Three Magee: DIY: Blonde Hair to Brown {Hair Rescue!!}

I confess. I have made some really poor choices concerning my hair. But lets not reflect on the past too much. I had a bad experience with going blonde. Let's just say I could see my hair breaking off as it was being blow dried at the salon and I spent the last two months babying it, going sulfate free, doing hair masks and doing just about everything I could to save it from breaking any further. I ended up with some really awful roots. It was getting really bad. I thought about doing the ombre look and nixed it. I was terrified to go to someone new and worried that any permanent color would do hard core permanent damage. So I researched and read what I could. I watched videos and I went for a combination of all of those things. I'm going to share my knowledge with you!

So, a little hair background. Hair color is like the primary colors. Red is red, blonde is yellow and brunette is blue. So if you have blonde hair and you put a brunette color on it what would you get? Green. Yellow and blue makes green. I've had that before. It's not pretty. In order to not get green you need to add the red back into your hair first. Which is the scary part as you will see below. I also found out that using permanent hair color creates lines in your hair. So every time you dye your hair it creates a little faint line of where you dyed it before. That's not cool.Solution, use the semi-permanent. It is much easier on your hair and since it fades you aren't left with the line.

What I did, step by step:

I actually bought 4 boxes of color, but only used 3. I have a lot of hair. So I knew I would want plenty to cover with. I ended up only using 1 box of the red and then 2 of the brown. It is really important to cover your ears and around your hairline with vaseline or lotion before starting. You don't want any to get dye to get on your skin and this will help you from having brown ears. You also need either a couple of baby wipes or a washcloth that is wet and ready for any oops drips you might have. An applicator brush (about a dollar) help to give your color a more professional look and really help to get your roots covered. I also like to mix my color in a disposable bowl. Makes cleanup super easy.

I started off by putting the red back in my hair (Clairol Natural Instincts 16 Spiced Tea). I ended up only needing one box. I did not dye my roots, I only did the places that were blonde first and then anything else. Rinse and blow dry. I remained calm and didn't panic, you will want to panic. Ellie made up a song about having Fozzie Bear Hair. I took a break and put the kids to bed. Then I mixed together my 2 boxes of brown (Clairol Natural Instincts 5C). I put it around my hairline first. Next I applied it to my roots, working from front to back from my temple to crown and then the back from side to side from the top of my head down to my neck. Lastly I filled the length of my hair and piled it on top of my head in a bun. Wait, rinse, condition, blow dry, admire your handy work. Only cost me $18 bucks. I've gotten more compliments on this hair than I did going to the salon and spending upwards of $80!!