THIS is the color I always have in my MIND but my hair has different plans
This is what I did:
I bought a kit from the store in Dark Ash Brown (because my hair is so dark I knew that the ash blonde color would lighten it to a lighter brown shade).
Then the next day I used Garnier Color Breaks Dimensional Lightener No.3 Medium Brown to Dark Brown and put about 6 highlights on each side. This kit gave reallyyyyy natural looking highlights. I was scared that they would be really bold and dramatic but they blended perfectly. This kit you don't use a cap but pick and choose where you want to put the color. You grab a few strains of hair and put the cream on... it doesn't matter if that section touches your undyed hair...it won't color the hair it's laying on. It was so easy and simple. This kit was not a lot of money and well worth it.
I waited about 4 days and I highlighted my hair again with Revlon Frost and Glow in Honey. This one was more of a pain in the butt. It came with one of those silly looking plastic caps which are almost next to impossible to get any hair out of and when you do it always comes out tangled. Ugh. I didn't leave this one on very long (only 25 minutes... 60 minutes is max time) because I was really nervous it would come out too light and zebra striped. This one did make my hair a little lighter then I'm comfortable with but it didn't turn out bad like I was predicting.
So, in the end... am I happy with it? No. I never am. It came out too red and I wanted it to be a light ash brown... oh well. I think I should just stick to dark hair but I was bored and needed a change.
Here are some pictures of proof that I went lighter (and one before):
BEFORE
AFTER
Color in natural light without flash
Hair color before the 2nd round of highlights
HAPPY NEW YEAR from me and my family (minus baby who is missing from the pic!)
MUCH LOVE!!!!!