Highlighting Help Please!

Drazen wrote: Hi, I naturally have medium-dark, wavy, hair that is in long layers a few inches past my shoulders.  The current color of my hair is brassy b/c I tried highlighting it.  I have been highlighting it for years and am usually happy with the way the highlights looks, but never the color.  I recently tried a Loreal product that is made specifically for darker hair, and although it was beter than the previous Loreal product I used, the HLs were not light enough and again, are too brassy.  In the past I have corrected this by coloring over the HLs with anywhere from dark ash to light ash blond.  Howver, I want to stop coloring and just hL.  My goal is to have nice white (ish) HLs inn my naturally brown hair.  I have come to the realization that drug store products are not strong enough.  I looked on Sally's website and saw numerous products, and solutions or varying strengths.  I also looked into toners.  My questions are: 1.  What would be the best products to use to get the look I want? To lighten previously colored hair the only way to do that is by bleaching the hair. Putting artifical color over previously colored hair will not lighten the artificial pigment from the other haircolorings. 2.  What strength should I use (10-40)? It depends on how many levels you are lifting. If you have virgin hair (UNCOLORED) and it's a natural level 6 and you desire to be a level 9 then you would use a level 9 color with 30 Volume (which usually gives you 3 levels of lift). Now since the more levels of lift you lighten the more control you loose during the lifting process the more you need to compensate with controlling colors such as Ash based or Violet Based in you color formula to prevent the color from going brassy. This is stuff that only an experienced stylist which is why I encourage you to seek professional help. 3.  What toner would be better, blue or violet (the color of my hair is now between orange and yellow)? Typically Ash is used to tone level 7 or under and Violet or Pearl base is used to tone level 8 or higher. It really depends on the color line. Some color lines have Ash but it is a green base ash...you can't use that to tone blonde hair or orangish hair because you would mix gold or orange with green and thats the color your hair would turn....not going to be a pretty sight. 4.  What toner is gentlest and lasts the longest?  Toner is usually a semi or demipermanent hair color like Redken Shades EQ and it's typically deposit only. With some color lines like Goldwell you can tone using a permanent color and 10 volume developer but that is not always the rule it depends on the color line. TIA!

OK you know ya only need to post it once to get a response.

First of all let me say you are not a hairstylist. It's best to leave coloring hair to a professional licensed hairstylist like myself who has been trained and is experienced with the Science of HairColoring and various hair types, color, texture, to provide you with satisfactory results with minimum risk of damage to your hair.

From the sounds of it you really don't know haircoloring, hair texture, elasticity, underlying pigment and general health or feel of a good head of hair. I would strongly advise against you doing it yourself. HairColoring is fun you can really have a good time changing the color, tint, however if you are not properly trained how to color hair you can really F it up....sometimes beyond repair where the only remedy is a drastic short haircut.

If you can't afford a salon goto your local beauty school and have the work done under the supervision of a licensed stylist.

If you still desire to do it yourself then you need to read my "Introduction to HairColoring" http://talk.hairboutique.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=40328

You will find it in a STICKY post at the top of this HairColoring Forum.

If you don't find that an interesting read then you are not ready to do it yourself....save your money on boxed color and goto a professional.

I wish you luck but let me just say if you have any doubt about what you are doing then it's probably best if you avoid coloring your own hair. If you have a disaster occur it's going to cost you a minimum of $150 and possibly as high as $300 to have corrective color work done on your hair to get it back to a natural color.

So good luck and if I can answer any questions feel free to post em here.

Cheers