colored medium brown gone brassy

by Emily

My natural hair color is medium brown and I colored my hair myself with a medium brown color, and it looked great for about 4 days and then after that it turned redish-orange! then i colored it again with a different brand but a similar medium brown color and the same thing happened! it worked for a few days and then turned brassy! what is going on? and how do i fix it?

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colored medium brown gone brassy

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Mar 31, 2008

Hmm...
by: Michelle

Have you colored your hair before this? What were you coloring over to get to medium brown?

When depositing color, try to stick with semi-permanent (no ammonia, low peroxide) colors. Permanent color from the drugstore is packaged with 20 volume peroxide. This means that the color will actually "lift" your natural shade a bit before depositing the pigments.

That bit of lift brings out the orange underlying pigments that are present in all brown hair. Learn more about underlying pigment and hair coloring chemistry here.

So you can easily get an ash toned semi-permanent color and apply it right over top. If you'd still like to keep a bit of warmth, then use a neutral tone instead. Nothing "warm" though because warm tones won't neutralize the brassyness. Make sure you let it process for the full time.

Let us know how it works out for you!

All the best,
Michelle
Editor, SHM.com

Mar 31, 2008

same thing happened to me
by: Amy

I had the same thing happen after I got blonde hightlights. The highlights looked horrible and I tried to dye my hair back to medium brown with Loreal Feria. It worked and looked good for a few days, then the whole top of my head turned a copper/brassy color. I ended up using Clairol Herbal Essence # 57 Brown Cool and Collected. My hair ended up a very dark brown shade and all the brassy tones were gone. Within about 5 days the tone faded and I am back to my normal medium brown, no copper/brassiness. Not sure if something similar would work for you. This was my last hope before going to a professional. Luckily it worked for me. Good Luck!