Help!...getting rid of brassy hair??

[sputnik]

A few weeks ago I dyed my hair (Clairol Perfect 10...NOT recommended, though at least I have no damage). All the hair dye seemed to do is add brassy tones to my hair (I was trying to lighten it a shade or two, from medium/light brown to light brown/dark blonde). It isn't a horrible color... just looks auburn, but I am not really into it. Is there any non-damaging way to eliminate the reddish tones? & even better is there a way to get the color I want? (I had it once upon a time and it suits my skin tone better than my current shade)

This is close to the color it is now (not quite as auburn, I can't find an exact match) :http://vitanetonline.com/images/products/65.jpg

this is what I want!:http://vodianova.net/gallery/index.p...n&image=01.jpg
an other: http://pics.drugstore.com/prodimg/152822/200.jpg

[Euphony]

Have you checked out the information on Henna for Hair? There's all sorts of ways you can color your hair naturally to get different colors/shades.

[sputnik]

Thanks for the suggestion .
However henna is going to make my hair red, and other options such as Indigo are going to make it darker. I don't want either of those things. I have tried the honey thing to make it lighter, but that did nothing for me. (well it did strip out old dye to a point, but nothing on virgin hair). There may still be a natural option to give me the color I want or at least get rid of this funky brassyness, but I am also quite willing to try less 'natural' options if they will do what I want, which is why I posted it here. If it belongs somewhere else however I'd be happy to move it.

[waidz]

To get that brond color (blondish and brown) you could try the honey treatment (there is a thread somewhere on LHC) which might tone the red and introduce more blonde (first choice for me) - or go to a salon to do it for you rather than try it at home. Your hair would however take some strain from the salon - so you'd have to baby your hair before and after before you re-dye it.
Honestly, many might say use henna, but you aren't going to get those blonde hilights with henna alone unless you're already blonde.

Many will also say don't go to a salon - but ultimately it's your hair and your decision, what's the point of having long hair if you're not happy with it ? Many LHC'ers dye their hair and maintain great condition by taking care of it, no reason why you can't.

Good luck

[QueenBea]

I wish I had a great suggestion to "fix" it. All I know is that after 20+ years of coloring and starting with nice colors that always faded to brassy, I stopped coloring last summer. It really stinks to have a "dividing line" but I"m realizing my natural hair color isn't all that bad.

Oh, there is a product you can buy at Sally's though--it will still fade out after 4-6 weeks and leave you brassy--but there is something Clairol makes called "toner", comes in shades of blue or lavendar. You mix it with the 20 Developer and put it on your hair for just 5 or 10 minutes, after you've colored your hair, and the blue tones really help to cancel out the brassy.

Here's a little info about the product:
http://www.thecreativestudio.com/mai...faq/faq_toners
http://www.sallybeauty.com/Creme+Ton...efault,pd.html

I used it a lot when I was highlighting last year; I just got put out with how much work it was all becoming and quit messing with it---- I also used it after dying my hair shades of medium and light brown, just to tone--even though I was using "champagne beige" shades of toner, it doesn't COLOR your hair that color; it just adds appropriate blue or purple tones IF you were doing a double process blonde.

QueenBea

[Jeni]

Not much help with getting rid of brassy hair, but a suggestion if you dye your hair again. Not sure what color you dyed, but I have found any hair color that says "warm" gives me brassy hair. Even a "neutral" dye can turn my hair brassy. When I dye my hair I use "cool" tones, usually ash blond. My hair doesn't turn very ash blond, kind of in the middle of ash and neutral. Now if you did use a "cool" tone, or have never had this problem before, just ignore what I have said and pick a different hair dye.

Jeni

[sputnik]

thanks for the suggestions!

Queen Bee- I might try that toner... they seem to mainly for really light blonde shades, do you think they would be ok for darker?

Jeni- actually that is really good advice, I usually try to do that (my hair responds like yours to dye) but I got suckered by the color of hair on the box.

[wintersun99]

There are shampoo and conditioner's that are formulated for silver and blonde hair, meant to remove brassy tones - would something like that work?

[iris]

I also think a toner would be your best bet. They should come in different shades - green to counter red tones, blue to counter orange, and lavender/purple to counter yellow tones. I'd think you need the green or the blue, but the best thing to do would be to ask someone in the store who knows what they're talking about, and who can look at your hair directly.

The lavender toners are mostly used for lighter hair (so are the lavender shampoos). Hair goes red -> orange -> yellow as it's lightened (the natural pigment that counters the red/yellow in your natural color, is more flimsy than the red/yellow pigment). In light hair, all that needs to be canceled is yellow, so lavender is the color to use on light hair.

What an ashy box color should do, is add blue/purple/green pigments back into the hair to cancel out those red/yellow tones. Since it didn't, a toner is now the way to get those pigments back in.

Iris

[Jeni]

I have tried the L'Oreal Natural Match, hated it. My hair was the brassiest it had every been. If it had been more red I would of been OK (strawberry blond), instead it was more yellowy/orange- not attractive at all. YMMV of course.

Jeni