Hair color Advice Needed!!

My hair is currently short and permenantly colored black.  The longest part is about 3 inches.  I'm in the process of letting it grow out longer, but I want to get away from black.  I would like it to grow out and I would like to try a soft brown look with golden highlights.  What is the best way to acheive this look.  Should I try stripping the black out and re-dyeing or should I just continue to let it grow out and eventually cut the black completely out.  My concern there is that it will start looking horrible.  What do you advise?   D.

Since you have such short hair I don't think that you'll have to be worried about damage.

I'd suggest that your first of all get Colorfix color remover (you can buy it at beauty supplies) and remove as much of the black dye as you can.

Then once you've removed the dye your hair will probably be orange.. So you'll need to dye the hair once again. I suggest that you use a neutral light brown dye (or a medium brown) depeding on how dark you want to go. Processed/porous hair absorbs more color, therefore I don't think you should go for a dark brown dye etc. you must use a dye 1-2 levels lighter than your target level to get it right.

Then it's time for highlights :) the easiet way to do them is to get a highlight cap. And then you'll need an off scalp bleach like Clairol Basic White and 30 or 40 volume creme developer. (you'll also need the tools to do it; color brush, color bowl, applicator bottle, highlight cap etc.)

 You need to leave the bleach on untill the highlights have turned pale yellow (like the inside of a banana). Then to get the right golden tone you'll need to apply a golden blonde toner to the whole hair (since you can't seperate the highligts from the rest of the hair) I'd suggest that you try a Clairol Born Blonde toner. Try shade Happy Honey.. another way to go about it to get the right golden blonde shade to the highlights is to get a special shampoo for golden blondes with golden blonde pigments like L´Oréal Serie Expert Gloss Color Golden It's avaible in Sweden where I live, but I don't know if you have it in America.. But I'm sure that there are several other shampoos for golden blondes to chose from.

All this products I've talked about is not avaible OTC so you'll need to go to a beauty supply or order them online.

good luck