What can make dye fade?

[naereid]

My hair is chemically dyed. Yesterday I did my first CO, preceeded by leaving coconut oil on my head for an hour, and also an hour of SMT afterwards (NO honey, just aloe and conditioner). Today everyone asked me whether I was at the salon, 'cause my hair was lighter. :confused:

I don't know whether I should blame the CO, the coconut oil or the SMT... or the combination!

I love my copper waves dearly, but I'm starting to wonder if they're worth the trouble.

[Heavenly Locks]

From what I've read here, oil can lift color. Conditioner AND oil? Seems like that could have been it ...

[GlassEyes]

Coconut oil specifically can sometimes lift haircolor, I think. I remember something about mild peroxide--Ktani can probably answer that better than I can.

Conditioner can too--however, I've heard (and for myself, this worked) that color usually lasts longer with CO, because it doesn't lift the cuticle of the hair as much as shampoo.

...and I'm rather loath to recommend this, but if you -want- copper hair without fade, henna could be the way to go. It's terribly permanent though, and if you dye now, it'll be darker than your current hair. If it continues to fade, though, you could probably get away with it.

If you do, though--beware multiple applications. It builds color each time. My near-black hair is practically burgundy from multiple dye jobs. @_@

[naereid]

From what I've read here, oil can lift color. Conditioner AND oil? Seems like that could have been it ...
I've been oiling my hair for the past 3 months, but coconut is a recent addition (2 weeks). Could be coconut.


Coconut oil specifically can sometimes lift haircolor, I think. I remember something about mild peroxide--Ktani can probably answer that better than I can.

Conditioner can too--however, I've heard (and for myself, this worked) that color usually lasts longer with CO, because it doesn't lift the cuticle of the hair as much as shampoo.

...and I'm rather loath to recommend this, but if you -want- copper hair without fade, henna could be the way to go. It's terribly permanent though, and if you dye now, it'll be darker than your current hair. If it continues to fade, though, you could probably get away with it.

If you do, though--beware multiple applications. It builds color each time. My near-black hair is practically burgundy from multiple dye jobs. @_@
Another vote for coconut! Yeah, I heard that CO is very gentle on dyed hair too, so it surprised me.

I've been thinking of henna for a little while now... started collecting shed hair in case I decide to do some strand tests. Trouble is, my hair is naturally brown, so I think I wouldn't get copper, just brownishcopper. But that could probably be nice too. In any case, I need to investigate some more.
Just yesterday I was wondering why some people's hennaed hair is orange and some is wine-coloured! Multiple applications, indeed. Oy.

Thanks for the advice. :)

[FrannyG]

How long after your last colour application did you use the coconut oil? These days I only use a heavy coconut oiling before touching up my colour, because I noticed a bit of a fade too, especially if I oiled with coconut within a week and a half of a touch-up.

COing has never caused my hair to fade.

Personally, I like jojoba oil for every day. It doesn't seem to affect my colour adversely. Good luck to you! :blossom:

[naereid]

How long after your last colour application did you use the coconut oil? These days I only use a heavy coconut oiling before touching up my colour, because I noticed a bit of a fade too, especially if I oiled with coconut within a week and a half of a touch-up.

COing has never caused my hair to fade.

Personally, I like jojoba oil for every day. It doesn't seem to affect my colour adversely. Good luck to you! :blossom:
I had it dyed on April 16th, and my first ever coconut application was on May 3rd. I haven't had much luck with oiling in general. Maybe it's just something my hair doesn't like. :undecided

Thanks for the wishes. :)

[Meagan]

It might be the coconut oil...
I've been using it for a month and I notice my colour fading also.

[dropinthebucket]

I think it depends a lot on your starting colour, but also on your hair texture and I suspect individual hair types oxidize differently - I thought I would get a lovely, deepish red from henna, based on other people's starting colours that were the same as mine. But I got a mud brick colour - my hair just oxidized it differently, and I'm sure the texture has a lot to do with it, too. On the other hand, after three buxus glosses, I ended up with the most fabulous cherry cola colour (too bad it didn't stick around, I loved it!). Until and unless you strand test, you won't know what you'll get. Definitely strand test!

[naereid]

It might be the coconut oil...
I've been using it for a month and I notice my colour fading also.
Another vote for coconut! I now feel safer to continue with COing. Seems to be working out great so far.


I think it depends a lot on your starting colour, but also on your hair texture and I suspect individual hair types oxidize differently - I thought I would get a lovely, deepish red from henna, based on other people's starting colours that were the same as mine. But I got a mud brick colour - my hair just oxidized it differently, and I'm sure the texture has a lot to do with it, too. On the other hand, after three buxus glosses, I ended up with the most fabulous cherry cola colour (too bad it didn't stick around, I loved it!). Until and unless you strand test, you won't know what you'll get. Definitely strand test!
Thanks for sharing your experience, sorry it turned out badly for you. I'm a worrywart, so I'll absolutely think hard about henna and do strand tests. I just wonder how I'll test my virgin colour. Length is easy, just collect shed hairs. But my virgin hair is only visible a tiny bit on my roots.

[dropinthebucket]

Yeah, I had this problem - I had brown virgin roots for about four inches, and the rest was a highlighted/process blonde with some lowlights. The henna was actually fab for evening out the colour, I couldn't even believe it - I was just, like, shocked that it could do that. If you *like* the colour you get, then you're totally in business!

[Katze]

I am going to vote for the honey.

When I came to LHC, I had bleached two toned hair, and went to the salon to have it dyed all one color. Unfortunately, all the 'good' things I was doing for my hair, which included weekly SMTs, stripped the dye out incredibly fast. The pic with the horse in my profile is from July 2006; in August 2006 my parents visited and my mom commented on my two toned orange hair. :(

After that, I decided that healthy hair and a happy scalp were more important to me than coloring the bleached length of my hair, and stopped dye altogether - it was a waste of time if I was going to be SMTing, and I loved what SMTs did for my hair.

I never used coconut oil back then.

Personally I suspect that the so-called honey 'lightening' many people seem to experience is actually honey stripping buildup, henna, or even hair color from colored hair. My hair always looks shinier after an SMT but if honey truly lightened hair I would be a real blonde now. :)

[GRU]

From what I've read and heard, red is the "fadiest" of all the colors, too, so it could just be that all that handling and moisture in general (not necessarily the actual ingredients) contributed to some fading.

And I think that henna over brown hair makes for a gorgeous rich color...

[naereid]

I am going to vote for the honey.

When I came to LHC, I had bleached two toned hair, and went to the salon to have it dyed all one color. Unfortunately, all the 'good' things I was doing for my hair, which included weekly SMTs, stripped the dye out incredibly fast. The pic with the horse in my profile is from July 2006; in August 2006 my parents visited and my mom commented on my two toned orange hair. :(

After that, I decided that healthy hair and a happy scalp were more important to me than coloring the bleached length of my hair, and stopped dye altogether - it was a waste of time if I was going to be SMTing, and I loved what SMTs did for my hair.

I never used coconut oil back then.

Personally I suspect that the so-called honey 'lightening' many people seem to experience is actually honey stripping buildup, henna, or even hair color from colored hair. My hair always looks shinier after an SMT but if honey truly lightened hair I would be a real blonde now. :)
I've never used honey. :o


From what I've read and heard, red is the "fadiest" of all the colors, too, so it could just be that all that handling and moisture in general (not necessarily the actual ingredients) contributed to some fading.

And I think that henna over brown hair makes for a gorgeous rich color...
I haven't had much trouble with fading until now, but yeah, could be all the new handling.