I had to share how I did this to help my natural ladies save their hair AND their money!
I have been dying my hair with box black dye for over 10 years, even before I went natural and I dye my hair probably every 4 months. My hair is naturally dark brown with some lighter brown pieces around my face. I really wanted something different and decided to do an ombre from my natural dark brown to a light brown/red/brassy blond on the ends.
I called a few places to see the costs. The lowest quote I got was started at $75 and even then the hair stylist couldn't promise that my hair would get very light because my hair was already dyed black 😑
She even said that my hair could possibly turn green and wanted to do a strand test. I decided to avoid that completely.
So after some research I decided to do it myself.
FIRST I had to strip the black dye from my hair, to prevent it from turning green. Don't worry, it was completely safe and no damage occurred form this process. I used Color Oops. There are a few different boxes that I saw at the store but saw that this one was the best one to use. I got it from Walmart for under $10. It ranges in price above that if you get it from drugstores.
I didn't take a picture of my hair after this step because it really wasn't anything special. It was just brown.
I gave my hair a break for two weeks, while also deep conditioning my hair at least three times a week flipping between a protein deep conditioner and a moisturizing deep conditioner.
After two weeks I decided to apply the dye. I used the Creme of Nature Moisture-Rick Hair Color in Lightest Blonde. I used this because this is what I saw other girls with my similar hair color/texture use to get that reddish/brassy blond I was talking about earlier. I got this from my local beauty supply store for around $7!
Again, just follow the directions with how long to leave it on. I sectioned my hair into four parts and applied it just to the very ends. After the first time period was over, I applied more just a little above the ends, so it would also get lighter but not as light. I believe I left it on for another 10 minutes.
It was definitely lighter but I thought the ends needed to be just a bit more light. Again, I deep conditioned, waited two weeks and dyed it again. But just on the very tips. I didn't leave it on long at all, I really didn't want to damage my hair. And these were my results!
I'm so pleased with the results! It is different but not too drastically different to wear I would be overwhelmed with the change. Definitely what I was looking for!
I'm sure if you left it on longer you would get a brighter result, but I really didn't want any damage or a drastic change.
Thank you so much for reading 💜
Feel free to ask me any questions or make any recommendations.
