My original color is dark brown. However, I am 54 yrs old so have lots of gray. I've been getting blond highlights. Last night, I attempted to darken my hair with Revlon, Colorsilk, #47, medium brown. My hair turned out almost black. Can I attempt another color today to lighten the effect? What color / product should I try? Can I go to a salon today and have highlights added or, is it too soon for that? Please help.

You you can have highlights put in but if your hair is as dark as you say it is the highlights might not come out the color u expect

You can't just dye over it with a lighter color. "Color won't lighten color" is what most colorists recognize from beauty school. This means that a lighter haircoloring won't lighten a darker haircoloring. (we're talking about single-process haircoloring).

There are several solutions. You can use ColorFix (also Color Zap, Color Oops, Color Charm Color Corrector, Golwell Color Remover, Igora Phantom) to remove the artificial color. This will leave your hair with just its lightened undertones (usually red, orange, or yellow). You then can dye it lighter.

The second solution is to try to bleach it lighter. This will be harder on your hair than the first solution, but it's what many people try to do. You can't go too much lighter with bleach -- the artificial pigment will bleach to a red or orange color.

The third solution is to wait. If your hair grabbed the color like you say, it's likely that your hair is quite porous. It should fade substantially within a couple of weeks -- faster during the first week than the second.

Some salons will tell you that they want you to wait 24 or 48 hours so as not to damage your hair. Unfortunately, they don't understand chemistry so this old wives' tale persists. Hair doesn't "get better" or "heal" over time. It just stays pretty much the same. The oils from the scalp will make it appear to be in somewhat better condition, but rubbing a tiny amount of oil into the hair will do the same thing instantly. It is possible to re-dye today, if that's what you want to do, without major damage. Of course, continued dyeing of the same hair always causes at least a small amount of damage.

Just something to keep in mind if you plan on dying your hair darker in the future...

The color on the box is usually 2 shades lighter than what your hair will turn out to be. So opt for a slightly lighter color than you are looking for, you can always go darker, but going lighter it a lot more difficult and more damaging to your hair.

I think you should either wait it out, the color WILL eventually fade.

Or go to a salon and let them lighten it. I discourage attempting to bleach your own hair. Best to leave it to the professionals :D:D

Well I can tell you that redying it a lighter color will not work. I just tried it and it hardly lighten at all