Coloring Hair At Home: Help Me Lighten My Hair From Dark To Light

Happy Hump Day

Whoop, whoop! It’s Hump Day gorgeous! Happy Wednesday! This week’s question for Ask the Pro Stylist focuses once again on coloring hair at home. Kathy wants help lightening her hair from dark to light.

Question of the Week

I have baby fine hair. As a result, the only way to get body is to perm or color. I was getting a perm, but my hairdresser has been closed since Covid-19 struck. So, I colored my hair last weekend on my own using Redken hair color and #10 cream developer. I have always colored my hair and never had problems. My hairdresser colored my hair right after my last perm. It turned out great; I watched what she did and what she used for my reference.
My problem is instead of Warm Brown, I got pitch Black hair color. My own color is medium brown, and now looks like I’m ready for an early Halloween. How can I or what can I use to get the black out and color it Light Golden Brown?
I am so mad right now and am tempted to shave my head and buy a wig to save time and trouble.

Can you please advise me and help?
Many thanks,
Kathy

My Immediate Response

Hi – sorry for your dilemma. Unfortunately, there is nothing you should do at home without making it worse. I suggest finding a professional to help. You need to lighten it and remove the hair color you put in. If done at home you run the risk of incredible damage. Corrective hair color in the salon is also costly. Good luck.

Frustrating: Leave it to the Pros, Please!

To begin, her question is full of reasons why her hair turned dark brown (black). If I was sitting in front of my class of cosmetology students relaying this story, they could pin out at least 3 issues. Therefore, we leave it to the professionals. Because, if Kathy knew anything about hair, she’d understand why it is dark.

You Simply Cannot Watch Your Stylist at Work to Know What to Do

Yes, there are true methods of madness behind the color bar. Baby fine hair reacts differently to color than other textures. If she gets perms, her hair is even more porous. What does this mean? For Kathy, color will absorb faster than other textures.

Know What You Are Using

In addition, there is no such thing as a #10 cream developer. The 10 indicates the level of developer. So, for example, 10 volume = 3% hydrogen peroxide because it releases 10 times its volume in oxygen. But you wouldn’t know this unless you are trained and licensed. The volume in hair color also references the level of lift. Ten volume lifts ONLY UP to one level. This means it is deposit only. Following your perm, which partially removes hair color and makes the hair a little lighter and more porous, the stylist only needed to use 10-volume because the hair soaked up the color. Sorry that she closed, but using the same thing only darkened Kathy’s hair. (Not that color would lift color if a higher strength of developer was used).

The Pros Know

If she visited a salon, it sounds like the colorist would have just applied to the regrowth, and possibly ran some through at the end to refresh. It appears Kathy applied the color to the whole head. As a result, dark hair that looks black. JUST DON’T DO IT!

Happy Styling!

If you have a question like today’s query for coloring hair at home, please email me at asktheprostylist@gmail.com.. Until then, happy almost spring and happy styling!

©Deirdre Haggerty, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. It is unlawful to reproduce this article or any part therein without prior written permission and consent from the author.