Yes. You would have to apply a protein filler to get bleached blond to go brown easily. Really cheap to buy at a place like Sally's, but if done at a salon they charge an arm and a leg. Seems it took her several dye jobs to figure this one out.
I don't know if things have changed since I haven't been behind the chair in 15 years but when I was a hairdresser you didn't have to apply a protein filler to get bleached hair to go brown. What you did have to do was pay close xattention to the desired color's base color.
Every color on the market has a base color, green, red, yellow, or blue. When a colorist mixes colors to come to a desired color, he/she is paying very close attention to the base color of each color selected. If you have bleached hair and are trying to then tone that hair, you have to be very careful not to pull the base color, typically choosing the blue/yellow based colors. A lay person typically wouldn't know that and frequently make the mistake of choosing a red or green based color without really knowing the detriment of that choice. Choosing green or red could lead to that base color being evident in the final outcome. If you've ever heard someone say their hair is 'redder' than they wanted, that's because they (or their hairdresser) used a red-based color and the base color was 'pulled' (that's what we used to call it). It is a little more uncommon to hear someone complain about the 'green' tint to their hair because normally people who have 'pulled' too much green will pretty much go running to the hairdresser to have it fixed. When the hairdresser identifies that the green base is predominant, they will apply a similar, red-based color to 'cut' the green.
In my opinion, the reason Jodi had so many troubles coloring her hair was because she didn't have a full understanding of the base colors and the ramifications of choosing a red or green based color to tone bleached hair since bleached hair tends to pull the base color. Back in the day, when choosing a color to tone bleached hair, the hairdresser would choose either a yellow or blue based color, or mix, in equal parts, red and green based products to come to the desired result.
Sorry for the length, just thought if anyone didn't know it would be helpful to know the different problems someone could run in to if they didn't understand base colors and pay close attention to those colors they chose.
And, now that I'm thinking about it, Jodi may have tried to color her hair on her own before she went to the salon in Salinas (sp?), pulled some hideous base and went for corrective color.
Wasn't there a few receipts for hair color related to this case? If so, can anyone link them, I'd be interested to see what I could find out about the color she purchased.