brassy tones on brown -Bad Clairol advice

My natural hair is on the lighter side of a medium brown with a lot of gold and red undertones.  I loved my natural color but was getting gray hairs and semi perm wasn't covering so I went to Nice n Easy permanent.  I called the Clairol hotline and told the woman that I was wanting to match my natural color and cover the gray (mimimal amt, maybe 50 strands on my head). The woman suggested the color Natural Light Ash Brown.  I told her I thought this would be too light for me but she said with my undertones I needed an ash based color to avoid brassiness and that is was better to go too light than too dark since it's easier to correct.  She said to always go up one color lighter from what you think you should use since the colors come out darker.

My hair is long, to my bra strap in back and had a perm in it about 17 months ago.  I did a swatch test on a piece on the underside and a piece on the top of the back where it is drier.  The color looked like a match, no brassiness.  I also used Roux Porosity control since the ends of my hair are drier from the perm and being long. After I rinsed out the dye my hair looked brassy with a definite orange tinge.  It looks REALLY bad in sunlight. And to top it off it didn't cover the gray!

I called back the Clairol hotline and here's what she told me to do.  Tell me if this sounds right:  She said to get 2 boxes of Clairol Hydriece in the color Tawny Breeze, the same ash color level equivalent of the Nice n Easy I just used.  Mix it with 4 oz of shampoo.  Shampoo my hair, towel dry and apply the mixture for 20 minutes max, checking evey 5 minutes. Rinse and condition.  She claims this will not make my hair even more brassy since the mixture is a "toner".  She also said Nice n Easy bring out hightlight and the color was too light for my hair in the first place (even though this was THEIR suggestion) so it brought out the underlying red tones of my hair. The Hydrience is supposedly more  highly pigmented and will cover the gray and not be brassy. I asked if this would damage my hair since I just dyed it yesterday and she said no.

What do you all think?  Does this make sense?  Will I damage my hair more or risk worse brassiness? What is a toner anyway?  If it weren't for the brassy tones the underlying brown color would look nice. Any sugesstion would be greatly appreciated!  Thanks!

Sometimes orange can be mistaken for red...try a strand test with this Miss Clairol shade at Sally's (moonhaze), it's a green base dye...see link below. 

http://www.clairolpro.com/dispensary/swatches/mc_swatches.ht ml

You can try a soap cap with this color or try the 20 vol peroxide, and keep checking the color up to 45 min.  Sometimes the color is not left on long enough.  Color will turn out brassy on some people if not processed for 45 min. 

Good luck

Rebekah 

"Would the moonhaze shade lighten it?"

I'm not certain.  You could try the chestnut brown, which is one shade lighter than your natural level.  I'm thinking it may be darker than you expect due to porosity or dryness of the hair.

"Will putting more color on my hair, whether it be the Miss Clairol or the Hydrience, which is a permanent color, damage it or does the shampoo dilute it enough?"

Honestly, everything damages hair. Miss Clairol can be purchased separately with 20 vol peroxide, and tried that way, or you can dilute it with shampoo.  Just make sure the shampoo is gentle and not drying.  "TEA-lauryl sulfate" in shampoos is very drying.  

"I was going to use Clairol's version of the "no brassy for brunettes""

I think Chestnut is a brass buster, but read the bottle to be sure. 

The only way to know what will happen is to buy some and strand test using 20 vol and the dye.  Then another strand test using 20 vol, the dye dye mixed with shampoo.  Hope this helps.

Good Luck!

Rebekah

 

You know Miss Clairol also has a Grey Busters Collection.  If that color works for you.  You could always mix the green with a bit of the neutral.  Or just try the neutral (grey busters) to cover the grey.  In fact you could probably get away with just highlighting the grey with a grey buster color you like and blending it with the rest of the hair.  Just some ideas. 

Let me know how your hair turns out. 

I have problems with brass too and used Miss Clairol in Moongold.  It's a nice ashy golden color, go figure, green.  I noticed though when my color fades, and it's pretty quick, that it turns a bit brassy. 

Rebekah

Miss Clairol has some grey busters...89N, 88N, 87N, 86N, 85N, 84N, 83N, 82N.  Range is from very light neutral blonde to dark neutral brown. See link below for swatches.   

http://www.multibeauty.com/mc2.asp

 

What I'm thinking is that green tones down red, blue tones down orange, and the neutral helps to cut the grey down.  So I think by mixing these half and half you might find a color that cuts the brass and covers the grey.  Strand test to be sure though.  Nothing is so certain when it comes to coloring hair. 

Just curious, did the semi permanent color fade quickly?  Sometimes when you first color your hair, it's pretty dark, then it fades down to a more reasonable color, then it fades to be a bit brassy.  Touching up the hair once every 6 weeks usually helps keep the brassy look at bay.  Remember if using permanent color to only touch up the roots and simply rinsing the color out of your hair should touch up the ends and mid section.  If not, then you can put a semi or demi on the mid section and ends to "even" the color up.  Also there are toning mousse's that work quite well to touch up hair weekly while waiting to recolor new growth. 

Scroll down when you go to this link and you will see some swatches for Igora color toning mousse, expensive, but very well worth the money!

http://www.evabeauty.com/products/schwarzkopf/

I had a friend one time try using a demi, I think it was Clairol Compliments in an ash and it toned down the orange she had in her hair from doing highlights.  Maybe you could strand test a shade that would be close to your color in an ash. 

IMHO, you can get much better products from Sally Beauty than the drug store, although some have great success  from drugstore products.  I think the drugstore products just don't give the proper instructions.  For example if you really want a nice color, leave it on for 45 min...permanent I mean.  For the semi you really need to strand test and after 15 min keep checking to see if you have the color you want.  Anyway hope this helps and good luck! 

Rebekah

PS Do you have a pic of your hair you could post that might be helpful in determining what color your hair is and such?

Rebekah - A question about the toning mousse:  I check out the link you posted. Is this a permanent dye or will it wash out after a shampoo if I decide to try it and pick the wrong color? Does it cause any damage or contain ammonia or peroxide? Thanks again