I am naturally a redhead but bleached my hair over a number of years and tired of it so decided to put a permanent redish brown on which I like but seems abit harsh. I just want to lighten it a few shades but when I do test strands nothing happens. Can anyone help?

Red colours are the most quick to fade. I would wait a while before doing anything drastic.

I went through the same thing you did... I used PALMOLIVE LIQUID DISH SOAP as a shampoo for about a week with GARNIER FRUCTISE EXTRA MOISTURE CONDISTIONER... I would wash my hair let the SOAP sit for FIVE MINUTES then rinse... put CONDITIONER in (alot! ) and let it sit for TEN MINUTES... I would rinse it out and then put GARNIER FRUCTISE SLEEK AND SHINE HAIR SERUM in and COMB out with a FINE TOOTH COMB so it was distributed EVENLY... DO NOT BLOW DRY... do this for a WEEK and your hair will go from BLACK to LIGHT medium BROWN... fading drastically...

Or in your case from dark back to light red brown