☢ Ashy Hair Tones ☢

Aug 2, 2014

Amanda V.

So, in my last topic, I was concerned about my orangey undertones. Now I’m starting to realize that I have a much bigger problem.

For starters, here’s some background information. Last summer (I think it was actually exactly a year ago today, ironically), I had bleach blonde hair, but it was too much upkeep so I dyed it brown. I only dyed it brown because I then wanted to get it ombred. So, a week after I dyed my hair brown, I went to a stylist to bleach the ends. It turned out awful. She only did some strands, and it was very patchy and strange, and to top it all off, the brown in my hair was turning ashy. Luckily, as time went by, my hair grew out and the brown dye faded, turning my hair into a nice natural looking ombre (it was a MIRACLE).

Flash forward to the present: I haven't touched my hair in a year. It was a nice ombre, but then I changed the way I part my hair, and that put the blonde ends in strange places. So, I dyed my hair brown. The bottom turned out to be really ashy and kind of grey/green in a way. To fix this, I got a warm blonde/orange color (because to counteract ashiness, you have to put in a little warmth) and dyed my hair with it. This fixed the problem.

However, each time I take a shower, I start to notice that my hair is looking ashy again. Do you suppose that the same miracle could happen twice, and that the blonde ends will come through nicely? Keep in mind that I was NOT open to using a red filler or putting any red tones into my hair, and I am not currently open to redying my hair or buying expensive products. I just want to know if I should try to wash it out a lot to get it to fade faster or if I should do my best to protect the color it is now (if it will only get worse). I have to go back to school in 23 days, so should I be worried?

Thanks! xx

Aug 2, 2014

Valerie C.

First of all, you made a huge mistake dying you're hair brown with a bleach base colour. Bleach takes all pigment out of the hair, meaning no matter what colour you dye you're hair, the bleach will ALWAYS seep through the colour, making it ashy and patchy. You should have just left you're hair the way it was and waited for the blonde to grow out. But, since that is not what you need advice for, if you want to keep you're brown hair, I consider protecting it and washing you're hair with a good quality colour treated hair shampoo and wash you're hair under COLD water. That will help the colour stay in, where as hot water un stains. It's kind of like washing black clothes in hot water. The washing machine will have black water. If you want that ombré colour, then let it wash out.
I really don't suggest letting it wash out, it'll leave you with an uneven hair colour, and the more you dye it, the more it will damage, and this will just keep happening over and over. I would just let it grow out! I hope I helped a little! Good luck!

Aug 2, 2014

Amanda V.

There was about 4 inches of blonde framing my face, and only 1 inch of blonde everywhere else. This was because I used to have a middle part (not a good look) and I changed it to a side part. The only option I really saw was to dye it all one color.
Honestly, I don't really want the blonde to come back through, but I'd rather have that happen than trying to put pigment back in it or redye it. If I try to protect it now, it'll only prolong the process. Hopefully it'll only look patchy for a short period of time, like it did last time, or I could always put my hair up when I'm in public. That is, until my hair starts to look more natural.

Aug 3, 2014

Megan S.

I'm going to back up to the very beginning of when you did it last year, the putting the brown on your bleach blonde was the biggest mistake :[ if you had bleach blonde hair that was PERFECT to start out ombre because if your stylist knows what they're doing, they should be able to reverse it and put dark roots on and melt it into your blonde ends and then tone your blonde ends to your desired effect. I just did this on another stylist friend yesterday, only we needed to lift her ends as well. So I put a really dark color on about 5 inches of her roots and melted it down, then a medium brown in the middle to blend, then I bleached her ends out. Had I been doing that on you last year this time, I would have just done the first part and then put a toner on your ends as the dark color processed. That in itself would have prevented all of these problems. but alas the problems are happening and Vallerie had some great tips. I'd definitely. say try to preserve it. You want a color safe sulfate free shampoo. Don't trust the front of the bottle...just because it says color safe doesn't mean it's not free of sulfates...it needs to say sulfate free on it and not have them in the ingredient list. I hope things go well!!