Ok, about 6 months ago I died my hair from blonde to a dark brown. For the past month now my hair looks horrible from trying to turn it to a lighter color! My roots are showing ( 1 inch) and the color of my hair is a medium brown now and I have been washing my hair with Clarifying shampoo because I am scared to strip my hair, I have heard you can loose your hair. Anyway to get to the question, I know that I need to seek a professional but they are quoting me over 200 dollars because of the thickness and length of my hair and I just don't have that kind of money, I am sick of wearing my hair up and looking horrible. But every time I attempt to go to a lighter color myself, my hair won't take and just stays the same color. :mad: Any advice? I am scared to ruin my hair or loose it! I am thinking I just need to stay dark until I can afford to go back to a dark blonde, but I don't want to do that. I would appreciate any advice I can get!

If your hair is medium brown, and you want go dark blonde, you will need to pre-lighten your hair with bleach to a level that's lighter than the color you want then deposit the desired color for best results. However, since you want to lift the color just 2-3 shades lighter, this can be done by using your desired hair color and a 30-volume peroxide developer in equal parts. You will need to apply heat to accelerate the lightening process. So you will have place a plastic cap over your head and sit under a hair dryer or apply heat to the hair with a blow-dryer until you reach the level of lightness you want. A single process high-lift color can produce brassy tones. If you experience any reddish tones in your hair, use a green-based "cool" ash hair color in dark ash blonde to neutralize the unwanted tones. Leave the dark ash blonde color on your hair for 10 minutes then wash it out. These products can be found at a beauty supply store. Please have someone who has experience in hair coloring to help you do the coloring process.