It's a shame you reversed course and went darker again - I went from medium brown to light ash blonde by myself at home too. I simply picked the lightest blonde I could find initially and then when it went to the copper/red stage I switched to Ash blondes to get the red/brassy out. Admittedly, I was very impatient and managed to change in a two week period! I had highlights and lowlights in the brown and those left me with a really cool streaked blonde look at first. I was light ash blonde for the last year and then recently changed to ultra light ash blonde. I really like the colour and since I just do my roots each month and pull the colour through to the ends for the last 5-10 minutes, the condition is good.