Many people try to go blonde but end up with brassy, uneven colors instead. And it’s more common than you’d think.
Going blonde is tricky, especially if you have naturally dark hair. If you have tried to dye your hair blonde and it goes wrong, there are a few ways you can fix it.
Though you may have to turn to professional help if it has gone too bad, before that take a look at our simple at-home fixes for a bad blonde hair dye job.
What Could Possibly Go Wrong with Blonde Hair Dye?
Blonde is a lighter hair color so it requires lightening your hair. The most common reason for a bad blonde dye job is not considering the base hair color. If you apply blonde hair color directly on darker hair, it won’t be able to lighten it.
So it is necessary to lighten your hair color by bleaching before applying blonde dye. You might need to bleach your hair multiple times especially if you want to apply a platinum shade of blonde.
Incorrect application of bleach can also result in uneven lifting. The hair developer’s volume also affects the lifting process. Too strong developer can damage the hair and too weak developer won’t be able to lift your hair to the desired level.
A bad blonde dye job can also happen because you chose the wrong hair color. There are differences between warm blonde and cool blonde tones, and warm blonde hair dye can end up making your hair look orange.
If the dye isn’t applied evenly you might end up with patches that are lighter or darker than others. This is especially common at the back of the head.
While these are the main issues with blonde hair dye, it’s possible to mess up in other ways as well. If you’ve dyed your hair blonde and it turned out brassy, green, or uneven, there are a few easy ways to fix this.
How to Fix A Bad Blonde Hair Dye Job?
The correct fix will depend on what is wrong with your hair. If you have a brassy blonde color or incomplete dye job, you might need a color-correcting shampoo, more dye, or a different color tone.
If you struggled to dye your hair at all, it might just be an issue of uneven lifting. Either way, there are some easy fixes.
1. Use Color-Correcting Shampoo
One of the biggest issues with blonde dye jobs is a brassy or too-bright hair tone. If your cool blonde hair came out yellow and brassy, you likely don’t have the right base color.
The easiest way to adjust coloring is through color-correcting shampoo. You should buy purple shampoo if you have a cooler blonde tone, such as beige blonde, platinum blonde, or ash blonde. However, a warmer tone would do better with blue shampoo.
With the correct toning shampoo, you will see a slight change in your hair’s tone. It will soften the brassy color and bring out the blonde tones of your dye.
If you still don’t like the color after washing it with the color-correcting shampoo, it might be time to pick a different shade of blonde.
2. Put Another Color on Top
Luckily, blonde is easy to change. Because it has a light base color, you won’t need to bleach your hair.
It is possible to apply a semi-permanent dye over blonde hair to fix the bad dye job. A semi-permanent dye can be reapplied as soon as two weeks.
However, it’s crucial to stay in the same color family. If you started with a cool blonde color, pick a semi-permanent dye with the same color palette to avoid awkward mixing.
You can also use an ammonia-based toner and mix it with a hair developer to fix your brassy blonde hair.
3. Touch Up Your Dye Job
If you look in the mirror and realize you missed a spot (or the entire back of your head), you don’t necessarily have to redye your whole head. Instead, try fixing the spots again with the same color and do a more thorough job.
If you struggled the first time, ask a friend to help with the back of your head! Reapplying the dye to the areas you missed can improve the look and help you get back to a beautiful blonde style.
Now, if you have tried all of these but still failed to fix the bad blonde dye job, it might be time to get some professional help. A professional hair colorist can tell you what went wrong and they know how to fix it!