Hi!

Its very possible to go lighter, what is your end game though? Like blonde or just a lighter shade of brown?
The first thing I would do is get a color remover, colorb4 or color fix depending on where you live and try and get as much old dye out of your hair as possible, then depending on how light that gets your hair and what staining is left then we will have a better idea of what direction to point you in.

Thanks for replying I appreciate you reading this! I have got the kit for colour remover so will be doing that shortly. To be honest I am torn between a few ideas - blonde, silver/grey or pastel colours! I used it to love experimenting and have not done it for so long I am really open to just something different! I guess next step as you say is tske out as much dye as possible and see what it looks like.

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So I applied the colour b4 and it's definitely lightened up some of the colour. My hair is less red and more even everywhere. After some careful thought I would really like to try silver/grey and would appreciate some direction wi H how I might achieve this!

Here is what it looks like now, sorry about close up!

Moderator combined posts. Please do not double post.

you can do the color remover up to 3 times, so I would try doing it 2 more times, because it looks like there is still a good bit of dye in your hair. After you've washed your hair a few times after the color remover then the next step is to bleach. You want a good high quality bleach to lessen the amount of time you actually have to have it on. There are a ton of tips on here about bleaching and the best way to go about it. Personally I do it after I haven't washed my hair for about a week and a half so that I have natural oils to protect my hair and then I coat my hair in coconut oil the night before and sleep with it on my hair then wake up and bleach, lengths first then the roots.

Now with as dark as your hair is and as light as you need to go, silver may be a struggle. It takes a lot of patience to get hair that light. It may take a full bleach and then some. But after you bleach, you must wait at least 1 month before bleaching again, Or you risk major damage to your hair!! Even if it doesn't seem like its damaged at first, it will show up about a month later. After you have your hair to a very pale blonde (referred to as inside of a banana peel) then the next step is toning. For my own platinum hair I used a mix of purple, pink and blue direct dyes, diluted into a ton of conditioner to create the right toner. You need about 1-2 drops of dye in a tub of conditioner. So that's the tricky part, figuring out your own perfect toner. Now Ive never taken my hair silver, its just not a good color on me so someone else can help you with the right mix for silver. Hopefully my explanation makes sense and I haven't goofed any wording up. lol

Very good explanation from Emmer. I just want to add, going blonde from dyed brown is very hard on its own because Browns stain generally. So getting as light as one needs to go for silver grey is often impossible. Be prepared with a second plan so you're not too disappointed and end up pushing your hair too far in an attempt to get it lighter than it can go now.

Thank you both very much very helpful words of advice! Iwouldn't want to damage my hair so if you reckon silver may be too difficult I won't go there. May I ask what colour you think I may be able to achieve? I definitely want to go a good deal lighter. My hair is naturally dark brown but I am concerned with the reddy dyes I have been using causing staining etc.  I will do another colour b4 as suggested and read up on bleaching tips! 

I agree with Emmer and Janine's assessments, probably your best bet is to do the colour removers until you have got as much dye out as possible (up to a maximum of 3 times) then you will most likely be left with something a bit gingery if you have been dying your hair a lighter brown than your natural colour as your hair will only have been lightened slightly so will have a lot of orange tones. I you then use a bleach and see what you end up with, you'll be able to tell at that point whether any of it is stained and won't lift - there are still bright colours you can achieve over hair that won't lighten a lot such as reds or oranges and certain teals and purples so you may have to opt for something like that if your hair is stained a lot. If your hair does lift nicely you may be able to eventually get light enough for a silver grey or a pastel but these shades need the very lightest of blonde bases. Best bet is don't set your heart on one thing too much and see where you can lighten to and progress from there.

I agree with lauralei, I would just start the process of color removers and then bleach once and just see where you are at, if things look good and your hair lifts well then we can reassess our recommendations, and vice versa if your hair wont budge past a ginger or dark yellow color then there are different directions you can go with that. Its a long road so just be patient with your hair and you will get a good outcome.

Thank you very much for your input. I am so new to this so appreciate direction as to getting lighter. I have use the colour before and then tried a bleach bath tester patch on a piece of I cut. What do you think of the colour? Is it worth trying to do anything with ?

The strand test looks like it turned out really well! It's hard to tell whether you have any staining as some other strands could be more stubborn but it could all be fine and lift like that. One thing though, on the strand test I'm assuming the ends are damp, not darker?

If you want pastels, silver, light grey or white you'd have to lighten further than that as you want inside of a banana peel yellow, but take it slow (a month after a full bleach and at least a week after a bleach bath before bleaching/ bleach bathing again or any other colour treatment containing peroxide).

There are loads of colours you could do over that level in the meantime though, reds, bright pinks, certain purples, teals, greens. Just if you think you might want to eventually go lighter avoid colours that are really stainy (eg. Directions Plum, Alpine Green, a lot of pinks)

It looks good, but I wonder how many times you did the color remover, just because it looks like there is still a good bit of red and I think if you use the color remover another time (max of 3 times) then it will make the bleaching a lot better and you can get even better results.

Hi!

I used the colour remover once before doing this strand test, I have since used it twice more and it definitely looks different now. I am thinking I might do another strand test and see what that turns out like. Yes my hair was wet and looks darker than it would normally. Thank you so much for your input, feeling positive about attempting bleaching soon!

Just so you know what staining looks like, in my experience it's usually patchy, so if the colour remover has left the overall colour fairly even you probably have more chance of it lightening evenly when you bleach! Just remember to be patient and take it slow, that way the colour you eventually put on will take more evenly as your hair won't be as damaged and unevenly porous!

So, bleach bath'd my hair. Lovely bright roots and the rest nowhere near the colour of my roots.feeling quite low at the moment just want to hide away! Ok the plus side my hair does feel in very good condition soft and shiny after conditioning. Is there anything I can do about the roots?

Did you apply it to all of your hair all at once? your roots lift faster because of the heat from your head.

Is the rest of it even or are there patches of staining?

I know some people have diluted Adore browns to make mid-blonde toners that might disguise it, but I know you have to be careful as some have green undertones and others have red undertones - I don't really do blonde so I'm not sure what to advise but I know there is info about it on here somewhere!