Dye turned my hair black!!?

Question

I dyed my hair dark brown a couple of weeks ago, but its turned my hair black. (My natural colour is medium brown). The dye has faded slightly after continuosly washing my hair with head and shoulders shampoo, and in certain lights i can see browny/red tints in my hair but it still looks very black. I hate it. If i was to buy a pre-lightner then a medium ash brown dye would this help me achieve brown hair? I cant afford to go to the salon, so any other advice would be really appreciated. I dont want to wait for it to grow out as my hair is fairly long and growing it out would take too long. Thank you for any advice.

Answer 1

Black isn't so bad but if you want to get it lightened use a prelightner and then dye your hair the colour you want

Answer 2

I dye my hair very dark brown too and have found that some dyes do make it look more like black than brown. This usually happens when I've left it on too long or covered the whole length rather than just touching up the roots, so be careful next time!

To fix it for now, here are some solutions I've tried in the past:

Vosene shampoo - if it's a semi- or non-permanent colour, this strips it off quite quickly (2-3 weeks) but do use a good conditioner with it! Costs about £2 but only works on semi-permanents.

Colour remover at home - I used a bleach/prelightener to add streaks one time, which offset the dark colour nicely, as the streaks didn't go blonde, just lighter brown. Another time I did strip the whole lot, which didn't remove all the colour but did lighten it a bit, but not a great deal. Also, you really have to get someone to help you otherwise you will miss bits. The lightener cost me about £5 for enough to do streaks, about £10 for the whole head.

Hairdressers - as a last resort (after using very dark permanent dyes for several months) I went to the hairdresser on a models evening and they stripped the colour off, then used a semi-permanent mid-brown over it. Be wary though - your hair will probably go orange after it's been stripped (before they redye it) and feel like straw for about a month, so you have to use lots of intensive conditioner. Wouldn't recommend this unless your hair is in good condition to start with anyway. As it was a model night, I only had to pay for the amount of dye they used (about 3 packs of lightener, 4 of dye) which came to about £25.

Also - be careful if you do get a professional colour-stripping product to use at home - a flatmate with dyed black hair tried this and was left with orange patches all over, some of the dye didn't come out at all, so she had black patches too, some of her hair just broke and when she went to colour it black again to cover up the mess, it wouldn't take over the orange bits, so she had to wear a hat until she could get it cut short and dyed at the hairdressers.

I think your best and cheapest option is to go for the streaks, which is only a few quid and not too hard to do yourself, and use a harsher shampoo like Vosene to strip the colour gradually. This way you won't damage your hair too much and it should look quite funky with the streaks anyway.

Answer 3

I have been dying my hair black for 3 years,now im growing it out,as im going back to my natural hair colour,black is a very difficult colour to get out,or dye over,i tried to dye a lighter colour over it but it did'nt work,i have been using head and shoulders and pantene clarifying shampoos,as these strip hair.But i have also had my hair cut short to speed up the process,im sorry i can't give more advice as there's not much you can do to get rid of the black.If you bleach it,it will go orange.

Answer 4

L'Oreal makes a color remover that I've used before- like you, I tried dying my hair "espresso" brown and ended up looking like Wednesday Addams. I don't recommend doing this w/o prior experience or on your own, as their are parts you tend to miss. But, it will remove the color off your hair. To be safe, call around to local (reputable) salons and ask them how much they'd charge to remove dye and possible put a semi-permanent on. You aren't the first person to do this, and you won't be the last, so believe me, they know exactly what to do. Washing it will only lighten it a bit, especially if you chose a Level 3 (permanent) color. Go to the experts. Whatever you do, DO NOT try dying it again, as it'll only get darker. People get themselves in major hair trouble when they start trying to correct their own mistakes.

Answer 5

Hey well i've dyed my hair that many times i though i would answer to this!
Its probally just really dark brown mine like that you can see like a tint of red aswell, try using vosene instead of head and shoulders because its stronger and it did the job with me eventually, i got told to use that when i got suspened from high school for dying my hair black! which is alot darker but the colour came out eventually after using vosene, wash your hair alot!

Answer 6

Try prell shampoo....but when you die your hair again get an even lighter shade than you want because right now your hair is sensitive and will really absorbe the color and makes the color on the box darker...and just a warning dont try to strip the color because i did that and my hair not only stunk for two weeks it turned my hair orange... and make sure to buy a deep conditioner to keep you hair healthy....but i promise the color does fade because i did the exact same thing and my hair is about the same that you are describing.

Answer 7

i have the same prob i wanted a light brown but its gone dark brown instead, a hairdresser told me to strip it it would damage the hair but it depends how much u hate it. also try vosene shampoo or a clarifying shampoo this removes build up, keep washing it and it should fade.

Answer 8

this has happend to me and that i became disenchanted cuz it made me look so easy yet then some week later it dwindled to the colour it became think to be so possibly you only would desire to furnish it time :)

Answer 9

o dear lol just buy another dye but a light brown colour and re dye it

Answer 10

U'll just have to look like a goth and be done with it. U probably a minger anyway