Dying over a darker color?

So, I've been thinking about lightening my hair.  My natural hair color is dirty blonde, and I want to dye it a few shades lighter.  I've tried lemon juice and chamomile tea and everything but it hasn't made that much of a difference.  If I just dye it with a light dye, will it still come out lighter?  Or is it impossible to get lighter hair without bleaching it first?  i'm really new to the whole hair-dying thing -___-

Edited by blueorca84 - December 26 2006 at 10:24pm

It depends on how much lighter you want to go and what country you live in!

If you're in the U.S. and you'd like to take your natural hair (not previously dyed) 1-3 shades lighter, you can get very predictable results using the right dye & developer combination from a beauty supply store, such as Sally's.

In some countries, it's difficult to get a hold of the right products to get good results on your own.

To lift more than 3 levels, bleaching is the way to go.

Good luck!


Edited by KarenNJ - December 27 2006 at 6:40pm

I dont think you should bleach unless you want platnium blonde. They have some pretty good kits like Loreal blonde supreme that can take you lighter without bleaching. I used to use it all the time and it looked pretty good.

Yeah, just use a high-lift tint from sally's or something. i would recommend Wella's 12/1 or 12/01 for a natural looking blonde.  If you are are a medium blonde you will get it really quite light. A dirty blonde i would assume it's around an 8 (medium blonde) so you will get a good 3-4 shades of lift which will give you around a perfect 12 look on the highlights:




and of course the more you put in the more blonde it will look. this was the only example i could find.
hope this helps any way hun
Terri