Hair turned reddish trying to go blonde

I bought a highlighting brush on kit for medium brown to black hair. I left it on for 90 minutes as suggested. It turned out reddish with a few lighter strands. should i have left it on longer? And what can I do now about getting the color to the shade I want. Blonde.My natural hair color is medium to dark brown. I can never get it to the right shade and have damaged my hair in the past, also have had salons damage my hair too. I let my hair get healthy for about a year. Then just recently tried this highlightening kit. How can I get it blonde without too much damage? thank you so much, Jackie

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Hair turned reddish trying to go blonde

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Mar 07, 2008

Coloring hair blonde...
by: Michelle

The highlighting kits found at drugstores just don't contain a high enough volume of peroxide to adequately lighten hair... especially when you're starting with a really dark color. If you want it lighter, you'll have to lighten it again. The problem will be getting the lightener on ONLY the previously lightened pieces.

These "brush on" kits bother me because if bleach is not covered somehow, it dries out while processing and loses its effectiveness. That's why I'm such a fan of foiling highlights. This keeps the lightened hair separate from the rest, so there is less chance of the bleach "bleeding" onto surrounding hair. And it keeps the bleach solution covered so it won't dry out during processing.

You can weave out the lightened strands and re-lighten them inside of foil. If you're not confident with foiling your own hair, I'd suggest going to a salon and having a colorist fix your hair.

All the best,
Michelle
Editor, SHM.com

Mar 07, 2008

Red to Blonde
by: KT

Well first store bought kits do not tell the level of developer your using. And you really cant tell the color by the outside of the box. My suggestions are if you have brown to dark brown hair and are trying to reach a blonde color, you are going to have to use 40 volume bleach so you can get it to lift through the stages. and then tone it if neccessary because it got to light (that what u should have done. Now at your red-orange color, its very hard to pull red out I suggest using at least a 30 Volume bleach for no more then 45 min. and NO HEAT.... Trim your hair and deep condition with a reconstrutive treatment weekly. Hope this helps, good luck

KT Stylist

Mar 08, 2008

red to blonde
by: Anonymous

Thank you all for your comments. It helped me alot. Also I have to agree with you all that the drug store dyes are not strong enough, also I don't care for the brush on one either, as mentioned, it dries on your hair and doesn't get to lighten enough. Thanks again, Red GOING blonde!