I've been dyeing my hair dark brown for the past year but I want to go back to my natural color which is a medium brown. My ends are darker than my roots and I'm afraid the color would be uneven. What can I do to fade them? I don't want to damage my hair, so even if it's something that will take 1-2 months to work I'll try it.

The sun will naturally fade your color, as will shampooing with a clarifying shampoo. Chlorine in swimming pool water will do the same.
You could always dye your hair back to its original color though.

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I used L'oreal Color Zap and it worked great. I conditioned my hair afterward and noticed no damage to my hair. But make sure you have the dye you want to color your hair with because you'll want to redye as soon as you use the color zap because your hair will be a funky color.

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Here is a link to some shampoo reviews:
The Shopping Bags - Product Reviews - W Network

Head and Shoulders anti dandruff shampoo

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:dance:Poor self employed woman, will dance for MAC.:dance:

Lush BIG shampoo - the salt really strips the colour out, plus it leaves your hair so soft and silky and clean. This shampoo is bl**dy excellent!!

As a matter of fact Im gonna go wash my hair now!

Yay! Someone else who thinks this as well! This is what I would use to frantically wash out some crazy color I didn't want my mom seeing when I was in high school, heh.

Girl….I have been there, done that, and bought the T-shirt!! This is tricky stuff and certainly, a lost art usually left to professionals. As far as what chemicals could be considered useful in fading a hair color…well I’m going to let you all in on a little insider secret.

For any of you out there, like myself, who spend hundreds to thousands of dollars a year on coloring your tresses, and would like to maintain their vibrant color, or at least, give it a fighting chance. I urge you to run to your hair product stash and look at the ingredients to see if these two chemicals are in them MINERAL OIL & GLYCERIN. They’re in a lot of hair products from shampoos to styling gels to sprays. These two are notorious for dissolving and stripping the hair follicle of its artificial color pigment; moreover, they can make your hair look DULL after prolonged use! Eliminate these two from your hair product diet and you’ll protect your investment and enjoy healthier looking hair. This is especially important to all reds and blondes!!! Trust!

Now, having stated this – In your case I would recommend incorporating these into your hair products – easy enough!

What can one recommend in returning your hair back to its original healthy color…well aside from getting professional assistance, (which most professionals are very reluctant to attempt such a color correction process), ( they claim is very difficult and expensive), (personally, I don’t see what the big deal is, since it couldn’t look any worse than it did before), It’s all about nurturing and stimulating the hair follicle from the inside out. If I can only share one thing of great importance on this board with you all – please…let it be this…
…and it’s free of charge because it will change your life for the better - PLAIN LOWFAT YOGURT
Not NonFat, but LowFat. Not Flavored, but Plain – too many calories and Carbs in the other ones.
Even if it’s just one or two table spoons a day to your diet your hair and nails are going to grow like weeds!!! I wish I had the energy to explain the benefits here and now of why this is so great for you, so I encourage you to do the homework and see for yourself. Google it if you have to.
The live cultures including Acidophilus and Bifidus are crucial bacteria our digestive systems need to maintain a healthy digestive tract & environment to help break down food and absorb important nutrients and vitamins that help in hair and nail growth. To say nothing of the actual gelatin that’s in yogurt that aids in strong hair and nail growth. Plain LowFat Yogurt works twofold in this regard.

When you are shampooing try to give your scalp a nice massage to stimulate the blood flow to the scalp this will also assist in faster growth. Some experts say no matter what you do, you really will only get your normal ¼ inch of growth each month. I believe you can cheat a little, especially, with the warmer weather approaching which always allows hair to grow faster. Drink plenty of water.

Curious as to how much of your hair is in need of color correction? Have you considered a drastic trimming maybe. All in the name of a gorgeous Spring and Summer look?

I will say this…count your blessings that you’re not going from blonde to brown! The process is so much less forgiving believe me!

Good Luck! And always remember to have some nice deep conditioners on hand in case of emergency.

^^ Awesome information. Thanks!

Also, Phyto sells a shining spray that has SPF in it to protect your hair from sun damage. The sun is one of those inevitable things that are bound to damage your skin, hair, etc.

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"The great tragedy of science: the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis with an ugly fact." - Thomas Huxley

So true! So true! No truer words were ever written.

Totally forgot about SPF's for the hair. That is half the battle!

Any acid based shampoo will fade it out pretty quickly. Its not harsh or anything. Just raises the cuticle layer of your hair allowing the color to come out. Use conditioner afterward to close it back up.

Haha I've done that before. It turned green after 2 weeks