highlighting disaster

Oh Mann...it doesn't sound good. I'm going to reccomend finding a good salon and go for a consult.

In answer to your question no, you can't just put brown hair color on bleached hair...it will pull basetones. This is not an easy thing to fix even for some stylysts, so find one with experience in corrective color.

I used Color Expert by L'Oreal... I think that is what it's called. First you apply the base color, I chose Briscoti, and then you select strands to highlight, there is no cap involved and the color doesn't spread. Well... I wish I hadn't, my hair was doing just fine and all that. But I did... and the highlighting came out too much on top. You really need a friend to help with the highlighting. I took sooo long selecting strands and carefully applying the solution, alternating sides and all of that... but the first part I did stayed on way too long by the time I finished with the last strands. So I ran into the store and bought another box at $22.00 and evened it out. And I planned on taking the base color, with a cap this time, pull out a few strands and re-dye the top that was too heavy with the highlights. But I decided to call the L'Oreal consultant first and without even seeing me (of course) and going by just what I told her, she recommended that I deposit the red back into my strands but to do this I would need to re-dye all of my hair with Excellence 8g. I just wasn't sure about that. I did not want a flat color on my head. So I went ahead because I felt it was safe to do so. My highlights were not pale like the inside of a banana. They still had some gold in them, pretty, just too heavy on the top. I put the cap on and pulled out a few strands, dyed the strands with the base color, and waited. The results came out great. It did not get as dark as the original base color, but it added a multi-toned affect. Now it has been about 3 weeks, and as always my hair color fades a lot. But it looks natural and I even have gotten compliments. My hair is no longer long... I cut it to my collar bone and all the natural wave is taking over. (So much for my previous posts...) Also I have been using L'Oreal's Nature's Therapy products. They are great!!! And an added bonus... I was sent a free box of Color Expert in my shade that immediately went into the garbage. I will never use that again. Bottom line... the best thing to do is to go to a specialist. But my very first blooper was done at a salon, which sent me down a different path of hair care. I have done a lot of study and always learning from experience (mine and others). This last experience was the closest I have ever come to a blooper. Just find someone you can trust.