How to Dye Black Hair Brown

Black hair is a very sultry and chic color, but it doesn't suit everyone. Whether you've decided to try black hair and just didn't like it, or your hair is naturally black and you'd like a change, you can dye black hair brown and achieve a beautiful result.
Assessing your hair
When lightening hair, it's important to consider whether your hair is naturally black or you obtained the color with black hair dye. If your hair is naturally black, and you haven't dyed it in the past, this is called virgin hair. Virgin hair lightens really well and the process is generally much easier.
Dye, on the other hand, can be more stubborn to remove, and it is best to use hair dye remover as a first step to try to remove as much of the artificial color as possible for a healthier, even result. Because of this, the process of dyeing your hair brown is different if you've dyed it before.

Dyeing virgin hair
Virgin hair contains no artificial color and it is much more responsive to chemical treatments. This means that it can be lightened without bleach. This is in comparison to hair that has been colored with hair dye and needs to be lightened with bleach if you wish to go a lighter shade than your current color.
If you're working with virgin hair, all you will need is the desired shade of brown hair dye, a bottle of 30 vol developer, and the usual dye application tools like a tinting brush and bowl. The more concentrated 30 vol developer is mixed with the dye in order to give it the lift needed to lighten your hair and dye your black hair brown, whilst the dye itself will tone your hair to the desired shade as it lightens. This will work for a dark brown or medium brown result.
If you'd prefer a light brown color, you will need to pre-lighten your hair with bleach first in order to ensure it will be light enough. After this, you can tone it with a light ash brown dye to neutralize the warmth and achieve a light brown color. The process here is the same as if you had dyed your hair black.
- How to Get a Light Brown Hair Color
Want to dye your black hair light brown? Have a look at this new, more detailed tutorial if you'd like more help with this shade...
Equipment needed
- Brown hair dye
- 30 vol developer
- Tinting bowl and brush
- Comb and sectioning clips
Choosing a shade of hair dye
A useful tip when you are dyeing hair a lighter color is to use a hair dye shade that is cooler than your desired shade. Whenever you lighten black hair, lots of red and copper pigment is revealed because the base tone of your hair becomes visible. In order to dye your hair a nice shade of brown, you not only have to lighten it, but neutralize these warm tones so that the color looks natural.
If however, you would like a red shade of brown, stick to the precise shade. In this case you don't need to cancel out any of the warm tones. Any warmth that is revealed will work to your advantage and allow you to reach a more vibrant shade of auburn.
When you choose a dye, use ash brown shades for a natural brown result, and natural brown shades for a warmer result. For auburn shades and other shades of red brown, use the exact desired shade. For this process, you can reach a level 4 medium brown at most. If you want a lighter shade of brown hair, you will need to bleach your hair before dyeing it.
- Choosing a Shade of Brown Hair Color
Brown hair colors are diverse and can be just as vibrant as blonde or red. Find out how to choose the best brown hair colors to match your features and style...

Hair dye brands
When you dye your hair, you will always get the best results by using a high quality professional salon brand. Choose shades from brands like Indola, Matrix, Wella, and Igora for great results every time you dye your hair.
Preparing and applying the dye
The shade of dye you have chosen needs to be mixed with developer before it can be used. The developer not only works to lighten your hair, it drives the entire dye reaction and makes the dye permanent. For tone on tone dyes, you would use 10 vol peroxide to dye your hair with very little lightening. However, to dye black hair brown, you will need to use 30 vol developer in order to maximize the lightening effect.
Developer is usually added to dye in a 1:1 ratio of dye to developer, though this can vary with manufacturer, with some hair dye manufacturers recommending a 1:1.5 ratio. Use the ratio recommended by the brand you have chosen and mix the dye up using your tinting bowl and brush.
To apply the dye quickly and accurately, it is important to section your hair properly. The easiest method to do this is to divide your hair into four individual sections. You can do this by parting the hair down the middle from your forehead to the nape of your neck, then again from each ear, clipping the individual sections aside. This leaves you with four quadrants to work on.
Now that you have your hair sectioned in quadrants, begin applying the dye to your first quadrant from the back of your head, working around to the front. The way you have sectioned your hair will allow you to apply the dye very quickly and this is necessary for even lightening and a natural looking color.
When you apply the dye to a quadrant, pick up thin layers of the section you're working in and brush dye onto both sides of each layer, working down from the top of the quadrant until you've completely covered that section. Move through each section like this and you'll be done in no time.
Development time is the critical factor now. For maximum lightening and to reduce fading of the final color, you need to leave the dye on for the full recommended time of your hair dye brand. This is usually 45 minutes. You can take this time to relax and prepare to wash the dye out. Once the developing time has passed, rinse out the dye and enjoy your new color.


Equipment needed
- Powder bleach
- Ash brown hair dye
- 10 vol and 20 vol developer
- Tinting bowl and brush
- Comb and sectioning clips
- How to Bleach Hair
You need to use bleach to pre-lighten your hair, and bleach needs to be used correctly. Discover how to prepare, apply, and use hair bleach...
Dyeing non-virgin hair
If your hair has been dyed black, you can't use another hair dye to strip out this artificial pigment. The popular hairdressing maxim that 'color can't lift color' reigns supreme here and you will need to use bleach first to pre-lighten your hair. This is a two step process, but it isn't that much more complicated compared to a virgin application.
Pre-lightening your hair
Dyed hair won't respond to another hair dye and you will need to bleach it to lighten the color first. For this process you will need powder bleach, 20 vol developer, and hair dye application tools. The powder bleach is mixed in a 1:2 ratio of powder to developer unless your brand specifies a different ratio. You will guarantee the best results by using a quality brand like Wella, Indola, or Matrix.
To apply bleach, divide your hair up into the four quadrants explained earlier and begin applying the product to each section just like you would apply a dye. In this case, you will need to work with a decent speed to ensure the lightening is even, so if you aren't able to apply it quickly, you would be best to practice your skills before you decide to use bleach.
Once you have applied the bleach to your entire head, allow this to process for up to an hour, checking it every 5 minutes as it works. It is not likely that it will take the entire hour to strip out the black color, so checking the bleach regularly is very important. You only need to reach a deep red color for dark brown, red-orange for medium brown, or orange for light brown. You can rinse the bleach out once this has been reached.
At this point your hair will be an orange or red colour. This isn't the final result. Bleach is used to remove color from your hair, but you can't use it to dye your hair brown, just like you can't really use it to dye your hair a nice shade of blonde. To transform this red shade into an actual natural shade of brown and finish the process, you will need to tone your hair with a dye.

More information
- Caring for Dyed Hair
Dyed hair needs specialized care to keep it looking and feeling its best. Find out how to care for dyed hair and maintain your new color. - How to Dye Your Hair
Hair dye can allow you to change your entire style with ease. Discover how to dye your hair for salon quality results. - How to Do a Bleach Bath
A bleach bath is a milder way to lighten your hair or remove dyed color. Discover the benefits and learn how to use it.
Toning your hair
When you dye virgin hair with a hair dye, the dye lightens and tones your hair in a single process. When you bleach your hair, this toning has to be done separately because bleach can't add tone to your hair. For this you will need an ash brown shade of hair dye to neutralize the red base tones and form a natural brown color. The ash dye should be one shade lighter than your desired color.
For this process, you can use a permanent dye for lasting color, or a semi-permanent dye to tone it without causing any chance of damage. The caveat here is that a semi-permanent dye won't hold as well and will need to be repeated every few shampoos to maintain your color. It is best to use a permanent shade to add permanent tone back in and follow this up with a semi-permanent dye should you need to refresh your brown color.
If you're using a permanent dye as the toner, mix this with 10 vol peroxide and apply it the same way you applied the bleach by working through quadrants of your hair. When the dye has been completely applied, allow it to develop until the warmth in your hair has been neutralized and it reaches your desired shade of brown.

Your new color is beautiful, but in order to keep it that way, it's important to care for it properly. In particular, you will need to tone it every so often as warmth creeps up when the dye begins to fade. Fading is unavoidable when you dye your hair, but occasional toning will allow you to keep your desired shade as vibrant as the day you dyed it.
If you have a question about dyeing black hair brown or an experience to share, leave a comment below for tailored advice and share your insight with other readers.
Questions & Answers
Comments
I’m going to soap cap my hair I’m a level 4 and I want to be a level 5 should I put the soap cap on my ends to mid shaft first then on my regrowth last? Because my regrowth will lighten fast because it’s Virgin hair and the heat from my scalp will lift it faster I just don’t want hot root
I have been dying my hair black for 10 years.
I have bleached and coloured so many times that you think I would learn my lesson and stop.
After having to shave my head from bleaching too many times, my hair has grown to a short bob which I dyed black again and again (naughty).
Anyway I'm over the black and couldn't resist the bleach AGAIN... I used Colorista bleach and saw no results until I washed it out.
I am so happy! Although it didn't go blonde at all, it also didn't go orange. It lifted to a beautiful chocolate brown.
I don't know if everyone would get these same results but for it to go brown and not orange was a breath of fresh air!
My hair is dyed black but its slowly starting to fade into brownish red. I would like a medium ash brown tone but i want it to come out even. How would I apply the bleach to make sure it's even?
I'm going dye my hair brown but it black how do it right
I have been dying my hair a red color not bright more like a reddish-blond and my son wanted it back to my regular color almost dark brown but my daughter-in-law used an ion dark brown and it turned black and I'm not happy with it i want it brown not dark brown but a little lighter than dark brown any suggestions that i can do i don't have the extra money to go to a salon
Your article is very helpful.plz tel me can i dye my jed black hair into meium copper brown?and golden streaks in it?
Hi. Ive very very dark brown/soft black hair and i wanna dye it to a ashy light brown kind of like a sun kissed caramel shade . If i use bleach and then dye. Can i do it on the same day? Won't it be too damaging?
Hi I have had black died hair for years and am trying to get back to a nice medium/dark brown not reddish, I striped my hair using a stripper to dark red girl applied dark brown and it went back black. I really striped it and put on light brown and it still went black any advice please
My hair colour is black I won't it to be highlight to blonde color not platinum blonde..just blonde how can I do it..just bleaching can do it..and one more thing when see online bleach they are two kinds of bleach white and blue which one good for me plzz help
i have 5 inches of roots which are my natural colour (light brown) and the rest is a bleach blonde but currently is purple, I want to try dyeing my hair black so I was thinking of using a semi permanent dye, will this work? Will it fade to an awful colour? Can colour remover get rid of the black after I'm bored of it? If not how can I get light brown after trying the black?
Hi my hair is naturally black
I have 6 inches of virgin hair from roots and below my hair is 10 inches and has been previously bleached and dyed with a semi permanent dye.
I would like to go to a chocolate brown like in the photograph at the top of the page.
If I used colour remover would I then need to dye the virgin roots with a 30 vol and permanent dye, and then treat then the previously bleached hair with the same dye but using a 10 vol?
The previously bleached hair was taken to a pale yellow originally.
Thanks this is a great blog!
I forgot to add... I used a level 7 demi gloss recently to tone down some of my grown out highlights (which will be lopped off before I do any more coloring). Does that mean that my level 4 hair isn't virgin anymore, even though 7 is a much lighter shade and not permanent?
Great article! You say "A useful tip when you are dyeing hair a lighter color is to use a hair dye shade that is cooler than your desired shade." What if you want to lighten dark hair by a shade or two, but you also have some gray hair (in my case, only 10% at most). My hair is about level 4 neutral/ash, and I want to go to about a level 5-6 neutral/beige. I thought I'd use a level 6 ash to cool down the warmth that will happen from lifting, but will my gray hairs then turn some really weird shade?
Hello, I went to a professional senior color specialist. I have very dark brown hair and used to dye it w/ a semi (same color to cover little grey) 3 times a year. I wanted to go a light brown hair color. I was recommended highlights w/ medium brown, light chestnut and medium chestnut. When my hair was finished it only looks a shade lighter than what I had and the light chestnut, instead of looking light brown looks copper orange. Is this normal? I was told that it will take 3 or 4 times to achieve a light/medium brown hair color. Is this true? All of the lighter colored parts of the hair don't look that light to me other than a bit of copper tone to it. I was told they did use a tone.
I have virgin black hair but itsa little like 99% lightened due to the sun. I want a medium r light brown color. If i use dark ash blonde hair dye, will I be able to achieve the brown without turning it blonde?
Hi,
So I have a natural black hair and I wanted to dye it to light brown, I want the lower half of my hair lighter than the upper half so what vol. of peroxide should I use with the bleach and what volume should I use with brown dye??
Thanks!
This is such an interesting site. Thank you. I have dark brown to black hair. I grey very quickly at the roots. When I color the greys I just have the roots done with dark brown. I now would love to do cap highlights with a light ash brown. I have read lots of your replies to the questions. I know there is no other way but bleach. Please tell me how to look after my bleached highlighted hair so it won't be damaged very much with all these chemicals. Thanking you in advance.
I had my black hair coloured light brown at a salon. He used loreal blond to wash the black coloured from my already dyed hair. Then he used a mix of majirel color to give it a light brown shade. However since I have grey hair I need to touch up every month and I used loreal Inoa light brown on my hair . This came out much darker than my present hair. I would like to go for lightening my hair once again . My hair is somewhat damaged. Will it be safe to go for lightening . I got it done a year back
Okay,
So I see you respond , and have been all over the internet looking for an answer as to what to do. So I'm dying my hair tomorrow but do not know where to start. I dyed my naturally Reddish Brown hair Black. I dyed it about 8 months ago. So now my roots are showing and my black has red showing throughout my hair (I believe from washing out). And would like to dye my hair to a Brown that will accent my natural color. So thAt when it grows out it compliments eachother. I don't mind bleaching, as I know how to care for its damage. But what would you recommend?
My girlfriend wants to dye her hair brown. Thank you for the advice. It was nice to know that if you haven't dyed your hair before, the process is generally much easier. I will let her know that she should give it a shot. Thank you for the advice.
Hi,
I am Asian and have black hair. I've died it perhaps 6 times so far. I died it myself for the first time in June, with Ganier soft black. Then, yesterday I used Koleston 33/0 intense dark brown (with 6% developer), thinking I was going to have brown hair. But it turned out black, without a trace of brown. After reading this blog, I think I understand why the resulting color is not what I wanted. But I don't really want to go through the process of bleaching my hair then redye it brown. Is there a way to dye my hair a darkest brown color without going through the bleaching?
i bought a light brown hair dye i plan on bleaching my hair first but want to know since i want a medium ash brown color should i add green food coloring to the light brown hair dye since its not a ash dye and also whats the best way to dye hair with peroxide only or with lemon or somthing like tht please answer
can you apply ash brown hair dye to bleached hair
And yeah i forget to tokd you one thing i don't want to use bleach because i already have a hairfall prob.can you tell me any method to dye my black hair gokden brown without bleach and can i use loreal paris and if so then which shade of it is suitable to make my black hair golden brown? Please reply soon
My natural hair color is black .i dyed my hair in 2013 with a dark brown shade of garnier naturals but it didn't work well on my hair.i feel no change .now i want to dye my hair with a golden brown shade .and i want some change .my hairs are no in good condition these days.i am facing hair fall probs but i want to dye .please guide me..
I have a dark brown hair but i hennad it 6monthes ago beside dying it black .now im removing the henna since a month by using the steps which i read in ur site ... it worked a little but i still have reddish dark ends can u tell me what shades shall i use in order to get medium to light brown
I have virgin black hair and want to lighten just very slightly . When I used to get perms , my hair was slightly lightened that I liked. This is the amount I would like lightened. Could I achieve this lightening / almost ash brown look with a semi permanent color without lightening ( bleaching) first ? Or is it best to use a permanent hair color ?
Thanks again, it's hard to find well written content online, let alone original and useful content. I'm very glad I found this site, nailed it!
Hi,
I have black virgin hair and I dont know much about hair dyes but my mom asked me to do a black gloss sometime ago. I just found out from my stylist that i cant bleach my hair to any brighter colour evenly if i dyed my black hair black. Is there really no other option? i really wanted a grey beige balayage :( please give me some advice or solution. Thankyou!
Hi,
I died my hair a dark brown permanent colour yesterday with it being previously died ombre with the roots a light/medium brown. The colour I applied yesterday came out pretty close to black even though I removed it 5 minutes earlier than recomended. I hate the new colour I have been left with and would like to find a way to make it a nice medium brown all over. Please help me with recomending something. I would like a quick way to make this desired colour be possible. Thank you
Hi!!
so glad I found this blog. I have dyed my hair black and it has been this way for about 2 yrs now. I have gray roots coming in. I am tired of dying it every other month. I went to a stylist to see if I could just take it from black to gray. One stylist said yes but the other told me no, that it would ruin the texture and integrity of my hair. Do you have any advice?
Hi
I got a virgin black hair and I would like to dye it chocolate brown colour, plz suggest what I should do? However I'm a warm skin toned girl, thanks
I have natural black hair but I have now a ombre on it. I want to dye it with a natural brown color. I was thinking to use first a remover hair dyes, after that I want to applied the ash brown color with 20v. And one week after I want to do my highlights I will do it with a cap, bleach, and the ash brown color bc I don't like red tone at all and I will mix that color with 10v??? Bc the hair it's bleached already? ?? Can you tell me it's this all its possible?? I will use SALERM PRODUCTS.
Heya, Just did this via a professional hairdresser, but wish to reverse it as I found that I prefer my almost-black natural hair. First time getting it dyed as well. Any way to remove the colour so that I can have my natural hair colour back?
Hi, first of all thank you for the post! It really helped me learn what needs to be considered and prepared before DIY coloring my hair! I want to try self hair dying for the first time. My natural hair is very thin black hair. I have dyed it to medium brown a year ago and the roots grew out a lot and now my natural black hair covers my whole scalp (cannot even call them root anymore, 1/3 of my hair is my natural hair color). Since the summer is approaching, I want a bit lighter hair. I found this picture on internet: http://www.besthaircolordye.com/wp-content/uploads...
I was wondering if I could dye my hair like that? Although the length of my hair only reaches my shoulder, I really like the model's hair color. I believe it is highlighted all over, but the root of the hair is like light ash brown? I was wondering what products I could use to dye my hair like that! also is it possible not to use bleach to get that ash brown color? My hair stylist once got my hair platinum blonde with just hair dye though I had to go back to salon the next day for second dying process. I really want to keep my hair undamaged and shiny like the model's hair! if there is any product I should be using with the hair dye to lessen the damage from hair dye, please recommend too!! I would be more than appreciative if you could advise me on the hair color (i am not sure about the numbers of hair dye...and what color the model's hair exactly is), what products (was planning to buy wella's koleston perfect from amazon, i think that's what my stylist used on my hair) I should be using (i did not know what developer was until i read your post) and any other products I should use to achieve the shiny and beautiful colored hair!!!Thank you very much!
Hello, my natural hair color is soft black. I had my hair professional dyed black about 3 months ago; soon after It started fading into a dark brown/reddish color. I dye my hair approx every 6-9 months usually using Sally's products (dark Browns and 20%developer). NOW I finally want to go lighter (medium to light caramel brown). Associate at Sally's recommended One N Only Color Fix and then toning it with light ash blond. My question: will this work? I'm concerned about my roots not being the same color as my hair. How do I ensure an even color? Do I use different developers? Do I leave the color remover or dye longer in my bottom hair as opposed to my roots.. Or vise versa?... Please clarify. Thank you
Hi
I had dyed my hair black before and now I want to dye my hair a mid brown colour as black is too harsh for my skin. My hairdresser has tried to lift it and tried highlights and nothing is lightening my hair it just looks a million different colours. Is it best to just strip it? And then dye my hair Brown?
My hair is naturally a medium brown. I first got a perm to have loose curls because my natural curls were going limp. The length was almost to the bra strap. A few months later, I dyed it black for an occasion. It's been 4 or 5 months since then and the perm has grown out about halfway(length is still at bra strap). I have touched up the roots with black but I desperately want my hair to be a dark brown or darkest brown with not a lot of red. My original hair color is too light for me now and I would look washed out. I have a huge problem with frizzy ends and I'm worried about damaging it any more. I haven't been to a salon yet because I'm scared of what they would do to it and the cost. My mom(an experienced hairdresser) has been doing my hair but she is worried to try something different because she has been out of practice lifting black hair and she is scared of causing more damage. Please, please, please help me with my hair and give me advice on what I should do! I would appreciate any help you could give me. Thank you for reading this.
I have virgin black hair and I want to lighten the ends to a dark brown color. I want the color to be noticeable but not too light at the same time. I also want it to look really natural. Should I go with an ash dark brown?
I have a base color in between a 6 and a 7 shade.
Would like to put highlights in like a nice creamy beige colour but don't know what product to use for the best results or the toner .
Would be grateful if you could give me your advice on how to do this.
So grateful to you.
Thank you.
How would I put nice highlights into dark hair color 6
Do t know what bleach is best could you talk me through it step by step,to achieve a nice color blonde not orange or yellow.
Thank you
hello I have really dark brown hair nearly black and I want my hair to be really light brown how can I do this
What highlight color is the best for Asian hair without maintenance
Sorry I forgot to say - the hair color that I am wanting to go for is light beige brown.
Thanks!
But won't using a 10vol developer with a permanent dye still render it as a semi-permanent?
I've lightened my virgin black hair up to the bright orange stage, I want to tone it down to a light brown, but using a 10vol developer scares me at the fact that it won't actually penetrate my hair shaft - thus, my hair would fade fastly.
Please help me, Mr. James!
Hi there, i'm Asian with black hair. I read all that you've written here and wanna get a lighter hair more of brown, ash shades. However nothing seems to work without bleach because the hair always looks black and not brown. A friend suggested me to try ash blonde instead to lightening the hair with bleach. I also checked youtube and found videos on the same. There is this color 'Loreal Paris Recital Helinsiki very ash light brown' available only around uk and us. Can I use other ash blonde colors by loreal/revlon/wella? Would it give me the same lightened hair?
I have been dying my hair brown for years due to grey starting at 25. I am now 39 and have at least 50% grey hair. That said, it is costly to go to a salon every month to have touch ups. I started touching up at home with Sally Beauty Age Beautiful medium brown which went very dark, almost black. I then tried Wella medium brown again almost black. So today I tried a bleach cap and ION dye in dark blonde and light brown 50/50 split with 20 volume developer. My hair is a lighter shade of brown with a lot of gold. The problem is my grey roots are glowing. Can you suggest anything I can do? I am assuming this is because I went lighter in color but every time I want brown it goes too dark now. Sally worker said do bleach cap over color remover because easier to get color you want after. thank you.
I dyed my hair black about a month ago and I hate he color. Absolutely hate it so I went to Sally's and asked the ladies there to help me with what I would need to get it to almost a ash blonde/brown. So I needed up buying a color stripper and my 4 boxes of hair dye. I used the stripper and it came out light brown with orange tones. Then I dyed it the ash color and my roots are blonde, and my hair is black again. What do I do now???? Help!
Just wanted to add, I am not looking to be a light brown, rather I have heard that Wella's colors tend to run a level or two darker, so to go the next level up, hence the light natural brown, 5N.
Hi, so I am a level 2, virgin, dark dark brown, near black. I am wanting a level 4, and don't mind some reddish tones...would it make sense to use a Wella permanent level 5 natural light brown with a warm level 6W praline?...your thoughts before I take the plunge?
Hi, your blog was really helpful,thank u so much.I did the non virgin hair method.It worked but my hair over the crown area are very very light and the ash blonde dye didnt work on the red bleached hair, they are as they were after the bleach i.e. red :( .. I dont know why, I dont know what to do. Help!! please :(
I've recently did 2 bleach baths on my dyed black hair and I'm not sure which ash brown to buy. My natural hair is about a level 3. I know to choose a shade lighter than what I want the end result to be and I don't want to be a super dark brunette. Can I mix a light ash brown with a medium ash brown? I plan on using the Ion brand from Sally's. Thanks a lot!
Hi there Maffew! I absolutely love you BLOG as it's very helpful. Here is a thing,I have a natural very dark hair color and I'm wanting to dye it to ombre color. I'm just not sure how to start and really need your help. I'm trying to keep everything under the budges. Also I never dye my hair before and this is my first attempt. PLEASE HELP ME.
Hi again,
Just opened a photobucket account to show you my hair after bleach bath x 3. Is it light enough for an ash light brown wella toner? Demi or permenant? 10% developer or 20%?
current orange color and the ash light brown dark blonde desired color
http://s1167.photobucket.com/user/tennis_ball_aria...
Much love!
Just wanted to say thank you!! Before trying another *sigh* professional colorist for $200 bucks a wack I thought I'd give it another DIY attempt.
Thanks!!
Hi Maffew,
This thread has been so informative!!
I have naturally dark brown hair that has been colored for about 10 years dark brown to cover grey. I'm getting older and would really like to transition to a level 4-5 as I think the dark brown almost black color is really harsh for my age.
I've done 3 bleach baths using 20 and 30 volume developer over the course of appox one month and the color is still dark but has orange tinge to it. Could you tell me exactly what color orange I need to reach to be able to tone to a cool level 4 or 5? Also for toning, do I use demi or permenant color? Level 10 developer for depost only with the toner right? I've lifted color in the past and trying to tone out the orange has always been difficult and I (nor 5 professional colorists) have ever been able to take me to a cool light brown/dark blonde. I usually use wella products so what do you recommend for toner? I don't know if this link will work but I;d love this color.
Hello. I love reading your advice and I, like everyone, else has a question lol. I had recently got my hair highlighted. I didn't like it as much as I thought I was going too. I then waited for 3 days and went to my local beauty supply store. I explained that I wanted to back to my brown color. She told me to do a filler with a 4N dark brown hair color. I did exactly what she recommended and to my horror my hair is black. I do not like the color at all. I don't know if I was given the right information or if this is natural. I cannot stand the color to the point of it giving me anxiety. I don't have the money to go to a salon. I am comfortable doing it myself. I'm just not sure of the steps I need to take to feel better about this. I don't really understand the whole bleaching thing. Do I just use a bottle that says bleach? Help would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Maffew,
So I bleached my hair to a very light orange, shampooed it out and then used Igora Vibrance 5-1 on dry hair which i left in for 20 minutes.
After shampooing, conditioning and then drying, i noticed my hair just looked completely black. A little darker than my natural hair colour.
Can you please tell me what i did wrong? I googled light ash brown and most brands put that at a level 5. My goal was to lighten my dark brown hair to a light brown with no warmth.
As always, thanks for your advice.
Thanks so much for the help. And also if i was considering to do highlights, would the same conditions apply? Would I be able to see the color difference
Hi,
So I have virgin black hair and I wanted to color it like a dark natural brown color. But i don't know which shade of color I should use. I don't want it look like it has been totally colored, I want it to have that natural look. So which hair dye company and which exact shade should I use to get that?
Thanks so much. You are amazing.
Hi Maffew. Thanks for your response. You are so helpful! If the hair still looks a tiny bit brassy after I rinse out the light auburn color, is there a way to correct it so that it looks more golden auburn? Thanks for all your help.
I have about 70% grey, and have coloured my hair dark brown with a bit of red for years, I want to go lighter, as I look like a badger when my roots come through, what would you suggest?
I forgot to mention...I bleached the hair to yellow blonde and used Wella Color Charm, light auburn (5RG) permanent dye. The hair turned a deep auburn. It's dark again. It's a level 2. Not light auburn like I was expecting. Thanks.
Hi. I hope you can help. My hair is died black. I really want to go to light auburn with blonde highlights. I have a couple questions. 1) Do you think honey blonde highlights would match light auburn? 2) How can I achieve these colors on black hair? Thx
Hello, i would like to ask.. i had naturally brown hair but then i dyed my hair to Black a few times.. i want to have Brown hair now and i have tried to use bleach as well and then use the brown color.. but the hair comes like reddish type.. which i really dont like.. so i colored it to black again. Now, I have tried to dye brown many times on my black hair but it still looks black. Please help..
Thanks for the advice Maffew!
I'm going to go with the bleach and tone method.
Are there any particular brands you would recommend? Here in the UK, I find that theres not much variety in semi permanent colours. So would i just look for colours containing 'ash brown' in the name?
Also, with the toner, is a 10 vol developer used whether it is permanent or semi permanent?
Hi Maffew,
I love how your replies are so informative!
I'm hoping you can help me, I'm a level 2, with (half head) 7 month old highlights that are slightly orange. I want to do balayage to a cool level 4. Is this achieved by bleaching and then toning?
Thanks in advance! (:
Hello :)
This page is just what i was looking for, so glad i found it!!
I have naturally dark brown hair ( almost looks black), i would like to get my hair to a light brown base with dark caramel highlights. ( so basically a mixture of #8 as a base and #12 highlights).
how to i go about doing this?
how long do you think i should keep the bleach on ? and which volume developer would you recommend ( does 30 volume get the same results as 40 volume but just slower and safer?)
and what brand of dye and colour do you recommend after i have bleached my hair?
Thank you so much in advance, i look forward to your insightful response :)
My hair is 100% gray. I tried "I'm cool with gray" for a while, but just felt too old, so I've been box-dying it black for a while. Now I think the black is too harsh and brown would work better. So right now I have 1/2-inch gray roots on black hair.
To make things worse, my hair is naturally verrrrrrrrrry dry. I do all kinds of conditioning just to break even.
It's occurred to me that leaving crown-to-ears top of my head gray with black underneath might cure having to deal with roots. But I know how long it takes to grow out dyed hair.
Can my hair be helped?
Hi! My mom dyes her gray hair once a month but she's allergic to whatever is in the box dye. She has tried henna as well but she's allergic to it,too. She gets burns on her scalp that eventually turns into dandruff-like flakes. Can you recommend a dye for sensitive scalps? Thanks!
does kroger hair dye work?
So I tried to dye my black virgin hair to a medium brown color. But I didn't use developer so the color didn't really change. Any advice on what I can do to make it the prefer color I was opting for?
Hi Maffew! my originAl hair color is black. I bought box dye with a shade of light brown from the drug store, my first time, didn't get what i like, it went a shade lighter but with reddish tone... Then after a month or two, re-color it again with dark blonde for touch -ups for the roots and for the whole hair. The end result was ok since I only like subtle changes but I dont't like the reddish tone/shade I see. Its been 3months now, and roots have grown, Am I going To use a dye remover or a bleach? I would like to achieve the natural brown/chocolate brown/ medium to light brown, As much as possible I'm stayin away from the blond shades. What would you recommend?
So grateful i found this site as well, I've learned so much I am actually afraid to attempt what i was just so casually going to try (thank god). My hair has always been pretty much black, started having it colored every 3 mo when i noticed grey starting, that was 7 years ago and i feel I'm getting to old for black. What i wanted was a rich mahogany brown copper color, i haven't colored it in 2mo and the amount of grey around my face and crown has increased and im afraid of hot roots. Also i
was using professional color by Italy,
black and violet black ( mixed them) but haven't pulled it through the rest of my
hair in quite long time, cause i noticed
lifting it up and looking through the back it was a bit lighter and the greys that i
didn't ever see are a lovely shade of red.
I previously bought lanza 4r, 20 vol dev with powder decolorizer. Clearly what i imagined and the outcome would have been horribly different. I know i should have bought a color to replace lack of pigment for all the grey, i just don't understand how much to use etc...Basically I'm back to the drawing board with to much knowledge to do previous idea and not enough to move forward. Thank you so much for all your time, so very appreciated! ~Kim
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