Help! I've turned myself ginger!

codemonkey

Argh. My natural hair colour is a mousy brown, but I have been dying it since I was 15. After years of dying it bright red, a couple of years ago I bleached it and gradually worked on the colour til it was a sort of dark strawberry blonde (colour on the box said ash blonde but it was still quite red). So a few months ago I got bored and decided to dye it bright post box red. I loved this but my hair is rapidly going grey and the grey roots were so obvious a week after colouring.

So I bought and used colour b4 to strip out the red and although it has done it really well, I am now ginger with blonde roots.

What do I do now? I've got a box of ash blonde. Will this work or will I need to bleach and use a toner to get rid of the ginger?

PollyOnAMission

Personally I'd go to a hairdresser for the initial dye job (especially if stripping is involved), then maintain it myself at home. This is what I did when I went from bleached highlights to dark brown, to make sure the colour transition went smoothly.

It costs more of course, but for that first initial colour change I definitely think it's worth it! Especially if you can then easily maintain it at home.

codemonkey

Bit late now as I've already used the colour remover. I agree I should have gone to the hairdresser but I thought I'd try this, especially as a hairdresser recommended it to a friend. Tbh, it doesn't look that bad when its fully dry aside from being a teensy bit pink but I think I'll bang the dye I have on top of it and see what happens. Wish me luck.

missindecisive

good luck. remember red is better than green! let us know how you get on!

littlerat

When I was here, I bleached to a light enough colour then used my ash blonde. Depending how light you want the final result, some shade of yellow should be where you need to get to. Do not bleach your roots further though, only the ginger area until it's light enough to dye over.

I've done this twice. Have extra bleach in just in case, my hair is very resiliant to bleach so can take more than the stated times etc, often requires 2 goes. Better than having to run out for more with funny coloured hair

codemonkey

Wish I'd seen this before I did it. I now have very blonde roots and the rest is ginger. Its like an ombre kit in reverse. May wear my hair up for a few days to let my scalp recover cause its a bit ouchy then do the ginger bits again.

Wish I'd never gone red again. If any of you ever see me near red dye again, you have my permission to rap my knuckles.

littlerat

Haha, but red is awesome (says she who may be ever so slightly biased right now... went back from blonde to red 2 weeks ago!).

Colour b4 is still a good idea though as otherwise you're bleaching dye, whereas at least that removes some without further damage, lessening the amount of damage you're doing.

They also do a "b4 you colour", a milder shampoo stripper that removes build up, found it good to use before bleaching/dying majorly as the hair is stripped as clean as possible. Makes it feel horrid (mostly as it removes that sillicone coating most women have!) but really helps dying work better or colour take.


It's ok though - trial and error is how I've learnt, next time just bleach the ginger - actually barring the top cm or 2 depending how close it is to your roots, as the root heat makes bleach take quicker.

I did once think about using a hairdresser, then realised as my hair isn't easily killed I can do a lot for the money a hairdresser charges!

mishkanorman

superdrug do a wash in wash out colour in little bottles, the ash blonde one is amazing as a toner. last time round i popped it on before bed and left it on over night and come morning washed it off to a nice ash blonde. Best of all its only 98p :money:

codemonkey

Good to know. Cant decide if through remaining gingerness is bsassy or staining from the red dye though but this is worth a go. Thankfully its hat weather.

flissh

I used colourb4 a few months ago, second time I've ever used it. I had dyed my hair just a bit too dark. Had used medium brown and it came out really dark brown. Nice but I'm aware as I get older it looks too dark.

Any way put on colourb4 and got lightish ginger result. Was a real shock. (I've always been darkish brown) Had light roots as well where the grey had had less dye so I suppose it lifted easily there.

I then put on a light brown and was really happy with the results. I waited as long as I could before putting on another light brown, good inch of grey root:eek: as I'm really wary of getting dark build up on the ends.

littlerat

flissh wrote: »

I used colourb4 a few months ago, second time I've ever used it. I had dyed my hair just a bit too dark. Had used medium brown and it came out really dark brown. Nice but I'm aware as I get older it looks too dark.

Any way put on colourb4 and got lightish ginger result. Was a real shock. (I've always been darkish brown) Had light roots as well where the grey had had less dye so I suppose it lifted easily there.

I then put on a light brown and was really happy with the results. I waited as long as I could before putting on another light brown, good inch of grey root:eek: as I'm really wary of getting dark build up on the ends.

It really does strip colour doesn't it!

To stop build up you could use a clarifying shampoo (either something like B4 you colour, or any shampoo that's supposed to clarify/remove build up) or other techniques (washing up liquid apparently works) to remove excess colour from the lengths before each time you dye it. For most you're supposed to apply to washed but not conditioned hair anyway.


Worth noting though, heat can cause dye to permanently stain hair so if you heat style the above won't work as well (there's even some warning about it with Colour b4).



codemonkey, - probably a bit of both - red dyes to tend to stain the hair and therefore need bleaching to remove like natural colour would.