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View Full Version : Yet another hair color thread.



amaiaisabella
January 28th, 2009, 12:42 PM
My poor hair has been put through many treatments/colors/crazy experiments... but I thought I'd detail what I've discovered in the last few months. After (chemical box) coloring every few weeks for the past 6 years, my hair decided to express its displeasure with me by breaking off around my shoulders, and refusing to grow longer. I relented and went to the salon, where my lovely hairdresser applied a demi-permanent to get me back to my natural color. Though the color faded from dark brown to a medium brown, it grew out very nicely and I didn't touch it for 6 months.

By then, I had been set on red for a while, so I decided to try Rainbow henna. I LOVED the color and thickness henna gave me, but was not so fond of the cuticles' roughness and tangles. I had decided to do the henna every 3-4 months, giving my hair time to get back to the smoothness I had before, but still maintaning the great dark brown/burgandy red I had. Ultimately, though, the color started fading, which is to be expected since it wasn't pure henna. I knew it would take multiple applications of the pure henna to get the color I want, and I know myself. I'd see the bright orange/red, and instead of being patient and sticking through to get the color I want, I'd freak and promptly color it, thus defeating the purpose. No use wasting good henna other LHCers could use :)

I decided to get a reddish brown dye to enhance my red and even out the shading over my head. My Rainbow burgandy had faded on the ends, leaving my roots with a beautiful burgandy and the ends a brighter copper. Not so fun for me. I did the color, and once again my roots came out beautiful, but my ends apparently took in too much dye and became almost black. I tried using the honey treatment, but I am deficient in mixing and my portions came out wrong. I ended up with Colorfix, which would have worked... had I not gotten caught up with a load of laundry and forgot to wash off, and worked a little too well :eek: I ended up with an interesting shade of copper all over my head, but uneven in some spots.

At this point (if you're still reading, yay!), my poor hair was probably thinking up death threats against me, so I gave myself one more try before I left myself up to the hands of the stylist. I bought Clairol Loving Care, since it doesn't have ammonia or any lifting ingredients, and figured that it would fade gradually over time, but hopefully not to the point where I'd have to do it every few weeks. I purchased the Medium Reddish brown, and you can see for yourself the results.

Before, with Rainbow henna the first week I colored:
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z20/amaiai64/100_1842.jpg

I did not take a picture after the Color Fix, but just picture the color of a baby pumkin. :)

And after, with the Loving Care:
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z20/amaiai64/IMG_0005.jpg
I don't know why there's so much static on my hair, but that's the best representation of the color in light.

And out of the light:
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z20/amaiai64/IMG_0007.jpg

This is the red I wanted all along, but didn't last with the Rainbow! Oddly, my hair feels thicker and silkier than before- I had done a small trim (1/4 inch) a week before, but the difference is much more noticeable now. My ends are very thick, and my hair is laying much better. It has not even gotten greasy yet, and after 2 days (and washing out the color with only CO) that rocks.

Anywho, moral of the story- though my hair has been through quite a bit, we are at a tentative truce right now :) I hope this red lasts, but if it doesn't- I wouldn't have any problem doing this once a month or so. :cheese:

Curlsgirl
January 28th, 2009, 01:14 PM
That is very pretty but I doubt the Loving Care will last since it is a very temporary color. It might last a few shampoos but not a while month. What are you going to do if it doesn't? Have you checked into Robert Craig? www.robertcraig.com (http://www.robertcraig.com) I haven't used it but I have heard a lot of good things about it. I also think you could get that color with a good henna mix. Be careful with doing anything more though, you might really do some damage after everything you have already done.

amaiaisabella
January 28th, 2009, 01:44 PM
I'm not sure how long it will last. I am trying to stretch out my washes, so I'm hoping a month. I'm just concerned it might fade into the.. interesting shade it was when I did the ColorFix. I guess I know that stuff works, but I'm cursing myself for not setting a timer or anything while I was doing laundry :(

I'd really like to keep with henna, since I love the color and definitely know I want red, but I would like to avoid the roughness and tangles I had with the Rainbow henna. I'm not sure if pure henna would give me the same problem. Still, I'm not sure how bad it would be for my hair if I were to reapply every month. I guess I'll have to see how long it lasts, first.

Coriander
January 28th, 2009, 01:51 PM
I know all about black ends from too much colorplay lol

I love the color your hair is now!!