blonde highlights to reddish brown?

  • My highlights are going brassy. Sad but true. I also have some dark roots coming in.

    It's after the holidays and my bank account is a post apocolyptic warzone.

    So I was thinking about getting a boxed color, maybe Nutrisse's Chocolate Peanut Butter color, which is a medium mohagany. Would that cover the brassy and give me subtle highlights and cover my roots?
  • If it's a warm colour it should be ok, does it match your roots in shade (ie light/dark not cool/warm)?

    If it does it should take, and cover the brassiness, and it'll be more vibrant on the highlights. The previously highlighted bits might fade quicker though as you've stripped the pigment. Try getting hold of a good protein treatment first THEN moisturise! Protein makes your hair stronger, but you must moisturise it afterwards to balance out the strength with softness and prevent crispiness

    Anyway... a protein treatment "fills out" the highlighted hair shafts so the colour can "take" better. I love joico kpac reconstructor, it's super expensive and I can't afford big bottles in the salon, so check out amazon to find little bottles and maybe sachets. Aussie 3 min miracle is awesome as a post-protein moisturiser, it's quite cheap and they sell little sachets for 99p :-)

    (edit: check seller's feedback and especially the product reviews on amazon if you use it as there's some fakes floating around and you want to make sure you're getting the real deal).

    If there's just too big a colour difference between the roots and ends, try a light warm brown first as a filler colour then the mahogany

    Sorry for long explanation but I LOVE hair colouring, I mostly do my own (been blonde, silver, red, pink, purple, platinum, brunette, black, do foils, ombré, pretty much the lot!) and I could talk your ear off for hours and bore you senseless about hair ;-)
  • I actually haven't done anything to it yet other than leave Shimmer Lights on it for about 20 minutes to tone down the brassiness.

    I'm just going to let it grow out a little bit longer and put in some more blonde highlights. I'm pale with blue eyes, so light colors look better on me than dark.
  • Be careful going over bleached hair. It can pick up the red undertones very easily and wind up more brassy, or pink (sadly this has happened to me before, lol).

    If you're trying to grow it out, you might want to consider a non or demi permanent dye. I use a product called Roux Faci Full Rinse to cover up brassiness in my bleached blonde hair. It's a non permanent, rise out dye. Just shampoo/condition as per normal, towel dry, and slap some on while my hair is still damp.

    They have 3 colors that tone down brass: white minx, silver lining, and true steel. True steel will cover hair that's straight up orange because it's so pigmented. (They also have a ton of regular blonde, brown and red shades.)

    So if you want to cover your roots until you get more highlights later on, this might be worth a shot. At the very least it's extremely cheap (like $5 for a gigantic bottle... I still haven't finished ONE after a year of use) and it won't do any permanent damaged whatsoever to your hair. It's really perfect for those "in between" phases. I get mine at Sally Beauty Supply.
  • I looked for that stuff at Sally's and they were out of it!!

    I have an appointment to get my hair highlighted next month, the problem with my roots is that they're dark..like a level 5 dark. So whatever I do to get blonde highlights, it needs to be done professionally I think!