Print Page | Close Window

Advice on fading dark brown color?

Printed From: HairBoutique.com
Category: Hair Talk
Forum Name: Hair Color
Forum Description: The tricks and tribulations of changing your hair color
URL: https://talk.hairboutique.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=50858
Printed Date: October 04 2025 at 9:38am


Topic: Advice on fading dark brown color?
Posted By: lily0914
Subject: Advice on fading dark brown color?
Date Posted: March 08 2007 at 4:05pm
Hi all, I'm new here and was wondering if someone more experienced might be able to offer some advice.

For years I had my natural golden brown color, with chunky light blonde highlights on top. Finally, I was sick of the highlights growing out so I asked my stylist to give me an all over brown color to get rid of them. Well, she totally misguided me in the color choosing, and what I thought would be a medium "warm" brown ended up black. She had told me I'd end up with something very close to my natural color that would fade over time. It sounded fine to me... until I ended up with all over black hair.

Anyways, I've hated it since day 1. It's been a little over 3 months. I went back and she suggested just waiting to let it fade out, since bleaching it all out would be damaging. She did suggest purifying shampoo though to fade it. I've been using that for about 2 months, and it has faded it a lot. Now it's more of a dark brown that shines a bit reddish in the sun. The ends have faded a bit faster and are just a bit lighter, but still look dark.

So, I'm wondering, at this point is there anything I can do to get it lighter? I would LOVE a nice medium golden brown. I have no desire to be blonde, so I wouldn't think there would need to be that much processing. But there again, I'm no expert so what do I know? I've also been suggested the bleach and shampoo mix or a color stripper and then color over it. But my concern is... I have about an inch or so of roots now, and how would the stripper or bleach/shampoo mix affect that? I'd hate to end up with lighter hair and then a blonde streak down the middle or something!


I just had a consultation with a "master" colorist however his great idea was to give me all over highlights to give my hair a lighter appearance. I tried to explain to him that highlights were the exact reason I chose to color my hair. I wanted to get rid of them, so why would I want more now? He completely insisted I let him give me highlights, but I was like sorry, but that'll just put me back where I started, but without my nice natural color to blend with.

If anyone has any suggestions on how to lighten this color out please let me know!


Replies:
Posted By: julesyjul88
Date Posted: March 08 2007 at 5:27pm
I think you could strip the color. Do you know if the styilst did perm. or semi-demi color on your hair?
If it is perm. you need something called colorfix.If it was demi,you can use Metalex by clairol. Both can be found at a beauty supply store.
It only removes fake pigment from hair and should NOT effect your natural hair that is growing in.
I used Metalex to rid myself of a horrid red color.The next day I colored it brown and it turned out great! I also had about 2 inches of natural growth.
Another suggestion though,is to try using a shampoo meant for blonde hair. In the past when I needed to lighten my hair up some I'd use John Frieda's Blonde shampoo in the lightest one (platnium blonde)It has stuff like lemon in it so it DID lighten my hair dramatically after about a week of washing.

Posted By: lily0914
Date Posted: March 10 2007 at 11:05am
Awesome!! Thanks for your reply!


It definitely was permanent, although I'm not sure what brand. In the sunlight I can see red and brown undertones so I feel more confident trying to lighten it now that it doesn't look completely black anymore.
 
One more question though if you happen to see this: Do you know how damaging the colorfix is? Right now my hair is in fairly good condition. The girl who colored it did dry it out a bit, but overall my hair is still decent and there was minimal breakage or split ends. I have a big party to go to in a month and just don't want to end up frying some of my hair off or having serious breakage :-)

Thanks!

Posted By: julesyjul88
Date Posted: March 10 2007 at 2:54pm
I havent personally used the colorfix....I know Metalex is an oil-based hair color remover though,so when I used it~I didnt have any damage. (alot of people use oil to get rid of unwanted color,maybe if you even used hot oil treatments it work too)
People on this forum say alot of good things about colorfix though.

If you are really in doubt,you could try going to www.clairol.com and speak to a color specialist (it's free)
When I had my little hair blooper,they told me what to get,and step by step on how to fix it.They are VERY helpful.

Posted By: lily0914
Date Posted: March 12 2007 at 2:09pm
Well, I gave it a go and bought 2 boxes of colorfix. I'm going to be honest and admit I was too nervous to do the "full correction" as described in their instructions (I did a strand test and my hair did turn an awesome orangey blonde, but still I was scared) so I opted for the slight correction where you mix it with shampoo. I decided maybe doing this a few times and gradually fade it would be less drastic that the full application.
 
My hair is still wet but I can tell it definitely faded. Still a bit dark for my taste but I feel so relieved it took off some of the blackness I had going on. One problem though, my hair does look like it's going to be pretty brassy, and it brought back a lot of old highlights from about 6 months ago, however, they are pretty orange looking.
 
So, if you're still out there, and I thank you so much for your help, what kind of product/toner/color/what should I get to tone down the orange? I originally wanted sort of a golden shade anyways, just not orange. I'm not in the mood to go back to Sally Beauty because the girls in my local shop weren't knowledgeable about color at all!
 
Thanks again :-)

Posted By: julesyjul88
Date Posted: March 12 2007 at 7:25pm
I should have told you,you need to dye over it after using the colorfix...I used natural instincts when I did it,but any color or brand you like will be fine.make sure to pick a slightly lighter shade then you want so it doesnt come out looking too dark again.


Print Page | Close Window