Is dying brown less damaging? Should I do it?

[thistledown]

Hi all :)
I dyed my hair red about six months ago, it was nice (made my green eyes pop and my pale skin look nice) and all but it was high maintenance what with the fading and all so I got it dyed back to my original darkish blonde (blondette really) but it's since sort of faded to a horrible brassy ginger and I hate it. So I'm thinking of dying it a medium brown (my mum has naturally black hair and my sister's a dark chocolate brown) I think it would suit me okay (you can never be sure though LOL) and I've never had dark hair so it would be nice to see if I like it. I'm wondering if dying brown is less damaging then dying blonde? My hair dresser has said I have 2 options: go dark or go lighter blonde (which would be very light given the colour it is now), which would you guys do?
Vanessa

[thistledown]

Also you can see the colour of hair/ skin etc here: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=112556&page=2
Vanessa

[FrozenBritannia]

Even brown dye has peroxide in it, so less damaging than going bleach blonde maybe (and oh the upkeep on bleach blonde!!) but still damaging. It will also fade and bring out reddish tints just fyi.

[Anje]

In theory, dyeing darker should be easier on hair, because you don't need to lighten it to get the color to go on.

In practice, it's my understanding that many companies throw the exact same peroxide developer in all their boxed hairdye kits, without regard to whether it's to dye platinum blond or blue-black.

However, you can counteract this (for more money, of course). Go to a place like Sally Beauty Supply, and purchase your own developer. Talk to the people there -- my guess is that 10vol or maybe 20vol should be plenty, but I don't really know chemical hairdye. The lower the number, the less peroxide and therefore the less damage. You might even purchase the color there as well.

Alternatively, temporary dyes (Level 2, the 28-day ones) are usually ammonia-free and I believe they have lower strengths of peroxide than the permanent ones (Level 3). You might find them less damaging, though I'd suggest getting the opinion of someone who knows more of this stuff than I do before assuming that. Oddly, they typically don't remove quite as easily with color remover (Color Oops and that ilk) as the permanent ones, but they'll wear off on their own, so you don't have to grow out your hair if you get sick of the color.

One last piece of advice: Avoid Feria. It causes a lot of problems for a lot of people, is unusually hard to remove, and tends to be quite damaging.

[MidnightMoon]

why on earth would you dye it brown? no offense (my hair is really dark brown) but brown is the most boring colour of them all...Like 90% of the world has brown hair...
it looks common and stuff
your colour is awesome, I'd love to have your hair colour...so my only advice would be not to do anything

[ravenreed]

Demi-permanents last a little longer than semi-permanent and use a love volume developer. I used one for years with good results. The reason they don't do much damage is they don't lift your color, so you can only go darker not lighter.

[leslissocool]

I would henna it. It seems you liked the red, and you might really hate the brown and try to bleach it back to natural again.

[Anje]

Henna's worth considering, but I'd say it's ONLY for the longhair who is committed to being red long-term. It doesn't come out easily when it comes out at all, and unlike hairdye it really doesn't bleach out. Furthermore, I'd expect it to be orange-red on blondette hair for at least a few applications -- it can look quite natural, but if you're not the sort who wants bright coppery hair, it's not going to make you very pleased.


One additional thought. Because your hair is light, you may risk getting the 'wide part, possibly balding' look as your hair grows out when it's dyed dark. The upkeep can be a bit of a commitment in itself.

[CaranDulin]

Hello, it looks like you and I have a similar hair color. When I tried dying mine deep brown (actually nearly black) most of the color had faded before a month was over. And when it did fade nearly completely, it brought out the reddish and gold tones more in my hair--kind of like bumping up the saturation in Photoshop, just toward the ends. And I must say to warn you----the ends are still suffering damage from it. Splits galore, yippee. I can't say anything about bleaching, as I've never done it before. So choose wisely! But ultimately, the choice is yours. :)

[thistledown]

You always want what you can't have LOL I'd love to dye it black but I know I'd look dead if I did. I really cannot commit to red hair, I don't know why as it looks quiet nice (I got asked quiet often what side of the family my red hair came from, so it obviously looked natural LOL) but it's just not me I guess. Also I'm lazy ;) It's the brassiness that is really bothering me.....can I use something to tone it down a bit? My natural colour is very ashy so the contrast between the slightly brassy/warm tone is really obvious. The shade in the pics is probably a shade or two lighter than my natural colour but much warmer. When it was red I looked like I was going grey when my roots came in it's that ashy. When I'm my natural colour I don't really stand out-it's very harmonious (duh LOL) with my skin and eyes but nothing pops, however the warmer tones do make me pop so I figure that a nice warm chestnut brown would be nice.......and a temp dye sounds even better if it'll wash out, I'm so lazy with dye :roll eyes:
Vanessa

[thistledown]

GRR double post...

[Firefox7275]

Hi all :)
I dyed my hair red about six months ago, it was nice (made my green eyes pop and my pale skin look nice) and all but it was high maintenance what with the fading and all so I got it dyed back to my original darkish blonde (blondette really) but it's since sort of faded to a horrible brassy ginger and I hate it. So I'm thinking of dying it a medium brown (my mum has naturally black hair and my sister's a dark chocolate brown) I think it would suit me okay (you can never be sure though LOL) and I've never had dark hair so it would be nice to see if I like it. I'm wondering if dying brown is less damaging then dying blonde? My hair dresser has said I have 2 options: go dark or go lighter blonde (which would be very light given the colour it is now), which would you guys do?
Vanessa

Red permanent? That fades worse than a high pigment semi permanent and 'refreshing' the lengths every six to eight weeks is damaging. I never found a colour/ red hair care shampoo that worked, they all stripped the colour. Did you use a peroxide free colour remover (smells eggy) to remove the red or did you peroxide/ persulphate bleach (often but not always smells of ammonia) it back to dark blonde? If your colourist is only offering you full head peroxide/ bleach based colours instead of kinder options find a new salon. One of the worst things you can do to hair is repeatedly expose the lengths to peroxide and alkaline conditions in permanent and demi permanent dyes, roots only then the lengths with a semi as required is much gentler.

I don't find my current bright red-pink semi permanent is overly high maintenance, it lasts easily through to when my roots need doing so sometimes I only bother with the roots and don't touch the lengths. I conditioner only wash in cool water and consider the pH of other haircare products: others maintain by putting some of the colour in their conditioner.

[Kherome]

What it sounds to me like you should to is leave it alone. No more coloring it because you aren't interested in the up keep that comes with it. There are things you can use to cut the brassy color, and then you can just wait until your natural color grows back out. Whatever you do, don't bleach unless you want the upkeep that comes with that, PLUS the fun of constantly trimming, trimming, trimming, to keep the damaged ends from getting that wonky/broken/thin/damaged look.


why on earth would you dye it brown? no offense (my hair is really dark brown) but brown is the most boring colour of them all...Like 90% of the world has brown hair...
it looks common and stuff


Well that is a rather insulting statement to "90%" of the world. And I totally disagree. Brown hair is very beautiful, and usually shows the shine of healthy hair much better than other colors.

[Kherome]

http://reviews.johnfrieda.com/6103-en_us/sb-color-renew-tone-correcting-shampoo/john-frieda-color-renew-tone-correcting-shampoo-with-optical-brightener-lavender-reviews/reviews.htm

http://beautyeditor.ca/2011/04/05/brassy-hair-you-haz-it-but-here-are-5-neat-things-that-can-help-restore-your-formerly-blondelicious-locks/

http://cloverleaf.hubpages.com/hub/Purple-Shampoo-Gives-Highlighted-Hair-New-Life

Basically look for purple/blue shampoo to help tone down the brassy color.

[AnqeIicDemise]

People forget brown hair have tons of variation. There are some browns that are like maple with golden tones in the sun and others richer ones that have a reddish tint to them. Brown is an amazing, understated color. There's a reason people refer to brown hair color as : chocolate, mahogany, caramel, mocha etc.

I also second the blue or blue shampoo. It will help tone down the brassy color without having to maintain roots.

there's a reason why I dip dye. I hate going into the salon every six weeks.

[MidnightMoon]

Well that is a rather insulting statement to "90%" of the world. And I totally disagree. Brown hair is very beautiful, and usually shows the shine of healthy hair much better than other colors.[/QUOTE]


Well obviously it's just an opinion...to me it's a boring colour and pretty much everyone has brown hair, be it light brown or really dark almost black...
it's doesn't have the effect black hair does, or the rarity of ginger hair...I also dislike it because it doesn't create as much contrast with skin and usually looks better with 'earthy' tones, like green, golden, etc, while I prefer an edgier look...
I'm sorry if anyone is offended but I can't really change my mind...
If I had blonde hair I'd try to enhance it not hide it...

[thistledown]

Yeah it was red permenent, I think it was level 8 and my natural was a 7B from what I remember, I got the salon to dye it back........I think she used the bleach but without an activator?? It's not too bad condition wise at the moment, a bit bushy on occasion but not strawy or breaking either pretty much not so different to how it was before. I'm definitely not going lighter, I was mainly thinking dark because I've never had it and I was curious, but Kherome is probably right in that I get really bored really quick and then hate the upkeep......I thought there would be maybe less upkeep with dark but of course that isn't true-I'll just have light roots instead of dark ones Lol I'm going to look into the purple/blue shampoos now, I'll give it a try and hope it works for me :)
Vanessa

[lazuliblue]

You always want what you can't have LOL

Is your hair now the same colour as it is in the pics? If it is, it's gorgeous!!! There's so many people put there who can't appreciate their hair colour, I was exactly the same....somehow you can't see what everyone else does. Really, it's a lovely colour already :)

[cranberrymoonz]

Don't bleach. It'll be damaging. I love your colour as it is now! But if you don't, you can try a semi-permanent dye. If you don't like it, It'l wash out. If you do, you can go and use a permanent dye. I personally think a darker shade of brown might be s little harsh on you, but a medium/light-toned colour my look fine.

[spidermom]

Personally, I wouldn't do anything at all to the color. I like it.
But if you must, try a temporary option (as Anje mentioned).

One big problem with dyeing light-colored hair a dark color: as the roots grow in, from a distance it looks like you have bald spots.

[leslissocool]

People forget brown hair have tons of variation. There are some browns that are like maple with golden tones in the sun and others richer ones that have a reddish tint to them. Brown is an amazing, understated color. There's a reason people refer to brown hair color as : chocolate, mahogany, caramel, mocha etc.

I also second the blue or blue shampoo. It will help tone down the brassy color without having to maintain roots.

there's a reason why I dip dye. I hate going into the salon every six weeks.

Absolutely!

My daughter has a dirty blond ash brown. She gets compliments everywhere she goes, it's such an striking color. Her twin has opaque very dark brown often called black but it's not, and I have "black" hair (level 2 naturally). I can tell you my hair is not half as shiny as my son's brown hair!


I'm with Kherome, really it seems like you don't want the upkeep. And since you never had brown before, you don't know if you are going to hate it. I lighten my hair mid brown when younger and I hated it so much I ended up bleaching it blonde, then I got tired of the upkeep and it got too damage for me and went back to my natural.

[AnqeIicDemise]

wow.. I didn't even remember responding this morning. I'm so.. loopy. (mega sick.)

Anyhow, I do stand by my statement.. and suggestions.

[thistledown]

The colour it is in the pics is the colour it is now. I think'll be a lot better when I no longer have a two toned fringe, it looks weird :eyebrows: it's halfway grown out (of the fringe) so I'll reevaluate then :)
Vanessa

[starlamelissa]

I wouldn't go brown, I'd use a purple toning shampoo, or a color glaze to ash up the golden parts. But honestly it looks great, I'd just leave it alone.

[thistledown]

Well at least ombre hair is in.......right? ;)
Vanessa

[hairhair]

You could use one of those "rinse" 8-wash dyes. They don't damage as there's no developer.

[thistledown]

Well I washed it with the purple shampoo.......it looks worse! The colour is lighter but also more orange then ever :( I still hate it. Going to have a chat with the hair dresser.
Vanessa

[Springlets]

You need blue, not purple. Blue counteracts orange; purple counteracts yellow.

[thistledown]

I'm going to try and get it back as close to my natural shade as I can, hopefully I can get to a point where it can grow out without looking too bad, and then I'm never dying it again! LOL
Vanessa

[kidari]

No matter what color you dye your hair it will always be maintenance to keep it that way. You will forever be dealing with root touch-ups and fading. It's best to keep it your natural color IMO. Even demi-permanent color does not completely fade away 100%.