From Black To Brown?

[HaveSomeWine]

Is it possible to lighten jet black hair to a brown/dark brown color by using a brown dye several shades lighter than the desired color? I'm not willing to use bleach and would prefer to use box drugstore dye. Will using pennant color damage my hair or require extra care? Thanks in advance. I'm natural with fine, dense, low porosity, 3c hair.

 

[overtherainbow]

Is your hair virgin?
Anytime you lighten your hair, you are damaging it in some way. What matters is how your hair reacts to the damage. Some box dyes contain "boosters" which allow color to take better to jet black hair. I do notice that they cause slightly more damage because they are able to lighten your hair faster and lighter. Because your hair is black, I recommend Textures and Tones because it's formulated for dark hair and is pretty gentle. And yep, permanently lightened hair requires a lot more maintenance especially about 2 months down the line when your ends are older and more porous. My virgin hair does not get splits/thinning ends while my colored section does. I saw my first split end in over 2 years last month! '

I honestly recommend lightening a section of your hair, see how it reacts for 6-8 weeks and if it's still healthy, dye the rest. I'm happy I did that instead of dying my entire head at once because I was able to see how fragile colored hair can be without the proper moisture/protein balance. Even though now my colored section is pretty strong and healthy, I can't imagine if my entire head was that difficult!

ETA- I like textures and tones also for beginners because the medium browns come with developer and the color figured out for you. As long as you stay away from the blondes, your boxes won't contain the "bleach" booster. But as @ag00 0 said, you could buy them separately at sallys and mix your own.

 

[ag00]

Anything you use to get your hair to lighter color requires bleach. Box dyes contain bleach as well. They call their version "boosters" which you use with the developer provided and it lightens your hair color. It is possible to lighten your hair with these dyes but because they are not professional, it might cause splotches of color and a duller color than what you were going for.

The best thing to do is buy the professional dyes at Sally's like Clairol's or Ion Color brilliance. Get a color that is 2 levels higher than your desired shade. You also want to buy 30 volume developer for sensitive scalps. The last thing you'll need to do is buy salon series shampoos, conditioner, and deep conditioner for colored hair like Joico because you will need professional strength products to put the moisture back into your hair.

 

[HaveSomeWine]

Is your hair virgin?
Anytime you lighten your hair, you are damaging it in some way. What matters is how your hair reacts to the damage. Some box dyes contain "boosters" which allow color to take better to jet black hair. I do notice that they cause slightly more damage because they are able to lighten your hair faster and lighter. Because your hair is black, I recommend Textures and Tones because it's formulated for dark hair and is pretty gentle. And yep, permanently lightened hair requires a lot more maintenance especially about 2 months down the line when your ends are older and more porous. My virgin hair does not get splits/thinning ends while my colored section does. I saw my first split end in over 2 years last month! '

I honestly recommend lightening a section of your hair, see how it reacts for 6-8 weeks and if it's still healthy, dye the rest. I'm happy I did that instead of dying my entire head at once because I was able to see how fragile colored hair can be without the proper moisture/protein balance. Even though now my colored section is pretty strong and healthy, I can't imagine if my entire head was that difficult!

ETA- I like textures and tones also for beginners because the medium browns come with developer and the color figured out for you. As long as you stay away from the blondes, your boxes won't contain the "bleach" booster. But as @ag00 0 said, you could buy them separately at sallys and mix your own.

My hair is virgin hair. I have used heat less than five times in the past three years and take pretty good care of my hair so it is currently very healthy.

 

[ajargon02]

My hair is virgin hair. I have used heat less than five times in the past three years and take pretty good care of my hair so it is currently very healthy.

Do a protein treatment like apogee 2 step first then dc. The protein will help the color take even btr

 

[Guinan]

It is very possible. I've gone from jet black to blonde w/o considerable damage. However, my jet black was a rinse. With brown you shouldn't really have too much of a problem unless the condition of your hair was in bad condition prior to dye. You will def have to take extra care; especially with almost any color. For me to go blonde, I did it in baby steps over a course of 3-6mths. After I used a semi jet black in Jan 2015, I decided that I wanted to go lighter. So for almost 3mths, I clarified with each wash; in order to rinse out the jet black dye. In April/May I dyed y hair a reddish copper and then in July I dyed my hair blonde. All of the colors I achieved without using bleach. I didn't go as blonde as I wanted too; so now I am going to use a highlighting kit that contains bleach. From July until now, I knew I wanted to go lighter. So I made sure not to use heat and really DC my hair.

Will you be using a perm dye or a semi-perm? If your using a semi then your risk of getting any damage is considerably lower than using a perm dye. My fav brands are Clariol and Silk Elements for semi and for perm colors my favs are Claroil and Cream of Nature.

 

[HaveSomeWine]

It is very possible. I've gone from jet black to blonde w/o considerable damage. However, my jet black was a rinse. With brown you shouldn't really have too much of a problem unless the condition of your hair was in bad condition prior to dye. You will def have to take extra care; especially with almost any color. For me to go blonde, I did it in baby steps over a course of 3-6mths. After I used a semi jet black in Jan 2015, I decided that I wanted to go lighter. So for almost 3mths, I clarified with each wash; in order to rinse out the jet black dye. In April/May I dyed y hair a reddish copper and then in July I dyed my hair blonde. All of the colors I achieved without using bleach. I didn't go as blonde as I wanted too; so now I am going to use a highlighting kit that contains bleach. From July until now, I knew I wanted to go lighter. So I made sure not to use heat and really DC my hair.

Will you be using a perm dye or a semi-perm? If your using a semi then your risk of getting any damage is considerably lower than using a perm dye. My fav brands are Clariol and Silk Elements for semi and for perm colors my favs are Claroil and Cream of Nature.

I wanted to use a semi permanent. I was just having a hard time finding a semi permanent dye in the drugstore. I didn't want to damage my hair or have to dedicate a lot more time and effort to maintain my hair health.