BellaOnline Forums Beauty and Self Hair Hair Color Mishap

Hi! I colored my hair yesterday and it didn't come out even close to what I had in mind and I now want to change it. The color I wanted was a lighter brown with highlights (mine is naturally dark brown with red highlights with grays). So I bought Nice N Easy Dark Caramel brown with built-in highlights thinking that the worst that would happen is that my hair would be red. On the box it showed my hair should have been a reddish brown color. My hair turned out to be a really dark purplish black. I e-mailed Clarol to ask for their advice, but I'm not planning to return the box and receipt to them because I threw them away. Last night when I saw my hair I just figured I'd wait for it to grow out or try to dye it again another color, but I'm not sure what color to dye it to get what I want. Can't afford professional help either. ALso, my hair is naturally very curly and I do straighten it sometimes, so I really don't want to make it any dryer than it already is (it's actually pretty healthy right now). Is there a coloring product out there that is better than most when it comes to not drying your hair out??

Thanks! Tina

I think the problem was with the color you chose. Dark Caramel brown will not result in lighter brown. You really can't go by the picture on the box, because the resulting hair color depends on the color of your own hair.

The best and safest way to change the color now is to visit a professional. Applying another tint over this one will result in darker hair unless you use bleach or color remover - and that opens up a few more problems to deal with.

I believe you can get a color stripper at Sally Beauty Supply or your local beauty supply. Either that, or get yourself some developer and add it to your shampoo as you wash your hair and by leaving it in for a few minutes, this will help to lighten your color. I had this happen to me recently. I colored my hair way too dark. I mixed some developer to my shampoo (in my hand, not the bottle) and applied it leaving it on for a couple of minutes. This helped quite a bit. You might need to do it more than once.