Sonia says: I have natural black hair and for years I had dyed it light brown. Then one day went back to black. Now my question is how do I get it back to brown? I’ve tried several dyes and nothing has changed but my roots.
The Right Brain responds:
How do you get your hair from black back to brown? You need to bleach out the dark color before you can add the lighter brown shade. You should probably have this done in a salon, but if you do decide to do it at home, make sure you buy the right kind of hair dye. In case you didn’t know, there are 3 different types of hair colors. Here’s a quick description along with the pros and cons of each:
The 3 Types of Hair Colors
Temporary Color
This is basically a colorful gel or cream that coats your hair. It lasts 1, maybe 2, shampoos at best. Sometimes less if you’re sweaty! Manic Panic is a good example of this kind of product. And if you’re really feeling frisky, Betty Beauty even makes a temporary color for hair *ahem* down there.
Pros: You can go crazy and make your hair day-glo red, blue, yellow or orange!
Cons: You run the risk of looking like a clown, which is bad. But only for a day or so, which is good. Unless the circus is in town that day, which is bad.
Semi or Demi Permanent Color
These colors use ingredients known as “direct dyes.” They stain the hair and take several shampoos to wash out. The new Sunsilk Color Boost products use this type of dye.
Pros: Let’s you experiment with a touch of color without much commitment.
Cons: The colors usually aren’t very good and you can’t add lighter shades on top of darker hair.
Permanent (or Oxidative) Color
This is the most serious type of hair color. It typically involves bleaching your hair to remove your natural color, then adds in color molecules that are locked inside the hair shaft. It should last until your roots grow out but some fading from washing will occur. Examples include Garnier Nutrisse, Revlon Colorist, and pretty much any coloring treatment you get in a salon. Highlights are a version of oxidative color but may only involve the bleaching step.
Pros: When done properly, this kind of color looks fabulous and lasts for weeks even months.
Cons: The chemical process is damaging to your hair, you’re stuck with the color for weeks (even months), and you have to recolor when your roots grow out.
Statistics say that more than 60% of women color their hair. But that Betty Beauty product has got me wondering…how many women color their hair “down there?” Is that too scandalous? Leave a comment and let the rest of the Beauty Brains community know what you think!
{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
Careful! I’ve used manic panic multiple times and never had it wash out in one or two washes. It can leave a very long lasting stain on light or chemically processed hair (months or longer). Also, semi-permanent blacks are well known for being misleading – often times they have to be bleached out or grown out.
Agreed, Manic Panic is a semi-permanent dye. They make temporary gels, but the dye they make is semi permenent and it is even more permanent than other semi’s I have used. After bleaching I still have colour (my hair is pink, but it has been blue and red before by Manic Panic).
There are some new permanent colors, Hi-lift colors specifically for women with black or very dark brown hair, Feria and Revlon both manufacture them, they will lighten black hair to brown without bleaching your hair out. They have a higher percentage of peroxide and lighten the hair more than traditional permanent color will. You should check those out.
The colour lifting dyes only work on virgin hair though, IIRC. So they won’t lift any dark dyes that are already on the hair.
Some semi permanents are actually permanent – at least, that’s what I understand from my own experience and from Paula Begoun’s analysis.
Any dye system that has peroxide in it will bleach your hair’s natural color. And you’re right, many semi-permanents are really just watered down versions of permanent dyes. There is just a lower level of peroxide so the hair isn’t as damaged. Also, the color molecules don’t get as big so the dye is more easily washed out.
Avoid using dyes which have a large concentration of peroxide as it will damage your hair.
Go to a good salon ask them to lighten it for you. Don’t do it yourself it will go orange. Because your hair has to go through different colors as it gets lighter. Please don’t do it yourself.
When I used Manic Panic over bleached hair it lasted for several weeks. How I miss having pink hair. Dang adulthood!
Color will not lift color. #1 rule in coloring. As a stylist for 18 years I can tell you this. Go to a salon, don’t do it yourself. There are new products out now that can remove color with out bleach and are more gentle to the hair. They must be put on quickly and rinced properly. Make sure you leave yourself 2 to 3 hours for the salon to fix your hair. Don’t forget your check book. I promise you will be happy with the results though.
As for the hair down there. Wow Why? in this day and age does anyone leave hair there.
Good luck!!
Maybe you should do a poll? Personally, I can’t imagine shaving or waxing “down there”. Why would you want to look like a prepubescent girl?
I’m with Lynda on this one. As a former hairstyist it’s a golden rule that color will not lighten previous color. Bleach can work but it’s very damaging on the hair. Depending on how long ago the black color was applied, there are many great color removal products available to stylists that will gently remove the black pigment and make way for a lighter brown.
But DO NOT attempt this at home. Do yourself and your hair a favor and get thee to a professional salon. You’ve gone past the DIY zone in hair coloring and now need to pass the batton to a pro.
tt, ITA. I’m a 42 year old woman, I want 42-year old you-know-whats.
Where does henna fit into this? It doesn’t penetrate the hair shaft, but it’s permanent as all get out … More a stain than a dye, perhaps?
Yeah, Henna is a stain. It’s harder to get out than grass on a pant-leg
we wrote about henna before
Is there a strict definition of “stain?” Does the word mean anything in a rigorous chemical sense?
I imagine it has something to do with the fact that the dye molecule isn’t physically “placed” into the hair shaft but instead sort of migrates into the top layers?
I wonder how this definition would be used to differentiate between dyeing cloth versus staining it? Or wood … Hmm.
Is Sunsilk color boost still available? I’ve never seen it on the shelves. Has anyone tried it?
Have you guys heard of betty beauty? its hair dye made specifically for the hair down there. now you can match “the rug with the drapes” lol
I highlighted my hair with light blonde highlights, and i have dishwater blonde hair. Now my hair as orange blonde spots in the front and in the back its my original color and, it looks terrible. Is there any product that can take the orange blonde out?
try Aveda’s Blue Malva shampoo and conditioner, it takes the brassiness out of your hair. Or you can try a semi permanent color to tone your hair. As for semi permanent and demi permanent hair color they are known as “deposit only haircolor” meaning they are used to deposit haircolor but can not lift (lighten) the hair. Demi permanent color will often make the hair appear healthier especially if you have chemically processed your hair a lot.
“Cons: The chemical process is damaging to your hair”
Actually this may be an advantage for me. A hairdresser recommended colouring because I have lots of fine hair. Damaging it slightly seems to plump it up a bit. I don’t blowdry or use any other products, just dye at home every 5-6 weeks.
do not use anything like manic panic or raw or anything like that. those stain the hair and will eventually have to be grown out or lightened out. so before you do it think about how to get that crap out. not so worth it. but Pravana is a professional color line thta has amazing special effect colors. easier to remove.
I have too-light highlights, that have partially grown out so that I have dark brown roots. I’d like to go all light brunette–in other words, darken the highlights and lift the natural dark brown color, without leaving a root stripe. Is this possible? Will it take a double process?
You may need to have your stylist do a soap cap (basically shampoo and bleach) on your hair to pull the black off so you can lift it to a brown. To get rid of orange or brassy tones in your hair, you’ll want to mix an additive in your color (if you color at home). You can get this at Sally’s. It takes out red tones in your color.
My experience: After some time of home dying with dark brown, my hair darkened to black. I went to my salon and asked them to remove the black and give me back my “brown” hair. They used the bleach soap referred to above, and my hair turned firey-orange. They warned me about it and said don’t worry, we will dye it the color you want. Well, I ended up with a med. brown color with very intense red highlights…like a dark strawberry blonde! I have black eyebrows, so this really looked weird and didn’t match well with my skin color.
Lesson learned: I have used the dark brown, semi-permanent color with great success. Since my natural color is now salt/pepper, I have to color more often, but I really like the results.
Hi, I had the Pravana thermal hair smoothing system done professionally on the 1st of March, I would like to refresh my highlights that are now grown out (and then add some to my bangs. One of the advisors had mentioned here that there are some bleach alternatives available out there now – I would love to know what they are, I tried consulting one salon and the woman was irate when I told her what I wanted to have done. I do know that bleaching is out of the question. Thank you
in advance.