Hair Color Correction

Strawberry blonde hair
Photo: Chris Bourloton/Shutterstock
Q: I colored my hair last night with a {brand name omitted} hair color. I am a natural blonde although before Christmas I did have some blonde highlights added to my hair to brighten it up a bit.
 
The color I bought was light blonde although - now that I have dyed it - it looks more like strawberry blonde or more like ginger. Is there anything I can do to get rid of the color? I was thinking about reapplying a different color but I'm not sure if that will damage my hair.
 
A: My best recommendation for you is to visit your local hair salon and speak with a stylist about having a hair color correction service.
 
The stylist will be able to use a light-level color (perhaps level 8 or 9) with a complementary color base. If the color you have is more reddish, the stylist will choose a color with a drab (or green) base color, and if the color is more orange, the color will have a blue base.
 
The correction service should take away the unwanted color tones without significantly altering the color of the hair. This works because the base color of the correcting color will neutralize the excess tone of the existing color, leaving a neutral and natural looking color.
 
Because the color used to correct the hair is light, it won't add a significant amount of color and therefore won't darken the overall color of the hair more than a tiny amount.
 
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See also: How to color hair