Help! My semi-permanent colour has gone completely wrong!!

Hello,

I have naturally dark brown hair towards my roots that goes lighter towards the ends. I was tired of the look and wanted to go red. I was planning on going a deep red, like Ariana Grande, I have the same skin tone as her so I figured I could pull it off, and though unnatural my school, which starts on the 27th, wouldn't make a huge deal out of it.

I got a red semi-hair dye since my family is too tight on cash for me to go to the salon. I read the instructions and it told me that I needed to bleach my hair if I wanted the colour to last for some time. I was hesitant since my hair has never been dyed and my hair has always been extremely healthy. It told me I needed to become pale blonde but not to leave it in longer than 60 minutes. When I removed it, all of it was like a bright, pale orange. I tried getting some answers but only heard that it was normal since my hair tone and such.

Either way, I figured since it couldn't go all the way to blonde it wouldn't be as bright as a fire truck. I put the colour in my hair and when I looked at it and was washing it, it really did look like her hair tone. When I rinsed it off I was still satisfied and knew it would be a bit brighter since hair is darker when it is wet.

Dreadfully, while I was drying it, it started showing many super bright strands which is way too bright for a light-olive skin tone. It looks horrendous! I immediately broke down crying since I knew I messed it up somehow. In my side-swept bangs I see a semi-thick strip of brown but that's it, even though moments before that spot had been orange from the bleach. I just want to make it a darker red, or else I can't start my senior year off like I hoped. My school is really strict, we have very strict policies. If I can't make it a deeper red like hers than can you possibly give me advice on returning it to brown, please?

And thank you. Thank you so much for your precious time. I apologize for posting such a long story!

Briana, Texas

I looked up Ariana Grande's colour on google and I think it is very pretty. However when I re-read your question I think what happened was you made your hair too light initially and used a very bright semi red over the top which made it look very glowing. I think possibly a permanent colour in a cherry type of red applied over your natural colour would have given you the best results.

But how to fix? I can only recommend that you use a demi permanent red that is around a level of a 5 or 4 in darkness. I don't know what brands in the U.S do demi or long lasting semi permanent colours but this type of product is better than permanent because you only want to deposit colour rather than lift and deposit colour.

Remember that now your hair is bleached and coloured red it is going to fade quickly so be prepared for maintenance, also make sure to use a shampoo and conditioner especially formulated for coloured hair.

John Clark at Brooks+Brooks, London