by Donna Rothwell

Created on: April 22, 2008

First things first before you think about lightening your hair , you should always seek a hairdressers advice , they know what they are talking about far more than an instruction manual inside a box of hair dye.

But if you are intent on doing it yourself then when you buy your lightener kit test a strand of hair , you can do this by cutting a piece of hair from somewhere that wont notice much (and i mean just a bit about a half cm thick , and don't cut it from the root but the mid lengths and ends). This is important if you have dark or tinted hair or especially reddish hair , although even if your hair is not particularly dark it can have a red undertone which wouldn't normally notice but trust me i am a hairdresser and i have had some surprises in my time with peoples hair !. And if you are someone with a red undertone to their hair then it is more than likely to come out a little warm looking shall we say !

OK so if you have done the deed without testing , then i would say your first option would be to visit a hair salon where someone professionally trained can take a look at it and advise you on what to do , they could maybe re lighten with highlights or put a violet based toner on your hair which neutralise's the gold depending on the condition of your hair.

Something worth remembering when trying to correct a hair disaster at home is that if your hair is pretty damaged or porous anyway through chemical treatments heat etc , then even if you do attempt to tone down the colour yourself it could do one of two things it could either not absorb the colour ,or it could absorb too much and end up a different colour completely i.e if you were to put a violet based toner on the hair it could end up a pinky purple colour , i have even seen this happen in the salon!

There are shampoos on the market that are aimed at lightened hair and are designed to counter-act the coppery gold tones , so that would be a good bet especially if bought from a salon or hair and beauty supplier , another trick is medicated shampoo the ingredients in these shampoos tend to strip away and lighten colour which is why we advise clients not to use these on coloured hair (that is when they are happy with their colour anyway!)

And finally washing up liquid is another thing known to lighten hair colour so you could try a couple of washes with that , but the hair will be left feeling quite dry as washing up liquid is a detergent , so you will need plenty of conditioning treatments after.

but remember prevention is better than cure as they say so if you cant visit a professional always do a test strand , also one last thing wash your hair the day before but do not apply conditioner as this puts a seal on the hair that could prevent the bleach/tint from penetrating deep into the hair , just the same as very greasy hair would leave a barrier and prevent the colour from developing , so the day before just one shampoo with a mild shampoo nothing too heavy and no conditioner.

hopefully this helps good luck!

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