A couple of days ago I had my hair professionally bleached to get the previous black hair dye out of it. I asked for a light brown but it came out a light ginger. As I couldn't afford to get it recoloured again so I bought a medium brown dye myself however it turnt into a greenish/bronze light tone that looks horrendous!

I don't have enough money to go to a professional to get it back to a brown but I am aware I need to dye it red then brown otherwise it will keep turning green. What hair dyes (colours/shades and brands) is best to use? And please, can you tell me the step by step process as well to get to the brown, I would appreciate it so much!

Or is there another (cheap) way of getting to brown from this greenish bleached hair?

Had a friend do this once and lost most of her hair, sorry to put it to you but too many times with too many color changes and you take the risk of some if not all hair loss due to too many chemicals on the scalp.

Maybe you can stay with the color you have till your natural color returns, otherwise,take your chances with losing what you have.

Don't shoot the messenger.

Use a rinse (6 to 8 shampoos) that does not contain peroxide. Treat your hair with whatever conditioning product works best for you until it is strong enough to take a permanent color.

Hello Tulip,

First off, I would think that the salon, if that's where you went to, would have honored that for you, by getting your hair to the desired color, with out you having to pay. Considering it was their mistake in the first place.

Ok, leave your hair alone for a little while, at least a week. You put your hair through so much with beach and dark, and so on and so forth.

If I were you, I would use a reconstructor every day. K-pak is a good one. This will really condition it. Which it needs.

Next, no more bleach. Say it with me, NO MORE BLEACH. Lol You don't want yor hair to break off even more.

After a week, you could use a darker color.

Remember, color doesn't lift color. So it will have to be a little darker.

I would go to a beauty supply store and get the color there. Ask the person there to help you determine what level your hair is at right now. Then go a shade darker. Don't use any thing with ash in it.

For example, if you are at a level 6 right now and it carries a greenish tint, use a level 5 with some red to cancel out the green. Use Wella cream 5N with red additive (a very little) or else it will grab too much red and then you will be back to square 1. Then use 10 volume developer. That is a deposit only. Don't use anything higher. After you rinse, use the reconstructor.

Find out what level you are. That was only an example.

I wish you luck.

The salon should have fixed that for you if you were spacific in what you wanted.


Be careful not to over process your hair as it will leave it frizzy, tangled, dry and unruly. In some cases the hair might fall out.

I think you have to say peroxide or whatever ingredient you mean instead of "bleach." I've seen people actually look for the word "bleach" on the bottle, not find it and destroy their hair - due to peroxide.