HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well first I would like to say hello to everyone. This is my first time on the boards. I have a problem. My natural haircolor is a golden brownish blonde. I have colored my hair red for many years now. I decided to go back to a golden brown with blonde highlights, the Jennifer Aniston color. I went to a color specialist and she said "NO" because she would have to strip my hair several times. My hair is waist length and I don't want alot of damage. So, I decided to let the natural color just grow out so I put on a semi-permanent brown color to keep my roots covered up until it grows out. Well, the semi-permanent color stuck and hasn't washed out in the 28 shampoo's that it is supposed to. It hasn't washed out in over 40 shampoo's, not to mention instead of brown hair, I now have jet black hair!!!! So, I called my regular hairdresser and she said that what we could do is take it slowly. She has a mild stripping agent that she said shouldn't harm my hair very much. I'm willing to put in the time. She wants me to start using the Redken Extreme line to start strengthening my hair before we start, then we'll strip it a little at a time, go to a brown, then to a golden color and do highlighting last. She said it would take several months to do in order to keep my hair in decent shape. Does anyone else have any suggestions on what else I could use along with the Redken to strenghten my hair and keep it from breaking? What kinds of brushes and curling irons are best too? I want to be back to my normal hair color. I'm tired of red and I certainly didn't expect to ever have black hair. I know I will have to lose some of my length for a while but I don't mind. I'll take Nioxin vitamins and those vitamins really make my hair grow. Any suggestions are welcome. You can even email me if you'd like at cosmeticdiva@comcast.net.