I've had my hair various shades of red for over a year and was getting sick of it. But my family and friends put a lot of pressure on me to keep it red, so in an act of desperation (try to change the shade of red) I got some L'Oreal HiLift red for dark hair and it came out fire engine red. Absolutely horrified, I told everyone they no longer had influence over me or my head and that I was finally going to go for the strawberry blonde I'd been wanting (think Reese Witherspoon in Vanity Fair).

I immediately began washing it out with Dawn and it faded it rapidly into a brassy orangery brown with some strange hi and lowlights. But my roots have stayed a pretty bright red. Although not nearly the original fire engine color, it's become a slightly bloodier, faded red.

Being that I've done so many awful things to my hair, I've sworn off leach as anything of an option. And both times I've tried to strip my hair (both with L'Oreal Colorzap) it's come out muddy and uneven and barely changed. And although I haven't ruled out stripping, I ask for this advice:

1) Are there any other at-home procedures I could try to accelerate the fading?

2) Does anyone know of a good, reliable, reasonably priced color stripper?

3) What steps/procedures/shades do I have to achieve before it's safe to dye my hair the blonde color?

Thanks, everyone.

<img src=" http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y65/WhitingToASnail/resseblonde.jpg - http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y65/WhitingToASnail/ressebl onde.jpg " alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com"> (the color i want)