.

I called my regular hair dresser and she is booked the next 2 days but suggested I wash with Dawn dish soap. Should I give this a try? Or leave my hair alone since it's been so stressed already, and save some scalp/hair oils for the salon visit today?

Here's my natural color with some highlights, then the dark color it has become (just woke up, skin usually has some redness... maybe if I wear makeup the dark color could work...)https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui...sz=w1814-h1352

I'm so sorry you're having a hair color disaster--been there! Personally, I would not try to color it again. I would also make sure I was going to someone with lots of experience with trying to fix brassiness. I went to just a regular color stylist when I had auburn hair that had become too brassy, and she stripped out the auburn, leaving me with bright orange hair. I had to go through a second coloring to try to fix the damage, and it was very painful (burning of the scalp). You really need someone who is experienced, IMO. ((hugs!))

[pastina]

I can't see your pictures, so here's what i can say for sure.

Dawn will likely fade the ultraviolet, which might lighten up your color but will for sure make the orange tones stronger. It won't hurt to try this. You'll need to condition well afterward. TBH, I prefer head and shoulders and warm mermaid soaks for my fading.

From the sounds of it, I'm guessing your best plan of action is to try color oops and a few nice, long mermaid soaks so you can really assess what you've got going on. I'm thinking you'll still end up brassier than you want, but I'd bet you'd only accumulate damage and a huge bill by going to a salon.

[skydancer7]

Thanks, I will try mermaid soak. Ugh, I get so mad at myself sometimes!! I get impulsive in certain moods...

[papayatree]

I can't see your pictures, so here's what i can say for sure.

Dawn will likely fade the ultraviolet, which might lighten up your color but will for sure make the orange tones stronger. It won't hurt to try this. You'll need to condition well afterward. TBH, I prefer head and shoulders and warm mermaid soaks for my fading.

From the sounds of it, I'm guessing your best plan of action is to try color oops and a few nice, long mermaid soaks so you can really assess what you've got going on. I'm thinking you'll still end up brassier than you want, but I'd bet you'd only accumulate damage and a huge bill by going to a salon.

I agree. I have no experience with hair dyes, but I would try to be as gentle, and as safe as you can, and whatever you do, make sure it won't cause major hair damage.

[_fred_]

Seconding Pastina - you'll need to try to force fade the Direct dyes, and use a colour remover to get rid of the unwanted box dye. If you've not used colour remover before, make sure you have a very very good supply of hot water before you start - the long hot rinsing is absolutely essential.

In my experience, clarifying shampoo works just as well as dish soap/washing up liquid for helping force fade colour (that said, I'm in the UK, and although the Internet says that Dawn is basically Fairy, they may well be very different!)

I'd strongly recommend against putting any bleach or developer on it (for at least a month, if not longer). It can take a while to force fade dyes, and it's worth giving your hair a break and a ton of moisture after force fading and especially after a colour remover.

I can't see any images, except the one in your sig, so it's hard to tell what step you need to take next. Could you post a pic? And exactly what colour do you hope to end up?

[pastina]

^^Yeah, I'm pretty sure that Dawn and Fairy are similar. But I totally agree-- clarifying shampoo works just as well, and it's less harsh than dishwashing soap. I stick to either clarifying or dandruff shampoo. And hot water!

[meteor]

Clarifying shampoo really helps, and really try shampooing in hotter/warmer water rather than just lukewarm, keeping that shampoo on hair for a good long time - try saran-wrapping your head (to trap the heat) for 10-30 min, if you can stand it. Massaging that clarifying shampoo into strands, sort of helping it emulsify will really help, as well. It's not very hair-friendly though, so only do this if necessary. Giving it time to fade is still safer.

[meteor]

^ Oh, and I should have specified that the clarifying option is for your temporary, deposit-only dye (in this case - Manic Panic).

If you want to remove color from your demi-permanents, as well, (in this case - Ion Color Brilliance and Clariol) that used developer, you could later try Color B4/Color Oops - though they can be ultra-drying for many people and can easily take a few sessions (especially for darker dyes). Some people do report some dye removal even from direct dyes from Color B4/Color Oops, thought that's not what that product is meant to do - it's meant to work with dyes that use developer. Just don't use color strippers, which use developer, if you can avoid it.

There is still going to be some brassiness likely left after the dyes are removed because peroxide still lifted your natural color somewhat, but you can start from that "cleaner" baseline to color-correct it minimalistically with highlights/lowlights or whatever you wanted to do. It's usually best practice to first fade/remove the old dyes before going for new color, just to avoid the risk of muddiness, patchiness and any surprises from that old color buildup.

[lapushka]

If you are still in this impulsive mood, cancel your appointment with the hair dresser, because I'm sure whatever they do, you'll try and fix it in the end - again. You will always find something in a color that isn't just right when you're like this (ask me how I know). I'd listen to the suggestions already given (dawn, color oops, etc.) and try and live with it for a while to cool that impulsiveness first before attempting to go to the hairdresser (let me guess appointment also made in impulsive mood).