Hair turned out warmer than I wanted! Help me navigate my way to a cooler brown.

you would have to lighten your hair to lift the orange tones in order to get to a dark ashy blonde you could try using a colour remover like colour B4 and then you would need to use a good quality bleach over coconut oil and then tone. I suggest going to a salon if you are lifting dark hair as it takes a few stages and would be a pity to damage your beautiful long hair.

however, if you don't mind going darker you could try neutralizing the warmth in your current brown by adding a diluted blue/turquoise tinted conditioner over your hair now. Adding a spec of something like Punky Turquoise to your conditioner which will not cause any damage. Add more if necessary.

Suggest a strand test in any case.

Loon wrote: you would have to lighten your hair to lift the orange tones in order to get to a dark ashy blonde you could try using a colour remover like colour B4 and then you would need to use a good quality bleach over coconut oil and then tone. I suggest going to a salon if you are lifting dark hair as it takes a few stages and would be a pity to damage your beautiful long hair. however, if you don't mind going darker you could try neutralizing the warmth in your current brown by adding a diluted blue/turquoise tinted conditioner over your hair now. Adding a spec of something like Punky Turquoise to your conditioner which will not cause any damage. Add more if necessary. Suggest a strand test in any case.

Hi Loon,

I'm probably not going to want to bleach my hair anytime soon and didn't mind going darker, so I took your advice and got some Punky Turquoise. I mixed a a tiny bit that was stuck to the seal into some conditioner and left that on a small bunch of hair as my strand test. Soo it definitely worked.. but now it has a green /slightly yellow tinge to it rather than the original orange.

Any way you know where I went wrong? I'm not sure if i didnt use enough, didnt have it on for long enough, used too much?

I'm not sure how to link a picture here but if that would help I can try to figure it out.

Thanks again for your help!

if it has gone slightly greenish then your hair must have been lighter in those areas.. so just wash it a couple of times and it should soften. If you find it is going too ashy then use less in future or mix it with a little violet or purple but keeping it very dilute. And then use whenever necessary.

Loon wrote: if it has gone slightly greenish then your hair must have been lighter in those areas.. so just wash it a couple of times and it should soften. If you find it is going too ashy then use less in future or mix it with a little violet or purple but keeping it very dilute. And then use whenever necessary.

If I go with the route of adding a little purple to my diluted blue mixture, which colour would you recommend?

I'm going to try again with a slightly more diluted blue mixture and see how that goes first.

Is it okay that I just used whatever condition is available at home? I have some colour safe conditioner that is silicone free, but if that's not necessary I'd probably rather just use something cheap.

Thank you :)

Usually it's fine to use whatever you have at home, but for really dilute mixtures, it's a little better to use something silicone-free, because. There are a few options for rather afforable silicone-free conditioner. I personally keep a bottle of Suave Naturals for mixing dyes. In terms of a good violet, I find Punky Violet or Manic Panic Ultra Violet works quite well for mixing purposes.

you can tweak it with any violet or purple until you get a light blue you adjust the ratios of each depending on the purple or violet that you have... you can tweak it as necessary to find what works for your hair and you can just use your regular silicone-free conditioner and tint that and use it as you would your conditioner or whenever you find it starts to get a little brassy.

Loon wrote: you can tweak it with any violet or purple until you get a light blue you adjust the ratios of each depending on the purple or violet that you have... you can tweak it as necessary to find what works for your hair and you can just use your regular silicone-free conditioner and tint that and use it as you would your conditioner or whenever you find it starts to get a little brassy.

I CAN GET THE ORANGE OUT USING THIS AS JUST REGULAR CONDITIONER?

You just made my day. I thought I'd have to keep smothering my dry hair with the mixture and wait around every few weeks.

Thanks so much for your help :) sorry I kept coming back with questions :p

vivienne wrote: Usually it's fine to use whatever you have at home, but for really dilute mixtures, it's a little better to use something silicone-free, because. There are a few options for rather afforable silicone-free conditioner. I personally keep a bottle of Suave Naturals for mixing dyes. In terms of a good violet, I find Punky Violet or Manic Panic Ultra Violet works quite well for mixing purposes.

Ooh thanks, I'll definitely go search for some affordable silicone free conditioner to use after I finish my bottle.

yes you might have to leave it on a little longer but you can use it regularly or even every time you wash your hair if necessary it will really depend on your hair and how much and how you wash it and and how much it fades to determine if you need more or for longer and if you find the colour starts to build too much you can skip a couple of times... you will figure out how often you need it you can even tint your shampoo rinsing with cold water and apple cider vinegar in your final rinse will also help to seal the cuticle and keep it from fading keep in mind that blue neutralizes orange, green neutralizes red and purple neutralizes yellow to get you to brown but the ratios really depend on the base and the goal colour if you find your brown is getting too ashy you can change your formula or just wash a few times and then adjust your tinted conditioner to a warmer purple tone rather than blue. you won't be able to go lighter or blonder however unless you lighten your base first