Difference Between Dark Blonde and Light Brown Hair?

[LadyAnnaK]

I was a light blond as a child, became dirty/dishwater blond by mid-teens, but if I was in the sun all summer, it would lighten up a lot. Now, I'm in my 40's and have used foil weave highlights on my hair since I was 16. My last hairdresser told me my hair was naturally a very dark ash blond, but really close to being light ash brown. My nephew in law is from Norway and very blond, I had to laugh, because even with blond highlights in my hair when I said my hair was blond in front of him, he said, "Where?" lol so I guess to a Norwegian, I'm not blond at all! I have dyed my whole head of hair only twice before in my life. But bought Loreal Les Blondissimes LB02 Extra light natural blond yesterday and plan on putting it on my hair today. I would prefer to continue w/ foil weaved highlights but I can't afford it and just recently, I noticed a bit more gray showing. So, I have 2 choices, get the foil weave highlights (which does a great job at blending in any gray I have and my hair lightens quickly) and touch ups on regular basis (not in my budget these days!) or dye my whole head of hair. I'm going to give this Les Blondissimes a try. I have old blond highlights still there from a year ago (my hair is very wavy, but if you pull it down straight, my hair reaches half way down my behind. I'm thinking the highlights and gray I have will lighten up much better than the rest of my hair. I'm a bit afraid to try this, usually box hair color doesn't lighten my hair enough it it has too much redish strawberry blond instead of golden blond. My hair is ash ie..drab/cool not warm, so strawberrry blond does NOT look good with my skin tone and root growth looks gray compared to the color I usually get Here's hoping this product will work better than my experiences in the past. It's been 14 years since I dyed my whole head of hair, maybe they have improved the products on the market ?

[Luna Lavender]

My hair is getting darker over the years, but it'll be blond forever. Period.
One more reason to love summer.

[Lianna]

Light brown is a lot darker, most people think dark blonde is light brown though. If you take a look at the picture at some dye boxes you can see clearly. Light brown is number 5, while dark blonde is 6. Usually people just think blonde is lighter than level 7 blonde.

I know the pictures vary a lot from brand to brand, and maybe some hair samples too? That I'm not sure. But still helps, it's a whole shade from one to another after all.

Maybe some people think the ashy tones are darker, like dark ash blonde they think is light brown.

[May]

I think it has to do with undertone meaning dark blonde hair has yellow undertones and light brown hair has orange undertones no matter how light or how dark.

I know it can be terribly difficult to determine which one is which and I'm sure there are cases where it's imperceptible but for the most part I think if you had blonde hair as a child you should call yourself dark blonde and if you had brunette hair as a child you get to call yourself a brunette.

*ETA* I also believe that dark blond hair will get natural highlights in the summer if you're out in the sun and light brunette hair will get more of a copper highlight if left out in the sun

Not the best examples but it was all I could find online. I call these dark blonde




I call these light brown




And here is a level system to see the gradient

[Lianna]

The first two pics, according to the hair dye levels were medium blonde to me...level 7. And the lightlighted ends were even lighter than that. And the third pic was dark blonde with light brown roots. The dark parts on the last were light brown.

Most of the world thinks dark blonde is light brown. I supose people can only be blonde if it is somewhat yellow. (the world thinks)

[ikke1978]

Dark blonde has less red pigment in it. Light brown has more red in it (even if you don't see it)

[Lianna]

Dark blonde has less red pigment in it. Light brown has more red in it (even if you don't see it)

What a good way to put it. Dark ash blonde has very little pigment, just looks darker because is ashy.

[Roscata]

I found this in one of my searches:

on http://www.helpinghair.info/
I hope the colors are clear enough.

[MsBubbles]

Gosh, Roscata, by that chart my hair is between lightest and light blonde!! At least it is on my computer monitor. I wonder if there is such a thing as a Pantone book of hair color standards to offset these inconsistencies.

[Lianna]

The chart doesn't show things like tones, warm or cool. I'm none of those colors. It looks very dark too. Sometimes the sample hair in the dye brands "book" show really well.

I found this online:
http://img.diytrade.com/cdimg/836753...olor_chart.jpg

You can see these in real life though.

Also: http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/herba...air-colors.gif

You seem medium ash blonde, Ms Bubbles.
I know it's just hair dyes, my hair is that dark ash blonde, exactly.