How I Lightened My Hair from Box Black NO Damage!

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.

Just follow the directions, I believe it only took 20 minutes or so. It smelled pretty awful, like rotten eggs, but it WORKED! After 10 years all the black was gone! My hair didn't feel dry or anything afterwards, but just in case I did deep condition my hair deep condition my hair with a DIY protein conditioner that I found here.  

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.