Hi, I have really long hair and I like to change the color. I have naturally dark brown hair but had bright red for months. But I had to go on interviews so my mom wanted me to dye it back down and took me to a shop. I was told the only way to get the red out was to dye it dark, which my stylist did. It was the first and likely last time I will ever have my hair dyed at a salon- aside from the cost, it came out so dark and she missed a spot.

That was over 2 months ago and my hair faded to a really odd greenish brown in spots so I decided to dye over it to even it out like I had when my hair was red. This time, the dye got really hot on my ends (don't really know why) and my roots were all that took color. How can I lighten my hair and even out this color without spending hundreds in a salon? (I would eventually like to get to a blonde, but I'm not sure how to best do this slowly)

Thanks a ton!