[emma792]

My natural hair colour is brown, I had died it blonde on top and chestnut on bottom, when I came to doing my routs I left the bleach die on for too long and my hair turned a grey colour. I then put a lightest brown on to cover it but has got a weird green tint to it and is also snapping off. I want to try and go a warmer colour more natural looking but not sure what colour to use? Would semi permanent cover it? Thanks

[Perito]

This is a problem with trying to go dark over light hair. Let me explain what is happening.

Normally, formulators understand that brown dyes will be used on darker hair. They formulate the dye to be mixed with hydrogen peroxide. The hydrogen peroxide lightens the natural pigment of the hair (whether or not the hair is being dyed darker). When hair is lightened by hydrogen peroxide, it goes red, then orange. Thus, the formulator has a lot of red/orange to contend with. He, therefore, formulates the brown color with a significant amount of GREEN to counteract the red (red + green = brown).

When you lightened your hair with bleach, you lightened past the orange stage to yellow and possibly to pale yellow. Thus, when you re-dyed your hair with brown, the green in the brown dye became predominant. The "snapping off" is because you've damaged the backbone of the hair by bleaching it too long.

You can't fix the breaking off. You can try to minimize it by 1) applying conditioners to keep friction to a minimum, 2) letting it grow out and 3) only dyeing the new growth.

You can help the color. Since red counteracts the brown, if you apply a semi-permanent (a demi-permanent, actually) with some red in it, you will counteract the green. You have to be careful not to get too much or your hair will become reddish. Of course, it will all fade in any case. The green will eventually fade and if you try coloring it with red, it will also fade. The faded color will, most likely, be something more reasonable.

Use a lighter brown than you used before. Add a little red from a dye of the same brand. Don't use anything with strong developer. Demi-permanents use developer, but it's pretty weak. Even then, you can't keep dyeing and dyeing. You need to call it quits.

Good luck,

[divinepwr]

Agree with Perito. Also, there is a point where the hair will "shut down" and not accept color any more. Demi on the underneath, but depending on the damage, I might use semi permanent Brown/red on the blonde. At this point the integrity of your hair should be priority number 1. I recommend getting Alterna Caviar Repair hair masque. It is specifically made for this problem. It will rebuild the lipid layer of your hair.