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Advice: Going from Blonde to Brunette.

by Lexi
(Wisconsin)

Never ever dye your hair brown using box chemicals and such after you've dyed your hair blonde. It will turn out green.

If you want to go brown after blonde, then I suggest going to a salon and getting it done.
Your hair will look alot more professional and blend together better. (:

Comments for
Advice: Going from Blonde to Brunette.

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Help, it's too late!
by: Anonymous

I found this thread after doing a panicked google search on green hair. i tried to take my bleached blonde hair brown and i now resemble queen ursula from the little mermaid. what can i do?
someone please help me, i cannot afford to go to the salon, so i need advice for an at -home fix.

(and btw, my hair was platinum, so i used a med. honey brown thinking it would not be grey or green.)

Bleach blonde straight to dark brown
by: Anonymous

I went from bleach blonde straight to dark brown using a box dye and it was a complete success :) I used 2 boxes of Loreal Extreme Excellence Creme colour Natural Dark Brown

blonde to brown
by: Anonymous

Always put a red on before brown then your hair does not go green ,but it will have a chestnut tint on it x

Blond to Brown
by: Anonymous

If you have been using blond shades for years over brown, your hair condition won't be as good as it could be so if you use box colours for cheapness you usually end up buying at least one or two more shades to get the colour right over the blonde. And it really takes it out of your hair so save money and effort by going to the hairdresser for the first colour change back. At least it's less expensive in the end and your hair condition will not suffer any where near as much.

I have had to wear my hair short and keep cutting it short to get rid of dry hair I ended up with trying to use home colouring over blonde.

Best tip ever
by: m.Elen

I cant count how many times I have gone Black to Blonde to Brunette to Blonde. In salons and with packet mixes and I have had plenty of disasters.

So if you dye your hair brunette from blonde and it turns green or like a mud colour or is way too dark, go to the chemist and buy a pharmacy strength anti dandruff shampoo and repeat washing for around 10 minutes... it works, like wonders.

To ensure your hair doesn't go green though to begin with, get a light red colour and use that first before putting the brown over the top second. It acts as a filler because blonde hair has no pigment, worse if you have poor quality or damaged hair. Whatever you do don't go for a colour that is copper based or too dark, because you can always go darker but hard to go lighter. But yes it will go green if u do it wrong and its a horrible experience. I HAD GREEN HAIR!

Going from brunette to blonde should only ever be done at a salon, so much risk involved and I had my hair snap at one point. It can be done in one shot, but you have to get a hairdresser that is willing to do it, most of them like to take it slowly to make sure the hair wont break. Only be prepared to go blonde if you have the money, time and patience.

No amount of treatments will help with hair breakage, seriously your hair needs to be in good condition before you put any chemicals on it.

Best advice, get a hairdresser to do it, takes the nerves out of the whole process

Blonde to bruntte
by:

A note to consider. Use an ash brown. You can successfully dye your hair, at home, from blonde to brunette with any shade of brown labeled as 'ash'. (ex. dark ash brown, medium ash brown, etc) you do NOT have to spend 80+ bucks for color correction at your stylist, especially since most girls who make this mistake are under age 16 and probably cant afford it since they dont have a job. just look at the boxes, use an ash shade, and no worries about green hair.:D

Its not Hard
by: Anonymous

To go from dark brunette to platinum blonde it took me one day....I used manic panic bleach and my hair never broke off....[I have curly hair] Then to go back i just mix a light redish color with a medium brown and now I am light brown. NO GREEN

I just made sure to go all natural with out adding heat for a few days maybe two weeks so that i could wash my hair alot more to help it get back into shape....

Bleach blond to first time brunette
by: Anonymous

I have been blond all my life, and been bleach blond for years now , I really want a change and a want to go brown but i dont want it going horribly wrong i am going to do it myself cause not got the money to go to salon.. so will i buy a red hair dye? Then once my hair is red then die it brown? cause i don't understand how to do it exactly?
Be grateful for reply

Blonde to brunette
by: Anonymous

Took the advice to use L'Oreal excellence dark and it worked for me too in 10 minutes and my hair was bleach blonde, and brassy too! thanks for that x

Blonde to brown
by: Anonymous

Well i had heard that using the "ash" color would take my blonde from brown... but GUESS WHAT!!! i got green hair now!! help!!! what should i do now??

HELP
by: Anonymous

I have just dyed my hair bleach blonde from BLACK! and want to dye it to my natural colour brown ? or red which will work together ???????

Bleach blonde to brown
by: kim

I went from bleach blonde to brown in one step, using L'Oreal Recital dark brown, with no green.

Ash colors on blonde hair will make your hair green
by: Anonymous

Wow, there are some really mean people out
there. Why would you say any color labeled ash will help?
Ladies ash colors on blonde hair will DEFINETELY make your hair green. Please believe ME and don't go through that. The person who wrote that MUST be a hairstylist mad at the fact that people want to do it at home and not go to a salon. As someone mentioned blonde has no pigment so going for a brown might result in a muddy or green color.
That is the reason why you do the red first or combined in the mixture with the brown. In the color wheel red opposes green. This lets you know that to kill a green tone you apply red. Some people get lucky by going to a really dark brown but for a pretty shade I suggest using the red.
Best Wishes to all!

SCARY! (BUT VERY GOOD ANALYSIS!)
by: Self-Proclaimed Colour Pro

You're exactly right! I thought she was just ignorant but what you said makes total sense! Turn your hair green if you're not going to go to her...wow! That's very mean and creepy. I wouldn't want to make her mad in the midst of processing or cutting MY hair! So, for anyone who cannot afford the salon, which many can't & go anyways, or if you simply prefer to do it yourself, personally every time I've ever gotten my son's hair cut in a salon--any salon or barber, it's either ruined or manageable enough for me to 'fix', anyways you can trust everyone else on here that:'ASH'(anything, blondes or browns) definitely turns blonde 'GREEN'!!!

my story
by: Anonymous

I tried to go from medium blonde (which is what I was via hair color, I am a natural medium brown) to dark blonde using "natural dark blonde" hair color (level 7). I ended up with a darker dull greyish greenish color which I hated. I didn't want to go the hair color remover route right away (which does work, when I used to have brown hair the coloring would sometimes come out too dark and I would use Color Fix to remove the color but you then have to dye it again because it ends up a light red).

What worked this time was to put on half a box of "light reddish blonde" (level 9) and half a box of "extra light natural blonde" (level LB02) - I used half and half of the color and the peroxide that came with each and mixed it in a plastic bowl. Left this on for about 15 minutes. Now my hair is a normal color, this put back the reds, and it's also lighter which I'm happy with.

My advice is always take going darker in steps because processed hair really grabs darker colors and you don't want to end up darker than you want (this used to happen to me all the time when I was trying for a light brown, and why I eventually ended up just sticking with blonde. Good luck.

ASH
by: Anonymous

Just so you know a great at home fix for ash green tones in your hair, or even pink tones is LEMON JUICE... it's very effective, because the green and pink tones are just that toner... the lemon juice will strip the green and pink from your hair... you may have to do it more then once... but it WORKS....

umm
by: Anonymous

I guess you have know idea what your talking about. I've done it to many different people and just recently did it on my own hair. Ash browns work best when going from blond to brown. However to get the best browns. First dye hair ash brown of your chose then after a week dye it again with nice more golden brown if wanted.

WARM TONES
by: Anonymous

ALWAYS you golden or warm tones...I am a natural blonde...I have dyed my hair plenty of times and anytime i use ash my hair turns gray/purple. I use warm tones and my hair turns out perfect every time.

How can I go from blonde to brunette
by: Anonymous

I have blonde heavy highlights and I'm considering dying it to a darker tone (brown).I want to do it at home but I am not sure of the tone I should use. I am afraid of hair breakage and for my hair to turn green. Can anyone please advise of tones that I can use that won't turn my hair green nor too dark.

USE A FILLER!
by: Anonymous

If you are going to go from blonde to a darker tone; first buy two boxes of dye; they can be the same color or you can buy one darker and one the color you want; use the darker color or if you bought two of the same; use half of the mix, and the rest water into the bottle; SHAKE WELL! apply this color all over ( this is called a filler ) this will take the blonde and color it but not the color you wish to go; rinse it out; then once you have rinsed it; blowdry your hair and it's time to use the second box; Apply this color like you normally would; the blonde in your hair will not go green or any other color for that matter because now it should be a light brown if that is what your going for;

I cant tell you how many young girls i have come into my salon with green or grey hair because they made this mistake. ALWAYS USE A FILLER ON BLONDE !

brown, red, blonde....blonde, red, brown :)
by: Anonymous

Take it from someone who has dyed her hair all shades (blue black to blonde and back to brown) in the span of 13 years and still manage to have fabulous hair - Dye hair RED first, then put whatever brown shade you want.

Going from blonde to brown is a reverse process where instead of taking the red pigments out (to get that yellow shade), you are putting it back into your hair and using it as a base for the brown. Stay away from ash colors! That will definitely turn your hair into a drab brown with tints of green. Warm medium browns to dark browns (chestnut) will work best. Also remember to condition, condition, condition (hot oil treatments, hair mask packets, olive oil, anything!)

Vinegar rinse
by: Anonymous

Wash your hair with vinegar...Used this trick after being blonde and swimming chemicals turned hair green. Also, been there done that , don't dye it at home if you are going darker after being platinum! Go to a salon, worth the trip instead of buy boxes and redying hair several times trying to get the right shade. Save yourself the stress! Leave vinegar on hair for about 3 minutes then rinse and condition , condition, condition!

Going from Low-Lights to All-Over Color
by: Cropsey

I have had my totally gray hair colored for many years. I haven't seen my real hair color in I don't know how long! Right now I have a lighter brown (dark blonde?) with very little low-lighting. My stylist said she put a darker color on the foiled areas.
I don't want to pay for coloring any longer and want to do it at home, but I don't want yellow blonde or any red in my hair.
I'd like it just a light brown. (I'm confused with what is dark blonde vs light brown.)
I am 71 years of age and have medium skin with lots of pink in it. I purchased the #7 but after reading lots of info online I don't think that's the one for me and I will return it.
I hope someone can give me good advice.
Thanks in advance...
Cropsey

brown? what about PURPLE? :)
by: Anonymous

After reading all the posts, i have to add that i dyed mine red then brown and the result wasn't green it went PURPLE!!!! AAAARRRGGGGG.
I was well upset, so no i didn't go green but just the above.
so what did i do wrong?
p.s: I was platinum.

coming from a pro
by: Anonymous

First off I am a professional hairdresser for 27yrs- once you strip your hair to a blonde stage you are removing your red pigment from your hair you need to apply red back into the hair straight from the tube- no developer your hair will absorb the color your hair is very porous- leave that on and apply over the red with your choice of brown with 10 vol developer, remember you only want to deposit color not lift hair color.. The red color may be there faintly- but will fade out with shampoos.

Anytime you apply an ash color over blonde hair you will end up green, unless the blonde color on your head still has alot of brassiness to it-which is the red remains from not being lightened enough to a pale blonde state- not turning green would be flat out luck- put the red in first and play it safe you need the red pigment which makes up a brunette color, as for the wanna be hairdresser, my best advice to you is to stay off the forum your only screwing up peoples hair!! Im sure colorists are frowning on my out of salon advice- but in our economy, everyone needs a little advice!

oh gosh
by: Anonymous

Haha whoever said to dye it was ash brown is very very wrong, I did that with my friend a year or so ago, and it was very greenish blue, my friend that went to hair school said never ever use ash with bleached hair.

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