Beauty

[dsky]

I would go to a good colorist, then maintain it yourself. This is not something you can do yourself without alot of color knowledge.

[Goldengate8361]

On 8/7/2014 sparklestar said:

On 8/7/2014 Goldengate8361 said:

Sparklestar--It's hard to give good advice without really seeing your hair. I color my own hair, too, using hair color from Sally Beauty Supply. It sounds like you want to move away from your present "warm" colors toward a neutral or ash shade of dark blonde. Most folks would tell you that you simply need to use an "ash" shade of color--with blue/violate/green undertones. From experience, I can tell you that it's not that easy.....I would suggest transitioning to a more neutral color first. You'll still want to use the same level of develoer (20 is standard). Good luck!!!

You're right, it is difficult but I think you hit the nail on the head. That's exactly what I am trying to do -- move away from warm to a more neutral lighter shade. How do you know what undertones a color has?

Several hair color brands at Sally's list the undertone colors on the bottle boxes. For others, you can look at the large fold-out booklets they provide that have the hair color samples (I hope you know what I'm talking about; I don't know what they're called). I always have good results with the L'Oreal brand for resistant grays. Most all of Sally's hair color brands are very good, IMHO. Good luck!

[sparklestar]

Thanks for all the great info. I feel like I know what to look for. I'm making a trip this weekend and I'll let you know how it turns out (yikes!!!) I previously used Clairol and had good luck with that. Thanks for explaining the different color undertones Goldengate. That helps.

[moonstone dunes]

I have to agree with dsky and see a colorist. If you use an ash tone on colored reddish brown hair you may get a muddy result. Color is tricky. Even box color is not fool-proof if you have colored hair. Another thought is your shade level. Light brown is about a 6; dark ash blonde is maybe a 6.5 to a 7. So shade wise your in the same range, just more warm level 6 and a cool level 7.

I've lightened my hair doing ombre and some bayalage highlights. My hair pulls red - it is naturally in my hair's cuticle. I know basics about color but I still got orange from the 20v and bleach. The 30v worked better and lifted to maybe level 8 but the result was very dry ends. I toned using a demi-perm level 8 color after lightening. Toning helps balance any reds or oranges.

[okiebug]

On 8/7/2014 sparklestar said:

On 8/7/2014 Goldengate8361 said:

Sparklestar--It's hard to give good advice without really seeing your hair. I color my own hair, too, using hair color from Sally Beauty Supply. It sounds like you want to move away from your present "warm" colors toward a neutral or ash shade of dark blonde. Most folks would tell you that you simply need to use an "ash" shade of color--with blue/violate/green undertones. From experience, I can tell you that it's not that easy.....I would suggest transitioning to a more neutral color first. You'll still want to use the same level of develoer (20 is standard). Good luck!!!

You're right, it is difficult but I think you hit the nail on the head. That's exactly what I am trying to do -- move away from warm to a more neutral lighter shade. How do you know what undertones a color has?

I have been coloring my own hair using professional products for over 20 years. I don't have the knowledge of a stylist, but I've learned quite a lot in that time.

All hair color brands have numbers and letters - the lighter the color the higher the number - a #4 color is a dark brown, a #8 is a very light blonde. The letter designates the undertones - W =warm, gold undertones, R = red, N = neutral, A = ash.

If you are now coloring your hair red, you don't want to put ash on top of it, red and ash colors don't work well together and you could end up with a real mess. I agree with Moonstone dunes, mixing red with any other color can be dicey. When I decided to stop coloring my hair red, the owner of the beauty supply store advised me to go to a neutral shade of brown and go lighter, but not more than 2 shades lighter. Also, use 30V developer - it's a little harder on your hair but you're not going to get a color change without it.

You may decide you want to stay in the neutral tones - ash can lean toward grey or even a green undertone, depending on how your hair grabs color.

[Susan25]

On 8/7/2014 Sister Golden Hair said:

sparkle, go in there and ask him if he is having a bad day. I have done this sometimes when a clerk is acting that way towards me. Or if he is rude, just ask to see the manager.

I don't buy hair coloring products from Sally but have gone with a friend to Sally before to purchase hair coloring products. My experience is that some of the staff isn't really trained in this area and wouldn't want to give you the wrong advice. I remember the sales associate at Sally telling us that she didn't have much knowledge in the hair color and we would have to come back, (gave us a time when the more knowledgeable staff would be working). Just my take on the situation that I experienced.

[PurpleCow]

If you want to lighten your color, and there's already dye on your hair- you'll have to bleach that 1st color off, get the red out, and then dye it the lighter color you want. I always use 20vol developer and a 50/50 ratio with bleach.

Or you can use something called "Color Oops" (if Sally doesn't have it then Walmart/Walgreens does) which is a little more gentle. It will strip most of the color and leave you orangish- then you bleach once or twice to get the orange out. Then use Sally Generic Shimmerlights shampoo, let it sit on your hair maybe 45minutes to tone it to a neutral/ash blonde. Then you can dye over it if you want.

dye colors with the word "beige" = ash tones, "golden" = red tones