All right, so my original color is black. It's currently dyed to a medium, golden, (red tinted in pictures) brown with face-framing highlights. Both base, and highlights from a box dye-store brand.

My goal is to go lighter; asher, closer to ash blonde (or as my sister would state, a very light brown). I want to get rid of the red hues completely.

My question is if I strip the color (with Colorfix), and dye my hair with a blonde dye, will I become lighter?

My understanding is that hair dye cannot color dye that's already on the hair shaft. And so you have strip the shaft of the color, and input a new one to fill it in. <Someone correct me if I'm wrong, or further explain this? (Yes, I've researched, but that's as far as I understand it)

My hair is already lightened with the brown (it's not a dark brown), so if I strip, of course it won't go darker (unless you oxidize it or whatnot?) but it'll be the lightest its been with the current dye. (Does that make sense?) Now that the shaft would be raw, can I lighten it (or deposit color) with blonde dye?

[My current dye]
Base: Loreal Paris Feria, Hi-Lift Cool Brown (B61 Cooler Shade) (http://www.lorealparisusa.com/_us/_en/external/images/products/large/HCo7_39_large.jpg) <This is a good reference for my hair now, except it's a bit more of a darker golden shade, and red in pictures.
Then dyed over the roots with, and also did highlights: Loreal Paris Couleur Experte Express (8.3 Warmer, Dulce de Leche, Med Golden Blonde) (http://www.overstockdrugstore.com/product_images/o/071249200650.jpg)

Of course, my hair isn't the exact shade, but the Feria did lighten it considerably.

[Experience]
ColorFix: I've used this before, so I can say I've sort-of experienced with stripping.
Ash Blonde dyes: I've also used blonde dyes before and it's given me a medium, lightened brown (in the light/sun).
Blonde: I have actually been blonde before (salon-done). An actual bleached blonde, with ash chunks. And I loved it!
Damage: Don't particularly care for it, as I've gone blonde^ before, and had straw-like, stretchy hair before, and breakage. But you can always tell me how much it'll hurt :)
Hair: My original hair is an Asian Black (not to be prejudice or anything!) and I've been coloring my hair since I was ten ;)
Salon: No, thank you, I've gone before, but it's expensive! (I MIGHT go if it'll be overly complicated, but I've always been an experimenter and have a no-care attitude about coloring my hair. But since I'm trying to grow it out now, I just want it colored the exact shade that I want, and grow/condition it that way.)

[Hair chart reference (http://www.awigxpress.com/RW%20Color%20Chart.jpg)]
Original color: R2 (Brunettes)
Color before I dyed it: R9S(ish) with inches of roots (Brunettes)
Current dyed hair: R30 (Hi-Lites)
Desired color: R38 (Grays)

Thank you for reading this overly long detail! (I may have repeated myself a few times)

That's a lot of info!lol!however my answer I will make brief! I'm very educated and have specialized in color for 7yrs! Do not attempt this on your own! If your worried about damage stripping color will do it! What your doing is considered corrective color!this must be done by a colorist at good salon in order to go about it in the least damaging way!I promise if you do this yourself you will be very sorry n end up in salon anyhow to fix your mess! Haircolor is chemistry and requires education! Now corrective color can be costly! For instance I would charge you a minimum of 200! It sounds like your worried about money so the cheapest way2get your desired results is to keep the light brown you have applied on your ends! Lift your black new growth to the same level! This will leave you w a brown base!if your wanting lighter my very best suggestion would be an extremely heavy full foil highlight! A toner may be needed afterward to cancel out any unwanted tones if the highlights do not completely lift out the coloR! This must be done@salon! If done correctly your overall result will be a very pretty dimensional blonde! This will look great! And one more thing just in case you don't listen to my advice? If your hair is naturally black? Doing a completely allover solid blonde would be extremely costly even if you did it yourself because once your hair grows out even the slightest bit it will look really trashy having very obvious black new growth and blonde ends! You would need2touch that up every 3to4weeks!! Horrible idea! Go see your stylist n get your new growth lifted n a heavy full foil! You will love it n you will feel blonde!