Nina Dobrev- What is her hair colour?

[Dreamkitty]

:crush:I think Nina Dobrev is beautiful and I always love her straight, silky shiny hair. Her hair looks dark and brown but what do you call this shade?

My hair colour is naturally black and im thinking of dyeing it to this shade of brown (exactly the colour I want). So If I went to the shops and wanted a hair dye, which one would I have look for?

http://i54.tinypic.com/107mgdt.jpg

[lapushka]

Kind of a (dark) chocolate brown, I guess.

[Tia2010]

They will have swatches at the shop for you to see. But remember when going darker whatever color your hair is now plays a role in what color the final product is.

Like if I have very light blond hair and ask for chocolate it will look different than putting the same chocolate color over dark black hair..... For instance , I have alot of stubborn natural red in my hair and I get a dark chocolate brown dye and you can see in my siggy that it looks more deep brown with tons of red showing , not a pure chocolate color....so take the picture ( always take a picture because no two people have the exact same idea about what color dark chocolate necessarily is without a picture) and look at swatches and have a long chat with your stylist.

[Dreamkitty]

I was thinking dark chocolate brown colour too.

Tia2010- I can see what you are saying, I always thought that you can just choose any hair dye and your hair would end up looking like the woman on the packet. So now I know that hair dyes don't turn out the colour you want them too.

I love your deep browny-reddish colour though, its beautiful and rich.

I have naturally black hair so what colour hair dye would I need to achieve chocolate brown?:confused:

[lapushka]

I have naturally black hair so what colour hair dye would I need to achieve chocolate brown?:confused:

Go maybe one to two shades lighter than your actual color? I think it's going to be better if you stay as close as possible to your natural color. I'm no expert, though, just MO.

[Dreamkitty]

Lapushka thanks for the advice :), this is what I was thinking. My mum uses chocolate dark hair colour to cover her greys but her hair colour turns out black. So since she already buys hair dyes Im thinking of telling her to get 2 shades lighter but I don't know if it will turn out weird or not. She doesn't want to risk it either which is fair enough as its her hair.

I want to stay close to my natural hair colour and chocolate brown would be the perfect colour, anything lighter then this will be too much of a change for me. I wish I could see a photo of someone who had naturally black hair and dyed their hair chocolate brown.

[Akiko]

I have naturally black hair. It might a bit warmer brownish than yours.

Years ago before joining LHC, I used a box dye to get a color like the picture.

First I tried medium brown. Did not change my hair color one bit. Then a month or so later, I tried blond hair dye. It did lift my color finally and the color came out just like in the pic. Obviously, the blond hair dye I used contained Hydrogen Peroxide, which bleached my hair. But it ended up damaging my hair. Splits and breakage started to show up once my hair grew to waist length. Meh. I regretted so much.

At least for me, unless I want to keep my hair at BSL, I won't touch any chemical dye.

After all, I missed my black hair. So I went back to black using 2-step hennindigo.

Lightening black hair color takes a lot of work and damage. :( ... I cannot say I recommend it.

Hmmm. But I have a thought. Maybe you can ask ericthegreat. I don't know how he does it. But his black hair went from black to reddish brown, then to blond. I don't see much damage in his photos. He should be able to give you much better advice than me.

[Dreamkitty]

Akiko, thanks for sharing your story:D. Im not 100% sure yet whether I want to use chemical dyes, Ive never dyed my hair so if I do it will be my first and a risk I would have to take.

Its so hard lightening dark hair, like you said. I think it is easier to have lighter hair and go dark rather then have such dark hair and have a lighter shade.

Interesting that the medium brown dye did not work. I don't like the idea of bleaching my hair so if I have to do this then Im afraid I won't dye my hair.

What about natural treatment such as Henna mixed with Indigo? I heard that gives a brunette colour?

By the way I checked out your hair album. Your hair is so beautiful, this is the type of hair I always wanted. Super straight, dark and hair like fine silk strands.:) Can I ask what is your secret to having such silky hair?

[Akiko]

Thank you for your sweet comment, Dreamkitty.

I used henna and indigo on both bleached part as well as black virgin hair. Henna gives red cast over virgin black hair, which is quite visible in the sun. But my hair looked quite black indoors. Henna color behaves a bit different from chemical dye. It glows red in the sun. The more henna you apply, the color (or glow) turns from orangish to burgundy.

If you mix indigo with henna, you will probably get more brownish cast. But as I mentioned before, you probably won't see much color change indoors.

I lost all photos of my hannaed hair when my computer crashed recently.:mad: So here are some example of henna over black hair on someone else online.

In the sun, it looks like these.
example 1 (http://hena.ohah.net/hena/img/1/kato.jpg)
example 2 (http://hena.ohah.net/basic/img1/iromi21.jpg)

Hennaed black hair indoors
example 3 (http://hena.ohah.net/basic/img1/iromi1.jpg)


My hannaed black hair looked like the above examples. Hope this helps.

ETA: I really don't have much secret. I use regular shampoo and conditioner (VO5, Pantene, Suave, whatever I grab at a grocery store). I learned to dilute shampoo a little bit. It seems to lather and penetrate to my scalp better. I do blow dry hair at a lower heat setting in winter. Air dry in summer. Wear hair up most of the time. I use coconut oil sometimes. But I am never consistent!

My hair grows straight and does no have body. I cannot keep my curls more than a few hours.:o

I wish I had thick shiny hair like yours, Dreamkitty. I hope you can find what's best for you. I just hate to see anyone go through what I have gone through. I was a good example of what NOT to do to black hair.

[Dreamkitty]

Thanks for sharing the example pics Akiko.:) The girl in the first pic looks great with her reddish tone to her black hair, it looks subtle and natural. I want to go for the chocolate brown look but I might try mixing henna with indigo, maybe I should test it on a small part of my hair. Using dyes is so risky, especially if its your first time, you don't have any clue what will happen to your hair, the damage it may cause because everyone's different. I might stick with the natural treatment.

I actually always wanted to have no body to my hair because it makes hair look extra silky, shiny and straight, so your hair is a perfect example of what my dream hair always was, I always pretend that I have straight hair fine hair after a wash lol, I enjoy the few minutes before my hair starts to get dry and wavy .
Thanks for your comment on my hair, I guess in life everyone wants the opposite. ;)

[xoxophelia]

Personally I love your black hair. I wouldn't change it for a thing :P

But it is up to you if you want to color your hair. Coloring back to black should be easy when or if you decide you want virgin hair again. I'm currently growing out old dye and while the color difference isn't too bad anymore, the quality is.

[pepperminttea]

I'd say a warm dark brown. Could you try honey lightening?

[Dreamkitty]

Personally I love your black hair. I wouldn't change it for a thing :P

But it is up to you if you want to color your hair. Coloring back to black should be easy when or if you decide you want virgin hair again. I'm currently growing out old dye and while the color difference isn't too bad anymore, the quality is.

:)aw thanks, If there was a way I would to swap hair colours with you, have a pretty shade of brown. Im assuming you have naturally dark brown hair? I don't want to drastically change my hair thats why I just wanted a few shades lighter, I think the closest brown to black is chocolate brown and this would match my skin tone too. I give up, Im just going to try natural treatment if it works it works and if it doesn't then I will just make the best of what Ive got.

[mariika]

I always love her straight, silky shiny hair
There is one problem with your perception of her hair though. Naturally, she has CURLY hair. It's just that when you admire her silky straight hair which is not naturally that way but severely handled to look straight you support all the curl hate.

[Dreamkitty]

I'd say a warm dark brown. Could you try honey lightening?

Well honey is a bit sticky but its good natural treatment, I will definetly try this, worth giving it a shot. :D Thanks for reminding me, I need to try this but keep forgetting to do it.


There is one problem with your perception of her hair though. Naturally, she has CURLY hair. It's just that when you admire her silky straight hair which is not naturally that way but severely handled to look straight you support all the curl hate.

In Vampire Diaries her hair is always so straight, I didn't know her natural hair was curly. She has beautiful hair anyway, curly or straight I like the silkyness but I do prefer her hairstyle on Vampire Diaries.:D

[mariika]

In Vampire Diaries her hair is always so straight, I didn't know her natural hair was curly. She has beautiful hair anyway, curly or straight I like the silkyness but I do prefer her hairstyle on Vampire Diaries.:D
Well, actually her hair is curly in The Vampire Diaries pretty often, when she plays Katherine and not Elena her hair is always curly. And it only looks silky because of all the styling (and proper light on set) but when you look at HQ pictures you can see how damaged it really is.

[BrightEyes7]

She has very nice hair but I think that is her natural color. I wouldn't recommend dying, you would need to use bleach to get black hair lighter.

I would second trying a honey lightening treatment. Here is the thread. Any questions you should ask Ktani, she knows everything!

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=148

[Dreamkitty]

mariika- I don't watch the Vampie Diaries regularly, but you are right when she plays Katherine she has curly hair.:) And yep I guess everyone on TV has beautiful hair because it is styled so much with lots of products. I do like her colour though.

BrightEyes7- Thanks for the link, I will try the honey treatment, Ive also read just now that Cinnamon can make hair lighter too.

Only one thing im worried about, I read that Honey & Cinammon contains hydrogen peroxide and this is what it lightens hair, would it stunt hair growth if used too much?

[lundmir]

I don't know about your hair, but going just a little bit lighter won't damage as much as going completely blond. There are plenty of members with gorgeous, long and dyed hair, so it can be done!

As for achieving the color with henna and indigo, they can only deposit pigment, they won't lighten your hair.

I had good results with honey lightening, but you might need several applications.
Here's ktani's wonderful thread if you are interested: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=148

And in case you decide to use a chemical dye, please read this one:
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=10495

In any case, good luck! Your hair is beautiful.

[Demetrue]

You probably would need to use a high lift brown, like Loreal's Les True Brunettes in one of their Ultimate light brown shades to lift black hair to brown. http://www.amazon.com/LOreal-Preference-True-Brunettes/dp/B002UQJKXA/ref=pd_sbs_bt_2

[Dreamkitty]

I don't know about your hair, but going just a little bit lighter won't damage as much as going completely blond. There are plenty of members with gorgeous, long and dyed hair, so it can be done!

As for achieving the color with henna and indigo, they can only deposit pigment, they won't lighten your hair.

I had good results with honey lightening, but you might need several applications.
Here's ktani's wonderful thread if you are interested: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=148

And in case you decide to use a chemical dye, please read this one:
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=10495

In any case, good luck! Your hair is beautiful.

Thanks for the advice :). I will definetly try out the Honey treatment, I will first try using it on a few sections of my hair before I do all of my hair. Those threads are extremely useful.:cheese:

[Dreamkitty]

You probably would need to use a high lift brown, like Loreal's Les True Brunettes in one of their Ultimate light brown shades to lift black hair to brown. http://www.amazon.com/LOreal-Preference-True-Brunettes/dp/B002UQJKXA/ref=pd_sbs_bt_2

Thanks for the link, I will search deeper into that dye.:D

[Coan-Teen]

If you do decide to do a chemical dye process in a salon, take a picture of her hair into the salon with you. That is a much better way to communicate your desire than with names like chocolate or medium which can be interpreted different ways. A picture will show exactly the color you want.

HTH. ^_^

[kwaniesiam]

Don't try to use box dye to get that color. If you are starting off darker, you'll need to overshoot the color you want in order to achieve that level of lift.

Personally I'd recommend going to Sally's and picking out a golden brown shade in around a level 6 or 7 with 30 vol. developer. The shade you want is about a level 4 or 5. If your hair is naturally black, you are at a level 1 or 2 depending on the manufacturer of the dye (some brands 1 is black, others start at 2).

PM me if you have any other questions.