Question about Baking Soda and Hair Dye

[DreamSheep]

Hi all! :)
I was thinking of dipdying my hair tips red with Directions (veggie dye, no bleach), and before doing so the instructions said to shampoo all of the hair and to towel dry - so I'm assuming I'm working with clarified, damp hair.
As my hair is virgin, I'm guessing the colour may not take as well on bleached hair, and I was wondering whether using baking soda (high Ph, would roughen / lift the cuticles) beforehand could help for the colour absorption to happen better.

Is this just a crazy idea of mine, or would there be some fundament to this? Just wondering what the best way would be to do it tonight basically.

[ooglipoo]

Hmmm... I don't know about that theory. I haven't used baking soda at all...

But, for a similar result (roughing up the cuticle), I have used a smidge/quick application of Sun-In.

Maybe someone with better answers will see this! Tonight?!? Exciting... :rolling:

[veryhairyfairy]

I think it's accepted that damaged hair (ie, roughed up cuticle) takes deposit only dyes better, so baking soda seems like a sound way to make the color stick better. :thumbsup:

Hopefully someone with experience in these kinds of dyes can correct if I'm wrong, but a vinegar rinse after you rinse out the color should probably be done to smooth the cuticle back down. (I think I saw something recently about vinegar rinses washing out more color? I could be wrong though!)

[lapushka]

Your hair is blonde, of course it'll stick to that better, 'cause it's blonde! No need for the BS, truly!

[Robot Ninja]

Hi all! :)
I was thinking of dipdying my hair tips red with Directions (veggie dye, no bleach), and before doing so the instructions said to shampoo all of the hair and to towel dry - so I'm assuming I'm working with clarified, damp hair.
As my hair is virgin, I'm guessing the colour may not take as well on bleached hair, and I was wondering whether using baking soda (high Ph, would roughen / lift the cuticles) beforehand could help for the colour absorption to happen better.

Is this just a crazy idea of mine, or would there be some fundament to this? Just wondering what the best way would be to do it tonight basically.

The best way would be not to do it tonight, unless you plan on leaving it in overnight. The longer you leave it the better. You shouldn't have a problem with the dye taking, it just might not last as long as it would on bleached hair, and leaving it on longer would help with that.


I think it's accepted that damaged hair (ie, roughed up cuticle) takes deposit only dyes better, so baking soda seems like a sound way to make the color stick better. :thumbsup:

Hopefully someone with experience in these kinds of dyes can correct if I'm wrong, but a vinegar rinse after you rinse out the color should probably be done to smooth the cuticle back down. (I think I saw something recently about vinegar rinses washing out more color? I could be wrong though!)

Yeah, I asked about that, never got an answer. But I did it after a few washes. A vinegar rinse right after you color is probably a good idea regardless, since washing out more color in the initial rinse is probably better for your pillowcases and your hands and your hair toys and anything else your hair might touch that isn't black.

[DreamSheep]

The best way would be not to do it tonight, unless you plan on leaving it in overnight. The longer you leave it the better. You shouldn't have a problem with the dye taking, it just might not last as long as it would on bleached hair, and leaving it on longer would help with that.



Yeah, I asked about that, never got an answer. But I did it after a few washes. A vinegar rinse right after you color is probably a good idea regardless, since washing out more color in the initial rinse is probably better for your pillowcases and your hands and your hair toys and anything else your hair might touch that isn't black.

Thanks all for replies!
I was thinking of doing it tonight, but probably leaving it in for quite a while, whether sleeping with it in or rinsing out at silly o'clock.
It had just occured to me abot the BS, but I have never used it before - so was just wondering other people's opinions. :)

Anyway, just going to give this a little bump for tonight x

[morrigan*]

I did use BS and shampoo mix and very diluted before i used deposit only dye and it took really well to my brown hair. So you might try that or if you have clarifying shampoo on hand use that.
Also acidic rinse after it's great idea, it would keep dye from washing out too soon.

[spidermom]

Deposit-only dye worked really well on my hair - held for months. My hair tends to be rather porous, however. I read on one of the forums that the dye will hold better if the first rinse is with vinegar water. No mention of baking soda. Maybe try without the first time, and if you aren't satisfied, try the baking soda idea next time. Baking soda was really harsh to my hair, so I hesitate to recommend it to anybody.

Oh, and leave the color on for a long time - even overnight or all day if you can. Rubber-band a plastic bag over it so it doesn't get all over things.

Unless you like the straight-across dip-dye effect, I recommend you do a top of head ponytail before dyeing the ends. That will break up the line effect nicely.

[DreamSheep]

Deposit-only dye worked really well on my hair - held for months. My hair tends to be rather porous, however. I read on one of the forums that the dye will hold better if the first rinse is with vinegar water. No mention of baking soda. Maybe try without the first time, and if you aren't satisfied, try the baking soda idea next time. Baking soda was really harsh to my hair, so I hesitate to recommend it to anybody.

Oh, and leave the color on for a long time - even overnight or all day if you can. Rubber-band a plastic bag over it so it doesn't get all over things.

Unless you like the straight-across dip-dye effect, I recommend you do a top of head ponytail before dyeing the ends. That will break up the line effect nicely.

Thanks everyone for the advice! :)

I had thought about doing a ponytail, but as my hair is quite thick, I'm thinking I'll do each layer by sections, and fade out the top with some conditioner - and hopefully I'll get the effect I want. Hopefully my pot will do for all of the ends.