Going from Blonde to Brunette

Yeah, I had initially done a permanent color (Garnier Nutrisse) over my highlights and within 2 weeks it was orangey and faded. When I did the filler with Natural Instincts (semi) it stayed and there is still no orange six months later.

I came to these boards with exactly the same problem. Here is what I did:

First, I filled my hair with natural instinct color without the developer. This works like a protein filler when you can't find the real thing. I chose a reddish-brown because red filler is recommended. It keeps you from ending up green-ish. After about 30 minutes of leaving this on, I dyed my hair natural instincts dark brown. It was way too dark. Like pitch-black and inky looking. I actually cried over it-it was awful. But the color finally after a month or so ended up a pretty close match to my natural color. I have very dark brown hair naturally, and it had been highlighted to a very blonde color.

I had several inches of my hiar cut off because it was damaged from highlighting, and damaged even further with the color. BTW, use a semi-permanent because it deposits color without lightening and sticks better when going darker. I did have to color over some areas that were a bit lighter a month or so later. I did this in september and I can honestly say the color looks very natural and I have no roots that you can see. Its nice not to have roots. My hiar is still a bit damaged, but I take care of it and though the texture is different, it looks good, except right now it's a short bob with layering in the back that I really want to grow longer.

It's hard to describe the condition of my hiar now. It's more "poseable" and less soft. When I get up in the morning, it is usually sticking up pretty badly, and I think this is all damage from all the coloring. Luckily it is getting muuuuuuuch better!

My main goal is to grow out my natural color and maintain it's health. I like what color it is now, but it is damaged. It looks shiny though, and hair has thickened up majorly. I lost some hair during the coloring process and it seemed thin for a while But it is back to normal now. You could see parts of my scalp before, and now you can't. The lightest parts of my hiar in the front grabbed the most color. I've had alot trimmed off and those hairs still have some black in them. Like I said before though, I have no roots whatsoever and that was my main goal.

Best things to remember: fill before coloring and use semi-permanent color-NOT permanent. You will find that a semi actually acts more like a permanent when going darker. Permanent color causes more damage and fades really fast (at least in my case). This is because it lightens before depositing, which opens up the cuticle and tends to leave the cuticle more opened. Dont use dark brown. I did and would say I would have been happier with a medium brown. Goth-black was not cute on me.

It is a very painful process to go back to brunette. I consider mine a success but it's traumatic and you may not really like your hair for a while. I had to get rid of the blonde. The roots were driving me nuts and the damage was starting to show.

Hi,

 

I have naturally dark brown hair (almost black). It took me almost 2 years to get this blonde and now I am very golden with some platinum color highlights. 

I have it done by a professional in a salon. While I really like it the maintenance is killing me and I think I look better darker.

I was told that I would have to reverse the process to get dark again. That it can't be done in one step. (i.e.honey color, light brown, medium brown, darker brown...)  Is this accurate?  I would hate to have this in between stage for two years.  :(

Thanks.