GOING DARKER, ACCIDENTALLY GREEN (NO. 2)

CLIENT: I have been blonde for a long time and decided to go back to a brown that is closer to my natural color. I went to a public beauty supply and purchased a medium ash brown color and had my friend put it all over my hair. It came out darker than I was expecting, but that’s okay. I don’t mind it a little darker. However, it looks like there is kind of a green tint to the color. Should I have bought a different brown? Or do all ash browns look a little bit green? Also, is there something I could do to get rid of the green without having to go even darker?

COLORGEEKCHIC: Much like building a house without having a foundation in place, putting brown color over blonde hair will cause problems if you don’t have the foundational or supporting colors in place. The issue isn’t so much the color you used, but the fact that all of the underlying pigments to support a brown color are missing. My recommendation is to have a professional colorist fix it. Attempting to re-apply color in order to adjust the shade will most likely keep taking your hair darker if you don’t really understand what you’re doing. And the more layers of dark color you put over top of your hair, the more problems you’re creating for when you eventually have to let a professional fix it. So I would say, stop where you are and have a professional fix it for you. If you aren’t able to do that at this time, instead of coloring, try purchasing a red tint shampoo or conditioner and use that for a while. That may help tone down the green a little in the meantime.

As a professional colorist, I would most likely remove some of the brown color first with a light cleanse, then apply the missing underlying pigments, and then I would apply a demi-permanent, acid-based color to get the desired brunette tones.