How to dye brown hair blonde
Lifting your brunette tresses to a lighter shade has never been simpler: try a subtle balayage or our signature ‘bronde’, or bite the bullet with a full-blown platinum blonde. Whether you’re wanting a natural, sun-kissed look, or dream of experimenting with an icy winter blonde, we’ve got plenty of tips and products to create whatever look you want to rock – without a visit to the salon!
In the weeks leading up to transforming your look, it’s a good idea to switch out your usual conditioner for a luxurious hair mask to infuse hair with moisture, ensuring it’s in the best condition before you dye or bleach. Our Hair Expertise Everpure Reinforcing Intense Mask would be a great choice as it’s specifically designed to help protect dry, coloured hair.
Between our haircare experts and years of beauty knowledge, below we’ll take you through the steps you need to find out whether blondes really do have more fun…
Strand tests are a must when dyeing brown hair blonde
While it’s tempting to skip strand tests to save time, especially when you’re busy, strand testing is a recipe for success when dyeing naturally brown hair the perfect shade of blonde.
Simply choose a small, unnoticeable section of your hair to apply the dye to, leave it for 20 minutes, and check the colour. Continue checking every few minutes until you find the perfect shade, then make a note of how long to leave your full head of colour on. We promise it’s worth the extra time to find the perfect hue for you.
Dyeing brown hair blonde using the balayage technique
If the transition from blonde to brown is a totally untrodden path, then the balayage method is a fantastic way to introduce an (almost) effortless sun-kissed effect that’s super low-maintenance.
The term balayage borrows its name from a French term meaning to ‘to paint’ or ‘to sweep’ – because that’s exactly how the colour is applied when you use this technique. As the blonde colour is only applied to the lower part of your hair, there’s no need to worry about root re-growth – perfect for those of us in need of a low-maintenance ‘do.
Our Colorista Effects Balayage kit contains everything you need to achieve balayage highlights at home, and is really simple to use, making it ideal if it’s the first time you’re colouring your hair at home:
● Start by parting your hair in two, then part in half again so your hair is divided into four equal sections. Clip each section back until it’s time to work with them.
● Take one of the lower sections of hair, and paint the dye in a sweeping motion (as if you’re using a paintbrush) from the middle to the bottom of your hair, completely avoiding the part of your hair from the roots to the ears.
● If you’re not using one of our balayage kits and don’t have a comb or brush, pop on some protective plastic gloves and work the dye into your hair using the tips of your fingers. Blend the colour using downward strokes.
Dyeing brown hair ‘bronde’: aka the best of both worlds
We’ve called an end to the ‘blonde or brunette?’ debate with our signature ‘bronde’, which gives you gorgeous multi-tonal colour. Our L’Oreal Prérérence Glam Bronde collection is available in four shades, and will provide that enviable “I’ve just-got-back-from-holiday” look all year round.
To begin, follow the same first steps outlined in the balayage section above: divide your hair into four and clip each section to separate it.
If you’re using one of our Bronde kits, apply the dye straight to the wide comb to take you from brunette to a lustrous bronde. Start applying the product about 2-3cm from the roots and, like balayage, focus the application on your lengths and tips for a low maintenance transformation that doesn’t need a monthly root top-up.
Leave the dye on your hair for your determined time from your strand test, and say hello to your beautiful golden highlights.
Dyeing brown hair blonde: a full head of colour
Want to take the plunge and go for the full-on, all-over brown-to-blonde transformation? Our colourist experts recommend keeping dyed locks within two shades of your natural hair colour to create a natural look which maximises the time between root re-touching. This will also keep your hair and eyebrows matching – otherwise you may want to think about a brow tint too.
Dyeing light to medium brown hair blonde
If you’re a brunette with light to medium brown hair, you may want to go for cooler, lighter tones of blonde, such as the
L’Oreal Préférence Infinia in Stockholm. This is a gorgeous, light blonde hue which gives you up to eight weeks of lustre and six weeks of shine after dyeing your hair.
If you want to go blonder, wait two weeks between dyes (we all need breathing space right?), and start making your way to a more buttery shade with our L’Oreal Préférence in Lightest Ash Blonde. All our L’Oreal Préférence products are designed to give you show-stopping colour from day one, and are packed with vitamin E to combat dehydration.
Dyeing dark brown hair blonde
For our darker-haired ladies, a more golden or strawberry blonde hue can complement olive skin tones beautifully. If, like us, you don't always play by the rules and want to push the ‘two shades lighter’ boundary, we’ve expertly crafted a dye that lightens dark brown hair by up to eight shades – aptly named Extreme Platinum Blonde.
Christophe Robin, Expert Colourist for L'Oréal Paris, describes the product as working ‘beautifully on dark hair’. For the best chance of colour success, each pack comes with a lilac, brass-defying shampoo to encourage platinum tones, rather than yellow.
Roll up your sleeves, ladies, we’re going for a total transformation! For a step-by-step tutorial, follow along with the below video.
Maintaining your coloured hair
Before we sashay out of here with our gorgeous blonde colour, here are a few final words to help keep your new colour bright and brilliant:
1. Look for haircare ranges that are specially developed for coloured hair to protect and maintain your new look, such as the
L'Oréal Elvive Colour Protect Low Shampoo. You could also opt for our
Colorista Silver Shampoo to brighten your blonde by banishing brassy tones.
2. If you’ve gone for an all-over colour then root maintenance might be one of your top priorities. We like to think of it as the powder compact of the hair dye world – our
Magic Retouch root concealer is perfect if you find yourself needing a quick colour fix.
3. Add a moisturising hair mask into your haircare routine once or twice a week, such as
L’Oreal Elvive Colour Protect Hair Mask, which keeps dyed locks feeling hydrated and looking glossy.
4. Finally, if you regularly heat style your dyed hair, don’t underestimate the importance of using heat protectant spray before styling, such as the
Elnett Heat Protect Spray Smooth Blow Dry to guard against damage.
So... how does it feel being blonde? To our bronde and platinum bombshells, and every shade in between, we hope you’re loving your new colour.
