Hair too yellow! Need help. Urgent!

Personally I would use the lighter toner as they are designed to get more yellow out. Be aware that even though the activation lotion is not considered developer, it still contains hydrogen peroxide and will be damaging. Dont leave it on for too long and make sure to use a good conditioner after. A reconstructor would be better than a moisture conditioner.

I went back to Sally's and another employee told me to absolutely not use the 9NA. Said it won't turn out good because my hair isn't light enough. She gave me a 7N to try.

Just remember that the activator is still peroxide so if this one doesnt work, give your hair a break before you try again with a different one.

How much of a break do you think? Thanks!

Around a month. You need to really make sure your hair can take it and is still healthy. It can take several weeks for damage to really start showing. In the meantime you could try toning with direct dyes in conditioner. A tiny amount of a blue based purple in conditioner could well sort you out. I can go into further detail if you’re interested.

This is why I hate the term “natural” in beauty products. Honestly it’s a load of bunk most of the time. Did you know that hydrogen peroxide is found in the body, in water and even in the atmosphere. It is exactly the same as what we use to bleach, although that’s synthesized it is exactly the same. It’s almost the same as water.

H2O = water
H2O2 = hydrogen peroxide

It’s almost all marketing. There is very little difference between most of the products, if any difference at all, between those marked natural and those that are not. They know people want to try and avoid “chemicals” now, but they also know that most people don’t totally understand that everything is chemicals. Even nothingness is chemicals because it’s all atmosphere, and so partly oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide etc, and of course, even hydrogen peroxide! 🙂

So my point is, don’t trust the marketing. Even companies that base themselves totally on being natural, they’re still using almost all the same stuff, they sometimes use just different names for the same stuff so you’re not tipped off. Some companies are using truly natural stuff, if your definition is “taken from nature” (though that doesn’t actually make it better when you know that natural doesn’t equal safe). Hydrogen peroxide is probably the most natural thing in many natural hair dyes, funnily enough (even if it’s not listed or stated it’s not in it, they still use something else in it that creates it with a chemical reaction of water and oxygen so it’s, as far as I’ve found, always used). Don’t buy something because it’s “natural”. It’s rarely always better and it’s probably the same.

I encourage you to read these articles:
https://chemistscorner.com/what-is-a-natural-cosmetic/
https://www.ewg.org/news-and-analysis/2018/01/natural-or-organic-cosmetics-don-t-trust-marketing-claims

This one is a question answered by a cosmetic scientist and I encourage you to listen read the blog posts on there and even listen to the old podcast they did, they produce very few episodes now sadly. It’s a real insight into the industry and sometimes  the chemists own frustration with the marketing.
http://thebeautybrains.com/2014/03/do-natural-ingredients-do-anything-for-hair/

Around a month. You need to really make sure your hair can take it and is still healthy. It can take several weeks for damage to really start showing. In the meantime you could try toning with direct dyes in conditioner. A tiny amount of a blue based purple in conditioner could well sort you out. I can go into further detail if you’re interested.

Thanks for the advice. A month is pretty long for me to go with yellow hair and the dye with conditioner method never has worked for me. I think my hair isn't light enough? What about a semi dye that you use without developer? Ion has a semi called Natural Blonde. All other semi dyes I've found are either unnatural or very dark colours. I wonder if putting a lavender semi dye on my hair would tone it? Maybe natural blonde mixed with lavender?

Use a little more dye if it's not doing anything. You need a darker colour. The plus with it is, you can keep trying until it works!

Are you sure that semi doesn't have developer? I don't know all brands, so I can't really say for sure, but I do know that many that claim to be semi dyes are more like demi dyes. Personally I don't like those kinds of dyes, well, or natural blondes, so I don't use them! If it'll work better, I doubt it. Honey blonde will add more yellow, hence the name honey, not tone out yellow you already have. Unless I know what kind of dye the Ion one really is, I won't suggest mixing it.

I wouldn't use a lavender dye, they're almost always too weak and you'll have the same problem as you had with the dye in conditioner. You likely need a lavender colour, but a bit deeper, or at least more pigmented. Lavender dyes are almost always very weakly pigmented.

Semi permanent dyes are direct and shouldn't be used with a developer. The one I got, Ion, is peroxide and ammonia free.

I actually got Light Plum which turned out not too bad. It looks pretty red in these photos. In person you can see some purple tones. It certain lighting it looks brown. Second photo is after 3 washes.

Looks great 🙂 I’m glad you found something that works.

No, as I say, semi dyes aren’t supposed to have developer. Many companies do call them semis though, when they should be called a demi. Also, there’s some dyes that claim they’re peroxide free and you just mix them with water. What they neglect to say is there’s a chemical reaction with the water and it makes peroxide. It’s very tricksy marketing. So, my advice is, if it’s a true semi, stick to calling it a direct dye and it’ll be understood better on these forums that you know the dye you’re talking about 🙂 we’ve found we have to check or people use them and then come back blaming us when they’ve used a dye with peroxide because it was called a semi and wasn’t and it’s damaged their hair further!

Looks great 🙂 I’m glad you found something that works.

No, as I say, semi dyes aren’t supposed to have developer. Many companies do call them semis though, when they should be called a demi. Also, there’s some dyes that claim they’re peroxide free and you just mix them with water. What they neglect to say is there’s a chemical reaction with the water and it makes peroxide. It’s very tricksy marketing. So, my advice is, if it’s a true semi, stick to calling it a direct dye and it’ll be understood better on these forums that you know the dye you’re talking about 🙂 we’ve found we have to check or people use them and then come back blaming us when they’ve used a dye with peroxide because it was called a semi and wasn’t and it’s damaged their hair further!

Thanks! Yeah I get that. I think it's common for box dyes to call dyes that are technically demi semi permanent. Most beauty supply stores seem to sell real direct semi permanent dyes. The Ion brand isn't too bad though I can't rave about the staying power. 4 washes now and it's almost out. Their claim is 10-15 washes and I don't see that happening.

Oh, Sally’s etc has been terrible for getting it wrong in the past! Many of the staff are the problem too, they aren’t highly trained and rarely have hairdressing experience, they just learn bits through the job. So frequently they’re the source of bad information sadly.

Ion seems very hit and miss. I’ve never used it myself. Some of the dyes seem to wash out super fast, but some stain so much they don’t even fade, let alone come out at all!

There are ways of making your dye last much longer though. https://www.hairdyeforum.com/index.php/topic,11009.0.html
I do the conditioner wash only method mostly. My hair is always clean, though it does take more effort to scrub my scalp, but my dye barely fades at all. Though that’s not so great when I’m keen to change colour lol

Oh, Sally’s etc has been terrible for getting it wrong in the past! Many of the staff are the problem too, they aren’t highly trained and rarely have hairdressing experience, they just learn bits through the job. So frequently they’re the source of bad information sadly.

Ion seems very hit and miss. I’ve never used it myself. Some of the dyes seem to wash out super fast, but some stain so much they don’t even fade, let alone come out at all!

There are ways of making your dye last much longer though. https://www.hairdyeforum.com/index.php/topic,11009.0.html

I do the conditioner wash only method mostly. My hair is always clean, though it does take more effort to scrub my scalp, but my dye barely fades at all. Though that’s not so great when I’m keen to change colour lol

Oh I agree about Sally's! I've had bad advice there before. I've gotten to know which of the staff actually has hairdressing experience. The one girl I dealt with clearly didn't because when I second guessed using the dye she recommended and went back to talk to another employee (who I found out is a hairdresser, as she talks about products she uses on her clients) I was told to absolutely NOT use that dye.

Just give your hair a break before you try again with a different one.