Dyeing over gray hair

Problem...

I'm starting to get a lot of grays. So I went and bought Natural Instincts semi-permanent hair color in a shade that looked like it was just about my shade of brown. I wanted semi-permanent because I'm getting married in 3 months and want to avoid frying my hair doing this on the cheap at home.

So, I take it home and use it, and... it's bad. The dye did not cover a single gray hair, and worse, it colored my medium-brown hair a very dark brown and stripped it of my natural lighter brown highlights. So now, where you saw a little gray before that kind of blended in with my natural lighter highlights, you see STARK WHITE next to dark dark brown hair.

How long until I can fix this mess? And what brand of semi-permanent dye is going to work better? (I can't afford the salon just yet - I'm getting a full head of highlights right before the wedding and need to be frugal!)

Re: Dyeing over gray hair

I know your trying to be frugal, but if you are getting married in 3 months, I would reccomend going to a salon and letting them do a color correction. Dying it again will probably only make it worse.

Re: Dyeing over gray hair

I totally agree ... a salon can fix this.

You will have these pictures forever .... its worth the $50 for the professional job

I have tons of grey hair, I've had it since I'm 17

Re: Dyeing over gray hair

Thanks for the responses. It's only a semipermanent so it washes away in 4-6 weeks and will be gone WELL before the wedding. I'm just anxious to do another one, like, tomorrow and wanted to know what brand you guys would use. I don't want to "fry" my hair with permanent dye just yet - I don't have that many grays and it's not worth it. And I dont' want to spend $85 on a salon semipermanent color job, because it'll wash out in a month.

I AM getting salon dye / highlights before the wedding - I was looking for something cheap and temporary to do NOW.

Re: Dyeing over gray hair

I would not do one semi-permanent over another or any color over a semi-permanent. You could end up with something really funky or you could end up with your hair not absorbing any more color. Whenever I have done semi-permanent, it has not lasted as long as it is supposed to anyway. It will be gone soon enough. It will fade even before it is fully gone. It will not remain as it looks on the first day. If you don't want to have a salon correct it, you should probably just leave it.

Re: Dyeing over gray hair

Go to the salon...it'll be worth it!