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How to Color Over Brassy Orange Hair

Jul 9, 2011 / By Sophia Darby

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Get the brass out with a little blue and you'll be a blonde bombshell in no time.

Photo: Jupiterimages/Goodshoot/Getty Images

So your dreams of being a blonde bombshell were dashed when brassy orange showed up to the party. Chances are you used a hair color and developer that wasn't strong enough to get your natural hair color past that orange-y stage. The good news is there's a correction for that. All you need is to get a little blue (yes, blue!), and that orange will be bounced out of your color party in no time.

Get to a beauty supply store and pick up the corrective colors you'll need to get this job done. You'll need an ash-based semi-permanent hair color one level lighter than what you currently have now, a bottle of 10-volume developer, a color bottle and latex gloves. If you can't remember what level of color you used to get the color you currently have, ask one of the sales associates to help you choose.

When you get home, mix up your semi-permanent color and developer in the color bottle. Be sure to follow the product direction for the right measurements of each so you get your formula right. Slip your latex gloves on and screw the cap on the color bottle. Cover the opening in the cap's tip with your gloved finger and shake the bottle vigorously until the mixture is a consistent color.

Apply the corrective color from root to tip, making sure you get every strand and soak that hair good with the color. When that's done, set a timer for 20 minutes and let the blue tint in the ash-based color neutralize the orange tones in your hair.

When the 20 minutes is up, rinse your hair until the water runs clear and follow up with a conditioner for color-treated hair. That will help seal your new color in. Rinse again with cool water and breathe a sigh of relief that the hideous brassy color is gone for good.

1.Semi-permanent hair color

3.Latex gloves

5.Hair conditioner

2.10-volume developer

4.Color bottle

Be sure the ash hair color you use has a blue base to it. Blue neutralizes orange tones, so that's what will get the job done. If, for some reason, you can't find a blue-based ash, then buy a neutral color in the right level and a bottle of blue drabber. Add one cap full of the blue drabber (liquid) or 1 inch of the drabber if it's in a cream form.

If your hair is extremely orange and brassy and you wanted to go much lighter than your hair is now, you may have to bleach the hair a few levels lighter and tone the hair afterward.