Ok. Here's the deal. I decided I am changing my hair color. In a perfect world, I would have the $100+ it takes to get someone else to do it. But it isn't a perfect world, so it looks like I am going to Sally's Beauty Supply for color & doing it at home!

I know what color I want & unfortunately it is quite a bit lighter (& a different tone/shade than my current color) so I am going to need to strip/bleach my hair, THEN apply the color I want. I know - it's harsh on your hair, blah blah blah. I realize that. But if you will look at my profile pic - my color is DARK. I am going for a bright auburn. And I have not colored my hair in almost a year (it was done in a salon, and was not bleached or stripped).

So since I am doing this at home, by myself - do any of you have any suggestions on how to go about this or even as far as suggestions on products & brands?

Talk to the clerks at Sally's, they generally know their stuff and won't steer you wrong.
Make sure that you also get a REALLY GOOD deep conditioner for afterward.

So, I don't really frequent Sally's because I have access to professional product, so I don't have any advice in terms of brands...but, the basics are the same. What I'd do is buy a high lift, that will lighten your hair up to two shades, and the important thing here is a high lift is going to lighten on tone, so you won't be dealing with getting outside of your tone, yet.

Do that step first, and then leave your hair alone for a week or ten days...then use your lightener (bleach). I'd use 10 volume peroxide, because it won't be so harsh for your hair. Leave it on for 30 minutes, and then rinse in cold water. Also, buy a toner, to put on after you've bleached your hair. Buy a level 8 warm blonde toner and you should be good to go and by that point have reached your goal color and tone. Good luck!

Oh, so your shopping list:
high lift level 6
bleach
10 volume peroxide
level 8 warm blonde toner

If you ask any of the clerks they should be able to help you find all your goodies!

a high lift colour won't work with a 10 vol peroxide. Usually levels of lift correspond with the volume of the activator. 10 vol lifts one level, 20 vol will lift 2, 30 vol will lift 3. Every high lift colour I've ever seen requires 40 volume.

Looking at your hair it's possible for you to get it to an auburn with just a colour. Of course your idea of auburn is going to be different than mine. And I'm going on the assumption that your hair is now virgin.

I'd ask there. And be sure to have them explain the application technique to you. When lightening you will have to start away from the scalp then come back and apply on the scalp later.

Thank you all so much.

Sorry--cherrypie is right, I should have clarified. I meant when you bleach, use 10 volume, and if you have to apply once and do another application, I think that's better than blowing out your cuticle with 40 volume peroxide when you bleach it...

The new foam mousse stuff is awesome! I love it. Leaves my hair shinier and less damaged than the traditional dye. Also, it washes out MUCH quicker.

The color is super even as well!

I highly recommend it if you aren't using the professional stuff.

remember to do a test strand first - collect the hair from your brush or comb and test on that.

OK, not trying to corrupt this thread or anything here but I have some questions for the color experts out there.

Last year I had my hair blonde, very blonde. I loved it but the person that I was going to was not doing the roots/upkeep right and I had multiple colors of blonde, and not in streaks but in chunks. SO....he added in some brown. This was all going fine til about two months ago I wanted him to touch up the blonde roots a bit (those that were left) and add a couple of reddish streaks (just to be different). Well, all those blonde parts came out pink. So his suggestion was to do an allover medium brown and start over. I am not sure WHAT he used on this because after 5 minutes of processing he rinsed it out and the result was horrific. It was green in parts, black in parts, blonde where he hadnt covered it up and grey where he had tried to in some. I was horrified. I went to Sallys and they had me strip it that day. It worked, pulled all the horrible color out and left my hair a medium brown with some leftover blonde. Two weeks later, it was getting darker again so they told me to strip it again. Did so. Each time I am doing this with a mild stripper and my hair feels better and better each time. Now....I want to add some blonde streaks back in and have done this myelf before with great success but since my hair has been through SO much, I want to do it the best way so that it does not fry it.
Suggestions? And honestly I would love to go mostly all blonde again but am scared it will damage my hair too much.

@ peaches--
Look into organic lines--it will take some research, but if you're in or near a big city there will definitely be salons that offer organic solutions. I use a line that doesn't use peroxide at all to bleach the hair--its an enzyme that opens the hair shaft, so it doesn't do damage.

If that isn't available to you--I'd look for a new stylist, someone who has a really extensive knowledge on color. It sounds like your old stylist didn't take the time to fill (or repigment) the hair shaft, so you had all sorts of crazy results. That will definitely happen if your colorist is taking the easy way out and not re-pigmenting the hair.

This may sound crazy to you--but a beauty school might actually be a really good place to go. The instructors there on the floor are 100% involved with the chemical processes, and the students have a lot of great skill. I think you'll find that beauty school instructors have a lot of knowledge and will have some really interesting and great ways to go to blonde if that's what you really want to do.

Oh, I wanted to mention--ask your peers who they go to. People won't recommend a colorist/stylist they don't trust, so I think your friends or co-workers might have some good recommendations for you in terms of people they trust with their hair. Good luck!

I love the new foam mousse too! I've tried both Nice and Easy and L'Oreal and I think L'Oreal takes the cake. Doesn't stain the skin as much and is super easy to wash out. But I hate the conditioner!

With black hair dye I find it takes me at least two showers before all the excess hair dye is washed out, but not with the foam mousse.

I've never used the mousse--so I can't say...but, I think she's wanting to lift color, not deposit. So, unless you're going darker than you are now, I'd stay away from the mousse product.