This is an article on how to dye blond hair brown.
I always see dyeing hair as a unique way to express myself. I also find it a fun experience – from picking out of the color, experimenting with different shades, and the application process itself. It’s what made me fall in love with hair dyeing in the first place.
Hair dyeing is also one of the best ways to amp up one’s style. Of course, it’s not the first thing that comes to people’s mind but it definitely is one of the more fun and drastic ways to do it.
Going from blonde – whether natural or bleached – to light, medium, or dark brown hair is a huge change. And it is most definitely a statement. Whether you’re amping up your style or just wanted to try something new, brown hair offers a subtle and pretty way to do it.
If you’re thinking of going from blonde to brunette hair, I have below some important things to follow and keep in mind before, during, and after your dyeing job.
How to Dye Blonde Hair Brown
One might think that it’s easy to go from blonde to brown hair. Just apply your choice of brown color on blonde hair and you’re done – or so one thinks! But it’s much more complicated than that.
Simply coloring brown over your blonde hair – whether natural or bleached – can lead to muddy, splotchy, and even green spots on your hair. Hair color can be uneven and just not what you expected it to be.
To avoid these instances, we have below important steps one should take if they’re going from blonde to brown hair.
1. Prep your hair
While it is true that going from blonde to brown hair is much healthier for your hair in the long run than the other way around, it’s still colors and chemicals reacting with your hair. You would want to prepare your hair for the coloring process. Whenever you’re coloring your hair – bleach or dye – you would want your hair to be at its healthiest.
The best way to do this is by upping your moisture game a few weeks before your coloring job. When altering your hair’s color, moisture is its best defense against too much damage and drying.
Incorporate a moisturizing conditioner into your routine in the weeks leading up to your appointment. Also consider a hair mask or deep conditioner to add into your routine. This will give your hair and scalp much-needed moisture and hydration for protection.
Make sure it’s packed with nourishing ingredients to improve hair’s overall state and to get it ready for a coloring and dyeing job.
2. Choose your brown hair color
Just like any other color you want to dye your hair with, choosing a new brown hair color is an experience and a process. When looking for a brown dye shade, you have endless options from warm, neutral, and cool tones to choose from.
Choosing a new hair color is more than just what you want to sport though. Follow-up appointments, touch-ups, and maintenance should all be considered in choosing your new brown shade.
If you’re going from a natural blonde hair color to a dyed brown hair color, you’re for sure up to a lot of maintenance and upkeep after your initial coloring job. Going from a natural blonde to a dark hair color would require a lot of maintenance so make sure you know what you’re setting yourself up for.
If you’re a natural brown who went blonde with bleached hair and would now want to go back to brown, it doesn’t mean you’re off the hook when it comes to maintenance and upkeep. If you’re going for something lighter or darker than your natural brown hair color, you’re also up for a lot of maintenance.
But if you want the least maintenance and upkeep, it’s best to work around your natural brown tones already in your hair.
The key to choosing the best brown color is to go with what makes you happy and feel good. Also consider all the factors that come with it.
3. Filling in the pigments
As we’ve mentioned earlier on, going from blonde to brown hair takes more than just coloring blonde hair with a dark and brown color. It doesn’t work as simple as that. Doing only that will give you a muddy or greenish result.
So, how does one proceed with going from blonde to brown? The word you’re looking for is filling. Using a filler on blonde hair before applying the brown hair dye is crucial and is not an option you can choose to skip over.
Blonde hair – whether natural or bleached – is stripped off dark and warm pigments that give hair that dark, brown color. With bleaching hair, you are lifting and removing these warm pigments. When you’re going from blonde to brown, you would need to bring and fill these pigments in. This process will help the hair dye absorb and saturate into each hair strand for the best color results.
Filling in the pigments is basically pre-dyeing your hair to get it ready for your final hair color. Because your lighter blonde hair lacks the underlying pigments brown hair has, you would need to fill those in to get the best brown results.
To do this, you would need to fill in using a hair dye with copper, orange, gold, or red tones to bring back those lost warm pigments.
So what is used as filler?
Professional colorists and stylists generally recommend a semi-permanent or demi-permanent hair color. Both these options are temporary hair colors compared to the regular permanent hair color. The only difference is how long the color lasts on hair.
Semi-permanent hair color can only hold color for up to about 5 to 6 washes while demi-permanent hair color lasts for up to about 20 washes. Both hair dyes are formulated to be ammonia-free so they’re less harmful and damaging on hair.
It’s also recommended to use a filler color that’s at least 1 to 2 shades lighter than the brown color you’re after. For example, you want a level 4, light brown, as your final hair color. You would want to get a level 5 or 6 filler to get those warm pigments back into your hair.
4. Apply the brown color
Now that you’ve filled in those underlying warm pigments you’ve lost due to constant bleaching hair for blonde results, you can now safely apply your choice of brown color. You can rest assured that the brown color isn’t dull, splotchy, or greenish in appearance.
Get a brown dye kit or a box dye from a brand you trust. And if you can, get something that has nourishing ingredients to help nurse your hair back to health. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions on product ratio and development time.
5. Use hair gloss
A hair gloss is a treatment that adds a healthy, beautiful-looking shine to hair, especially colored hair. It helps maintain hair color all the while smoothing over color-treated hair. It helps hair color last longer, keeping it vibrant and beautiful.
It also helps keep hair healthy all over, reducing overall dryness, split ends, and reducing frizz. And for color-treated hair, hair gloss helps tone and color-correct unwanted tones and brassiness.
Treat hair gloss as the last step to your blonde-to-brown journey to ensure hair is healthy, smooth, and soft.
Know More About Going From Blonde to Brown Hair
Going from blonde to brown is a big and major change as much as going from brown to blonde hair is. Before making the big decision, below are some more important things to keep in mind.
When coloring hair, it needs to be healthy. While it is true that going dark and brown is healthier for your hair in the long run than going blonde, dyeing hair to a brown shade still means altering your hair. This means chemicals and ingredients your hair and scalp can find damaging and drying.
Coloring your hair entails taking care of it for the weeks leading to your session or appointment. During these few weeks, you should up your moisturizing game with moisturizing conditioners, deep conditioners, and hair masks. It’s best to color and alter your hair when it’s at its healthiest state.
It can take several hours and several rounds of hair coloring. Just like bleaching, going from blonde to brown can take several hours and several rounds of coloring. Initial coloring would require color filling before going in with your final color choice.
And depending on how light your initial blonde is, it might take a few coloring rounds to achieve your desired color. Just like any coloring job, this also requires time and patience.
It still needs major after-color care and maintenance. Much like any hair coloring choice, going from blonde hair to brown would entail after-color care and maintenance.
If you went with a brown color that’s darker or lighter than your natural hair color, you would need to come in for retouching appointments every few weeks to keep your roots the same shade. You should also adjust your hair care routine to maintain the vibrancy of your hair color.
After-Color Hair Care and Maintenance
Coloring hair, no matter what shade or color, requires some level of after-care and maintenance.
One of the first things you’d want to do is switch to a color-safe hair care range. Regular shampoos with regular chemicals and ingredients can damage your hair’s new hair color. Using the wrong shampoo can most likely strip off the color causing it to fade and look dull in the long run.
Go for sulfate-free shampoos as well as they’re less harsher on hair and hair color. These will help your new hair color stay on hair longer and shinier.
Give your hair as much moisture it needs by adding an effective conditioner, deep conditioner, and hair mask into your routine. Coloring hair can be drying and damaging. Use a conditioner to help restore it back to its health.
If you’re worried about hair color fading too fast, consider adding color-depositing products and treatments. These will not only prevent the color from fading but will also work to keep your hair looking its best. Also consider bond care products to rejuvenate and repair damaged and dried hair.
Conclusion
Going from blonde to brown hair is as much of a statement as going from brown to blonde hair. One might think it’s as easy as applying your brown hair color of choice but hold your horses because it’s much more complicated than that.
As with any hair coloring session or appointment, you want to get your hair and scalp ready for the treatment. One would do this by making sure that hair is well-moisturized weeks before the set appointment.
And though going brown is much healthier for hair in the long run, you will also want to keep hair moisturized and healthy well after the coloring job.
When you’re going from blonde to brown hair, filling in before going ahead with your brown color of choice is a vital and non-negotiable step.
When you go blonde, you’re removing the underlying warm and red tones of dark hair. Because that has been stripped off, you need to bring them back to your hair shafts. Skipping this would entail dull, muddy, or even green tints on hair.
After this important process, proceed with your brown color of choice. End the entire process with a hair gloss treatment to give hair a healthy and beautiful shine.
And there you have it – happy hair coloring!