How To Tone Down Hair Color That Is Too Light?

It is never easy to color one’s hair. Even if you’ve picked the correct hue, the final result may not be what you wanted in the first place.

Hair dyeing can be a very demanding process. Many different issues may arise while preparing to dye your hair a new color; selecting the wrong dye and ending up unhappy with the results are some of them.

On that note, one of the biggest hair-coloring catastrophes is – well, winding up with hair that’s too light. The good news is that toning down hair that’s too light is one of the simplest things to accomplish colorimetry-wise.

So, how to tone down hair color that is too light?

It doesn’t matter if you bleached your hair or if you used a too-blonde of a tint and it turned out too light. The answer is always the same: Apply a darker color to your hair to combat the lighter hue.

That’s the oversimplified answer, though. Stick around to learn more!

Toning Down Hair Color That’s Too Light With Hair Dye

As we mentioned before, if you bleached your hair and it turned out too light, all you should do is apply a dye that’s two tones darker than the color you have right now.

It appears simple – and it is. There are still “rules” you should remember here; if you don’t, the future for your hair’s health will be bleak.

Why?

Well, you bleached your hair, and that’s a very aggressive process.

Even though your hair appears to be in good condition, it always suffers at least some damage following bleaching.

Does it have split ends? Is it delicate or likely to break? Did it lose the smoothness and healthy appearance it had before bleaching?

If the answer’s “Yes” to the questions above, you must first repair your hair’s condition so that you can tone it down.

After a color treatment, you should replenish the moisture in your hair using serums and masks. In particular, you can try the following:

Apply a few drops of argan – or coconut – oil to your hair from the center to the ends and let it in for two hours.
Try applying a keratin-infused moisturizing mask at least once a week to strengthen your hair fiber.

That’s particularly important if you have fine, thin hair prone to breaking. And yes, split ends and dry strands can be a concern even if your hair is generally pretty tough.

Note that bleach and color remove particular layers of your hair; overdoing it could cause more damage than good.

So, instead of coloring your hair as soon as you notice a color failure, go for a more gradual solution – and make it a point to restore your hair’s health to its “before-bleaching” state.

After you’ve recovered your hair, it is time to choose a new color for darkening your hair.

Related Read:

Selecting The Right Color To Darken Your Hair

Remember, don’t darken your hair more than two or three tones at a time. If you have bleached hair, up to two shades would be excellent.

But, if you’re unhappy with your hair color, you can go two or three tones darker.

Toning your hair down more than three shades at once is usually not recommended. Why?

Well, you could end up with a darker color that you don’t fancy at all, meaning you’ll have to go through at least two bleaching sessions to lighten your hair up again.

And, as we all know, for your hair, that’s the equivalent of torture.

Tone Down Hair Color Naturally At Home

You probably don’t want to go back to a hair salon to remedy a problem with your hair color after you’ve just dyed it. If that’s the case, these simple and quick DIY methods to darken hair color at home will be ideal for you!

Using Shampoos & Conditioners

Washing your hair regularly is one way to address the issue of how to tone down hair color that’s too light. The fewer times you wash it with shampoo, the longer the color will last.

So, maybe all you need to do is wash your hair every day – and see if it helps.

On that note, some shampoos are supposed to be capable of depositing color on the hair – the so-called toning shampoos. They’re designed to assist the hair in becoming cleaner, softer, and able to change the color of the hair.

You can use these toning shampoos confidently because they typically don’t contain ammonia or peroxides.

That said, be sure to carefully examine the color chart and get guidance from the specialists to ensure that the shade is appropriate for your actual hair color.

But the simple version would be:

Use a darker shade if you simply want to tone down excessively bright hues.

Coffee

Yes, you can also use coffee to darken your hair quickly. This procedure is straightforward, and you should notice results relatively fast.

The concept is simple – the coffee should stain your hair.

That merely darkens your hair a few shades, though. So, if you want to make a drastic change, you’ll need to repeat the process several times.

You may use coffee to darken all hair colors – although it produces the best results on light and medium brown hair.

Here’s how to use it:

Make a pot of strong coffee; three glasses is the optimal serving size.
Allow it to cool to room temperature. You can speed up this process; just place the coffee in the refrigerator.
Fill a bowl halfway with coffee. After that, put your hair into the dish and leave it in for a few seconds.
You could also pour the coffee over your head while standing in the shower – or put your head in the sink and pour the coffee three times through your hair.
Rinse out the coffee in the shower.

Baking Soda & Lemon

Lemon and baking soda are excellent teeth-whitening agents – which doesn’t have much to do with your hair, we know. But that’s the thing:

You can combine these two and use the mixture to not so much tone down light hair color but remove any yellow undertones from it – which could, in turn, improve the color.

Here’s how:

By combining the two, you will make a thick paste.
After washing your hair, apply the paste to it. Allow the paste to settle for 20 minutes.
Wash the mixture off your hair with warm water and allow it to dry.
Do this three times a week until you see a change.

Black Tea

Black tea could stain your hair, causing it to darken. As such, it’s an excellent way to darken your hair a few tones.

This treatment fades rapidly, though. So, be sure to make these tea soaks regularly:

Make a cup of strong black tea. Let the tea cool; wait until you can stick your fingers in without getting burned.
Fill a bowl halfway with tea. The basin should be large enough to accommodate your hair.
Soak your hair for around 15 minutes in the tea. That will allow the tea to penetrate your hair.
Rinse your hair with water to remove the black tea.
Repeat this process every day – for at least two weeks. You’ll ultimately keep the color by soaking it less frequently; it all depends on the condition of your hair.

Sage

Sage has been used to darken hair for centuries now. Culpeper describes this application in his 1653 Complete Herbal. Yup, you read that correctly – 1653!

Sage, he claims, “causes the hair to become black.”

You must take it on a regular basis for the significant effects, but it’s still a fantastic technique to darken your hair without causing too much harm. Oh, and this method is frequently used to treat grey hair:

In a pot, combine two cups of water and half a cup of dried sage leaves.
Bring the pot to a boil for around two hours.
Collect the infusion after straining the leaves.
Apply it to your strands and allow it to soak for approximately 30 minutes.
After that, rinse your hair as usual.

Conclusion

Beautiful hair is essential to women; it helps make most of us feel more confident. And getting the desired hair color is crucial in completing this “objective.”

With the help of the essential tips provided in this article, you now know how to tone down hair color that is too light.

So, if you’ve bleached your hair, wait a bit for your hair to recover – hydrating and mending it in the meantime – and then apply a dye that’s up to two tones darker than your current color.

On that note, if you generally don’t love your hair color and want to darken it, select a color that is no more than two shades darker than your existing one.

Also, if you don’t want to harm your hair, we recommend trying DIY at-home tricks for darkening your hair. They are all affordable, all-natural – and the damage to your hair is minimized.

It’s all up to you!