How to get my hair back to normal?

July 18, 2007 12:15 PM

What is the best way to get rid of highlights?

I have honey-colored highlights in my dark brown hair. I am sick of the maintenance (time-wise AND money-wise). I have heard bad things from people who have tried to get rid of them by dyeing their whole head back to its original color (i.e., as soon as their hair gets anywhere near the sun the highlights reappear). Any thoughts?

posted by liberalintellect to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (6 answers total)

For chunky highlights, a stylist may be able to tint the individual stripes close to your natural color. If you have thin, all-over highlights, though, I wouldn't recommend dyeing your whole head. Then you'll have to wait for both the highlights and the dye to grow out, and even if the allover color is close to your real color, the fact that it is still artificial will most likely be a line between the natural and dyed hair. I've been there. Grow them out if they're not in too much contrast to the rest of your hair? Try a semipermanent color all over to make them less noticeable without permanent commitment?
posted by juniper at 12:29 PM on July 18, 2007

Tell your stylist that you're wanting to let your highlights grow out without looking like a freak. She or he will probably suggest mixing in some "lowlights" among the highlights (a shade darker than your regular hair color). I know it sounds counterintuitive, but it really does work. It gives your hair more of a blended color and it looks more natural while growing out.
posted by amyms at 1:05 PM on July 18, 2007

I've never had highlights so I'm no expert but the first thing I thought of was henna.
posted by zach braff's mixtape at 1:45 PM on July 18, 2007

Best answer: I just did this and it was very easy. I bought some of that "semi" permanent hair color in dark brown (my natural shade) and colored my whole head. I did this once every two months or so until they grew out.

The semi permanent washes out in 24-48 washes or something like that, so you don't have to worry about permanent effects and it covered my highlights until they were gone. So no highlights and no all-over roots to worry about if you didn't get the shade of brown to EXACTLY match your hair. Bonus: the dye makes your hair super shiny and glossy since it doesn't have any bleach in it.
posted by nataliecay at 3:24 PM on July 18, 2007 [1 favorite]

I recently went to my stylist for the same reason and she put something in my hair to sort of neutralize the highlights prior to dyeing it. I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure it was a toner. Ask your stylist. I'm sure this is a fairly common request.
posted by curie at 6:30 PM on July 18, 2007

You must first replace the pigments that are missing,in your hair (dark brown )that pigment will be red/ red orange, mix the color with water instead of developer put this mixture on the highlights only process ten minutes and rinse, at this stage your highlights should look really red orange, then mix up a color that matches your hair (dark brown) apply to the the highlights only, process twenty minutes. wet your hair add shampoo and work up the color mixture for a few minutes this will balance it out, rinse and enjoy your natural color.
posted by hortense at 7:22 PM on July 18, 2007