From A Visitor:Help! I tried to lighten my hair, it turned orange. Then I was told to darken it to tone it down and it grabbed the color and went brown with green.
I then used a color remover, it went blonde/orange so i put a deposit only color which washed out but my hair is still a honey/orange color and my root is growing out which is about 6 level with ash tone. How do i correct it without bleaching?
SHM Responds:
The lightening and color remover will have made your hair porous so that the cuticle layer is open, and more prone to grabbing the ASH tones from any color you add to it. Go here for more on hair color chemistry.
When you say...
"Then I was told to darken it to tone it down and it grabbed the color and went brown with green."
I suspect that the color you applied was a permanent color in an ash tone. Try using a semi-permanent (lasts 4-6 weeks) hair color in a neutral, or slightly golden tone.
If the semi-permanent fades fast, add Sebastian Colourshines a few times between semi-perm. applications. Sebastian Colourshines is a hair "stain" rather than a hair color. Stains don't work in the same way as hair color, you'll get a rich, deposit-ONLY color. But it is temporary... and can be messy. You can get it here (for a limited time, apparently, it's been discontinued by Sebastian)...
http://www.adiscountbeauty.com/page315.html
*Caution - Stains are temporary, yes... but they can also be difficult to *completely* remove from the hair when you want them out. If you want to lighten your hair again in the future, avoid using a dark colored stain too often.
Lastly, but very important... your hair would likely benefit from some conditioning treatments to smooth the cuticle layer down a bit. See our information on deep conditioning/reconstructing treatments.
I hope this helps.
