Coloring...maybe (opinions from permanent dyers?)

[Jules diamond]

Hi all!

I've returned from the abyss of college work to consider my head. Specifically my hair color. I'm currently staring at a box of #44 paint the town, which is a beautiful looking red color. I've read some reviews and everyone seems to like it, and thinks that their hair is still in pretty nice shape compared to other dyes.

But as much as I'm longing for beautiful crimson hair, I can't help but wonder if I'm going to regret dying over my hair, which is one half inch trim away from being all virgin.

I know LHCers naturally don't think that permanent dyes are the way to go because of the damage it can cause to your hair, but I still can't help but wonder.

So, to to all you ladies and gentlemen who have dyed, particularly over virgin hair. Have you regretted it? Did you love it? Was it a good experience for you overall? Tell me about it.

[Svenja]

My experience of over 15 years of permanent dying: I regret it BIG TIME. Not the damage, but the fact that your hair becomes all chequered even if you use the same colour again and again. My result these days: at least 6 different shades of red and brown in my hair, lengths which are way darker than the rest of my hair, even when freshly dyed and no new colour looks like it is supposed to look on the box. If I could turn back the wheel of time, I definitely would and NOT dye with permanent dye again. If you want to go for colour, stick with the semi-permanent dyes. Only my experience and opinion :)

[trillcat]

Be aware that even if you go for a semi or a demi color, some will still leave behind some color in your hair, it will not fade out to it's original color and you may be left with an orangey reddish sort of tinted head of hair that you will have to put more chemicals on to fix.
Red is a tricky color to play with. It fades out faster than other colors but bits of it like to stick around in the hair.
If I were you, I would wait till that last bit of the half inch of colored hair was trimmed off, then decide if you want to color it again. It can be quite an awsome moment when you get to say "It's all my real hair!"
You made the choice to grow it out, a looooooong process, so be very sure you want to do this.
I had all virgin hair. BSL, it took forever and a day to get it there. I got bored of the dark ashy brown/ blonde and bleached it. I wanted to be the blonde again. Oh, if only I could turn back time and NOT do that! I recently went through a "want to bleach again" deal, started a thread about it! I am glad I didn't do it.
Nothing wrong with changing hair color, but make darn sure that is really what you want to do.

[Rapunzal2Be]

Just my opinion (and this is coming from someone who spent 14 years dying/bleaching and changing hair colors with the season.......if I were as close as you are to virgin hair I would resist the urge to ever color again, except maybe to make the permanent switch to henna or henndigo.

[Rapunzal2Be]

Be aware that even if you go for a semi or a demi color, some will still leave behind some color in your hair, it will not fade out to it's original color and you may be left with an orangey reddish sort of tinted head of hair that you will have to put more chemicals on to fix.
Red is a tricky color to play with. It fades out faster than other colors but bits of it like to stick around in the hair.
If I were you, I would wait till that last bit of the half inch of colored hair was trimmed off, then decide if you want to color it again. It can be quite an awsome moment when you get to say "It's all my real hair!"
You made the choice to grow it out, a looooooong process, so be very sure you want to do this.
I had all virgin hair. BSL, it took forever and a day to get it there. I got bored of the dark ashy brown/ blonde and bleached it. I wanted to be the blonde again. Oh, if only I could turn back time and NOT do that! I recently went through a "want to bleach again" deal, started a thread about it! I am glad I didn't do it.
Nothing wrong with changing hair color, but make darn sure that is really what you want to do.

I've been there, so many times, wanting to be blonde again. But when I look back at my photos, I had as much time with an unpleasant blonde color as I did with the fantastic looking blonde, and inevitably I would fry my hair to the point where I needed to make a big chop. Even though I still have that hankering for blonde hair every once in a while, I remind myself that now that my hair is healthy and strong I can grow it out to the length that I've always wanted. And of course, now that I have indigo in my hair and know that if I bleached it would come out green, that's a great deterrent. LOL ;)

[Jules diamond]

Ouch. I see your points. I'm definitely having second thoughts about it. I had no idea it got checkered.

I have seen people on LHC who do dye their hair and are fairly successful. I wonder how they do it.

[Crazycatlady]

Yes, many here do a great job coloring their own hair. I used to do my own, but I'm much happier with the highlights I have added every two-three months by my wonderful stylist. Her prices are reasonable and I love the color more than I did my work. :)

[paperwhite]

I used red dye for a number of years, then grew it all out to virgin again, and then dyed it again a few years later. While I loved the color it was while it was dyed, it was a pain to keep up with and growing it out takes forever (for me, anyway). I'm still growing out from my last bout of 'let's be a red head!' and cursing myself for not just sticking with my natural color. Along with growing out the color comes growing out the damage and trying to prevent any further damage to already stressed hair.

Did I enjoy it? Yes, I loved it. I loved everything from picking out the color with my best friend to spending girl time together while she colored my hair to planning the next time we'd get together to do it all again. Would I do it again? I can't say that I'll never dye again, but it will be a long, long time before I even consider it. I forgot how unpleasant the growing out phase was and I am not enjoying it.

[Yozhik]

I dyed my dark brown hair to red for a couple years in high school. The results were always extremely variable -- once I even got burgundy!shudder:

What inevitably ended up happening with me, though, was that my top layer would fade away, and I'd be left with bright red strands underneath. It was a kind of cool unintentional low-lighting :shrug:

I liked it at the time, and it wasn't too hard to grow out because my hair wasn't that long at that point; plus, since my hair is so dark anyway, the dye affected more of how it would refract in sunlight.

[Upside Down]

I LOVED red hair, but... the damage got to me. Still I believe it was due to BCP that my hair thinned, and I stopped colouring it in order to grow it long.

But when I was red, it was great. Just keep in mind that it takes a lot more effort to maintain a color you want. I had a lot more time on my hands back then, so be prepared for monthly dye jobs, and touch ups in between - depending on the colour you want. If you want burgundy or blood or wine red and you are pretty dark to begin with, you will probably need to lighten your hair a bit before it takes the colour you want and then the colour will probably wash out rather quick (this was my scenario), so you will need to find some "gloss" to keep it vibrant till you dye it again.
And be prepared for the damage.

But enjoy the new colour if you decide to do this! :D

Oh and post pics if you do it... :)

[Sammich]

Hi all!

I've returned from the abyss of college work to consider my head. Specifically my hair color. I'm currently staring at a box of #44 paint the town, which is a beautiful looking red color. I've read some reviews and everyone seems to like it, and thinks that their hair is still in pretty nice shape compared to other dyes.

But as much as I'm longing for beautiful crimson hair, I can't help but wonder if I'm going to regret dying over my hair, which is one half inch trim away from being all virgin.

I know LHCers naturally don't think that permanent dyes are the way to go because of the damage it can cause to your hair, but I still can't help but wonder.

So, to to all you ladies and gentlemen who have dyed, particularly over virgin hair. Have you regretted it? Did you love it? Was it a good experience for you overall? Tell me about it.

I regretted mine! But don't take mine to word really, I've dyed it many times since I was 10! :p I'm definitely working on moving to virgin fully now( I want my soft virgin hair back!), just to see how my real texture is, I haven't seen it for years. Speaking of texture, my texture had turned much coarser after every application of dye I put on it. The hair became more fragile; I found many right angled splits in my head which I attribute to dye damage, possibly because of the hair being weakened by the dye, it bends easier.
I dyed compulsively, almost every year depending on my mood, I regretted it a week after I did it almost all the time!(To get rid of the previous colour, like the foo' I am. LOL.) :p *Shrug* You may be different however.

I wouldn't recommend permanent, perhaps a semi? Because it WILL become multi coloured unless you dye it quite often, once a month or twice/three times? (Alot of damage) Especially if your hair is drastically different to the hair colour you chose to dye with. It's almost like a lifetime decision.
Ps. I have heard that red dye fades faster, which I did see on my mother who had dyed it, it became quite an... mehish colour.

[share801]

My old stylist told me once red had a lot more upkeep than other dyes - something about the fact it does not adhere to hair as well. My personal opinion is that permanent chemical dyes and long hair are not compatible - at least for my hair type.

[slz]

If you're worried about damage yet would like to permanently colour red, well the obvious answer is henna :D .

[TawnyRoots]

So, to to all you ladies and gentlemen who have dyed, particularly over virgin hair. Have you regretted it? Did you love it? Was it a good experience for you overall? Tell me about it.

:hmm:

I died my hair for many years and loved it, loved the colour, loved the change, loved having a more striking colour that my natural locks. I switched between dark brown and light blonde, both looked nice, but the dark brown was much kinder to my hair, and made me look exotic and my eyes stand out. My hair was BSL for most of this.

However, the repeated dyes did take their toll eventually, and after around 8 years of dying, my hair would no longer grow beyond APL, and was terribly damaged, so I cut it all off and wouldn't dye again.

Do I regret it? No, I am glad I did it when I was younger so I know the long-term effects and won't be tempted to do it again. My hair really had the wow factor and I loved to stand out.

I would suggest that if you want to do it, go for it, it will probably look amazing, but don't go in the cycle of blond/dark/red like I did. Also expect that there will come a time in 5 or so years, where you will yearn for natural hair, and that's when the real work starts!

Good luck whatever you decide :)

[MOOBUG]

i think if you are really sure about the colour and are dying for the right reasons then I dont see why you would regret it. Just make damn sure you look after you hair accordingly. I have been dying my hair for the better part of 10 years now. admitedly I only do my roots so the over all colour doesnt seem to be patchy. I dye my hair because with my natural colour I just dont look like me. Its like the person i am inside doesnt match the one in the mirror. I am very happy with my colour and am learning to take much better care of my hair which is making a huuuuge difference

[Ash]

I still dye my hair and have done so since I was 17. :) The only change I have made was in the last 6 months switching from permanent to semi permanent Clairol color. because I think they changed the formula of Feria and it started drying my hair out. The semi only works for me because it lightens enough that when the dye color fades my hair is still red, just not the same red on the box. If you take good care of your hair chances are you will not have problems with the dye.

[ZaBasDa]

My hair never comes out the color on the box unless the box is black. Usually, depending on your hairtype, the first couple of times you dye it, it will be nice, shiny, still soft, and an even color. It's when you continually change from one color to a different color many times that the hair starts getting more patchy and not pretty. If you are sure that this red is the color you want for a long time, then you have to think about the upkeep and how often you plan on doing a touch-up. My hair is dark enough that every dye color would eventually fade out to a yucky brassy orange color and if the color was light then I would have to deal with not only the fading, but also with roots every two weeks. I don't mind being two-toned, but I waited so long between touch-ups that people would always offer to dye my hair for me because my hair looked that bad. This is why I bleached the middle section of hair, so my roots aren't visible; I have a good four inches of roots at the moment.

If you really want to dye your hair then go for it, but just think about how often you will need to do root touch-ups and how often you will need to 'refresh' the color. Also think about what your goal length is because it might not be possible to grow your dyed hair to that length with the condition that you want. If you are fine with all that, then go ahead. Pics if you do dye your hair. :D

[Nera]

I have really mixed feelings about it. I've been dying my dark brown hair black for 5 years, I only stopped doing it last year.
What I love about it, is that the color is nice and equal. No highlights.
The black really complimented my dark skintone more.
It's more of an extreme and I loved the way it changed my overall look. It made me like some particular clothes more, because with the raven hair, they suited me more.

However, it didn't matter which dye I used... I always shed like crazy:(
It was so super bad for my scalp. Also I'm left with some ends with this permanent red-ish hue.

Right now I'm henndigoing, but sometimes still wish for that black-black color. So I'm not 100% made up about it.

Goodluck with your choice!

[LoveMyMutt]

I've been dyeing my hair for years. I have prematurely gray hair and am not quite ready to let it go natural yet! Generally I have stayed within my natural color range, but have also experimented with jet black (which looked terrible and stripping it out destroyed my hair), and with bright henna red (which I got tired of but am stuck with for quite some time as it is super-permanent). When I am using my better judgement, I just go with a semipermanent color in a similar shade and just go a little warmer for a strawberry blond effect or a little cooler to blend in the grays better.

In my experience: Red dyes, even permanent ones, fade the quickest, but also tend to leave a red stain for the longest. Someone explained it to me that the red dye molecules are larger than the other colors, so a higher strength developer must be used which leaves your hair more porous, hence it fades faster. Don't know if that is true or not, but in my experience the bright red colors never lasted very long, but the reddish brassy aftermath persisted for a long time.

The exception would be henna, which will NEVER budge. But you'd better be damn well sure you love red FOREVER because that's how long it will last.

[TXbarbie]

Hi all!

I've returned from the abyss of college work to consider my head. Specifically my hair color. I'm currently staring at a box of #44 paint the town, which is a beautiful looking red color. I've read some reviews and everyone seems to like it, and thinks that their hair is still in pretty nice shape compared to other dyes.

But as much as I'm longing for beautiful crimson hair, I can't help but wonder if I'm going to regret dying over my hair, which is one half inch trim away from being all virgin.

I know LHCers naturally don't think that permanent dyes are the way to go because of the damage it can cause to your hair, but I still can't help but wonder.

So, to to all you ladies and gentlemen who have dyed, particularly over virgin hair. Have you regretted it? Did you love it? Was it a good experience for you overall? Tell me about it.
I've never done a box dye - I go to the salon and have had my hair highlighted every 6 weeks since I was 13.

And I'm neverrr turning back!!

I feel like most of my sorority sisters who go the box dye route end up regretting it so try the salon. If you're willing to give up your virgin hair you might as well do it right :D