Advice about how much dye to order

[fae]

I tried really hard to search (and find) the thread I started about this, but I really suck at searching. So much stuff comes back and I get confused and overwhelmed.

Anyway.

I'm going to do the purple manic panic thing. But I have to do two steps before that. I have to lighten my hair to dye it black and then do purple. Probably not all at once, but I digress.

I haven't dyed my hair in a very looong time and need some advice about how much of each to order.

My hair is right at classic and thickish. Can anyone advise as to how much I would need to cover that?

Also, I'm not entirely sure I understand how it works. I think I have to dye it light so that the black will take and then once it's black the purple highlights will show. Excuse my ignorance, but am I wrong about this? I would like to do as little damage as possible and this seems extreme. But I really want the purple.

Any advice would be welcomed.

Thank you.

[RancheroTheBee]

So, let me get this straight; you're doing three processes? Lighten, darken and then purple? Or are you doing purple high lights?

eta: Maybe you can forgo the lightening and just do several boxes (think 4) of black and just leave some portions of hair undyed and then go over it with purple. It won't be super intense, but you maybe be able to lighten those portions later and go over them in purple.

[inertia]

I'm confused too. I don't see why you'd need to lighten your hair. You definitely don't need to do any lightening for black dye. I think it might not be necessary for purple either, going by the pictures in your album. Purple over medium brown hair should end up a dark purple which is subtle in most lighting and vivid in daylight.

[fae]

Oh....ok. Thank you so much.

I was very confused as to the whole process. Mostly because we are dying my daughters hair green and she definitely needs her hair lighter as it is jet black.

[vdhendrix]

i used to use manic panic all the time, back when i still bleached my hair, you do have to dye your hair a VERY light blond in order for the colors to really show up and be vibrant and last longer, but if you want you hair to be purple, i dont know why you would have to dye it black first? because then the purple would not be able to show?

[fae]

I thought I wanted to dye it black for more of a purple highlight kind of color. So it looks black from a distance but up close you can see the purple highlights?

I don't know if that made any sense. I can't find the other thread I started about this, but a member here suggested that so that it wasn't overwhelming purple.

[TokyoPink]

I don't know about manic panic, but I recently used Special Effects deep purple on hair similar to the colour you have now and it turned into a colour similar to the description to the shade you want. I think bleaching and dying it black would be too much damage for pretty much no point, as in the darker areas of my hair (natural lowlights) the purple just turned into a plain black colour anyway. Also, you could mix the manic panic Raven with a purple colour, which would make it even darker.
I hope this comment helps you :)

[ChrissieM]

I thought I wanted to dye it black for more of a purple highlight kind of color. So it looks black from a distance but up close you can see the purple highlights?

I don't know if that made any sense. I can't find the other thread I started about this, but a member here suggested that so that it wasn't overwhelming purple.


Are you sure you want mostly black hair? I think purple streaks would be nice on brown hair too. Why don't you just start with one bleached streak and dye that purple, and go from there? It just seems like a very drastic change. Forgive me if you've discussed this topic before in another thread that I haven't seen....:)

[Heidi_234]

fae, please please please - for the love of LHC - strand test before doing it! Especially if you're unsure about the process.

Manic Panic will barely make a cast over black hair. You'll end up with black hair that might shine with purple in direct sunlight. I think you're aiming for more purple than that. In any case, you don't need to lighten your hair if you're dyeing it darker, either color you choose.

Try dyeing a strand with manic panic alone. I did it on my dark mahagony colored hair, and I got slightly darker color with a hint of purple in it. Maybe it will work for you, no harm in trying. Just please test it before dumping it all on your lovely hair. It might be permanent, and possibly damaging (unless you're using just manic panic dyes, for the black too).

[heatherdazy]

Lightening it then going black isn't going to make the black any different than just going black to begin with. I'm not sure how you came up with these steps, but you need to scrap then (don't mean to sound rude, but I am a colorist, so I can say with 100% certainty that your game plan here isn't going to work out well)

It sounds to me like you want a very dark color that has a subtle violet tinge to it in the sunlight ala Liz Taylor circa Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. You can do this in one step if you have the right color. I'm not familiar with Manic Panic, so I can't advise you on which color to choose or how much you might need (different colors are more/less spreadable) but if you were my client, I'd use a semi-permanent "3V" with some violet kicker on you. Redken and Paul Mitchell both make good ones, if you happened to be willing to go to a salon (which, with your amount of hair would certainly be much cheaper than your original plan anyway)

Good luck!