Those that dye your own hair...
 

did it come out the color you wanted???...The darn commercials make it look like you just go in , buy any color you want to be &... taaddaa!!... you are now magically transformed...I do know it has a huge impact w/ the color your starting with...a girl w/ deep brown can't buy a blond box & expect to go blonde...I have dark blonde or as some call it, mousy brown & would like to lighten up a couple shades w/o going strawberry blonde...any tips...

Hair advice
 

I have been highlighting and low-lighting my own hair for years as well as my sisters and moms. I also have mousy looking dark blonde natural hair. If youare worried about getting strawberry blonde hair, do you have reddish undertones? I would tell you to go to Sally Beauty supply as opposed to getting box color from Target. If you want do all over color, you can find a sample of hair in the color you want and then speak with someone at Sally Beauty about what to buy to achieve this look. you also have to probably use permanent hair color , not semi-permenant since you want to "lift" your hair (i.e. make it lighter). Semi-permanant hair color is usually "deposit only" meaning you can only use it to darken your hair color. The line of permanent hair color I like at Sally's is called Ion color brilliance hair color. I would stick with the neutral shades. in fact, go to the website and you can look at color swatches. Good luck!!

I'm not quite sure on how to tell what "undertones" I have....I hear the term ash & am not sure what that means either...Thanks for the info on Sally's...I wonder what training they have in hair color...

My natural hair colour was a medium to dark brown, I've been dying it blonde for the past 8+ years and it always came out how I wanted it. I just used to look on the box and then pick one a few shades lighter than what I wanted. Our boxes have a colour chart on the side that shows you what colour your hair will be based on your natural colour. I've always used boxed dyes and got either my mum or friend to do it for me, never had a problem. I've been had purple streaks, dark purple, put over my blonde, that was always boxed and I've recently dyed it back to a few shades darker than my natural colour, also from a box and that turned out fine despite being told I'd have to have the peroxide stripped from my hair before darkening it.

When I dyed mine blonde it came out how I wanted and never got a reddish tint to it.

Gypsy& Me...wow...you where able to go blonde from brown..that's amazing...years ago I picked up a box of med. blonde & I turned red...that's why I'm afraid to do it again, but I would if I was confident it would work, I don't know what I did wrong before. :rolleyes:

Yup, I was worried, but just did it anyway, figured I could always dye it again! I was told it would go red but it didn't, I was told when I put purple streaks it they would go red, nope... when I said I was dying it back dark they said it wouldn't hold and fade and it'd be a red colour, nope, it's the dark brown and very rich colour!

Try getting one that's really light and try that, I just went for ones that were lighter than I wanted it to be and got the perfect colour every time.

When I used to dye my hair I always used an ash brown. The ash prevents the red so many of us get.

Ooohhh, so i want some ash...good to know...I'll keep that in mind

no red = ash

i go into my local beauty store and buy all my stuff and i stay away from the boxes at the walmart and stuff they said that stuff has way to much developer and it can dry your hair out but for me thats bad cause once mine starts going dry its hard to maintain and bring it back to life.

but anyway i go into there and they ahve this shade thing and you match your natural hair to it and it will give you what range you are in

and for those that are hair salonists im sorry if i call it wrong but it like a range like im a 5 so i look for colors that have like a 5 in the and then the color number like 5ag or somehting like that, and they can guidline you cause like i wanted to go to like a color and it was like 2a and she was like oh you shouldnt you need to stay within 2 digits of your hair color now, and then go light and then when that settles and your hair is treated then go lighter cause i wanted to go platinum blonde but i wanted it to look nice i didnt want yellow or tacky looking hair and so i went in and she was like oh no i wouldnt advise it cause you will turn yellow so i went like a light blonde or more like a medium blonde and then im ready to go light er now so that way i can gradually lighten up instead of going crazy and yes those boxes lie in the stores

they dont tell you like it is they tell you oh yeah if you have black hair you can use this and your color will look like this and its not always true and i even have to use different level developers on different people
like my mom has red hair and she likes to cover it up her roots and you would think that since shes red i could use a 20 or 30 and she would be ok cause she is red but nope i actually have to use 40 level on her just so she can pick up the color

so everyones hair is different and so i would suggest going to an actual beauty store like sally beauty supply
we have them here but i dont know about where you are from but its about the same i mean the first trip i spent a little more but i bought the developers and the littel bottles and the gloves and the bowls and combs and dye but once you have your stock you just need the dye from then out

well i hope my rant helps

If you dye it blonder, it will go red because that's what your own highlights are picking up from the dye. When you highlight and lowlight it, you bleach strips
of your hair, which is removing the color.

I would take the Sally's route. They always know what to tell you.

I dye my own hair and it is naturally dark blonde. I dye my hair darker though. I dont recommend trying to go from dark-blonde to lighter blonde without professional help though. IT can end up yellow or orange and damaged.

I use a temporary color that washes out in about 28 shampoos but my hair is porous so it stays in a while longer. I use Clairol Natural Instincts...it gradually fades away. I have naturally medium brown with redish/blondish highlights but now...it's mostly gray/silver/white highlights...so if I use a light brown or dark blonde it works perfect and when it grows out you don't have that 'streak' of roots and the added color to the gray makes it look like you've had highlights done.

Wow you Guys!.... You've given some helpful advise...it seems unanimous to go to Sally's but I have to work up the nerve to do a home job...I have highlights in now but there growing out so I'm a little unsure on how even it will take the dye....thanks everyone!

the ash brown always gave my hair a greenish tint.

Ok, I guess I'll hop in here:D I am a hair stylist and I'll tell you that color is the hardest skill to master! I'll try to make this short and sweet with out being to technical. Here goes.... Hair color is just like they taught you in art class primary colors, secondary colors, and so on... If you have no idea what you are doing then you can not go and grab a box of color off of the shelf and expect it to turn out exactly as you planned. There is a lot of information on the box about the color itself that is confusing to people who don't know. Like another poster was saying, there is a number and a letter or 2 on every box. The number is the level the color is 1-12 (1 being the darkest and 12 being the lightest) You have to know your own level in order to choose the right color you are trying to go. Most box colors come with a 20 developer which will lift the hair up to 2 shades. So if you are a level 5 which is a medium brown and you grab a box from the store with a 9NB on it, your hair will be darker than expected because you wanted to lift 4 shades and you are working with a devloper that will only lift 2 shades. Next is the letter which is most important....it is the actual color, A is ash, G is gold, B is brown or blonde, N is neutral, R is red, ......and so on (too many to list)....you want to choose one that compliments your natural color. (going back to the color wheel) If you pull red or have red undertones then you should use an ash color...ash is green and green cancels out red. If your hair doesn't pull red, and you use an ash color then your hair will be green. G is gold and if you don't want a orangish gold tint to your hair than stay away from it.....and so on. Semi-permanent color will not lighten your hair, only permanent color will. Therefore semi-permanent is less damaging but it doesn't cover grey. So if you're looking for grey coverage then permanent color is what you want. Also you can not go by the color you see on the box or the color swatch they have on the shelf. If you look in the fine print, it says that the color shown or the swatch was dyed on white hair which has no undertones and will come out that exact color. So unless you have white hair, you can't go by the swatch. If you have really dark hair then you should pre lighten your hair first. All of this is confusing and should really be left to the professionals. Coloring your hair at home and messing it up, then going to a salon to have it fixed can cost mega bucks! Most places corrective color starts at $85 and goes way up. I know many people color their own hair and have much success but some of us aren't so lucky. If you insist on coloring your own hair then please do as the directions say and do a strand test first! Then you will know exactly what color your whole head will turn out:) Sorry this is so long! Hope I helped. If you have any more ?'s please ask!