Hello, I am in Toronto, Canada. I got a great answer for a previous question, however I wanted to know WHY I cannot cover my Goldwell permanent hair colour with a good brand of Non-Permanent colour? Such as Clairol. I want to do it at home. What might happen? Thank you in advance.

You can. Nothing much will happen if it truly is a non-permanent (i.e. temporary) hair color. If it's a semi-permanent (or demi-permanent), then you might have problems. The two colors will "mix".

Hair coloring doesn't work like paint. If you color your hair, the underlying color shows through. That's why if you want to go lighter, you have to bleach the hair first.

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Originally Posted by Perito

You can. Nothing much will happen if it truly is a non-permanent (i.e. temporary) hair color. If it's a semi-permanent (or demi-permanent), then you might have problems. The two colors will "mix".

Hair coloring doesn't work like paint. If you color your hair, the underlying color shows through. That's why if you want to go lighter, you have to bleach the hair first.

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ok Thank you Perito. Are these items semi-permanent?: Clairol Natural Instinct and Clairol Herbal Essence? RG/Aquareii

Natural Instincts is a "demi-permanent". They sell it by calling it a semi-permanent but that's technically not correct. Herbal Essences is a permanent haircoloring, I believe. Neither of these are temporary haircolorings. Note that my answer was only for truly temporary haircoloring -- not for demi-permanent, semi-permanent, or permanent.

If you use one of these, the color will mix with the color that your hair is currently. It will not replace it. It will work kind of like looking through two pieces of glass that are colored different colors.

If you wish to go a bit lighter, it simply won't work. There's an old addage in the industry that says "color won't lighten color". Interpreted, that means that a lighter haircoloring won't lighten hair that's been colored by a darker haircoloring. If you wish to do this, you need to use something like ColorFix, which is a haircolor remover.

By the way, if you use a demi-permanent on colored hair, it might not ever come out -- it may become permanent. This is especially true of bleached hair.

OK Perito, Thanks very much for your answer. I'm going grey and the colour at this point is "auburn". Wanted to keep it and do it at home. Love the metaphor of looking through different colours of glass. Maybe that's a more natural look anyway.
Thank you.