I have medium to dark brown hair. I used Clairol's Natural Dark medium golden brown color and the color came out way too dark, closer to black. What can I use to lighten the color without hurting my hair?

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Originally Posted by nance

I have medium to dark brown hair. I used Clairol's Natural Dark medium golden brown color and the color came out way too dark, closer to black. What can I use to lighten the color without hurting my hair?

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Well you should never use any "color" from a box. Ask any professional hair stylist. That is my advice... go to a salon. If you continue putting product on your hair you will fry it and it will start to break off. Make an appointment.

If your hair is black, you will need to use some kind of lightening product to make it lighter. You can use your selected hair color with a 20-volume peroxide developer if you want to go a couple of shades lighter. Keep in mind that dark hair contains a lot of red pigment in it, and if you try to lighten your hair, it could result in a red/orange shade. Therefore, you should let a hairstylist do the color for you.

There is a product called One n'Only ColorFix you should be able to purchase from a beauty supply store. Follow the instructions for a slight color correction.. . or you may also find helpful suggestions you'd like to try on the post "How to make dark hair dye fade faster" a couple of posts down on this page.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nance

I have medium to dark brown hair. I used Clairol's Natural Dark medium golden brown color and the color came out way too dark, closer to black. What can I use to lighten the color without hurting my hair?

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I used to to hairdressers every 8 weeks for various tints, highlights etc. my hair is mousy brown nauturally so reverted to my natural colour. I wanted then to use a brown colour which would not be boring and I have selected a number 3 which is permanent. I always use box colours for my hair but like you want to revert to a lighter stage. When you are a number 3 you can only stay with a number 3 until you completely grow out the colour in question. I went on every website available and got very useful information. The outcome for me to be slightly lighter was to use a brown which has lights already in the mixure (NOT the lowlights you add yourself). DO NOT use pre-lighteners, every story I read was HORROR ones. If you cannot wait then as previous stated go to the hairdressers for them to lighten. The only thing I will say is dying your hair at home does not fry your hair - I would assume frying your hair to be linked with peroxide or bleach. Good luck. Maria .

I did the same thing, color was black. I used Clariol Shimmer Lights conditioner for brightening highlights and grey hair and then dried my hair in the sunlight a couple of shampoos and it lightened mine to a dark brown. Hope this works for you.