I dyed my hair "light golden brown" which turned it to very dark brown. I followed up w/ a "medium blonde" which did absolutely nothing. How can I lighten this very dark mess?:eek:

Hi hun,

If you have any beauty shops in your area like "sally beauty supply" you can look for a wash and it should bring the color to a lighter shade. Just make sure you find one that will work on hair that has been colored for a while because some of them need to be used instantly:o

"Color won't lighten color" is a maxim said and heard frequently by colorists. What that means is that a lighter hair color (or a color "wash") won't lighten hair that's been dyed by a darker haircolor.

Basically, your hair "grabbed" the color. This usually occurs because your hair is very porous -- probably from dyeing or bleaching it. If that's so, it will probably fade in a week or two. You can hasten this using clarifying shampoos (Prell) or other strong detergents.

You can also go to a colorist who will use color remover and re-dye the hair a lighter shade. You can do this at home -- if you're careful -- using ColorFix or Color Oops. Then you have to re-dye the hair.

Be careful. This is not a panacea. If you don't know what you're doing, you can end up really damaging your hair.

Get two boxes of color oops or a colo remover. There's one called color oops and one other one at like walgreens. They only carry two brands I think, but the other one (I can't think of the name) is a gentle, more natural version. So, anyway, you get two of these and a box of the color you want. Use one, use a deep conditioner, dry it, and look. If its light to the point its at the shade of the color you want, then dye it. If not, use the second box, condition, dry it, then dye it. If you don't use the second box you can always take it back, but trust me, you don't want to run to the store with freaky orange hair for another box of dye. Don't worry about over doing it and frying your hair. I've gone from black to platinum blonde in a weekend before. Not orange blonde,but platinum blonde. Just as long as you don't do it all the time and you use a deep conditioner twice a week your hair will be fine. That, or go to a hair salon :)