Hair color DILEMMA!!! :O

[Sieren]

(not sure if this is the right forum, but this IS regarding natural hair dye as well as regular hair dye...)

Well, I am kind of stuck. So here is my problem...
My hair is naturally a medium/dark golden brown, which I don't really like, and it doesn't look very good with my coloring. I either want it to be one of two extremes: darrrrrk blue/black, or brilliant flaming red/orange. Here are some examples:
http://i595.photobucket.com/albums/tt36/sieren/brilliantred.jpg

or

http://i595.photobucket.com/albums/tt36/sieren/blueblack-1.jpg



Right now my hair is close to blue-black on the bottom half, from indigo + regular blue-black hair dye, but whenever I try to dye the roots with henna + indigo, or just indigo they turn out cherry-black. I've pretty much tried everything with indigo to get my hair black, and it doesn't work (henna and indigo 2 step, 1 step, adding salt, adding baking soda, vinegar rinse after, putting it on wet hair, dry hair, leaving it on over 2 hours etc....arrgh!). My hair is pretty dye resistant, so I think that's the problem.

I have read that black hair dye is probably the worst to use because the dye molucules are very small and therefore it has the most potential for causing health problems. So I am kind of nervous about using regular hair dye if I am dying my hair black. But I can't think of any other option! :( So I am debating whether I should:

1. Just dye my hair blue/black with regular hair dye.

2. Dye my hair red with regular hair dye (or use developer to lighten my hair color), and then I can condition with henna! I know I can't acheive my goal color with just henna, my hair is too dark. I would prbly have to let the indigo grow out to do this, too.

I just don't know if I am missing an option! I would really like to use more natural methods to dye my hair, but I can't think of anything that will work!! I feel kind of stuck :( I just can't decide what to do! I have previously had both colors, and they both look good on me. If you go to my progress pics thread in the Mane Forum, you can see how I look with black hair. No red hair pics tho, unfortunately.

I am open to suggestion on what to do, or what color would look better. I need advice! :p Thanks to anyone who manages to read all this!! hehe

[CopperHead]

I think it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to get flaming orange hair if your base color is dark like yours. Even chemical dyes can only lift so many levels so you would have to strip the color out to get that color. Straight henna would give you a nice dark red with repeated applications, but it wouldnt' be orange. Manic Panic would be an option, but again you would probably have to bleach your hair first.

As for the black, I know many on this forum use indigo to get a very black color. Maybe they can give you some pointers on how to acheive this. This would probably be your best option. :)

[sibylla]

Yor hair is not so long so you might not have to damage your hair too much to get it lighter. I´ve been changing haircolor my whole life from black to white to bright red back to blonde etc. If your hair is thick you might get away whith this: lighten your ends with sprayblonde (swartzkoph) little by little.Better to let the sun bleach them than hairdryer. When your color is more even.(We´re talking weeks!).Deep treatment with coco nut oil over night ,3 times in one week. Then henna. Some members here have had nice results mixing in manic panics red (without the peroxide). You will get a nice orangy color but not clown red. Hope this helps. Remember that this is my personal advice.

[Sieren]

Thank you both for your replies!
Sibylla, my hair is VERRRRYYY thick and pretty resistant to damage, so I think that your idea might work! Where do you get the swartzkoph sprayblonde from? And what exactly is it? I've never heard of that particular product before, but I have heard of the brand swartzkoph, and apparently they have good stuff. Of course I will strand test first...don't worry ;)

Anybody have suggestions for getting indigo to stick better and turn out REALLY blue/black? Or a blue/black less-toxic regular dye?

[tabitie]

I'd vote for the top one. :}

As medium hair grows out, the lighter roots against the blue-black hair may make you look bald.

[Sieren]

I'd vote for the top one. :}

As medium hair grows out, the lighter roots against the blue-black hair may make you look bald.

Arrrgh, I know!! One of my HUGEST pet peeves is light roots with black hair!!! ;)

However, my roots aren't really THAT noticeable to anyone but myself, I've been told. Plus I am 6' tall, so most people can't see the top of my head anyways hehe ;) I DO love red hair, though. If I can get the perfect red shade, then I would definitely choose red, however I haven't quite managed to figure out how to get it, yet... :p Blue-black is just so much easier to do, basically the darkest color there is! And I do like it, too! *sigh* Can you tell I am very indecisive with my hair color? haha ;) Maybe I should just do some strand tests and see what I can come up with...

[kwaniesiam]

Thank you both for your replies!
Sibylla, my hair is VERRRRYYY thick and pretty resistant to damage, so I think that your idea might work! Where do you get the swartzkoph sprayblonde from? And what exactly is it? I've never heard of that particular product before, but I have heard of the brand swartzkoph, and apparently they have good stuff. Of course I will strand test first...don't worry ;)

Anybody have suggestions for getting indigo to stick better and turn out REALLY blue/black? Or a blue/black less-toxic regular dye?

Try mixing in either manic panic blue black or special effects dye. I've done it to get a nice bloody burgandy red, maybe after the henna/indigo this can help cancel out the cherry black color you were experiencing before. They are temporary dyes, but non-damaging.

[Isilme]

if you want red hair, do deep treatmens very often, to pull out the black. And then you can lighten. Don't expect you hair to be firey orange, it'll evetually settle down to a nice bright auburn, also you will have darker hair where your virgin hair grows out. Have a look in my album, you can see my progress there from fried bottle red with henna to virgin with henna.

[AcadieAnne]

I see you're in WI. Are you near Madison?

[Sieren]

I see you're in WI. Are you near Madison?

Sorta--a couple hours away though (I think...hehe...I suck at estimating distances and directions). I live in the Fox Valley area. :)

[BlackfootHair]

I love blue black hair. *note siggy lol* I was using Redkin shades eq, but I'm going back to using Goldwell Colorance Color acid demi color in blue black. Both brands are demi. Since I'm just going dark I don't need permanent. Demis don't have ammonia, and very minimal peroxide. I have thick hair and used to henna. I eventually got VERY tired of rinsing mud out of my hair. It was a labour of love, and eventually started killing my curl!! So, I'm back to blue black with demis. :D

[Sieren]

Goldwell is a good brand---that's actually the exact color I used to use, the colorance demi blue/black! Hmmm...maybe I'll give it a shot again.

You said you used to henna--did the demi hair dye cover the henna completely? Just wondering, cuz I'd like to still be able to condition with henna, but I don't want to do it if it will show through, you know? Or maybe I'll just use cassia....

[AcadieAnne]

Sorta--a couple hours away though (I think...hehe...I suck at estimating distances and directions). I live in the Fox Valley area. :)
I'm not sure where Fox Valley is yet (I'm still new to WI). I was just wondering 'cause I get my henna from Community Pharmacy in downtown Madison. They have a few different brands of hair dyes that claim to be organic or some such, and they have a wide range of colors, including some nice bright reds (I didn't look at them much, as I was only there for henna).

I wish I'd have thought of using demi dye when I was dyeing my hair black; would've spared my hair from a lot of damage. :rolleyes:

[Sieren]

I'm not sure where Fox Valley is yet (I'm still new to WI). I was just wondering 'cause I get my henna from Community Pharmacy in downtown Madison. They have a few different brands of hair dyes that claim to be organic or some such, and they have a wide range of colors, including some nice bright reds (I didn't look at them much, as I was only there for henna).

I wish I'd have thought of using demi dye when I was dyeing my hair black; would've spared my hair from a lot of damage. :rolleyes:

Oh, well the city I live in is Appleton, but the "fox valley" is basically Neenah, Menasha and Appleton area. The closest large city is probably Green Bay.

Hehe yeah, I didn't think of using demi's at first either, until a hairstylist suggested trying it. It works really well, and the demi dye was actually pretty permanent...I remember it lasting longer than permanent dye!

[BlackfootHair]

The demi covered it completely, but in the sun you'll see the red hilites. Oh, and don't use manic panic unless you want everything blue. It also fades to green. Most noticeably on the ends. Lol