(The two pictures are the products I use.)
Hi guys, I hope someone can give me some advice! I spoke to some of the employees at Sally's but they said they didn't know a ton about high lift coloring. :-(
My natural hair color is around a level 7 (dark blonde) and I now have a little bit of grey mixed in as well. I've been dying my hair exclusively with various blonde box dyes my whole adult life. Past year or so I've been using the two L'oreal dyes in the pictures (Preference LB01 and Excellence 01). This color works well for me since my hair is already blonde and it helps blend in the greys. It's not salon quality perfect but I really like it!
So here is my issue...
I end up LOVING the color in about 1.5-2 weeks after I dye my hair. By then I have washed my hair several times with a clarifying shampoo. (I even wash with a clarifying shampoo immediately after coloring.)
When my hair is freshly dyed I actually really dislike it. The color just looks...off. It's too saturated, I think? And sometimes too yellowy or ashy in some spots.
But after that 1.5 week or so, the color gets stripped out and it settles down to the color I really like (warmer blonde with almost whitish natural highlights).
So I think what I end up liking is my "raw lift color"? Does that sound right? I know people sometimes (especially natural blondes) like the raw lift color they get after bleaching and not adding any toner, but I don't see that discussed when it comes to non-bleach high lift.
Is there a way to continue to use one or both of these products while diluting the color so it's a lot less pigmented?
From what I can tell, my options are....
Mix in a clear high lift permanent dye/gloss. (Does anyone know any that would mix well with my products?...I've never used a product like this before.) or,
Use two developer bottles and just one of the color bottles. So I would buy two boxes of the dye, use the developer bottles in both, and just the color bottle from one of the boxes. Would that keep my lift the same and just minimize the color deposit?
I was about to just go ahead and try the 2nd option above, but figured I should check here first! Is there any reason I should not do this?
Please help! :-)