Is there anything you can add to a dye to make it more ashy?

Jan 17, 2015

Jenna L.

I'll be dying my hair in a few weeks and I'm obsessed with an ashy brown. My hair is currently a light-medium brassy brown which I hate (my hair pulls red easily). I'm doing it at home because salons are too expensive and I'm confident in my work. But I never find any box dyes that seem really ashy. Every brow has a big red undertone.
Also I don't live anywhere where you can buy developers or anything.

Jan 17, 2015

Shaye M.

You could try adding a few drops of green food colouring? I've never suggested this before but green counteracts red so if you can't find a dye that looks ashy enough for you, this might work but I'm not 100% sure. The only other option is to just give a dye a go. Personally whenever I've used ash brown dyes they do come out a nice ash brown and my hairs naturally ginger so I have lots of red undertones naturally lol.

Jan 17, 2015

Shaye M.

Or instead of food colouring you could use manic panic or something like that.

Jan 17, 2015

Emily W.

What you need is a toner. If your hair is pulling red, you'll need a green toner. Red-orange, get a teal toner. Orange, get blue. Yellow-orange, indigo. Yellow, purple. You can get a vegetable based dye (like Manic Panic) and mix it with conditioner and use that to tone.

Have you considered getting real color from a beauty supply instead of box dyes?

Jan 18, 2015

Jenna L.

I don't have any beauty supply stores here or I would look into that option. I haven't ever tried to tone before but I would like to look it up. Now when you say mix it with conditioner, is it like a 1 time use after dyeing or do you regularly use this coloured conditioner?

Jan 18, 2015

Emily W.

You can use it any time you start getting brassy again. Depending on your hair and your water, that may be every time you condition or only once in a while. I find it easiest to mix it in small batches in a separate container that way I have some plain conditioner left if I need it.

Jan 18, 2015

Emily W.

When I bleached my hair blonde I used an indigo dye to tone. I just eyeballed the ratio of dye to conditioner, I think it was closer to 1 part dye to 3 parts conditioner (basically I just made the dye a pastel). I let it sit in my hair like a mask with a cap on while I showered, and rinsed it last. It is possible to over-tone; usually you'll end up with a greyish cast if that happens. If you're really overzealous, you may accidentally tint your hair the color of your toning color. That's why it's best to start out with a small ratio and increase a little at a time if necessary.

Jan 18, 2015

Jenna L.

Thanks!!