OK, I am naturally a very light brunette. I have been using at home, over-the counter and salon hair dyes for 15 years, and always with pretty good outcomes. In the past I've usually went lighter, but recently I've been going darker. My first few times were successful, but this last time, I went too dark. I purchased the Clairol color and developer from Sally, and used a 20 with a dark brown color. It turned out too dark. I waited about a week and used a 30, with the same brown I tried before. I did this like 3 times, about a week apart. Each time instead of lightening it, it seemed to only get darker.

Now my hair is pretty much black, and I'm afraid it will keep getting darker the more I color it. I just want it lightened to closer to my natural color.

What should I do? PrettyLady? Help!

I am A stylist... color won't lift color, and that is why it keeps getting darker. The only way to remove this dark color is to strip it. It will damage your hair, but it's up to you to decide if you'd rather deal with the color or deal with damaged hair. A lot of people do it and do lots of conditioning treatments after and it returns to manageble hair in a few weeks . If you choose to strip it get powder bleach and 20 volume developer and use according to instructions... process until it is a medium orange and then use a color the shade you want that has a green base , as this will neutralize the red-orange. With the new color, you only want to use 10 volume developer as your hair has been through enough at this point!