WHAT PROBABLY HAPPENED:  You tried to color your hair beyond its natural lifting ability.  For example, you tried to become a blonde, but you are a brunette.  Hair can only lift so many shades with one process.

SOLUTION: If you have any artificial color in your hair, use a color remover to remove the artificial color first.  Do not use bleach, bleach is for natural color, not artificial color.  If you do not remove as much artificial color as you can first, the artificial color will penetrate deeper into the hair shaft and make matters worse.

Now consult the hair color chart and find what level you want to be.  Start bleaching.  Follow the directions on the label.  It may take several bleachings to reach the level you want.  After a while your scalp will become very sensitive and you may have to wait a day or two to continue.  If your scalp starts burning and turning red, discontinue the bleach at once and go to a salon for help.

You can tell when you reach the right level (density) by holding the chart next to your head.  Ignore what color it is, just look to see if it is at the right level.  At this point your hair should be leaning toward the yellow end.  That is normal.  Remember, hair is darker when wet and lighter when dry.  You must dry your hair first to find what level you are at.

Once you have reached the desired level, the tricky part begins.  Again consult the color chart and decide what color you want to be at that level.  For example, if you held your hair up to the chart and it seems to be about a level 7 (blonde), there will be a whole row of colors on that level.  If your hair is still yellow for example, you will want to pick a level seven deposit color that contains a bit of purple or lavender.  (remember the color chart?  What is the opposite of yellow?).

You are now ready to deposit color, at this point however your hair is very porous and will process VERY fast, so don't leave it on too long.  When you squeeze the color out of the tube or bottle, it will not look like the color described, this is normal because the color has not yet been exposed to air and oxidized.  Nor do you want it to be oxidized yet.  Again, follow the directions for mixing, but use 20 volume peroxide or less, no matter what the label says.

After you have rinsed and dried your hair, this is the color you have.  Remember to look at it in daylight, not artificial light.  If it is still an undesired color, grab your credit card and head for the best salon money can buy.

Listed below are some of the basic rules of color.  Print the list out so that you can refer back to it.  In this section we could only address a limited number of color disasters, but  the information should be useful to you in the future.

1. Consult a color wheel.  Hair is science and color science is based on the color wheel.  For example the opposite of orange is blue, etc.

2. Consult a hair color chart.  1 = Black through 10 = Pale Blonde

3. You can only alter hair color by: a) depositing color (darkening), or b) lifting color (lightening).

4. There are two types of color in hair, natural (pigment you are born with), and artificial (color that you have added).

5. All artificial colors are created with three primary colors, yellow, red and blue.  These color molecules have different molecular weight.  Yellow is the smallest and penetrates the hair shaft the deepest and is the most difficult to get out.  Next is red.  Blue is the largest molecule so it will be the last to adhere to the hair shaft and will be the first to fall off.  This is why hair more often than not turns orange, lots of yellow, a little red, hardly any blue.  Whatever color that you want to achieve, in the end it is a combination of those three.  Do not confuse this with light or dark hair.  That is color density, not color.  First you must achieve the level you want to be, then the color you want to be.