How to Dye Blonde Hair Brown

Maffew is a hairdresser, marketer, and dabbler in many things who enjoys sharing knowledge about the science of hair coloring and hair care.

If you have blonde hair and want to dye it darker, there are a few things you need to know first before you can dye it successfully. An incorrect dye application can lead to various issues including green or grey hair in the worst-case scenario.

Even a color that looks okay initially can be subject to increased fading that caused it to look dull and lifeless after just a few washes. Knowing how to complete the process properly is key to preventing color mistakes and getting a great result.

This article will discuss everything you need to know to choose the correct dye and which techniques you should use based on your starting point to ensure that your color turns out as expected.

Dyeing Your Hair From Blonde to Brown

You might believe that to dye blonde hair brown, all you need to do is apply a brown hair dye and wait for it to develop. It's a little more complicated than that though because darker dyes won't work as intended on light hair. Depending on how light your hair is and what shade of blonde hair you have, you could end up with your hair turning green or another unexpected color if you simply put a darker shade on top of it.

The underlying base pigment that is required for darker hair is missing regardless of whether your hair is naturally blonde or has been dyed that way. This is why simply applying any dye can lead to strange color results because the expected foundation isn't present and the shade of dye you've chosen may not account for this.

Accounting For the Base Tone of Your Hair

Blonde hair has a yellow base tone that lies beneath the color you actually see. The cool tones in your hair cancel out some of this undertone and give you any shade from a golden blonde to an ash blonde color depending on how much of this tone is left in your hair.

These cool tones are important even in a golden blonde shade. Without them, your blonde hair would simply be an unnatural-looking fluorescent yellow color because of the underlying base pigment. It is the combination of warm and cool tones that creates a natural, beautiful color in your hair so you can never neglect the need for some amount of both.

How Does This Apply to Dark Dyes?

The problem with simply applying a shade of hair dye to blonde hair is that dark hair color is meant to have an orange or red base depending on depth, while blonde hair has a yellow base.

The dye itself can't contain the necessary concentration of warm tones to deal with this issue because then it would be overly red when used for any other purpose. The result of this is that dark dyes applied over the top of light hair colors show their primary tone with great intensity because there is nothing to restrain that tone compared to what would happen if the warm base tone was actually present.

Ash brown hair dyes, in particular, contain significant amounts of blue and green pigment to counteract red tones. This is why they can be used to tone your hair to a nice brown after color stripping, or they can be used to tone down red-brown hair colors like mahogany or bright red to a more natural shade.

When applied to hair that has no red or orange tones, however, an ash-brown hair dye is extremely overpowering. Instead of achieving an ash brown hair color, you'll end up with either dark gray or even a murky and horrifying shade of green if you're particularly unlucky.

The lighter your hair currently is, the more likely it becomes for strange results to occur. There are two reasons for this:

1. Blonde hair typically contains no orange or red tone at all
2. The lighter your shade is, the more dominant the primary tone from the chosen dye becomes

You need to be careful and dye your hair properly if you want to go from blonde to brown hair, and it is not just ash dye that will lead to an unexpected color if applied to your blonde hair. Any dye with a primary tone that isn't neutral is at risk, including auburn, chocolate, and other popular shades that can look washed out and unbalanced as a result.

Avoiding Hair Color Mistakes

If you want to dye your blonde hair to a brown color, you have to be very selective of what dye you use or you will end up with a completely unintended color and a trip to the salon for an expensive color correction service.

There are two easy ways to avoid green hair, grey hair, and any other color mishaps in between:

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• Fill your blonde hair beforehand
• Use a neutral shade of brown dye or balance your chosen shade with a mix

Filling

To fill blonde hair simply means that you replace the missing base tone for the new shade you want by filling your hair using a color like gold, copper, or red. This prepares it for the final color result by introducing the necessary tone to your hair that was originally missing, providing a foundation for the brown dye to develop onto.

While the process may sound complicated, it's actually incredibly simple because you can already determine what color you'll need to use as the filler based on the result you want. Different levels of brown from light to dark and finally to black have a different base tone varying from copper, to copper-red, and finally to a deep red at the furthest end of the spectrum.

Warmer Dye

You can also sometimes use a warmer brown hair dye instead. The only problem with using this method to dye blonde hair brown is that for whatever shade of dye you use, the outcome will be less precise and it's only feasible for a select range of shades.

Ideally, there should be just enough warmth in the chosen shade to compensate for what is missing in your hair. If there's too much, your new color can look warmer than intended. Conversely, a shade that isn't warm enough will lead to a very ashy result that may not suit your features.

This method should usually only be considered in situations when only a smaller increase in level is required. You shouldn't do it if you wanted to go from platinum blonde to dark brown for example, but for a lesser color transition, it works just fine.

However, the technique often leads to imprecise shade results, and it's also less effective if you have a lot of grey hair. The next possible method addresses all of these issues and is an alternative to the two-step process of filling as it does a good job of this through the way it works already.

Neutral Dye

Neutral—also called natural—dye is any shade that contains balanced color. This means it has the right amount of red, yellow, and blue to be deposited in your hair to get it to a new level without taking on an excess of any particular tone.

Dyes like this are used in a few different situations including for achieving excellent grey coverage or when dyeing blonde hair darker. Both processes require the same principle of replacing missing pigment for the new color to develop properly.

Which Is Better?

So which should you choose for your hair? Think of filling as being the reverse of the bleach and tone process that strips pigment out of your hair and then corrects the remaining color as a secondary step.

Filling adds the correct pigment to your hair that is needed to dye it darker, allowing for the tone to apply correctly. Doing both steps separately gives the maximum level of control and precision while the use of neutral dye is quicker and more convenient but less precise.

Both methods work. If you're making an extreme jump from pale to very dark hair, or you're less experienced and worried about the process in any way, fill and then dye to eliminate any chance for surprise. Otherwise, choose whichever method you find easiest and most convenient.

Filling Blonde Hair

If you have blonde hair, depending on what shade of blonde you have and how light your blonde hair is you may need to fill it with gold or red tones for the best result before you dye it brown.

This can easily be achieved by applying a warm shade before using the desired brown shade and should be the method used if you intend to go 5 levels darker or even more as it will give the most consistent and reliable results.

You can fill your hair with a colored protein filler or a demi-permanent dye and both have individual benefits that need to be understood.

Colored Protein Fillers For Blonde Hair

Colored protein fillers are especially great for porous hair because the protein helps normalize the porosity of your hair and prevents hair dye from coloring unevenly. If you bleached your hair when you dyed it blonde, it is likely porous, and a protein filler is a preferable way to fill it.

If your hair is naturally blonde, it doesn't matter too much which option you choose. This kind of filler is quicker and easier but can lead to some warmth lingering into the new color in some cases and it's also more prone to fading. You can avoid these issues with the other filling technique.

Demi-Permanent Dyes For Blonde Hair

If you decide to use a demi-permanent dye to fill your hair, use a shade that's at least one level lighter than your desired brown hair—preferably two if your hair is porous or very light. You can dye your hair with ash, neutral, or warm brown after filling it using a copper or red shade.

If you want an intense ash brown hair color, however, be sure to use a dye that is at least two levels lighter than your desired brown shade. The reason for this is that you need some red tone in your hair so that your ash dye doesn't turn out green, but you don't want so much red that it turns out too warm even after applying an ash brown dye.

Other Kinds of Dye

One last thing to note is that technically any kind of dye can be used as a filler but that doesn't necessarily mean you should use whatever is available to dye blonde hair brown. Demi-permanent dyes offer a good mix of longevity and minimal damage making them particularly well-suited to the process.

A permanent dye can be used, just keep in mind that it has the potential for slightly more damage as a result. Never use temporary dyes or semi-permanent dyes, however, as they're designed to only stain the surface of your hair and won't work properly for the process.

What Are Demi-Permanent Dyes?

Demi-permanent dyes differ from permanent hair dyes in that part of the color in the tube is oxidative like a permanent dye, but part of it is also direct.

Oxidative dye is permanent and requires oxygen from the developer to react and become the final color, whereas direct color is pre-formed and also used in semi-permanent dye. In this sense, a demi-permanent dye is a kind of middle-ground between the two.

The low volume of developer used—which is usually between 5–7 vol—is necessary to oxidize the dye but causes almost no damage because it is so diluted and gentle.

Where Can I Buy Demi-Permanent Hair Dye?

You likely won't find demi-permanent hair dye in supermarkets or pharmacies, so you're better off checking specialty beauty stores or buying online. You will also need to know exactly what you're looking for to buy it because the fact that it is a demi-permanent dye isn't always labeled on the tube.

A few great demi-permanent dyes include Igora Viviance, I.Color I.luminate, and Matrix Color Sync. If you can't get a demi-permanent dye, you can use permanent dye mixed with a 10 vol developer for the filler instead. It is slightly more damaging but still a very mild choice.

Which Color Do I Use to Fill My Blonde Hair?

If you're having trouble working out which shade to fill your hair, you can use the table below to quickly identify the shade you need.

The number that precedes the shade is the hair level, which tells you how dark the shade is. The name of the shade corresponds to this level and also tells you the primary tone.

For example, if you wanted a dark neutral-brown color, this is a level 3, and you should apply a level 4 medium red-brown to fill it first so that the color turns out exactly.

Dyeing With a Warmer Shade

Instead of filling blonde hair with red before dyeing it brown, another option is to dye it with a warmer brown shade than your desired color. In this case, a natural or soft ash brown would turn out more like an ash brown, while a golden brown would turn out closer to a natural brown.

For cooler shades of brown, you'll notice that shades that are one tone warmer than your desired shade will give you the color you want but this rule breaks down and stops working for much warmer shades like caramel or auburn which will require an additional step to work with.

The main exception to this rule is with mahogany and burgundy hair colors. These shades contain red and violet tones to give more of a purple color. In this case, the yellow tones present in your blonde hair can counteract the violet tones in these colors, leading to shades that are redder or pinker than they should be. If this is a problem for you, add a violet intensifier to your mahogany or burgundy shades to boost the purple color.

You can use the table below to decide what dye to use when dyeing your blonde hair brown without filling it first. Keep in mind that you should only do this when the change in darkness is up to three levels.

For a more extreme change, fill first or use a mix that is half your desired shade and half the equivalent natural shade. Either method will prevent mistakes from occurring. While mixing shades may feel difficult it's ultimately the better choice in any situation because it ensures that the right tones are present.

Mixing Dyes to Darken Blonde Hair Without Filling

If you have a lot of grey hair or want a more exact color result but prefer to use only one step like with the previous technique, there's a similar method you can use, but be aware that it does involve mixing two different shades of dye together so it's a little more complicated.

This method allows you to dye your blonde hair darker regardless of the presence of grey hair too and doesn't require you to fill your hair separately first. The dyes used for the process will act to do this while the color develops. Use this method if you want to go up to 4–5 levels darker but keep in mind that pre-filling your hair as a separate step is the single-most reliable process for any amount of darkening and especially for extreme color changes.

To do this method, you'll use a natural shade mixed with a portion of the shade you actually want.

How Can Natural Shades Be Used to Darken Hair?

A natural shade is a shade that is formulated to contain all three primary colors in the right mix for the level it is used at. They're also called neutral shades.

As this shade is balanced, it can dye grey hair darker very effectively and is often used for this purpose because the result is more precise. It has the same benefit when darkening blonde hair to a brown shade though as it will re-introduce most of the missing base tone.

How to Use

To use this kind of dye, you should mix roughly 75% natural shade with 25% of your desired color. Brands do vary regarding what ratio they recommend for mixing in situations involving grey or pale hair so check your own product for more exact guidelines if in doubt.

This 3:1 ratio means that if you need to mix 4 oz of dye to be able to cover all your hair completely, you would need to use 3 oz of natural shade and 1 oz of your other shade, then add developer based on the total amount of dye. However, only mix dyes within the same brand (they're designed and intended to be inter-mixable in the same range).

Apply and develop the dye as normal and that's it. The color result won't be exactly the same as the way your intended shade looks, but it will be close and the difference will be especially insignificant later on. This is because when you need to touch up your roots and dealing with fading, you'll be able to use the exact shade alone for the retouch without any added natural shade.

Like with the other single-step method to dye your blonde hair brown, it's important that you don't try to make a drastic jump from a very light to a very dark color with this method because it's less reliable for that. Instead, always pre-fill your hair if you need this kind of change to eliminate the risk of mistakes entirely.

Development Time

One of the most important factors in how well your dye takes to your hair is the development time you allow it. As the change that needs to occur in dyeing your hair darker involves a lot of pigment, you need that color to really set into your hair properly. Always use the maximum development time of the product you've chosen.

Washing the dye out sooner than this increases how quickly it will fade and can also lead to your shade not looking as vibrant as it otherwise would so patience is very important to the overall result too.

If you dye blonde hair brown and take these rules into account, you'll end up with the brown shade you actually want instead of making a mistake that will require a color correction.

Hair color is all about the interaction of tones and depth. As you start to grasp how these different tones interact with each other, you'll be able to dye your hair any color without ending up with unexpected results.

Hair Care and Fading in Dyed Brown Hair

Once you've achieved the perfect hair color, there are a few things you need to do to take care of your dyed hair. Here are a few key tips to maintain your new brunette hair and keep it healthy after dyeing.

• Don't wash your hair too often.
• Use color-safe shampoo and conditioner (except in oily hair types).
• Focus on shampooing your roots rather than the middle and ends of your hair.
• Wash and rinse with cool water only.
• Be gentle with towel-drying and the use of combs and brushes while your hair is wet. Your hair is weakest when it's wet.
• If hot tools are necessary for your look, use heat-protectant products or hair serums to reduce damage.
• Use a deep conditioner or hot oil treatment once a week for softness, and a protein treatment for strength.

You will likely need to retouch your hair in 4–6 weeks to deal with any fading and regrowth. However, more fading will occur the first time you dye your hair dark compared to after a retouch since more pigment will build up within your hair with each dye.

More Information

• Choosing a Shade of Brown Hair Color
  Brown hair colors are diverse. Find out how to choose the best brown hair colors to match your features, style, and skin tone . . .
• How to Dye Your Hair
  Hair dye can allow you to change your entire style with ease. Discover how to dye your hair for salon-quality results.

Do you have a question about dyeing blonde hair brown, or want to know more about how the different tones in your hair contribute to its color? Leave a comment for tailored advice and share your insight with other readers.

This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.

© 2014 Maffew James

Comments

Denise on August 20, 2020:

I used a mahogany brown that turned my hair bright ornage then put a choclate brown on top its now got lighter but my roots look terrible but cant do roots as they will be a completly different colour you really need to think hard about colouring your hair brown from blonde as i now regret it

Emily on August 01, 2020:

Would my hair turn ginger or green if I dyed it brown from blonde?

Miss Deborah Williams on July 05, 2020:

If I use Auburn first on my bleached blonde hair then a brown would it be ok.

Isadora from Tennessee on June 29, 2020:

TY for this article. Im preparing myself for when I ditch the first time ever blonde for when I get too sorry to keep it up lmao. Probably less than two months. :-D

Angela on May 21, 2020:

Hi. Love your site. I have never colored my own hair before and wish I had done some research before I did!

I had salon colored and highlighted blonde hair. Like so many others I haven’t been able to get hair done at a salon. With my gray taking over, I decided to grab a box of light brown hair dye. As you discussed, my hair turned a really dark murky brown green color! So I freaked out and bought Color Oops. I used as directed, but it just lightened the color. Its now a medium brown/green with brassy notes. Help! I have brown eyes and warm tones. What can i do to get back to warm blonde or warm light brown.

Thanks in advance.

Angela

Julie on May 21, 2020:

My hair is normally dark brown with caramel and blonde streaks if i put a chocolate brown on all over until salons open as brown gone light would it turn strange colour

Ann Conlon on May 11, 2020:

Hi, i use preference, extreme platinum blonde box dye but I'm really fed up because I'm on a lot of medication and find since its been increased now my roots are yellow, my friend is a hairdresser and puts the colour on for me so she now adds a bit of her bleach to my colour, i leave it on for 90 minutes because it takes that long to change but is still tint of yellow. So I've decided to bite the bullet and go brown but my friend said it will go green. I've just read your full write up about what colours to use but reading the part that says best using professional colours to mix up.... i did buy 2 colours on advice from hairdresser to different tones of golden blonde? And 20% peroxide. We haven't done it yet due to the coronavirus. But myself and the hairdresser is nervous if it goes wrong.

I've just watched on the This Morning show if go from blonde to brown use semi permanent dye. My heads baffled haha, please help.

Annie

Jenise on April 07, 2020:

I have light highlighted blonde hair would like to go to light or medium brown. can't get fillers need to use shampoo in color what can I use.

Taz on April 02, 2020:

Hi, i'm a first year cosmetology student and we just started color theroy before spring break then everything closed due to coronavirus so our instructor has been sending us work online and she has asked us to formulate (with nothing at home to actually formulate) for a client that is a natural level 7/8 warm blonde wanting to go to level 5 neutral brown and for another client that is also a natural 7/8 warm blonde with 75% gray again wanting to go level 5 neutral brown...i should mention we are a redken salon, so color chromatics, color fusion, color gels lacquers,and shades eq. please help me lol

Karen on February 08, 2020:

Hi !

I bought a new wig but some of the highlights are too blonde for me. Is it possible to just dye the super blonde bits? Or if I dye all of the ends (super blonde and darker blonde) will it still have some dimention?

If I want to take them down to like an ashy light brown should I fill with a warm brown and then dye it an ashy brown?

Samantha on January 28, 2020:

Well i made this mistake before reading the article. I was advised to get the wrong color to do my hair. I used a neutral filler and an ashy brown and all of my blonde is now a steely grey-brown. How can i fix this to make it more of a natural brown? Can i put something on top of this to achieve what i want or do i have to strip this and start from square one?

Ashley on January 20, 2020:

Maffew James-

Natural blonde here, seeking your advice.

My natural hair color is around an 8-9 natural blonde. I want to semi-temporarily dye it to a medium brown (maybe like a 4).

Your article is wonderfully written, and it explained so much that I didn’t know about hair and dyes, I am a complete novice.

But if I want a such a different color to last only around 10-12 weeks tops, how would I go about that? Demi-permanent dyes seem too long-term, but I am wondering if a semi-permanent will give me the same gross-green hair you’ve described in your article if I just jump straight to that deep brown.

Please help, you seem to be my only hope.

maxineweblin@gmail.com on January 17, 2020:

I've bleached my son's hair with highlights and he didn't like it as it went white blonde. He wants it back to his natural colour with just a few golden blonde highlights in it. About number 8 goldwell colour he likes. He natural colour is about a 7 . I put a 7na on it it looked a nice colour but faded out after two weeks. He has to wash his hair everyday as he has greasy hair that's why I used bleached. Can you advice me to put a colour on it and so it's lasts and doesn't fade? Also if I toned the bleach highlights with no 8 10vol will the colour go golden and how long will it last if I put this toner on? Thanks Max

CMCacoustic on January 09, 2020:

Im so glad I found site. I am need of your expert advice please going back to brown. My stats are latina natural dark brunette self made level 10 blonde with about and inch of natural color regrowth. I have a protein filler that will deposit red back into my hair. My desired color is an light ash brown level 7-ish. I have Wella color charm permanent dye smokey ash brown (blue base). My two biggest concerns and questions:

1. What did u mean about choosing a color that is two shades lighter than desired color? Was that for filling the hair with semi-perm? Or does this apply to me if I want a level 7 I have to choose a level 9 ?

2. What do i do about my regrowth? Bleach that first? I dont know where to start. Please help.

Maffew James (author) on January 05, 2020:

Hi AR,

Although you only see that golden undertone in your natural brown hair, there is definitely orange/red tone in there too that you don't see. It forms the foundation of darker colours like this. Think of it like blonde shades, your hair can look silver for example as if there's no yellow in there but in reality there is yellow and it looks silvery because of violet/blue pigment added to the hair that counteracts the appearance of the yellow.

Another example is blue-black hair. This looks like a really dark blue colour, but if you strip it out, it goes from blue-black to black to dark rusty brown, and then to really muddy red, deep red, orange, so on. You wouldn't really say the colour has red undertones looking at it, but the red is there even though it looks blue visually.

With that said, if you did want to just fill with gold, it's not a big deal if you use a natural shade brown as the brown dye after, eg light natural brown or medium natural brown as these have balanced tone including the warmth needed to properly darken your hair. It's less effective by itself in very light hair like platinum which is why you'd want to fill first though. There's the potential for one of the 3 primary colours meant to be balanced in the dye to show too prominently.

Filling with golden only will work, but the result is going to be ashier than if you filled it with the proper base tone. It probably won't turn greenish or greyish, but I think a good compromise to make is to mix just a little copper shade into the gold you use rather than only using a golden shade, or use a gold-copper shade (the copper is a weaker secondary tone so it's not overly prominent). Doesn't have to be a lot, just enough so that the blue tone in darker dyes doesn't go unopposed. Remember that blue and yellow mix to make green, so this is why gold by itself may be problematic.

Maffew James (author) on January 05, 2020:

Hi AG,

You could try using a clear protein filler applied to your hair before any permanent dye and this helps to ensure it dyes evenly and lasts longer because it stabilises the porosity of your hair.

No guarantee this will produce a significantly longer-lasting result though. It's strange that you've only had dyes last 2 weeks before fading right back to a warm blonde, which really should last longer. It'll still fade no matter what when you dye lighter hair darker, especially if it's the first application, but generally much less than this, and a retouch should darken it back up and the potential for fading is reduced significantly after that point.

Only thing I can think to recommend without knowing more about what specific dye has been used in your hair before that faded so much, is that some brands of salon dye have what's called a 'double natural' shade, eg, for light brown that's a 5NN instead of the typical 5N you would see. These are used to dye hair that is very resistant or with a significant amount of greying and that might work to get a more lasting result for you. Apart from that, there's either something off with the dye or method that's been used on your hair previously, or with your hair's porosity itself, probably more likely the dye.

Maffew James (author) on January 05, 2020:

Hi SJO,

For light brown, dye your hair with medium copper blonde or use an orange-gold protein filler and then dye with light natural/neutral brown over that colour. If you want it to be ashier, mix a little light ash brown into the natural. Vice versa if you want it to be warmer, mix a little of your desired warm shade, eg golden brown, into the natural. Don't use either by themselves when darkening your hair this much though, you need the natural shade primarily to darken it properly.

For medium or dark brown, fill with dark red blonde or a red protein filler and then same process. Dye with medium or dark natural brown, mix in either an ash or warm shade with the natural if you want to alter the tone a bit.

agsrx on January 05, 2020:

edit: I think I actually have a dark ash blonde-dark ash brown I really can't pinpoint it :( will a golden hair dye as a filler be too much gold?

Hi! My hair is platinum white and I want to just dye it back to my natural color since my roots are super grown now. My hair is naturally somewhat of a light brown/dark blonde shade and I'm thinking of filling it with a gold shade (since I only have yellow undertones) and then putting the brown dye on top of it. I'm scared of using a permanent hair dye so I'll probably just go for the demi path, will my attempt of filling it work? and when it starts to fade out I have to repeat the same process, right? Thank you in advance for the help!

AR on January 05, 2020:

Hi! My hair is platinum white and I want to just dye it back to my natural color since my roots are super grown now. My hair is naturally somewhat of a light brown/dark blonde shade and I'm thinking of filling it with a gold shade (since I only have yellow undertones) and then putting the brown dye on top of it. I'm scared of using a permanent hair dye so I'll probably just go for the demi path, will my attempt of filling it work? and when it starts to fade out I have to repeat the same process, right? Thank you in advance for the help!

AG on January 04, 2020:

HI,

I have dirty blonde hair naturally. Ive tried to dye it brown through a hairdresser twice now. The dye only last for maybe two weeks and it goes to this really ugly blonde thats not even close to my natural hair color. Allot lighter and uglier.i Kinda like an orangish yellow. I don't have iron water so I know that shouldn't have an effect on it. How do I dye my hair and make it stay that color for a long time?

SJO on January 03, 2020:

I plan to dye my bleach dyed blonde hair back to brunette using box dye however I am very nervous about it turning green. What is the best way to avoid this; outside of going to a professional. I've home colored my hair many times and subsequently experienced both positive and negative experiences but in this case I am really trying to avoid the 'green sheen'. Any help is appreciated! Thank you in advance.

Maffew James (author) on December 30, 2019:

Hi Callie,

So what is likely responsible for that is the blue tone in the blonde dye you used mixing with yellow tones in your light blonde hair to give the green tinge. If you add another blonde dye it probably wouldn't help with that since the warm tone present would likely be more golden than anything else and you need orange to counteract an over-abundance of blue tone.

To fix it, either add a little of a copper dye into a beige blonde dye, or a copper concentrate if available and that will take out the green tone. Alternatively, you can mix a very tiny amount of a semi-permanent orange dye into some conditioner and apply that for a few minutes as a conditioning toner whenever you wash your hair to keep it toned. Eventually the blue pigment would wash out as the dye fades since cool tones like blue are way less durable than the warm tones in your hair. You won't need to keep toning it forever.

Maffew James (author) on December 30, 2019:

Hi Kaitlyn,

Depends how dark the red dye is relative to the brown, and how much you mix with it, whether there is just enough pigment to add the right amount of warmth in or whether some of that red tone will show through after as more of an auburn colour. In theory it works, but in practice it won't be as simple, but you could do a strand test and titrate how much red you're mixing into the brown dye to get it right before you dye all your hair with it.

Worse case scenario, if you messed up and it looks too auburn you can tone that out with ash.

Maffew James (author) on December 30, 2019:

Hi Jayne,

The warm tone remaining means it wasn't toned adequately, which would come down to it not being toned with a dark enough ash dye, or it not being lightened enough to really be toned to the intended colour. If you tone it adequately it'll likely end up light brown based on what you've said, rather than blonde, since you've already used a dark blonde dye to no avail.

To fix it, apply light ash brown with 10 vol to the roots, let this develop partly and apply more of the dye pulled through to the lengths and ends in the last 10-15 minutes depending on how much warmth (and how much lighter) they are. If the difference in depth isn't too extreme between the lengths and roots, you could get away with just applying it all at once if that's easier but the lighter areas will end up a lot ashier by the end so keep that in mind.

Callie on December 27, 2019:

Hi there, I put a dark blonde box dye over my salon dyed light blonde and there are some green tones in it- what do i do? do i now just re-dye the green parts with a warmer blonde/brown shade??

Kaitlyn on December 27, 2019:

Hi I was just wondering if I was to mix a red and natural brown dye together and dye my hair will the red act as a filler and result in just brown. My hair is currently a faded semi permanent purple on the ends. Would it be best to let that completely wash out first?? Thank you

Jayne nixon on December 21, 2019:

Hi, hope you can help me. Yesterday morning my hair was a slight natural dark blonde/light brown root, with pre lightened highlights and toned with silver and powder - quite light ends. I went to the salon asking for some natural balyage because I wanted my roots darker and my mid lengths lighter to match the ends. I told them it always goes golden / coppery / brassy even with purple shampoos etc. So she decided on a root smudge with a light brown Ash, a few highlights at the back where it was darker than every where else and and the toned at the sink and she didn't say what colour that was. Anyway washed and sat back in the chair, and I could see straight away she had failed to understand and picked the wrong root colour. The roots 2inches all ginger / bright strawberry blonde. I could tell she knew it too as she then asked what is my natural hair colour, was white till hormones and then gradually got darker till it was dark blonde light brown. She said youve got lots of warmth in your hair, it will be really hard to keep the gold etc from coming back! It was all gold for half way down! So I paid and left and then searched on line how to darken roots on all lightened hair, I was going to do it but my friend who is an hairdresser offered to do it for me. So we used a dark blonde with 20v. At her house it looked perfect and very natural. Came home my daughter says it's even more golden now! I know different lighting gives different hues etc but it's definitely no dark/ brown enough. I've read your article and others and I just don't know what to do. Sorry for the long post but wanted to give a clear picture as such. What would you advise. Merry Christmas by the way

Maffew James (author) on November 25, 2019:

Hi Lianne,

It's a bit tricky for you because if you apply a permanent dye all over it'll affect your dark brown base colour too. You might see some lightening and warmth occurring.

I'd say, don't use anything darker than a light brown for the highlights and make sure you're using no higher than 10 vol developer. If you can separate out and foil it onto the highlights only that'd be even better though this should minimize any affect on the rest of your hair while still darkening your highlights up a bit even if you have to apply all over.

Another alternative is to use demi-permanent dye with 7 vol developer because this shouldn't lighten your brown hair at all, though this would fade a lot more over time because it's not fully permanent.

One thing to note, when I say you might get a little lightening and warmth with the permanent dye that might not be a bad thing since it would only be slight and could blend the highlights more to make them look less contrasting.

Just make sure you throw away the provided developer if you use a box dye, and replace with 10 vol. You don't want to potentially get 20 vol or higher in the dye as that will lift a lot of your natural colour out.

Lianne on November 25, 2019:

Hi,

I have naturally dark brown hair & wanted natural highlights but they just look yellow & far too many of them. Would a golden brown bring them to a normal brown? I’d like to still see the difference but have a golden/normal brown rather than the yellow drastic highlights I have!

Maffew James (author) on November 25, 2019:

Hi Lorena,

Fading back out to blonde within a week is...odd. It'd fade a lot over time, but not that quickly or that much. No idea what she must have used for that to happen.

Put a red protein filler through it, give it time to set into your hair, then apply a neutral medium brown over the top of that and develop as usual. That filler will fill and help seal the new colour in so that it lasts longer.

Lorena on November 25, 2019:

Thanks for quick reply!

So I’m mainly just wanting some sort of Dark brown for some pictures I’ll be taking soon.

The last dye job wasn’t entirely what I wanted but it was almost like a dark ash brown if that makes sense but faded quickly, I’d say within a week! Maybe she skipped the red filler?

She did say she had just finished cosmetology school...

I’m still confused about the red Part of your reply but it’s a light brass what I have now..

Maffew James (author) on November 25, 2019:

Hi Lorena,

Did the chocolate brown look close enough to your natural colour? I'd say mix that shade half and half with natural dark brown and that will turn out good. I'd be a bit wary about too much red tone showing up if you just put another chocolate brown over it by itself so the natural shade will balance that out.

If that brown you had didn't quite look like what you want I'd have to give you a different recommendation though. Depends on exactly what shade of brown you're working towards getting back to.

Keep in mind that you'll never get it exactly as your natural shade until it finishes growing out, and it will fade each time it's dyed (though less than the first time going back darker usually).

Lorena on November 24, 2019:

Hi there! I have Dark brown hair naturally, a while ago I dyed it all blonde! Then it grew out because I w aged to go back to my natural color. I went to a salon and she dyed it a “chocolate brown” but it faded! So now I have brassy blonde, how would I go about dying back to my natural state?

By the way this whole scenario was about 6 months ago so my hair is Healthy I just want it back to natural

Maffew James (author) on November 24, 2019:

Hi Kathy,

Because it's 2 different colours and levels, if you just apply a dye the unevenness in shade will probably show through still.

Ideally, dye it all to the same orange as the darkest sections, then dye over that with light ash brown or dark ash blonde depending on how porous your hair is. Use the lighter shade if your hair tends to darken a lot when dyed. Otherwise if it does darken a little more than you want, a few shampoos and time will correct that anyway so no great issue there.

Of course, the above means you need to use 2 different dyes and since you're on a budget, if it's more affordable, just dye it all with light natural brown. I'd avoid that option if at all possible though since the unevenness you have now will probably follow through into the new result. It'd be lessened but there'd be some difference in depth and tone that you can see.

Kathy on November 24, 2019:

I have light blond and orangey hair now, and i want to change my color to light brown, i can't afford to go to a salon and i jave to do it at home, what 2 shades do i have to mix to fill it

Maffew James (author) on November 19, 2019:

Hi Vanessa,

Depends what colour you want to get it too. Lighter is probably out of the question because of the damage but if you dye it all to the colour of your roots, then cover with an ash dye to tone out the warmth you can get it all even and the same shade.

Alternatively, go close to your natural colour and maintain that for a while without any more lightening until it grows out a bit and the damage is gradually trimmed off. This would be the easiest thing to do because you won't have to do any root touch-ups that involve lightening (risk of bleach overlap onto the previously damaged lengths which could cause snapping in very damaged hair). You'd still need to retouch it when it fades, especially after the first time going back to darker because the fading will be more dramatic then, but this isn't very damaging compared to if you were to do any lightening.

Vaneyney on November 18, 2019:

Heya! My hair is platinum blonde and pretty damaged.. The last time I've done my roots was a disaster so I had to cover it up and all that I've had left on my shelf was pink directions.. So it's pink now. And I really want to get a more natural color back.. Any idea what I could do?

- Vanessa

Maffew James (author) on November 12, 2019:

Hi Victoria,

Somewhat late reply here. You can dye that with neutral and it will darken the grey up to blonde. Probably go with a shade lighter than your natural color at first because ending up darker than expected is common with a lot of brands, especially with neutral or ash shades.

Now this will change the natural color of your blonde hair a bit though because obviously the dye isn't the same as your natural color, but you can get around this by mixing different shades like adding some beige blonde to it if you feel like experimenting with it. Importantly though, the grey will be dyed blonde and darkened to match the rest of your hair.

Victoria Naamogtan on November 04, 2019:

My hair is natural blonde and I need dye to keep blonde there has been white grey hair which has discolor the hair

ann on October 22, 2019:

love this! thank you!!

Jj on August 29, 2019:

I’ve bleached my hair and need to but some sort of light brown or lowlight to break it up what is the best filler colour to use to stop it going green? Should I use a copper or red then apply colour over top? Help?

Katie on August 21, 2019:

I want to dye my hair dark brown roots is already light brown and the rest is bleach please help what colors should I use

Kelley on July 17, 2019:

I want to dye my hair dark. My natural hair colour is mid brown but for many years I’ve coloured it light blonde. Is this possible?

Rhiannon on June 20, 2019:

Hi, I want to dye my hair from dirty blonde to a really dark brown. What I'm worried about is my roots, because my hair is way lighter than the color I want it to be and it might look bad if it grows back with extremely lighter roots than the color of the dyed hair. Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I couldn't find anything when I looked it up, so do you have any tips?

Sarah C on June 08, 2019:

My friend got pre lightened hair and had a few darker streaks put through,she says light ash brown ,with high lift tint used all over everywhere else,

I want to reverse it by using a similar colour to light ash brown as the base tint then the high lift through as foils,but concerned how the base colour will go on everything she’s already got as it’s slightly golden tone which I want to get rid of but don’t want the green tinge either ,

Any advice please

Jen on June 06, 2019:

What if your blonde hair has been bleached, and is a very light blonde with "some" gold in it, yet is healthy and not porus. Should you still use golden brown? I worry that because there's still some gold in it and because it's healthy/not poreous it'll still turn out golden, even though i want it neutral. Yet i Definately do not want it ashy. Taking those things into account, should i still use golden brown instead of neutral?

Megan on June 06, 2019:

I'm a blonde dirty blonde with highlights I would like to die my hair brown.

Angie ham on May 30, 2019:

My hair is naturally blonde. Its darker at my 3" roots and has grown out highlights. I want to dye it a golded brown or caramel brown. Do u have any suggestions on a box dye i should get.

Jo Barbour on May 30, 2019:

Do I leave the Demi dye on the hair and apply the final colour on top of it?

Raven from Portugal on May 28, 2019:

Hello!! Im done with my current hair and wanted to achieve a dark burgundy hair (dark brown hair with burgundy shades), but my current hair is dyed Grey with fake light brown roots (and now real brown grown out roots, looks good in person I promised).

And since your tutorial focus on mostly blonde hair I'm afraid I might do something wrong! Any advices?

Jackie Kinggg on May 19, 2019:

I have bleached blonde hair and I hate it and want to go dark brown again so I went to Sally's to get a filler to put in my hair before dying it brown. She gave me a tube of ion Demi permanent creme hair color. The color she gave me is dark warm blonde. I thought I'm supposed to use a red filler before dying it brown. So,do I put the demi in and then rinse it out and use the box of dark brown that I bought at the store? I'm so confused! Please help! Thank you!

Myra on April 01, 2019:

Hi I wanted to know how I can get back to my natural dark brown hair color I dyed my hair a light blonde and I bought this dark brown hair dye but I’m scared to dye it over my blonde what all should I use to get my natural dark brown hair color back ?

Alane on March 30, 2019:

I have bleached blonde hair and want to have it the color of jenifer aneston.please help

Rachel on October 27, 2018:

Hi i have bleach blonde high lights but would like to go back to my natrual colour which is a light mouse Brown im on alot of medication and my hair is thinning alot and falling out so i really don't want to keep breaching it any idea's of whats i can could do or use to do this please

Thanx

Rachel

Brandi on July 09, 2018:

I used the 6n with 10 developer and it’s a muddy green shade ... how can I correct this ???

Cortney on July 01, 2018:

I used wella 6n/60 dark natural blonde demi permanent dye with 10vol developer, left it on my brown roots/brassy ombre that fades into blonde hair for 20min, evenly applied. It came out a nice brown colour, a bit too dark, but it will fade with head and shoulders shampoo use over time (within the week if washed daily). If ever your hair is grey, mix 3/4c lemon juice with 1/4c conditioner, leave in for an hour and that will take away the grey.

Tammie Hogan on June 03, 2018:

My hair was bleached and it turned out awful white trying to it it back brown and put ash 7a and 8a and came out grey how can I get my brown back

Hannah on May 30, 2018:

My hair is dyed and bleached golden/yellow blonde. Hate it. My hair is sort of dead feeling and very fluffy/frizzy, but it was similar to that before i got it dyed. If I add a brown box dye on top, will it completely saturate my hair and make it orangeish?

Collie1 on April 02, 2018:

I have dark blonde to light brown hair. I haven't colored it in about 5 months. The roots have grown out about3 inches and are my natural color. The rest is about 4 to 5 shades lighter blonde. I just got a 7N permanent color. I wanted to get it all one color and then do a lighter blonde highlight/balayage. Will the roots and rest of my hair be the same color? They told me at the beauty supply store to apply to ends first and do the roots last because the heat from my head would color roots quicker.

Zoe on March 08, 2018:

Do you have to use a developer with Demi permanent colour?

Joanne on March 07, 2018:

I have highlighted hair but want to go an all over colour , what shade should I use please ?

MRodRod on February 16, 2018:

So I recently had my hair professionally dyed and hate it. The base is reddish brown, then orangy and finally yellow highlights all around. I'd like a light ash brown all over. What do I do? Where do I begin? Since I have so many shades I don't know where to start. Please help.

Donna on February 14, 2018:

I have a client with home color of golden blond hair wanting to go to a a light neutral brown , what shade of brown should I use ?

Gill on February 12, 2018:

Client has high Lift tint and bleach highlights.......I am new to matrix colour sync! Client wants to go back to her natural base colour of 6/7 or nearest to it........(ombré ) heard you can use these colours & you don't have to pre pig before Hand ?would appreciate any help with matrix color sync .. What numbers to choose ? Thank you in advance

lisa on January 26, 2018:

I have platinum blonde hair. Want to dye it chocolate brown .What steps should I take?

K on January 20, 2018:

Amazing website full of information!! I love it!!

Anjali on January 20, 2018:

I have bleach dark blonde hair but I want to change into dark brown colour so is there any other effects to the hair

Donna on January 17, 2018:

I have mid length to long blonde hair where the ends are lighter, and my roots I have been dying with blonde hair dye but it doesn’t take and looks ginger ish, I want to go a light brown. Please can you help what I need to do?

Ashtastic on January 08, 2018:

I have a question,

Once I've filled my bleached hair with the appropriate demi red (in my case light red brown), when I add the second dye to my hair, should my desired brown be a permanent dye or an another demi dye?

Thanks in advance!

Ashleigh

Kim on December 28, 2017:

I’ve recently

Colored my blonde. I like it but am looking for a more brown shade. The colors I added were 7Ash with a hint of 7N then went to a 9A on the bottom. The bottom is rather blonde and the top turned out more red than I wanted. So I’m curious if I should add a 6ash to the top and perhaps an 7N to the bottom to neutralize the ashy tone on the bottom. I’d really rather have the Balayage effect but, more in the light brown Family. I used a 10 developer on it all.

Amy on November 30, 2017:

I tried to dye my hair brown and didn't know about the repigment part of the process. I had bleach blonde hair and it was growing out and was beginning to look trashy so I decided to dye it brown and it turned out grey/blue. I heard that if you mix lemon juice with conditioner and leave it on for an hour or so it will take the grey color out and it would go back blonde but I don't want to go back blonde. Can I just dye over it with another brown or will it pull even more odd color?

Erin on November 28, 2017:

Hi there so I'm about to do this. I'm I understandi g correctly. I want medium to dark natural brown. I'm getting a 5R Demi permanent dye to fill my bleached blond hair. Then I'm going to apply a medium gold brown permanent dye after that and I should be in the ball park of medium/dark natural brown hair? Fyi thanks a million for this post.

Mandy Wager on November 22, 2017:

Hi. I have dyed blonde hair and have a lot of natural root,I really want to go a nice warm autumnal colour,just didn’t know if u could give me some advice as to what is best to use.

Tracey Olivier on November 08, 2017:

My daughter has blonde hair but it is very yellow & very oily - how does she colour her hair to remove the yellow & help get rid of the oilyness?

Sharon on November 04, 2017:

I have colored blonde hair that a bit porous. I want a warm caramel color. What do you suggest?

Cindy kimball on October 24, 2017:

I have bleach blonde hair on top but want to go back to medium brown,what do I need to get,im scared to do it but cant affford salon prices

Nikki on October 09, 2017:

I have bleached my hair and hate it! What can I do to go a reddish brown colour please? Can I just use a normal dye as it has red in it or is there more to it?

Thanks in advance x

Carla on October 07, 2017:

I have partial highlights. The bottom part is like a warm medium brown. Im aiming for an ash brown color. Should I use a Natural brown all over my hair? Please help!

Amanda on August 29, 2017:

I used the frost and tip. I hadn't done my roots in a year. I had 6-12 inches of brown roots. I pulled every hole. (Too much). I used two boxes. The Sides and back didn't get enough die and stayed an orangush color. I've always had just highlights. Now Im an almost all over blondish- orange. With a few dark roots here and there. How do i get brown highlights back in

Debbie on August 22, 2017:

I have the top part of my hair bleached blond and need to get it back to my natural color med. brown I have purchased ion hair color 4N-40 med. brown with a bottle of natural protein filler to use as well will this work ??

jennifer cervantes on August 21, 2017:

My hair was bleached..but they didnt lift my roots...went back to have it corrected and they put a toner with brown low lights. Hated it. Dyed it with a 4n and ended up with ash hair and brown roots eith red undertones

.how do I get my hair all one color?!?!

lease on August 20, 2017:

Great article thanks!

Amanda on August 14, 2017:

I have platinum blonde died hair. My natural color is medium brunette. What is my safest way to go back natural??

pauline gibson on July 31, 2017:

still confused ! ive been dying my hair cool dark blonde for a while now , its far to light as I have a dark tanned looking skin , a nice medium brown would look better but darent dye it again .

Dominika on July 29, 2017:

Heey! I ve had platinum blonde/grey hair and I wanted them to be brown again so my hairdresser told me to use mahagony brown. Now I cant get rid of mahagony and I look really bad with this hair colour. I would like to get rid of it,but I dont want to bleach them because they will be so damaged After that. Is there any possibility how to fix it ? Maybe using an ash hair colour with green or blue pigments? Thanks for reply

Helenmcd2022 on July 28, 2017:

Fab help here! Just bleached hair, now mainly yellow with some orange

I'd like to be a natural darker blonde, how would I achieve this plllleeeaaassseeee xxxx

Emily on July 23, 2017:

My hair is a ashy dark blonde almost brownish color. I am cool toned with pink undertones, but i am wanting a medium natural brown color. This chart says if i want natural to dye it with a golden, but i don't want it to actually turn out golden because it won't flatter my skin tone. What should i do? I feel i do the gold and it come out gold toned, can i dye a natural on top to make it more cool?

Shannon on July 22, 2017:

My daughter just added ash blond colour to her resent dyed light yellow blond hair. The pharmacy girl told her it works like a toner? Now her hair is grey/ green everywhere! Help anyone! She needs to go back to light brown how? Her hair has been bleached and. coloured multiple times!

Nitu on July 18, 2017:

Hello. Just wanted to say this is a great article. Now I need help ASAP. I going to a wedding in 2 days & coloured my hair with high Color & 40 developer blond. Some of the roots were light brown & gray to begin with rest was dark brown. Now my roots are really really light yelliw & dsomevdarl yellow about 3 inches the rest of the hair is golden light brown cooperish I am ok with the golden brown but the yellow roots make me look like a skunk. How do I get the top to match the bottom. Can this be achieved with semi permanent hair son or to dry it with permanent. I had to wear a hat today to hide my yellow hair on top. Can't Effie's to go to a salon for correction.

Please Help.

Pui on July 05, 2017:

Hi Maffew,

I bleached my hair to white and on the end its white and light yellow ( since i got hilighted it before).

The salon put violet toner then add revlon nutri color creme 411 (brown) and 812 ( light pearly beige blonde ) on my hair. It turn out to be a grey color with violet tinted. After shampoo, the violet tinted vanished and my hair become light grey color.

Its too bright for me so I mixed Revlon nutri color creme 411 (brown) 50 ml and 713 (havana) 25 ml and applied on my hair. It turn out to be very dark grey from root to middle of my hair and dark grey with dark brown hilight from middle to the end of my hair.

( revlon nutri color creme can be wash out around 8 shampoo)

I would love to ask for some advice for coloring my hair into brown color. If I want my hair to be caramel brown or ash brown which color should I choose?

Thank you so much !

Plume on July 05, 2017:

Hi,

I've bleached my black hair into a dark blonde and want to go for a chocolate brown after a month.

Bought a red filler but I don't know the exact brown shade of dye I should buy to achieve the color I want,

Need help!

Tracey porter on July 05, 2017:

Help just had my hair stripped and a blonde colour put on its far too light like a strawberry blonde, my family hate it I just want a really light cool brown. Can I fix this at home I have spent a fortune so far getting it the wrong colour.

Tina on July 03, 2017:

Hi there,i have heavy blonde highlights. And i bought loreal feroa light brown with shimmers. I understand the lights part will still be lighter after dying it,and im ok with that. But is it ok to use by itselfs? The dye? Ty

helppls on July 01, 2017:

so I have done a lot to my hair, it was burgundy, then i got it professionally bleached, and then it was purple, then back to blonde/rose gold, after all this i was tired of paying, and dealing with the upkeep to go back to my natural brown, so i did about 2 stains which weren't permanent so when they washed out my hair was a pale greenish/gray, i figured getting a medium ash gray would take me back or at least close to my natural color, but the permanent dye didn't even do anything. is there a color that would be recommended so it turns brown, even dark brown would be better than this greenish.

Angie on June 25, 2017:

I stripped my hair then tried to dye it light brown and it turned out like an ash blonde. What color can I use to achieve a light to medium golden brown. Help

julie Stothars on June 24, 2017:

Hi, I've been having my brown/grey hair professionally coloured an ash type blonde to blend in my grey. I got bored and decided to dye it myself back to brown. I used the Vidal Sassoon medium intense red number 5/452 as a filler, then the dark neutral brown 4/0. Unfortunately its resulted in a colour that's too dark, warm and red

Karen dogu on June 22, 2017:

my hair is currently highlighted, when I use the filler shade of semi-permanent hair coloring do I just apply that on the blonde parts of my hair or do I apply that to my roots too?

Isabel on June 20, 2017:

I bleached my hair twice, toned and added ash blonde. The color is an ashy blonde that I'm trying to dye a light brown. I bought the john Frieda lightest cool almond brown 6.5 pbn. My question is which protein filler color should I use before dying it the above color?

Stephanie on June 19, 2017:

I dyed my hair and it's a yellowish blonde, now I want to go back to a Carmel brown, would I need to use a filler to do that

Reese on June 14, 2017:

Hi, i currently have dark blonde hair but really want to change it to light brown. Im just wondering, do i need to put conditioner in a bowl with the hair dye, or can i straight away put the hair dye in?

Thanks :)