About a year agao I went from a medium brown to an all-over highlight (that looked solid) to a "brond" color, more of a honey blonde. Was very busy with work and personal life so I left it alone, except dying the roots, and mixture or brown with a few grays, a medium blonde. I finally went to a salon, my colorist had left- no idea where she went- and I received a sort of ashy, dull blond with dark blond low-lights (not to mention a bad long "bob") I went back and for free they put in a demi-perm color in sort of a mahogany brown (not a fan of red) All I see is a dull color that's faded on the ends. I'm deep coditioning and using Morrocon Oil (not sure who makes it) to add shine. Not going back to that salon, obviosly, but can I just lift it up to a honey tone (even a light honey brown) withut becoming too orange or red> Thanks;:o

About a year ago I went from a medium brown to an all-over highlight (that looked solid) to a "brond" color, more of a honey blonde. Was very busy with work and personal life so I left it alone, except dying the roots, and mixture or brown with a few grays, a medium blonde. I finally went to a salon, my colorist had left- no idea where she went- and I received a sort of ashy, dull blond with dark blond low-lights (not to mention a bad long "bob") I went back and for free they put in a demi-perm color in sort of a mahogany brown (not a fan of red) All I see is a dull color that's faded on the ends. I'm deep conditioning and using Moroccan Oil (not sure who makes it) to add shine. Not going back to that salon, obviously, but can I just lift it up to a honey tone (even a light honey brown) without becoming too orange or red

I'm not exactly sure what color you want since my vocabulary doesn't include Brond. Also, I don't know what a mixture or brown with a few grays means (I'm sure someone does, but I don't). Is your hair brown now or is it blonde?

I fear that the cure will be worse than the disease. It's not easy (almost impossible) to lift hair "just a little" without using color remover. Also, many salons use bleaching-type color removers (the reducing type are much gentler, but they're also fairly new and many salons haven't figured that out) and that tends to trash the hair.

If your hair is really a brown (forget about the particular shade) and you want it blonde (any blonde from dark blonde to very light blonde), I would use ColorFix or Color Oops to remove as much of the color as I could. I would then use bleach, if necessary, to lift the color to that which would be required (depends on the exact level you want your hair to be) and then tone it. Whether this will be successful depends on the condition of your hair.

The condition of your hair does not depend on how much you've conditioned it or how soft it feels now, it depends on how many chemical processes and what type of chemical processes have been used on your hair. Hair never heals or improves with time. Conditioners make it feel better and mitigate conditions leading to breakage, but the backbone damage that one worries about is simply accumulated.

Let me know more particulars and I may be able to offer more advice. Also, check out these web sites:

Bottle Blondes Board (http://www.network54.com/Forum/503669/)

The Going Blonde Message Board (http://www.network54.com/Forum/127834/)

Thanks Perito
Well the "brond" color I was referring to was coined in a fashion magazine to describe "not too brown, not too blonde" (they showed photos of Jennifer Aniston, Sarah Jessica Parker- I'm also a fan of Anna Paquin's new blonde- she's on the new HBO series Trueblood). As far as the "brown with grays" I was referring to my roots, which Im expert at coloring-justt hard to find the right color, doesn't make sense to dye them dark, although you see a lot of that, then to lighten them so I just used a med to dark blonde. Chunky highlighted hair looks dated and that's why I was looking for an all over, but not solid, honey blond.
Hope that explains it. Thanks:)

BTW, my hair is now a med brown (the mahogany-red has almost faded out)

Well the "brond" color I was referring to was coined in a fashion magazine to describe "not too brown, not too blonde" (they showed photos of Jennifer Aniston, Sarah Jessica Parker- I'm also a fan of Anna Paquin's new blonde- she's on the new HBO series Trueblood). As far as the "brown with grays" I was referring to my roots, which I'm expert at coloring-just hard to find the right color, doesn't make sense to dye them dark, although you see a lot of that, then to lighten them so I just used a med to dark blonde. Chunky highlighted hair looks dated and that's why I was looking for an all over, but not solid, honey blond.

BTW, my hair is now a med brown (the mahogany-red has almost faded out)


I've pushed my wife to keep her hair lighter as she grayed. I think women should go lighter as they age. I find the dark hair to be aging and definitely not pleasing to the eye.

I think I'll stay with my original recommendation: ColorFix + bleach (if necessary) + re-dyeing the hair a lighter color. The fact that your hair has almost faded strengthens my recommendation.

Thanks Perito
Is that like Color Oops (I'll look for it) How light should I go and shouldn't I put some sort of toner of colr on top? Lola:confused:

ColorFix and Color Oops are both similar (sulfur-based reducing agents -- they smell similar to perm solutions). ColorFix has been around a lot longer.

A toner is simply a dye. You do have to use a toner or a dye on it. I'm not sure how light you want your hair to be. If you want a dark blonde (level 7), you have to lighten at least to the yellow stage. If you want a level 10, you have to lighten to pale yellow. Pale yellow is said to be the color of the inside of a banana peel.

Using the "level" system (1=black, 10= light blonde), if you wish to lighten more than 2 levels, you need to use hair bleach (double-process blonding) to do it. If you bleach, I recommend demi-permanent haircolors as toners. (L'Oreal Castings Color Spa, Clairiol Natural Instincts, Shades EQ, etc).

Hair coloring - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hair_coloring)

Demi-permanents on bleached hair are usually more resistant to fading the "permanent" haircoloring. Demi-permanents are similar to permanent haircoloring -- they use peroxide to "develop" the color, but the peroxide level is much weaker than permanent haircoloring. For that reason, it's much gentler on the hair. When you bleach your hair, you really need to 'baby' it.

Hope this makes sense.

Thanks for all the info- big help!:)

You can also use a colored shampoo and conditioner to subtly change or accurate your already colored hair. Loreal used to have a great line of products called Artec that actually had color molecules suspended in their shampoo and conditioner to add color to your hair. Although not enough to actually color your hair with just these products, they would definitely keep colored hair vibrant and colorful longer. The violet would also cut the brassiness in highlighted hair. For some reason they have discontinued this wonderful line of color shampoo and conditioners. However, http://www.haircareusa.com lists many great alternatives to Artec, including Altobella Claypac, AllNutrient Color Shampoo and Tressa Watercolors. Check it out for long lasting color for your hair.