Yellowish/Pink Hair Color Correction

Yellowish hair
Photo: Ushama/Shutterstock
Q: Hi, I have a hair question. Last year around this time I was completely a blonde but around Christmas I went to a darkish brown. Last night I decided to try to go back to blonde so I bought a box of Clairol Born Blonde. My hair is now a yellowish color by my roots and throughout with quite a bit of pink towards the bottom.
 
I live on an island with no beauty supply stores and one salon that costs an arm and a leg and totally messed my hair up last time so I really don’t want to go to them. What do you suggest I do? All we have here is a Wal-Mart, so I have no idea what to try next but my hair is pink and yellow and I’m so upset.
 
A: Okay. I am very sorry to hear of the problems you have encountered. It sounds as though you’re experiencing an unfortunate color interaction between the “darkish brown” color previously applied, and the lighteners in the “Born Blonde” hair color kit.
 
You really NEED to go to the nearest salon and have a professional help you correct the color results and get the look you need. The concern is that attempting to due something more to your hair on your own could lead to serious damage to the hair. If the salon on your island is not an option for you, make arrangements to visit the next closest salon.
 
If you insist on trying to do something with this on your own, I will warn you that you aren’t likely to find the kinds of products to readily resolve this at your local Wal-Mart. If you think your hair is still in reasonably good condition after the first color attempt, you can try to use another Born Blonde lightening kit, applying the lightening formulas to the ends of your hair first (where the pink color is found) and spreading it to the upper sections only toward the end of the processing.
 
An alternative is to get a different color kit with a color just slightly darker than the pinkish color you have currently and use it to cover the unfortunate color results until you can get your hair lightened professionally.
 
You must remember that you always have to keep in mind what colors have been applied to the hair when planning to add a color or lighten the hair. Hair color formulas deposit pigments into the hair shaft which can later react differently with new colors or lighteners than your natural pigments do/have in the past.
 
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See also:
 
Hair coloring and color formulas
 
Signs of damaged hair
 
What the numbers on the hair color boxes mean