QuoteReplyTopic: Possible to get Medium Ash blonde from brown/red ? Posted: May 21 2008 at 2:24pm
My natural hair color is light-medium brown with LOTS of red undertones, and how would you get a medium ash blonde color ? Can I get a true ash blonde color (that looks like a darkish gray color) from highlift color or do I have to bleach the strands first?
I love VERy pale neutral blonde with ash blonde lowlights, my favorite color, but don't know if I can EVER achieve it.
I know for the very pale neutral blonde I have to bleach to a color that is like the inside of the banana peel and then put a white lady toner or platinum blonde toner afterwards.
But I just don't know about getting the medium ash blonde lowlights.
fakeizme
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OK...let me tell you this: medum ash blonde and light brown are two of the hardest colours to achieve on dark hair, believe it or not. No one's hard lightens ashy; it always lightens warm. It doesn't even matter if you have natural ashy hair --- it will always lighten golden or reddish. If you want ash blonde hair without warmth, you HAVE to bleach and tone. You would have to bleach past the gold/red stage (probably level 8 at least) and then tone down to medium ash blonde (level 7/8?). It's a beautiful colour, but hard as heck to get! The problem with this as well is that when it comes time to touch up your colour --- oh, my --- headache!
All this to say that it can be done, but it's a lot of work. You have to figure out if it's worth it for you. HTH!
Oh gawd, I really hope I don't talk you out of having nice blonde hair! I wanted to be up front with you as I've been through it all myself. I am currently bleaching my roots to pale blonde and leaving the underneath area a copper brown. And please don't be afraid of bleach! If you use it properly with only 20 vol. peroxide, it can be way more gentle than colour. You just have to be ready for upkeep and maintenance. Another thing is: a lot of people (myself included) want ash blonde hair until they HAVE ash blonde hair and then they see it as dull and that it washes out their complexion. If you balance it with golden/or light blonde highlights, you good to go. Don't give up and don't be afraid to experiment!
Oh no, you didn't discourage me at all! it's the salons that are messing me up, they NEVER do what I want, they NEVER get it right, they give me UGLY blondish dull brassy hair, they don't seem to know anything about how to achieve pretty blonde hair, and I've been to lots of salons over the years. So, I'm doing it myself blonde , even if it's HARD to do, lol. They've never used bleach, though, just highlift and a "lightener" which I think was a very gentle bleach, but still not lifting my color past the gold brassy dull stage. And they've never toned it successfully.
Thank you for all your help!!
So, if you're up to it, could you point me to maybe some posts of yours if you've explained what products you are using to bleach your hair, tone, etc? Thank you so much. I've read Wellite is good.
I don't really want ash blonde hair, but I was wanting to acheive some medium ash blonde lowlights, but it sounds too difficult. So, maybe I'm going to try and get medium golden blonde lowlights. Just don't know how to achieve it all, yet.
I'm wanting very very pale/bright almost white/platinum highlights in a few places, then quite a few highlights in one shade darker, then lowlights in just one shade darker than that. I don't know how, though.
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I think your goal of medium golden blonde lowlights and platinum-ish highlights is definitely do-able yourself! Good for you for wanting to do that.
There's some good bleaches out there that will get you light fairly easy. If you want a drugstore one --- I love Revlon 'Frost & Glow'. It's what I started highlighting with years ago! It will get you really light highlights (especially if you use foil), but you have to leave it on and watch it for up to 90 mins. Also, Wella Blondor, Wella Wellite and Clairol 7th Stage are good and gentle bleaches (but use 20 vol peroxide).
For lowlight...hmmm....since you are already light brown naturally, you could try to section out some hair in between your bleach and use a Level 9 or Level 8 ash blonde colour with 30 vol. peroxide. You will still get a golden colour, but it will be more subtle. Or you could tone some bleached strands back down to Level 8 using a neutral blonde deposit-only colour. I hope this makes sense! You might want to do some test strands to see what colours you get before you start. Good luck! Let us know how it goes.
Thank you so much, Fakeizme! I truly thank you for your time and effort.
I have a question, though, the way I'd LIKE to do it is the second way you suggested, by toning some bleached strands with lowlights, but once hair is bleached, the lowlight color would fade in a few shampoos, wouldn't it?
I've always read porous bleached hair just won't hold onto color. I've read about "fillers", do I have to use a filler before putting in the lowlights?
I know some people just use "toners" for their lowlights, but don't they just wash out in a few shampoos?
Still confused, as you can see, sorry! But I'm getting there.
I've read about Wella Blondor CREAM bleach is really good, I'd prefer a cream bleach because of allergies to things, I'm hesitant to have to mix a powder, you know? Have you used the Wella cream bleach? Thank yoU!
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Man, you ask some really good questions -- honestly!
You are totally right...if you bleach and then lowlight (if going more than three levels darker) you should fill. You can add the fill colour into your actual colour, if you choose. Also, as I've mentioned in another post, you may want to spray those bleached hair with a leave-in conditioner to balance the porosity before colouring. That way they won't go too dark or off-coloured. If you're just going about two levels darker (still blonde family), you don't need to fill.
Another thing, if you do lowlights, try to do a protein treatment of some sort, before the process. So, after bleaching your highlights, wash/shampoo, then apply a treatment and rinse it out. THEN, do your lowlights --- they will last longer in your hair without fading. Protein helps the hair hang on to colour. It's sounds like a long process, and it IS!!! But, it will be sooooo worth it when you are done.
The Wella Blondor Cream is supposed to be awesome --- I just received some yesterday from Ebay!!! Can't wait to try it. Currently, I'm using the Blondor power and it rocks too. It lightens to a very pale blonde stage without damaging (or so it seems) your hair. I wanted to try the cream because I heard it is more gentle. Honestly, I think once you try Blondor, you will likely not want any other bleach! Hope this helps!!!!
Thank you so much, Fakeisme. I've been learning lots from you!
I do really appreciate your instructions [IMG]smileys/barmy.gif" align="middle" />
I have another question for you or anyone. I talked to Aveda today because I've been reading their hi-lift blonde colors (no bleach), Eclipse and Dusk, are REALLY really good at hi-lift and better than most hi-lifts, so I called them just to ask them. And what do you think about what they said? they said...
that they could make me into a very light ash blonde with their hi-lift Dusk or Eclipse blonde color, and I said but it's going to be brassy cuz I've tried lots of times with salons with hi-lift, and it's always brassy. Then they said what I thought they would say, that they would mix ASH into the hi-lift to counteract the red/brassiness from my hair.
Has anyone used Aveda's Eclipse or Dusk hi-lift if you have light-medium brown hair? Would it "REALLY" work? I'm not convinced , but who knows, maybe Aveda has some magic stuff in their hi-lift blondes.
Edited by oceanduck - May 29 2008 at 8:20pm
fakeizme
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LOL! Ocean, you're just like me, I want it to work so bad! I really want to believe!!!
Well, one thing I will agree on: all highlifts are not created equally. Some, like Logics are really affective because they are pure-toned (like a blue-based high-lift). If Aveda's are pure-toned, then they might bring you up pretty well. BUT, I really don't think there's ANY amount of ash that can be added to highlifts that could make it come out 'ash.' That's the freaky thing. You will get golden or neutral tones (if you're lucky), but not ash. And, if you do get ash coloured hair from a haircolour, your hair will actually appear darker because hair that is drab appears darker. I'll tell you what though, Aveda's highlift might look fantastic if you do tone-on-tone --- slices of highlift and slices of bleach & highlift at the scalp.
But, if you normally lift quite golden/red with highlifts, be prepared for the same to happen with Aveda. Bleach is the only way to get REAL ash-toned hair (and it's less damaging than highlift as well).
Ok, then, I think bleach is the answer, at least for some strands. Aveda maybe for some strands.
Fakeizme, you know what I read about on another forum, is a bleach that's supposed to be VERY very wonderful, from a line from Spain called "Lakme", but since I've never used it, I don't know. There are some stylists here in my city who use Lakme hair color, so I'm hoping one day to go see what it's all about with this bleach. I don't really know what's so much better about it, but the colorist just commented that it's better than Schwarzkopf, Wella, and Goldwell and Chi and other bleaches and other stylists said they had also seen good things with it.
I also heard that Phytologie's haircolor line called Kydra is wonderful, and the bleach leaves the hair BEAUTIFUL! But I don't know if anyone here in my city uses Kydra hair color or bleach but I hope to try it some day, too.
Wella seems wonderful, though, - and I'll let you know if I try the Latke.
Have you ever seen anyone with Scruples Blazing on their hair? I saw some photos, looks nice, but I think it's very strong odor.
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I'm sure glad I stopped by this page.Now I know more about blonde hair.Good luck, girl with the ashy blonde color.I hope it looks good.! I wanna try to get mine back blonde,but that will be a hella long time.My hair ir red, so I'm waiting til next summer.My skin color can go with just about any hair color.I just like red the best,but am actually getting tired of it,hehe! Anyways, have a good weekend u guys! :)
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I've never heard of 'Lakme' bleach. It sounds wonderful though and I would love to try it if I could get my hands on some! I'm always up for finding other great bleaches. I notice the newer bleaches are manufactured to be less harmful to hair and contain way more conditioners for the hair. Love that! If professionals like it, that's a good sign.
I have also heard Kydra color is good. Never tried it; it doesn't seem to be highly discussed on hair sites. Wish there was more info about it.
I have never seen anyone with Scruples Blazing, but just about any hairstylist that has said they used it seemed to really like it. I've read that it's easy to use and really performs. I think it's a toning bleach? Something like Colorgraphics? Think you might be right on the stinky part; heard that too!
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