STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Luv2Shop · Kate Spade

Good at home hair dye???

erin · Chanel

i know you don't want to hear this, but when going more than 2-3 shades lighter, i really think it's better left to a professional. that said, boxed dyes typically have one standard developer, and i'm pretty sure on the box they even show a shade indicator of how it will look on hair as dark as yours. (ie: light reddish brown)

i would recommend looking for haircolor in sallys instead. that way you can customize the way it turns out. look for a color with a green or blue base, and try using 30 vol on the ends and 20 on the roots. this is for future reference, fyi. color will not lift color, and your only option right now is basically highlights.

tri_sarah_tops · Marc Jacobs

It's really hard to lighten dark hair and I think it's almost impossible to do without pre-lightening. I've never lightened my hair on my own, so I don't know much about it, but I'm under the impression that you have to use a lightener to strip the pigment and then dye your hair the color that you want. Awhile ago, Meow posted this site: http://www.robertcraig.com. They have a lot of different at home dyes and they also have a pre-lightener and a colorfix kit. You can do an online consultation or contact customer service. You may want to try a web search....I've seen some good sites that give instructions on how to do lightening at home.

member · Hermes

I have to agree w/Erin because I've made this mistake in the past. My natural hair color is a very light brown. One time I tried to dye it lighter and it turned out reddish. My hairdresser yelled at me and told me never to try at home dyes to make my hair lighter. It never comes out the shade on the box. That being said, I'd leave it to a professional if you want to go lighter. I'm sorry - I know you're trying to cut corners...maybe you can call some salons and shop around for the best price?

kenzie · Chanel

I've had tons of hair dye adventures at home! My natural hair color is light brownish-reddish-blonde with lots of natural highlights (shouldn't have messed with it in the first place!). But I digress...

I actually successfully lightened my hair by about 10 shades at home a few summers ago (although I do not recommend this). I dumped two bottles of bleach on my hair and let it sit for, and I'm not kidding about this, about 4 hours (my scalp was in pain). By that time it was lightened enough to the pale yellow stage. It was still too yellow for me, so I put two-plus boxes of pale ash blonde dye on it to tone it down. This actually gave me a color similar to Jessica Simpson's and it actually looked really good. Until I went out in the sun. Then it turned into a hideous white, bleach blonde. Not a good look for me.

I have also lightened my hair by two-three shades at home and done so successfully. Just something to remember when doing that: some people's hair has warm (ie, red) tones in it that are brought out by dying the hair lighter (read: orange). If your hair 'pulls red' and you want to lighten it at home, you need to get a color labeled, 'ash' or 'cool.' Anything labeled 'golden' will turn your hair orange. I've lightened my hair at home by doing this. If you're hair turned too orange, you can try to fix it by buying a 'cool' toned box of semipermanent dye (like Natural Instincts) and putting that over the orange. Sometimes that will tone it down (I've used this trick).

However, when all is said and done, when I've lightened my hair at home, between the original boxes of dye (I have to use 2 1/2 b/c my hair is so long and thick) and then the semipermanent rinse (also 2 1/2 bottles), I've spent enough money that I should have just gone to the salon.

HTH!!