Try going to a salon. My experience is, no, it always leaves your hair looking funny. It's a very heavy dye if you know what I mean, and it will dry/weigh your hair down. A specialist can mix a formula that is best suited for your hair's needs.

There is a way to do it, but it is best to have it done by a professional. The key is using different tones, not just black. Black, dark chestnut brown and maybe a darker caramel shade, used in conjunction, without looking like stripes, but more like natural fluctuations in the hair's color. There is also a process called "low-lighting", which is similar to hi-lighting, but uses the opposite principle, making sections of hair darker so that the natural shade looks lighter, this process is recommended for people that have tones in their hair that could turn orange if hi-lighted.

You have to buy dark brown. It looks like a natural black. Use a level 3 with an ash base. This is provided you are not coloring over processed hair.

Go to a salon and get a hairdresser to do it for you. It may seem cheaper to do it yourself but it's not worth the saving you'll make. IF you remember nothing else, remember this: Black hair dyes have a horrible habit of coming out with a noticeable purple tint - that sort of black/blue colour. Think of a black felt tip marker - it never comes out jet black - when it catches the light it's purplish. Plus, if you dye the whole lot black it will look exactly as you have done, fake blue/black dyed hair done at home. Hairdresser should suggest the use of more than one colour to blend and make it look natural. Other things to consider are, at home you WILL end up with black dye all over the eddges of your face, the home colourant (despite the marketing) is not as good as professional colour, it does fade and dry the hair out. Worse, when it needs 'touching up' because your roots are showing, despite the press about 'how easy it is with the new shaped wand in the pack, blah blah, you just stroke the colour where you need it...blah blah) - you will find doing your roots successfully on your own is borderline impossible. You cannot see properly fora start and the so called wand, is a small toothbrush. You end up re-colouring the whole lot or settling for stripes. Root-touch up my arse. It still costs more or less the same, but instead of lots of product, you get less dye and toothbrush that's been renamed as a 'wand'. Save up and find yourself a decemt hairdresser (hard, I know but not impossible). Bear in mind, it will not look natural if it is completely different from your natural colour (eg, you are blondish naturally). If your hair was darker when you were younger, having it dyed back to the same shade as 5 years ago will not suit you because your skin tone changes and lightens as you grow older (not much, but enough for a too dark shade to make you appear pale - it will also make you look older as well). Can you tell I have been there and done all the hairdyes on the market? God, don't remind me. Go to a pro.

NO .....no haircolor that is one color looks real. Besides that, generally speaking NO ONE in the world truly has black hair. It is generally darkest brown, close to black.....but that slightest difference is a lot when it comes to looking 'real' or natural.

My hair is dyed black, and even my hair dresser didn't know until she saw roots. I have naturally black eyebrows- I mean dense, thick brows that are truly black, even in the sun. I use Feria natural black with the lovely long haired, copper skinned lady on the front. Feria is not one flat tone and it is very shiny. Sometimes I use the Bright black, which is blue-tinted. I really don't care if that is not natural- it still looks good. Colors that say soft black or natural black will allow your natural tones to show, and the others here are right- the natural and soft blacks are more like a very, very dark brown. That is why they look more natural.