My natural hair color is very light blonde.  It stayed that way up until about 4 years ago.  At that point I sprayed some sun-in on it and it lightened it good enough.  However, I blow dry my hair to style it and it made it kinda dry.  I've not used it for a couple of years now and my hair had become a light dirty blonde.  Instead of using the sun-in again I thought that a hair coloring kit would be easier on my hair.  And now the result I have is a sort of yellow gold color(mostly at the top).  I am so stressed out about this.  When my hair is wet it looks orange-ish.

So, I called a hairdresser and asked her what I should do.  She said try a soap cap.  So she told me to mix a highlighting kit together and add some to my shampoo and leave it on for 5 minutes....I did that...no change.

So, I did a test strip with the sun-in.  It lightened it a little and I tried that on my hair. It only slightly changed the shade but the gold tone is still there.

I went to a Sally's,(here in Germany, where I live), and in their lighting it looked fine...so they thought I was crazy!   They don't sell toner's here...they didn't even know what that was....so, instead I bought a purple shampoo.  It doesn't work really well, either.

Now I am stuck with this fake looking hair color and am embarassed by it.....

I read Claude's sticky post and it was a lot of info to process.  I still can't seem to figure out what products to buy, where to buy them, and how to use them.  I have attached a picture of me prior to this disaster....The color I want back is on the ends of my hair.

I hope at least one of you will be able to lead me to a more natural looking hair color!

Thanks,

Robin

Here are some pics of my hair now...I' meant to do that in the other post, sorry!

well first of all never! NEVER EVER! Use Sun-In that is one of the worst ways to color someone's hair and it's very damaging and dry. The color at your roots is darker than the almost white-ish color at your ends. Color doesn't lift color so in order to get that color that light you would need to bleach. Now this isn't something I'd recommend doing yourself as breakage could occur. I suggest if you want that almost white-ish color goto a salon professional, have them evaluate your hair and see if you hair is in good enuff condition to withstand that type of service.

IMO what you should do is goto more of a Level 9GB from Goldwell. That lighter hair on your midshaft to ends would need to be pre-pigmented with a yellow or gold filler because that hair is just too light currently to just put color over it as it won't hold.

Then for your roots and funky colored part where the sun-in is I'd put a little 9P into that mix because it's a different shade and you need to counter out some of that gold so it doesn't turn too yellow...

so pre=pigment the white-ish colored hair with a Gold Filler then for the yellow-ish parts near the roots I'd mix 20 volume with 9GB & 9P (9P should not exceed 25% of your color cream formula)....then for the whiteish parts that you pre-pigmented with the filler mix 20 volume with 9GB....leave it on for 30 minutes and you should have a pretty golden blonde back through your hair.

G'luck

Thanks for responding so quickly!

Actually the lighter hair on my ends is what I would like to have all over and totally get rid of the gold....I don't want any gold tones at all!

I guess what I want is more of a white blonde color which is what I had all of my life(neutral or cool, or maybe platinum??).....how can I get that? 

Thanks

well your ends are very close to platinum blonde almost white IMO. That is done by bleaching the hair however if you leave the bleach on too long you will weaken the hair to a very dry state and it will become brittle and breakage can and will occur at or near the scalp. Have this only done by a professional and goto a good salon and pay the good money to have it done by someone who knows what they are doing. DON'T ATTEMPT  IT YOURSELF!

Remember aftercare is very important.....use professional products only a nice moisturizing shampoo and good daily conditioner to help maintain moisture in those hair strands which have been stressed out by the bleaching process to help prevent breakage, etc. Look into L'ANZA's 5 Step Deep Conditioning Treatment....it's the best that money can buy and it is only done in salons. It will cost you $20-$25 or so but it's well worth it....have it done immediately after you bleach the hair....also have it done for several weeks afterward weekly for 4-6 weeks to help strengthen that hair.

Goto here to read more about it and use their salon locator on this page.... http://www.lanza.com/news-pr15.htm - http://www.lanza.com/news-pr15.htm

G'luck

I thought of another question:

Some of my family have told me to use a toner by Fanciful called White Mink....they said that would get rid of the yellow.

My question is:  Since I used a store box kit that bleached it then colored it in one step...I have had color put on it.  Will the toner cover the color?  Or will I have to have it bleached again, like you said, and then toned?

Thanks,

Robin

To me and this may be my computer but your roots look pale yellow. do you have any orange in you hair whatsoever?! If not I wouldn't attemp to bleach it again if the brassy YELLOW Is the problem you will need purple shampoo to brighten up you hair and yes a toner .

You put color on your roots?! Well like I said your hair looks pale yellow and never ever bleach your hair to WHITE!! It will not maybe it will break!! Really if it is slight yellow undertones you need just a toner. Your ends look white!! To me you look platium rather than a cool tone blonde!! All in all I think it looks good

Thanks for the compliment...but, my problem is that it doesn't look naturally lightened(like I'm used to).  When I started I used a box kit by Revlon called Ultra Light Sun Blonde.  I used the same thing all over my hair.  The only other thing I had ever used before was sun-in and that was a couple of years ago.  That may be why my ends look so white...Most of my hair was my natural color when I started.

So, you think toner is all I need even though there is color on my hair(light as it may be, it is still there).

Thanks,

Robin

RnR1990 wrote: I thought of another question: Some of my family have told me to use a toner by Fanciful called White Mink....they said that would get rid of the yellow. My question is:  Since I used a store box kit that bleached it then colored it in one step...I have had color put on it.  Will the toner cover the color?  Or will I have to have it bleached again, like you said, and then toned? Thanks, Robin

No a toner will not lighten your hair. A toner is used if the haircolor was lifted too light or it's brassy then they would use a toner to tone it down or bring it closer to the color desired.

Okay you have haircolor and normaly to do it (the right way) you should use color remover than rebleach. But not sure if that is the route to go because your hair looks so light and you may risk overprocessing it. Try going to the  salons and see what they suggest.

Wow sun in they still make that stuff?! I remember when I was in 6th grade I thought I was so cool sprayed it in my dark hair and used a blowdryer to make it lighter (faster)I got orange scary hair!!  What a mess!! Doesn't sun in contain metallic dyes? It shouldn't be used with bleach, at least that's what I heard.(not sure if it is true though)You may want to ask a colorist about that one

Toner is the last step you should use to achieve the blonde shade you want. Toners don't work well covering mistakes. Orange hair and if you have a warm tone brassy neon yellow you won't get a cool tone blonde by using a toner.The key is to bleach the desire shade of yellow than use a toner. Toners last about a day or maybe a week, if your lucky! They fade so depend more on the bleach rather than the toner to get the shade of blonde you want.Most of the time it is used to cover unwanted undertones.

I called an old friend/hairdresser last night and she said that if I hightlighted my hair it might break up the unwanted yellow.  At home highlighting kits are bleach, right?  So, could I do a strand test with that to see.  If I use a cap then I could just pull through the crown and not get the ends....what do you all think?  Also, how long would I leave it on my hair...whatever the box says or a different time based on my situation?

If I decide to do this and it doesn't work will that be pretty much the last step to trying to fix it(due to too much processing)?  I'm trying to weigh my options!

Thanks,

Robin

Robin,

 I wouldn't use a cap, your hair is long and trying to pull them in those little holes doesn't seem like to much fun. Really caps work good if you have short hair. But doing it at home I can understand why you would want to use a cap if you can't use foils.

Your friend can't help you? Personaly I wouldn't lift it anymore but if you wish do a strand test the worst that could happen is your hair will break. NO NO please don't do the recommended time your hair will neither turn white, also if it doesn't break it will look like cotton candy. If you must put bleach I would be checking every 5 minutes.

Okay....I have bleached my hair to a pale yellow.  Now I need to know how to add color to it in order to get rid of this yellow.  I did a strand test before I did it and my hair condition is fine. 

I would like to go back to my natural "light ash" color and then highlight it....which is what I should have done to begin with.  Can I still achieve this?

Thanks,

Robin