My natural color is a level 7 ... I wanted to go one shade lighter and cover the little grey I have and it turned out orange-blonde! Then the colorist threw some lowlights on, which didn't help much. THEN she dyed it brown -- very dark gothy brown. It's better than pale orange, but now I have three layers of color on my fine hair!

      A TINY bit of yellowish glints (if you look at it under bright light) are coming through the dark brown after about 2 weeks, but that's it so far.

      My hair is damaged at this point so I don't want to do a thing that would risk breakage. What's the best (safest) way to lighten it up to something closer to my natural color and also to avoid the look of light roots with dark brown hair?

Try dyeing just your roots with a level 7 demi dye.  By the way are you a warm, neutral, or cool natural level 7?  As time goes by the color on your ends and midsection will fade.  The demi should brighten and tone the ends and midsection of the hair just when rinsing the roots out.  You will want to touch up your roots every 6 weeks or 1/2 inch of growth. 

Good luck and hope this helps!

Rebekah

Ooh, sounds like a good option, thanks.

Good question on the exact shade of my soon-to-appear roots. I would have to say pale ash brown but with enough gold strands here and there to appear too 'mousy.' Um, if that makes any sense.