I color my own hair because I cannot afford salon prices! I have a lot of gray, and I'm dark brown, so the gray really shows up.
Even though I use an ASH brown to color my hair, the gray hair still turns red. The color washes out red. My roots get very red too. I HATE IT!!!
Even when I got my hair professionally done (before kids!) I always seemed to be batttling red, brassy tones. I never had this prior to coloring.
Any tips? I'd love to hear them. Thanks ladies!
Sally's is staffed by trained beauticians. They can help you with this. They have helped me and my family and friends often.
You need to go to Sallys and get the red toner for your gray and you might want to get the grey one to help hold the color better. I say this because I hate red hair and this cuts it down. The grey I have is the silver and it does not like to take the color very well and will wash off in about two weeks if I don't use it.
Good luck to you.
the other S.
What brand are you using? My mom had this problem with a color she used previously - she couldn't even get the salon to get it out.
I just helped her color her hair last weekend and we used Revlon Colorsilk light ash brown and it got all the red out and she loved it. It looks like a natural brown - no red. I just colored right over all the red and it came out perfect. It is one of the least expensive hair colors, but it looks fine. I use it on my hair too. One tip is to leave it on for at least 45 minutes...
Never had any problems with red unless I used one that said "golden brown".
It is a matter of lift, whatever that is. As I have got more grey the number goes up, I use a 20. The box stuff sucks, I would try something from Sally's beauty where you can get exactly what you need, not what comes in the box.
Henna with indigo and alma will give you a nice brown and will tone down the red.
I like to use Henna, but that won't solve your red problem. You can make it darker though by mixing in indigo.
Usually ash has no red tones in it. It's the "golden" colors that have red undertones. Try going to a less dark color. Maybe a dark ash blonde or a light ash brown. I always thought those 2 colors were a gray undertone instead of reddish.
I'm a salon girl and I go every 2 months at least. I know it gets pricey but I prefer a professional.
That said..., about 1/2 way between trips I see my hair losing some color (not so much gray because I don't have that issue but it starts getting a little dull)
When I feel my hair is not at its best I use the touch up by Clairol which is just enough to touch up and spiff up the pro color job. My stylist told me to do this and it is safe enough to not mess up my professional salon color.
I would never tackle the entire job for my hair ( long and straight hanging past bra straps in back) but I love getting an extra 2-4 weeks on my color.
Good luck!
Look into eSalon. They can give you a solid answer from experienced colorists.
It's a service that delivers professional color for you to do at home. I've been using it for years, and they are awesome. $20/color.
You upload a picture, give direction on which color range you'd like to be in, discuss issues, amount of gray/hair type, and they will suggest what to do based on that. Then they send you the color to do yourself.
You can modify it, cancel it, change it at any time.
I love them and my hair always looks like it's professionally done.
I also have dark brown hair, lots of gray, use ASH brown and I've never had that problem. How ODD!! I would call the 800 number on the box and have them explain it. NEVER heard of this. I'm sure its frustrating.
I had a similar problem, and everything I read online said that it's most likely because my hair was dry/damaged, and the color wasn't holding properly.
I've done a few things that seem to help.
1) I only wash my hair every other day
2) I use John Frieda conditioner for brown colored hair
3) Every other time I color, I color only the roots at my part, hairline, and bangs. Less dye on the rest means less damage over time.
I would LOVE the red. Any time I use brown my hair turns BLACK. It is so awful (not that black hair is awful, its just not good for me). Even in the salon, I tell them to use a lighter shade, don't leave it on long, etc...and it always ends up black.
Weird how the same colors can do different things to different hair.
Do you have well water?
The reason I ask is that well water loves to add red colors to colored hair. No matter what I color my hair it eventually turns a red color and every stylist when I mention asks me that question. Because well water is untreated it can have higher levels of iron hence the red color. There is then nothing you can do unless you move somewhere that has treated city water.
I also color at home and have found that with the lighter shades of brown (ash or light brown) I have the same problem. This time I used Medium Brown and it covered so well. I was sooooo happy. I used Revlon Color Silk and it didn't make my hair feel like straw!
Happy coloring!
