What's my next step hair dye-wise?

May 24, 2018 8:33 PM

I stripped my dyed auburn hair last weekend and as expected, it's kinda orangey. Should I do a permanent dye now or a semi-permanent one?

My natural color is a light ashy brown/dark blonde (I was super blonde as a baby), with a lot grey intermingled. I was having it professionally highlighted for a while to blend in the first greys but as the grey got more pronounced, I tried letting it grow in and after about and inch or it grew out, I lost my nerve and dyed my hair medium auburn from a box. That was December, I've touched it up 2-3 times since then but although it looks good, it's a huge pain to maintain and I'm tired of it already. So back to blonde-ish, I think.

I used Color Oops, last weekend and it took out a lot of the darker auburn but left my hair a little orange-y, as expected. It's not horrible but I'd like to tone it down to something cooler. However, it did leave my hair slightly crispy so I don't want to overprocess it (as if that's an option anymore!) .I have in front of me a box of Revlon Colorsilk in Dark Ash Blonde (Shade 60) and a box of Clairol Natural Instincts in Dark Cool BLonde (7A) - this last one is billed as a semi-permanent color.

Or I guess I could go out and get a highlighting kit or a frosting cap. What's my best bet for moving my hair in a cooler direction while minimizing damage?

posted by otherwordlyglow to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (7 answers total)

Definitely not highlights or frosting--that will compound the damage! I would do a toner rather than dying it with either of those colors--you won't get a true color since you're starting with an orangey base, plus your hair shaft will be more porous from the processing and it may come out much darker than you're expecting. Your dark cool blonde could come out super dark.

A blue-toned toner (or even a blue toned shampoo like the kind for gray hair) will cool it down, for now.
posted by assenav at 8:57 PM on May 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

I’ve never used them, but I’ve heard good things about the helpline numbers on the boxes of hair dye. I’d try calling one of them if I were you.
posted by Weeping_angel at 9:13 PM on May 24, 2018

I really doubt you want to read my more expensive advice, but box colored hair plus a Color Oops stripping to orange-y creates a Perfect Storm of unexpected consequences. Like, your hair could turn green or blue or black or literally break off by using any box product. After this amount of processing, you won't get promised box results--also, that stuff is super harsh and is likely to further damage your hair. Then you could be stuck with green/black hair that's badly damaged and unstrippable without breakage.

If the color is not bad for now, I would deep moisturize it for a few weeks and then get it professionally colored. Tell them exactly what you want and how you want to do home maintenance.
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 3:35 AM on May 25, 2018 [3 favorites]

I did something similar a few years back (dyed my hair auburn for years, got tired of the maintenance, wanted to grow out my natural hair) and I just dyed over the orange in a cool shade one shade lighter than my natural hair with a permanent dye. It did have orangey undertones in strong sunlight still, but mostly it looked okay. YMMV.
posted by all the light we cannot see at 6:43 AM on May 25, 2018

You want tints for a while to get your hair back into condition. More permanent dyes on top of stripped hair could lead to all sorts of fun consequences. Basically any hair color you don't mix with a developer. Think a Demi or Semi permanent.
posted by wwax at 6:46 AM on May 25, 2018 [2 favorites]

For the crispiness and continued color, I really, really love Olaplex 3. You work it through your dry hair, leave in for at least 10 minutes and then shampoo and condition as normal. It's been amazing for my hair that I get colored every6 weeks.
posted by Squeak Attack at 9:24 AM on May 25, 2018 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Well, I went the toner route. I bought a bunch of things from the Blond Brilliance line and used the 15 developer with Champagne toner. It didn’t do much but I guess my hair is slightly less brassy. I’ll continue using the toned shampoo and conditioner and the elixir from the line and see if it helps. I’m guessing the toner I used was too light but it’s fine; nothing bad happened at least!
posted by otherwordlyglow at 6:40 AM on May 26, 2018