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[ariadne]

Hi everyone, back from  Spanish holiday - more on that later. On last day (yesterday) thought my hair looked too white so coloured it a shade darker and I hate it. My natural hair colour is quite white/grey and I usually use Excellence shade 10 which is very light blonde and makes the grey look like pale blonde and I don't get bad root problems with it. Anyway, because of the bleaching effect of the sun it looked too white so I chose Excellence shade 9.1. After 10 minutes I washed it off because it looked so dark. Now it looks mousey/brown/dark grey.

I've washed it twice and went in the sea in the hope of it fading but it's still dark.

Now - I've got a box of my usual shade and am itching to use it but not sure what will happen. Is it too soon to recolour and will it lighten it much anyway?

Wish I'd left it alone :-(

Ariadne xx

[Rowan]

Can vouch for Garnier Belle Colour Extra Light Natural Blonde 110 120ml

Garnier Nutrisse British Blondes 10A Nat Extra Light Brilliant Blonde

There is also Nice n Easy Extra light blond too.

I have done the same as you Ariadne, but got it back by using either of these .

Darkening natural white/grey never works successfully at home it just make it dark and muddy, for best results you need to go to Colourist who will put a darker base shade on hair then and highlights.

For home use its best to stick to the blonde shades that work with hairs natural highlights eg white/grey and does not cover them up and cause a matte muddy look.

I have found the above shades work for my hair and gives a pretty silvery blonde shade.

A couple of weeks ago a lady stopped me and said " You have a nice hair colour, what do you use or is it natural" I just told her the truth and gave her the hair colour details and she went off quite happily. I wonder afterwards if I should have fibbed and said it was natural, as most people think it is.

Hope this helps.

Forgot to say never use a hair colour that says Ash anything! its best to go with  the words "Natural or Neutral" also "golden" often had red pigments it and white have can be porous. 

[ariadne]

Thanks SL - sounds like we may have similar hair colour:-)  so in your experience, if I coloured it yesterday and have washed it twice so far, how soon can I use my normal shade 10 again? I'd like to do it tomorrow after another couple of washes with head and shoulders which I've heard can strip colour. I don't expect it will lighten it back to my normal shade - that will be a waiting game but I'd like to get it a bit lighter if I can.

Muddy - yes that describes the colour very well:-)

Thanks for your advice

Ariadne xx

[Rowan]

I would wait a few days if you can bear it, and it depends what condition your hair is in, in the mean time you could mix some conditioner with some lemon juice apply and leave for a few hours and then wash it.

I have occasionally with hair colour disasters added spray Hhair lightener to conditioner and soaked for a few hours, but this is for my hair and I know what it can take.

You will get your hair colour back also remember that hair looks a different hair colour in different lights and even different mirrors as well as in natural daylight, its probably not as bad as you (and I think when I try to go darker )

[honeybun]

I have had many hair disasters, normally going too dark which makes me look so drained. It's strange though as I have naturally dark hair ( well had ) . My skin tone must have changed a lot.
My daughter after quite a few years of very strange hair colour including purply black had to have her hair stripped at the hairdresser. It was a lengthy and costly process but it worked very well. Since then she has stuck to blond shades.
It's funny that SL says avoid anything with ash in the title. I find if I use one that says ash my hair does not go gingery. Guess it's totally different from one person to another, or at least what works best on different shades.

It's hard to get it right at home but I can't afford the prices the hairdresser charges for a cut and colour.

Honeyb
X

[Witches Cat]

Can't remember who makes it, but if you go to the chemist, you can buy a box of "hair dye reducer" used like hair colour, that will take out what you put in that you didn't like, then you can use your usual colour to put back what you want.  Hope that helps  (next door neighbour's daughter had to use it a couple of weeks ago)

[Witches Cat]

Just found it on the web... Colour B4, and you can get it in Boots along with some others as well. Less than a tenner.

[honeybun]

If it's a home stripping kit then I really would avoid it. My daughter's friend used one and she ended up looking like a Dalmatian.
It was a disaster. She then tried dying on top and it remained patchy ad the dye would not take evenly.

Honeyb
X

[ariadne]

I have blonde hair again! I was so fed up with the murky dark grey hair colour that I started looking on the internet for how to get the colour out. I found several mentions of crushing vitamin C tablets into anti dandruff shampoo and leaving it on for an hour.

It only worked! I couldn't believe it - I'm so pleased with the result. It's a lovely golden blonde colour and no grey showing either.

Top Tip for anyone in the same predicament in future - always have some vitamin C tablets to hand 

ariadne xx

[Clovie]

oooh useful tip about vit C tablets!! 

I'm going through a "I want to dye my hair blue or red or purple" phase at the moment. 
Only trouble is, at the moment it is dyed very dark which looks Ok when I wear make-up and looks best on a night out. Right now I have a wash in-wash out black rinse on there as have a few gigs to go to lined up.

I know to have bright coloured hair or even bright coloured slices I would need to strip out the dark colour and I'm plucking up courage.
Am used to having different hair as hubby and I are/were bikers so I'm not afraid to look different in the hair department. 

I've decided lately that I want to be a more eccentric middle aged lady!!

[ellie]

Vitimin C tablets, that's a new one on me and I am an ex hairdresser. Just found this info on net.........



 
Lighten Hair with Vitamin C

Q: Is it true that you can use vitamin C tablets to lighten your hair? How does it work?
 
A: Vitamin C is also known as Ascorbic acid and by exposing the hair to said acid for an extended period, you soften the hair which opens the cuticle by gently swelling it. (Alkalis also expand the cuticle, but do so more rapidly, while acidic solutions will tighten the cuticle and then cause expansion depending on the strength of the solution.)
 
      Because it will expand the cuticle, Vitamin C can be used in a solution to lighten permanent hair color and in some cases can help to remove the color somewhat. It can also be used to enhance the sun lightening process on the hair. Women today will still use lemon juice (high in vitamin C – ascorbic acid) to help the sun-bleaching process.
 
      There are even “home remedies” for removing permanent haircolor when you dislike the results that involve crushing vitamin c tablets (or obtaining the powder form) and creating a paste by mixing it with a highly alkaline shampoo then applying it to damp hair with the haircolor you want to remove. Once the cuticle layer is opened, the stronger shampoo is able to wash away much of the color molecules that have been deposited into the hair shaft.
 
      You should remember, though, that the hair MUST be treated carefully to avoid excessive damage. (It is ACID after all.) Above all, keep in mind that everything we do to our hair has a price associated with it.
 

[ariadne]

Thank you ellie - I wondered how it worked. Actually, my hair looked in quite good condition afterwards and I didn't even put conditioner on! I did read though that some people repeated the process several times so perhaps that would increase the chances of overdrying the hair.


I'm just so relieved (and surprised) that it worked
ariadne xx

[Rowan]

I use Ascorbic Acid Powder fast dissolving and add to conditioner, also add it to face cream to make vitamin C cream or a mask.