Originally Posted by ngdawg

My daughter dyed her hair black. Problems were (and, as we found out, not uncommon when someone does their own hair), she a) left it in too long and the semipermanent became permanent and b) she got more black in the front than in the back.
She didn't want it black anymore and it was looking raggedy due to the uneveness. I took her to a salon. The owner had to apply a bleaching to her waist-length hair and, because of the disparity in color, the back became light blonde while the front barely changed. He then recolored her hair 'Chestnut' as a semi-permanent and, 3 weeks later, it is now a bright auburn.
Because her hair is to her waist and she refuses to cut it, it will take over 3 years to get her natural hair back(it took that long to grow it this length from a chin-length cut).
Moral of the story: Heed above advice and seek a professional!