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Problems dying hair from dark brown to light brown

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Joined: Jan 12, 2020

Location: UK

Posted: Jan 12, 2020 at 11:08am

Hello all, I'm a guy with longer hair (around 10 to 12 inches in length, which I suppose is long for a guy) and decided to join these forums for some advice on different aspects of hair care. First of all I have a question about dying hair. I've been trying to dye my hair from dark brown (around 3.0 on the colour scale) to a lighter shade of brown (around 5.0 to 6.1 - ok technically I know 6.1 is 'dark/ash blonde', but it is more or less light brown too). I use a natural/organic permanent hair dye with no amonia etc from a Greek company called Korres btw, which I buy online.

My natural hair colour is medium to dark brown. However last year due to starting to get some grey hairs, I started dying it dark brown (about 3.0) with permanent hair dye, which made it almost black looking. Recently I have been wanting to dye my hair to a lighter shade of brown, somewhere around 5.0 to 6.1 because I just thought it looked too dark.

I read up about the subject, and most advice said I have to remove the existing dye with a colour remover first, then I can dye my hair the lighter colour.

However I am having problems. Firstly, when I use the colour remover, it turns my dark brown hair to a coppery/gingery colour! (I use Deco Bes colour remover btw, which says you have to apply it to dry hair, leave on for up to 45 mins, then rinse out). Secondly, I have tried dying my hair immediately after rinsing out the colour remover, but it always ends up going back to black, even if I use 5.0 or 6.1 colour dye (it says in the instructions for the Deco Bes colour remover that hair can be dyed another colour right after rinsing out the colour remover, whereas other sources say I should wait a while or even use the remover several times). I tried this process on 3 occassions and always got the same results.

The hairdresser who cut my hair last time said it's perfectly normal for hair to turn a gingery colour after using colour remover. She recommended I try hair dye in a 6.1 to offset the ginger so I can make it light brown, but I tried this and it didn't work (as I said, it just turned my hair black again).

What am I do wrong, and can anyone suggest a remedy? I should add that I have been using straightening irons most days for about a year (with a heat protector spray), and at one stage a lot of styling products etc which might have built up in my hair, so this might have something to do with it. Some other advice I've read suggested I use baking soda in with my normal shampoo to strip the colour. Other advice said just keep dying my hair 5.0 or 6.1 with the same hair dye and it'll eventually lighten. I've also heard that using a clarifying shampoo might help cleanse the hair of any build up. I do use good shampoos and conditioners already btw, with no parabens or sulfates, plenty of argan oil etc, so it can't be my shampoo that's to blame (Hask is my favourite brand right now).

I'm trying to understand the science behind this all, and need to find the best way to solve this. Do I perhaps need to bleach my hair first, before colouring it light brown? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.