Need a little red head inspiration + ideas/suggestions

[lunardaydreamer]

Hello everyone :) I'm so glad to have the forum back! I am in need of some suggestions! I have always wanted to be a redhead. I just got a job in my field as a counselor, so it can't be a completely unnatural shade of red, but outside of that I'm open to any suggestions. For as long as I've been dying my hair (hits and misses), I can't seem to figure out exactly what shade of red would look good on me. I'm open to light natural reds to deep burgundies. Now here's the problem: My current color is a true mess. I will try to be as clear as I can, because it's a looooooong story:

1. My natural hair color is a light brown with some natural red undertones and blonde highlights. Currently my hair is about shoulder length. Just dusting it.
2. My hair color right now is very, very far from my natural color.
3. About 10 months ago, I bleached all my hair to a light blonde. I absolutely hated it, and dyed it dark, and for some reason I went neutral, again. I have about 5 inches of roots since the unfortunate bleaching incident. But...
4. I have dyed over them with demi-permanent dye several times. So now whenever I try to redden my color, my 5 inches of regrowth come out hot, hot, hot, and the rest stays DARK and just... almost black.
5. My hair is actually in pretty good condition. My ends on the right side of my head, on my shortest layer are a tiny bit dry and fried, but otherwise, my hair is pretty good. I condition, oil and try not to wash it every day.

So, should I suck it up and deal with the obvious, hideous line of demarcation? Should I use Color Oops or something and strip the dye out of my length? And finally, here are some recent photos of me if anyone wouldn't mind suggesting some shades of red!

I am on the left:
http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/463700_4081459919246_1944576538_o.jpg

Hot roots:
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/615549_4008439293776_1497798843_o.jpg

The outgrown roots are actually my natural color in this one, that's my dad and I :):
http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/282731_3457238354097_1890295185_n.jpg


Thanks for any input or advice!

[kaydana]

From the pictures the demarcation line doesn't look too bad. You could try vitamin C to strip some of the colour out of the darker part so you can get a more even colour. I think a dark red would suit you.

[lunardaydreamer]

Thank you so much Kaydana! Yeah, I couldn't find a photo where the light was hitting the top of my head, that's when it's really obvious. If I were to try the Vitamin C stripping method, how would I do that? Thanks again ;)

[kaydana]

Crush up a few vitamin C tablets and mix the powder with enough shampoo (I've heard of people using conditioner instead, as the vitamin C and shampoo can be quite drying) to cover all your hair. Apply it to your hair, cover with a shower cap or cling film and leave it for an hour or so before rinsing.

[lunardaydreamer]

Okay that doesn't sound difficult I will have to give it a try. Have you ever tried it with any success?

[tinfoilsally]

I hear you on the problem of dealing with previous dye adventures, I tried to do the whole ombre thing recently and although the ends of my hair looked and felt okay, when I tried to bleach them they just fell apart and turned a horrible browny-green. Not even a nice shade of green either. Eugh.
Anyway, what I think I might be able to help with is choosing the right shade of red- what I usually do is google 'red hair with brown eyes', to see pictures of other women with my eye colour and my desired hair colour. They usually have a lot of different shades there, and it's a pretty good indicator of what the colour will look like on me. Obviously you have to take skin shade and so on into account, but I reckon this is a good start.
Apart from that, I would reccommend going with deep shades (not necessarily dark, but *deep* and rich in colour) if you have dark-coloured eyes, and personally I tend to avoid having tanned skin when my hair is light in colour, but that's just a question of taste I think.

Oh and P.S. I have tried the vitamin C thing, it didn't work super-well for me but I don't think I left it in long enough (my hair is pretty stubborn with colour). I'm actually about to try it again tonight, but this time I'm leaving it in for ~2 hours.

[kaydana]

Yes I have, but only on semi-permanent dye. I know others have had success with it on permanent dye though.

[akilina]

Vitamin C worked for me a bit :) Just slightly though on henna...so it might actually work better for you. Just a friendly note...if you do use color oops wait a few days before applying dye again. It will re darken. I experienced very bad redarkening by using color oops, then a shampoo bleach cap. The developer in all of it made it reoxidize. Sorry if you already knew...it was just so frustrating to go thru that. I try to let people know about that little factor so they dont have to go thru the frustration I did.

[Arya]

It's a bit hard to tell your skintone in those pictures. You look more alabaster in the first picture and a bit ruddier in the last one. Your hair colour really has to match your skintone, so I'm not sure what to recommend, other than perhaps trying on wigs of different shades of red, and seeing what you think?

[10000days]

Okay that doesn't sound difficult I will have to give it a try. Have you ever tried it with any success?

I tried this on my sister's hair and it worked really, really well. Even on the first go there was a very obvious colour lift. We only had to do it twice to get her from close-to-black (many times box-dyed) to a light-medium brown (which unfortunately inevitably gave a very brassy/orange colour, but if you ask a hairdresser to tone it, problem solved). We crushed a lot of Vit C tablets and mixed them into conditioner and left them in her hair for a few hours.

In your case, I would only try to lift older dye from your ends; don't touch the roots. Good luck!

[lunardaydreamer]

I hear you on the problem of dealing with previous dye adventures, I tried to do the whole ombre thing recently and although the ends of my hair looked and felt okay, when I tried to bleach them they just fell apart and turned a horrible browny-green. Not even a nice shade of green either. Eugh.
Anyway, what I think I might be able to help with is choosing the right shade of red- what I usually do is google 'red hair with brown eyes', to see pictures of other women with my eye colour and my desired hair colour. They usually have a lot of different shades there, and it's a pretty good indicator of what the colour will look like on me. Obviously you have to take skin shade and so on into account, but I reckon this is a good start.
Apart from that, I would reccommend going with deep shades (not necessarily dark, but *deep* and rich in colour) if you have dark-coloured eyes, and personally I tend to avoid having tanned skin when my hair is light in colour, but that's just a question of taste I think.

Oh and P.S. I have tried the vitamin C thing, it didn't work super-well for me but I don't think I left it in long enough (my hair is pretty stubborn with colour). I'm actually about to try it again tonight, but this time I'm leaving it in for ~2 hours.

That's a great tip about the googling! And I feel the same way about having light hair and tanned skin. Sadly I spent a lot of time in the sun in the summer, and my skin tans, face reddens so definitely not good for me to go too light, ha! Good luck with the Vit.C thing I am going to definitely give it a try. Thanks for all the input :)

[lunardaydreamer]

Vitamin C worked for me a bit :) Just slightly though on henna...so it might actually work better for you. Just a friendly note...if you do use color oops wait a few days before applying dye again. It will re darken. I experienced very bad redarkening by using color oops, then a shampoo bleach cap. The developer in all of it made it reoxidize. Sorry if you already knew...it was just so frustrating to go thru that. I try to let people know about that little factor so they dont have to go thru the frustration I did.

Thanks! And no I didn't know that about waiting a few days before applying dye! Yikes, I might have ended up doing it all for nothing, because like a goof I would have applied my new dye straight away. So whew!

[lunardaydreamer]

It's a bit hard to tell your skintone in those pictures. You look more alabaster in the first picture and a bit ruddier in the last one. Your hair colour really has to match your skintone, so I'm not sure what to recommend, other than perhaps trying on wigs of different shades of red, and seeing what you think?

Yeah, I realized that woops! The last photo was taken in the summer with no makeup on so that's my slightly more red sun "tanned" face ha. The wig idea is brilliant, thanks!

[Egana]

I have never colored my hair (except for a "sun-in" fiasco in 7th grade) so I really can't help you there...


But I absolutely LOVE your own warm brown color on you! Your creamy skin is so lovely, and your eyes so warm, I like how the soft brown ties all that together. Have you tried you natural color recently? That's my recommendation.

[lunardaydreamer]

Thanks Egana! I haven't had my natural color in so, so long. The more research I did after everyone's suggestions, the more I am doubting red-red would look good on me! So I might go a lighter brown depending on how the vitamin c works :) I might have to post results.