There are 3 types of hair color:

1. Temporary, like Loving Care, that is supposed to last about 2 weeks
2. Semi-permanent, which uses permanent dyes to cover your natural color, and
3. Permanent, which bleaches your hair slightly in order to make the dye stay better.

The first type is normally considered "wash-out".  Semi-permanent color usually lasts at least a couple of months, depending on how often you wash. Basically, it is intended to last at least til the roots get intolerable and you're going to color again anyway.

How permanent is it, really? That depends entirely on your hair type. When you used a semi-permanent dye to color your hair black, and it didn't ever come out, this meant that semi-permanent color is permanent on your hair.

But neither temporary nor semi-permanent can lighten your hair. So after your hair was dyed black, you were basically stuck with it. Then, when you tried to color it "brown", it turned out the photo on the box wasn't as red as the color turned out to be over your natural hair color, and did nothing to the black portion. 

The only way to lighten it now is to bleach it.  I recommend seeing a professional who specializes in fixing color problems, if you want to try to restore your hair color.  Listen to this person. If you want long hair, you need to treat it nicely.

At this point, who knows what will happen to it if you make more drastic changes on your own? You should probably plan on growing out the treated portion, and think about learning to love your hair, rather than trying to radically change it.

So, tell us, what did they do for you?

Being happy is the most important!  Glad it worked out.