[PJ13]

I have naturally very fine, very straight, dishwater blonde hair. I keep it short, like a pixie.
I had it bleached and toned to a nice Scandinavian blonde about 2 months ago.

I've been using lavender shampoo and conditioner so the colour lasted a lot longer than in the past.

It has now begun to get this dirty yellow tinge and I want to add some life to it, but stay blonde, not bleached though. I am however, in the poor house at the moment so would like to do it myself using drug store products. I've done this in the past, (can't remember what product I bought) and it turned my hair green because I still had some bleach in it. It was expensive and har don my hair to repair, I'd like to avoid that this time.

Can anyone suggest the right shade and/or over the counter product I should stick with?

Believe it or not, hair dressers won't help, they all swear up and down against drug store products, but, I just don't have the money to get it done professionally. It's hair or food, I'd rather eat.

Thanks for your help!
PJ

[Perito]

The hair didn't turn green "becuase it had some bleach in it". It turned green because there was/is green in most brown hair dyes -- even the lightest brown ones. Bleached hair lacks red (it's been bleached out). Hydrogen peroxide (developer in haircoloring) reacts with natural pigment to lighten it and make it more red. Therefore, there's normally a lot of red in single-processed hair. When there is not enough red in the hair and you color the hair with a single-process dye, you get a greenish cast.

Since you want to stay blonde, I'd suggest a violet shampoo that is made for blonde hair. Violet counteracts the yellow. I'll suggest this message board for more information

Bottle Blondes Board

[PJ13]

Hi, thanks for your comments. Perito.

I wasn't dying my hair brown when it turned green, I was dying it blonde. I have been using a lavender/violet shampoo but it isn't doing anything anymore - that's why I want to dye it to infuse some life into it.

Any suggestions on what shades would work? Do I need to dye it twice?

Thanks!

[Perito]

The principles are the same whether you were dyeing it brown or blonde. The formulator still added some blue/green into the hair dye to counteract something he expected to be in the hair -- but wasn't there in yours. If you selected an "ash" shade, when it turned green, opt for a "neutral" shade. If you were using a neutral shade, select a "golden" shade. But, be careful. The golden shades tend to become very "golden".

Whatever you use, the color will fade as you are seeing now. The fact that lavender isn't working any more implies that there's too much yellow in there.

Fading in blondes always means "brassiness", and many people use the appearance of yellow (brassiness) as a sign that it's time to retouch. However retouching means putting chemicals on the already-dyed hair (after doing the roots first, of course). That can eventually lead to hair damage. For that reason, many people opt for demi-permanent (as opposed to semi-permanent) colors for retouch. However, these are best used with double-processed haircoloring (i.e. bleaching and toning).

If you have a lot of trouble with brassiness and fading, you'd do well to consider double-processing. It's not as hard as a lot of people would have you believe.

You'll also find that a brand that works for one person won't work reliably on another person. For that reason, brands and recommendations are pretty worthless.