how to fill your hair before coloring

I was told in order to color (chemically high-lighted hair) darker I need a filler. Does anyone know any thing about this? How to do it? What to buy?

hi...

for using a color filler,if youre going from blonde to red or brunette,you need to use a red  color filler. the one i love from sally's is the Colourful brand,in #10 RedRed.put that on freshly washed  towel dried hair,leave on for 15-20 minutes,then rinse. after drying hair(or leave wet if youre following with a demi or semi perm hair color) apply the new brunette or red shade over it and process per instructions on the box. i do this all the time i was blonde up until 2 years ago,and used the red filler to go red. ive also used it about 7-8 times since the past 2 years.its great for refreshing faded hair color also. hope this helped!

Thanks for the advice. I do have one question though, If I just want to be brunette with no red in it will this do that or will it put red in my hair too? Also does this work the same if you want to go light brown?

Filler or pre-pigment as it's sometimes called typically comes in 3 colors. Red, Orange and Yellow or Gold. It is the underlying pigment in someone's hair color. If you are going brunette you would fill with a red filler. I am not knowledgable on commercial lines at Sally's as I use only professional products so I can't really help ya there.

G'luck

 

i went from heavily highlighted (mostly blonde) hair to my natural color, which is dark brown. I read somewhere that you can use a color without developer as filler, then use your haircolor with developer. I used a red-brown color (natural instincts) as filler, without the developer, then did my dark-brown color with developer. The results are no funny tones (green-orange) and my color is holding strong. I wouldn't recommend using dark brown color, as mine was black for a week!  It looked awful but now it's perfect. I did it too dark in the hopes it would fade to the desired color. Last time I colored with Nutrisse and used med. brown, and it faded to light brown very quickly. I used Natural instincts because semi permanent colors are deposit only and stick better when trying to go dark. the permanent aspect of permanent color is that it lightens, then deposits. Not necessary when going darker and for me that fades horribly.  If you are going for dark brown and feel you can handle a week or 2 of looking horribly goth, go for the dark brown color. If not, try med. first, and you can go darker later if you don't like it. I would recommend that. And stay away from permanent color. It will have the lightening effect, which in the long run will cause damage and fading to an orangey color. 

I have heard of using the color without developer also. My only problem with using a red color as a filler is that I do not want red in my hair. I want a light golden brown, not ashy and not red toned, if that makes any sense. I tryed a strand test of natural insticts light brown and it turned very dark(too dark for my complextion) but it was not orange like the other colors that I have used so I thought I would try a shade lighter which was dark blonde. Well that turned red. So I just don't know what to do. I am just scared of red because I know it is hard to get out and I think I look bad with red hair.

If you don't use the red under the brown (I used a warm reddish-brown as a filler) you are going to get some greenish ugly colors with the brown. My hair is brown, with a tiny red undertone, but all brown hair has that.  It is not red at all. I know it is tempting to go more ash because you don't want to be red, but that will usually leave you green and maybe slightly blue-ish, which is about as unnatural as you can get. Trust me, my hair isn't red. and if you feel that the color is not right, you can go slightly darker. As long as you are using mild semi-colors (Natural instincts) you wont be doing damage. I hate red hair on me too. My natural color is dark brown,a nd though I have a decent match, I am growing it back to totally natural because even dyed to match, I don't like it as much as my natural color. Dyed hair looks like dyed hair. But I like this enough to keep it during my grow-out, and my hair isnt long so it shouldnt take too long.

I Forgot to add:  If you pick a color labeled "golden brown" that will come out red! Golden brown is a very warm color and almost always turns out very red. If your natural color is light brown, you can go for a neutral brown. Light or medium would probably work, but medium may turn out darker than you would expect. You may even be able to pick a dark blonde, but stay away from the "warm" blondes--those will be reddish-light brown/blonde.
hannebash38632.5004513889

This is a good topic.  I am in a similar situtation.  My natural hair color is light to medium brown.  I've over frosted/highlighted my hair.  I want to cover it all up without using permanent dyes.  I want to use a semi permanent dye instead.  My question is this....

Can I just use a protein treatment (as a filler) on freshly washed hair, rinse it out, and then apply a semi permanent dye in light or medium brown such as Loreal Castings Colorspa?  Or will that not work and I'll get the green or blue color on the overly highlighted strands?

I have done this already using Loreal Casting Color spa in "Lightest Golden Brown" and it was very warm but no green or blue strands were seen afterwards.  The color only lasted about 10 days and the overly highlighted strands were very visable again.  This is why I want to try a 'non warm' darker brown this time.
laurie_lu38632.5750462963

I have the exact same hair except mine is light brown/dark blonde with too many hightlights. I have been strand testing my hair with different permanent and non-permanent colors. First I did them on my bare hair, then I put a protein filler from sallys on some strands and tested them. They came out exactly the same as with nothing on them(orange). I did however try natural instincts(a semi-perm) in light brown and it did come out fairly natural in tone but was much darker than I want. So that is why I am trying to see if a color filler would be better. Everyone says to get red but like you I do not want red in my hair. I might just get a red filler and try a strand test to see how that comes out.

cnb210, did you mean that the tests with and without a protein filler, you turned orange?  If so, what product did you use that turn out that way?  Natural Instinct in "Light Brown" was good but just too dark?

I have a box of Loreal Colorspa in "Light Brown" sitting here just waiting to be used.  I'm just apprehensive.  If anything....I've learned a good lesson.  No more Highlighting.  My natural hair is getting darker as I get older and the trusty ole cap frosting technique aint cutting it anymore.  It's more trouble than it's worth.  Let me know how your red filler turns out please.  Thanks.

Dye a medium natural brown shade over the red filler. Your hair won't be red. Brown almost always turns out darker than you think it will. It tends to fade to the right color in a week or so. I did dark brown, and it was way too dark. it is perfect now, but I had to live with a color I hated for a week. Coloring over highlights is very difficult. I will not be getting highlights again any time soon. I loved them, but going back to natural is too hard, then you have to grow out the natural color too. 

If you put a red filler on prior to the brown semipermanent dye, what will happen when the semipermanent dye fades away after 28 shampoos??  Are you left with a red hue to your hair from the prefiller?

Laurie_lu, All of the test strips that I tried first were permanent and all were some form of loreal. Both the strips that had protein filler and the strips that did not turned out an orange hue. So, then I went and got a semi-permanent color light brown natural instincts with no filler and it did not turn any funky color just more dark than I like. So basically what I am saying from my experience is that the clear protein filler did not really do too much as far as making the color right. It may however help to keep the color longer. I don't know. Good question too about when the color fades will it show the red.

cnb210, thanks for the info.  Sounds like the semipermanent without a red prefiller is the way to go.  I'd probably do the protein treatment for good measure though.

The whole point of doing a filler is not only to get a good tone, but your highlighted hair is very porous, and the filler gives you something for the color to "stick" to. Without it, you will have severe fading. Semipermanant added to "filled" hair will usually act as a permanent, and last a really long time. Without the filler, it will be gone quickly. 

Thanks hannebash.  That is probably why my first attempt with a lighter shade washed out so soon.  

Last night I did a protein treatment and I've got a box of Loreal Castings Color Spa in "Mocha" which is described as 'light brown-neutral'.  I'm very nervous about my bleached streaks turning green but I feel this color could be the one I need to get all my hair looking the same and the closest to my natural hair color so I can grown it all out.

I think I'm gonna find a bleached lock of hair underneath by my neck and do a test spot incase it does turn green, no one will see it.  I'm hoping I can dispense about 1/8th of a teaspoon of the color and the developer each to make my test solution without disturbing the main contents for the real dye job later.

Since u're using castings u can always dye over it a second time so if the strand does turn green, just recolor the strand and see what happens

Veronica, if that were to happen, would I color over the top with a Castings that has a 'warm' or 'golden' in its name?

Do you mean color over the same area again in the same shade, and you're wondering if its ok to do so with a warm shade? I think that should be fine but its good to strand test first...however if you are using a golden or warm shade then I really don't see why it should turn green.

Sorry, could u clarify what u mean in ur question? :) Thanks

I used a light brown that claims to be natural.  I just finished applying and rinsing.  I don't think I see any green at this time.  My hair is still damp and I'm trying to get over the shock of the darkness of the brown.  I think when it is completely dry, I will be able to tell if there is any green for sure.  If there is, I was assuming a light brown in a warm or golden shade could cover up any possible green hues left behind by tonights natural brown application.  Thanks for answering my questions.