So... Who wants to help me out of my hair nightmare/disaster? (PIC HEAVY)

**millyaulait** · January 9th, 2014, 02:41 PM

So, in an attempt to rid myself of years of black hair dye, I took a risk and ordered some dye remover. No peroxide involved. My hair feels fine, if a bit dry, but well..... Lets take a look at the photos and see what happened!

Basically my roots are natural bronde, then it gets a bit... uh.... orange, then red and darker red, almost blackened red. It's so..... uneven.

Roots:

Roots with flash:

Length:

Length with flash:

I'm really not sure what to do with it. Do I bleach (ugh) the darkest parts up to an orangey colour, then apply a dye? I'm aiming for chocolate brown, and I know that if I just go ahead and apply it right now it will be SO patchy and strange looking, especially at the top, so I want to sort of this 'base' colour first, because it's so horrendous. I also don't know why it looks SO drastically different with and without flash? \:

Any ideas/tips/help on how to fix this a bit?

**meteor** · January 9th, 2014, 03:02 PM

For colour-correcting work, I always recommend going to a professional with specific photos of what you want to achieve. You don't want to put your hair through various risky trials before finally settling on the colour you wanted. Just make sure you prep your hair with a thorough coconut oiling to protect it before a having it dyed.

**millyaulait** · January 9th, 2014, 03:14 PM

Originally Posted by meteor

For colour-correcting work, I always recommend going to a professional with specific photos of what you want to achieve. You don't want to put your hair through various risky trials before finally settling on the colour you wanted. Just make sure you prep your hair with a thorough coconut oiling to protect it before a having it dyed.

Sensible advice. I really want to fix it myself though, hahah.

**Lyv** · January 9th, 2014, 03:26 PM

When I pulled the black out of mine I used a color remover, then I did a vitamin c treatment once all over and then 2 more times on the darker length/ends and then I used a purple shampoo to help with the orange I got after pulling the dye out. I did put a dye over top after that but I gave it about a week in between. I went from black to light still slightly reddish brown and dyed it to a shade or two lighter than my signature.

**millyaulait** · January 9th, 2014, 03:36 PM

Originally Posted by Lyv

When I pulled the black out of mine I used a color remover, then I did a vitamin c treatment once all over and then 2 more times on the darker length/ends and then I used a purple shampoo to help with the orange I got after pulling the dye out. I did put a dye over top after that but I gave it about a week in between. I went from black to light still slightly reddish brown and dyed it to a brown pretty similar to my color in my signature.

Ooh, interesting! Hmm.. I am not sure if I would ever be able to get my hair to match up to my roots/upper hair area without bleach. I have lightened with honey and vit c before but it only lifted about 1 level even after repeated attempts.

Maybe I could embrace the red and cover it with a red veggie dye? I think maybe the roots/upper would be way brighter still though.... Blargh...

Maybe dying my roots with a brown to darken them to the midlength colour would be better than trying to lighten everything else up, then just going over everything with the same brown? I am not sure.

**blue_eyes** · January 9th, 2014, 03:43 PM

I've been in your position 3 times as I tried to go from black to blonde, and every time I'd end up with a red/orange/brown patchy disaster (even when I had it professionally done). The last attempt resulted in my hair breaking in huge chunks and I swore I'd never do this again. I ended up getting a very dark brown dye and dyeing my hair all over again. After a few weeks, when some spots faded and got patchy, I dyed it again. I'm terrified from damaging it more (since I had so much breakage, I didn't know how much more my hair could take and I didn't want to risk it) so now I'm babying it and just letting it grow out.

I really don't know how to eradicate years of black dye (which is what I had), and even the professional colorists couldn't really help me. It was always, always so patchy. My hair is now a nice warm brown color, but I won't be touching it again until I grow out all dye. I don't know if this helps you at all, I hope you can find a way to achieve the color you want without having to wait years to grow it all out. That's just what happened to me

**millyaulait** · January 9th, 2014, 03:55 PM

Originally Posted by blue_eyes

I've been in your position 3 times as I tried to go from black to blonde, and every time I'd end up with a red/orange/brown patchy disaster (even when I had it professionally done). The last attempt resulted in my hair breaking in huge chunks and I swore I'd never do this again. I ended up getting a very dark brown dye and dyeing my hair all over again. After a few weeks, when some spots faded and got patchy, I dyed it again. I'm terrified from damaging it more (since I had so much breakage, I didn't know how much more my hair could take and I didn't want to risk it) so now I'm babying it and just letting it grow out.

I really don't know how to eradicate years of black dye (which is what I had), and even the professional colorists couldn't really help me. It was always, always so patchy. My hair is now a nice warm brown color, but I won't be touching it again until I grow out all dye. I don't know if this helps you at all, I hope you can find a way to achieve the color you want without having to wait years to grow it all out. That's just what happened to me

Aw, I'm sorry that happened to you!

I guess it's a pretty tricky thing to do, I would love warm brown.

**TrapperCreekD** · January 9th, 2014, 04:29 PM

Probably not what you want to hear, but based off the photos(may look worse in person) I actually think it looks pretty.

**OurAtronach** · January 9th, 2014, 04:41 PM

Originally Posted by TrapperCreekD

Probably not what you want to hear, but based off the photos(may look worse in person) I actually think it looks pretty.

I agree

**millyaulait** · January 9th, 2014, 04:49 PM

Originally Posted by OurAtronach

I agree

Originally Posted by TrapperCreekD

Probably not what you want to hear, but based off the photos(may look worse in person) I actually think it looks pretty.

Aw, thank you.

Honestly, I think I would like it if it was just one colour all the way down, like if my roots weren't so terrible. I like the colour I see in the flash pics, but it's more muted in real life.