OK, I've read lots of posts and I'm sure everyone is sick of this same question, however, here we go...
I THOUGHT I had dark brown hair. I've always considered myself a "brunette." Well, I went to my hairdresser fpr highlights and she did a beautiful job. BUT, I started doubting how well it looked and due to a lack of positive feedback (no negative but no positive either) I paniced and attempted to go "back" to my original color. I used Loreals preference dark brown and almost passed out when I saw what looked to be black in the mirror. It was soooooooo inky! We'll, that's toned down a bit (it's been 2 months, but it's still too dark and in the sun it has a deep red metallic hue to it. What on earth did I do?? Inside it just looks flat dark brown, but when the sun hits it OMG! :(
I went back to my hairstylist who wanted to strangle me (and I don't blame her.) She said I was actually a "DARK BLONDE" originally and that's a common misperception that women make... they think their hair is darker than it really is. She did a strand test to see how much of the color she could lift and it turned out "haystack" colored. Kind of orangy-yellowy. Reminded me of how many young hispanic females hair looks when they get the highlights in their very dark hair. So I opted NOT to have her highlight it again.
I'm afraid I'm going to do something stupid because I truly hate my hair now. AND IT'S LONG!! So I won't cut it off. What is the best way to lighten it back to the "dark blonde" or at least a pretty light brown again. I want my old hair back so bad. :(

Choose a dark "ash" blonde hair color. This will neutralize the orange tones and take you closer to your natural color.

OMG! That's it... shoot me. NOW I'm a true freakin' strawberry redhead! I panis and do stuff without thinking (obviously.) I went to Walgreens, bought the Loreal Color removal kit, and it left my hair the most horrid orange I have ever seen! :( So... keeping with the instructions on the box, it said that it would NOT return my hair to it's original color (so that wasn't the surprise,) but that I would be able to color it immediately after to the desired color. SOOOOOOOOO... I colored it with a light brown (ash) and IT DIDN'T TAKE!! Why?? What happened? I hate when I do what I think is right and now I'm stuck with this crazy color. My real concern... when my dark roots start coming in I won't be able to color the rest to hide it?? Why didn't it take??

Sweetie, you should have never used a hair color remover on your hair. Hair color removers can cause unpredictable results, they may make your hair red, orange or yellow. Even if you use an ash base color, you will still have red tones in your hair. It's best to go to a salon and have them do a corrective color on your hair. Good luck.