Usually I do ash colors because my hair has a tendency to turn reddish or purple very easily... ash typically has the opposite tone so no fear of turning my hair red.

Once I took what was supposed to be a "deep walnut brown" on my hair. It was a copper color going on. Like you I thought, no fear because they never look the same in the end. Well when I brushed it out... I was RED We're talking Ronald McDonald hair! My husband took one look and burst out laughing (thanks honey!) and then he asked why on earth I would have bought such a terrible haircolor. I grabbed the packaging to make sure someone didn't switch the bottles inside... nope, the bottle said the color as the box. Since then I always check the bottle before applying just in case!

Anyway.....

Thankfully it was around Halloween, and red hair was "in" so I lived with it for a few days (while crying a lot of tears.) and I dyed over it a few days later. No harm happened. I used one of those "wash out" non-permanent types. I didn't wash my hair much for the next week or so because I didn't want to damge it, or have the non-permanet stuff wash out. Then after two weeks, Ifelt enough time had passed and I did a new permanet dye in an almost black. The resulting color was actually very pretty!

I am only 32, and my hair is already 30% like you. I dye it something different every time, but try to keep it in the same color family. I go lighter in the summer, a bit darker in the winter. I like the color I used now, it has a nice golden highlught, which is new to me... since like I said everything tends to turn reddish. I;'m used to red or coppery highlights, and this is almost blonde.