BAD Color!

[RitaCeleste]

I dyed my hair. It turned out to be a crappy color. Very natural Auburn color. Not at all what I expected. It was drying. My hair is all weak even though I went overboard trying to protect it. I am going to town tomorrow and get a temporary color that is as UNNATURAL as I can get away with, wild cherry or something to pump this color up. I have two other boxes of color from the same people. A lighter shade of red and a brown. I was hoping one of the reds would work. In six weeks I'm tempted to dye it brown and then just tint it with temporary colors and try to let it go back natural. Or I could remove all the color, lighten the roots and keep using temporary colors. I am not good just applying to the roots. GRRRRRRR! I like my hair really Red. I've thought about Blue, Blue Black, Purple, Aqua. Problem is I'm 37 and I have to show up to see teachers and things. My SO swears if I dye it blue, he won't be seen with me. I'm really annoyed. I'm a big girl, all grown up. If I want blue hair, shouldn't I feel FREE to do that? My mom can't tell me NO! Anyway, am I too old to just start playing with temporary colors?

[Firefox7275]

You could argue it's more mature of us thirty-somethings to use a temporary colour than it is for a teen to bleach and dye the hell out of their hair because they didn't really think about what permanent means. :p No offense to any teenage LHCers who are more sensible with hair than I was a few years back!!

Did you do a strand test? Do you have any spare hairbrush hair to do strand tests with the other boxes you have in?

[RitaCeleste]

I'll clean out my hairbrush and test the next box of red first. God only knows what color it will be. I was trying for really red red. My last color was super red but it had faded. I almost can't tell I did a thing, I think it actually became duller. I totally agree that as far as picking which things are least damaging we get sucked in by great conditioners. This brand did have a great conditioner. I just think my hair is at a point where I better change what I'm doing to it. Its either find bright red that doesn't fade out in a few washes, or go ahead and use temporary colors. And if I go that route, why not BLUE! lol

[RitaCeleste]

Well, I like the color a little better today. Its not the bright red I go for. Its more like an expensive dye job you'd get at a salon. My hair texture seems pretty nice considering I just colored it. If it holds up and doesn't fade it will be okay for awhile. My sister pointed it was a good color natural redheads would actually go for as opposed to the clown reds I usually like. If I get really bored I might use a temporary color to put in some streaks or something. I've always thought I was too messy for foiling. Still, I suppose I can live with looking like I spent over $100 on this color job. Its not my thing, but not entirely a bad thing I suppose. When I told my sister I couldn't tell I'd done anything to it, she said, "You don't have roots anymore, mission accomplished!" She assures me it is red, just a good red. Of course she's the one telling me my skin is too dark for red hair as well. She's kinda watching me so I don't run dye it to death. My baby sister is growing her hair out yet again after going from black blond twice and frying it. My hair hasn't been above BSL in years so if I mess it up, my sister does not want a front row seat for the aftermath.

[Firefox7275]

I chemical dye my hair burgundy red; they do fade but not within a few washes. Water is the enemy so it's best to avoid frequent wettings - dry shampoo, leave-in rather than wash out conditioners, one step washes (shampoo roots/ condition ends or coconut oil shampoo) work best. :cool: Apparently vinegar rinses help hold the colour as does coconut oil providing it penetrates. I'm having to accept that no amount of conditioning is going to protect or repair my hair if I continue to chemically abuse the lengths regularly - if you like to regularly change your colour then it might be wise to go semi-permanent. :o

[RitaCeleste]

That's what I'm thinking too. I end up using a 20% developer for my roots which are almost black, then I I have redo the reds that fade out so my whole length is being treated to the 20% developers. I'm thinking if I was just using the developer to lighten up my roots and a semi permanent that I'd end up with less damage over time. I am just worried the colors will rub off on clothes and pillowcases. I am terrified of henna because its permanent. Grrrr! I bought color stripper when I bought the hair color. I figured I'd use the two reds, then the brown, then take the color out and go to temporary dyes unless I fell in love with one of the reds. My SO said he'd like to see it brown again so I figured we could look at me looking normal for a bit before I went out and did it up purple or something. I think the semi-permanent will be better on my hair in the long run. I am always picking bright reds, burgundy, black cherry, anything unnatural looking. No one ever looks at my hair and thinks its naturally that color if I can help it.

[Firefox7275]

I like the fact that my hair is unnatural red too! :D The colour stripper is going to damage your hair, IMO it would be better to keep saving hairbrush and plughole hair for strand tests rather than using your head as an experiment. If your natural hair is close to black you won't ever get a strong red without a lot of peroxide or a high pigment semi/ demi. Apparently brown permanent plus peroxide can leave you with a green tinge so I'd not use that box!! IME there is colour rub off from permanent dye especially if my hair is damp or I perspire; I just use a cheap plain pillowcase when my colour is fresh. :)

[Lostsoule77]

I've never used permanent dye so I'm not gonna be much help there. Just wanted to give you a tip for when you're ready to go blue to compromise with your SO. Dye the top half of your hair (think the hair you see when it's down or what you'd put into a half up) brown. Dye the under layer blue. When your hair is down it'll look brown. When it's in up do's it's a cool mix. Plus braids look awesome like this. :) I had to compromise with my mom when I was a teen and wanted blue hair. This is what we came up with and it worked out well. :)

[RitaCeleste]

I can get the roots pretty light with just 20% developer. I'm for lightening it up but not to white. I'd definitely have to take the color out before switching to semi-permanent colors. Its just a matter of whether I want to see it brown for awhile or not. I don't mind experimenting on my head much. Kinda why I should probably switch to the semi-permanent stuff. The color stripper I have has no bleach or ammonia and can be done on the same day as coloring. Where I got the damage wasn't the stripper but processing my hair with 30% developer to try to avoid the stripper, then stripping, then recoloring with 20% developer. I think its a really good idea to wait six weeks before I do anything else to it since I recolored it. Maybe the colors won't rub off much. I'm picturing all my collars in rainbow colors. :(

[jojo]

how about a henna gloss if you like red? the results are more subtle than a full henna and the deposit fades overtime. Plus the effect it has on your hair is lovely.

[AnnaJamila]

Have you thought of using colored clip ins? I know, I know, we aren't in the 90's but if you go that route you can scale it down or be as crazy as you want AND you can change the color whenever you want AND you don't have to dye your hair all the time!

They look really cool if you clip them to the underside of your hair, understated but still funky!

Note the picture of pink clip ins (http://hairextensionscolourguide.com/clip-in/what-are-clip-in-hair-extensions/)

This one has red! (http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://image.dhgate.com/upload/20107/87/ff80808126408ff1012669cb58357941/productimg1280398225652.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.dhgate.com/new-20-quot-highlight-single-clip-in-hair/p-ff8080812a18b668012a1db237360760.html&usg=__2y_fZMLYC0a6WQgJ3nBr1Az7krI=&h=372&w=593&sz=29&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=9mLYDsDHaNWHfM:&tbnh=115&tbnw=184&ei=PraPTan1F8W1tgeAoaiICQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcelebrity%2Bred%2Bclip%2Bins%26um%3D1 %26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1259%26bih%3D580%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=229&vpy=99&dur=1203&hovh=178&hovw=284&tx=185&ty=103&oei=PraPTan1F8W1tgeAoaiICQ&page=1&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0)

[RitaCeleste]

It might work instead of foiling in streaks but I don't like my natural color so I'd be doing something to my natural hair as well. I think the semi-permanent is my best bet for color choices. I have a small place and keeping the kids out of the hairclip things would be almost impossible. Styling ease is high priority with me. I kinda have a wash and wear rule. I pretty much let it air dry and add some oil brush it and I'm done. The most up it gets is me pulling the hair above my ears up into a barrette. That takes 2 mins max. The clips look easy though. I don't feel weird about coloring but I think I'd feel weird about removable hair. How do you run your fingers threw that? I heard some brands of the semi permanent bleed less than others. I figure I can mix one bottle of blue with a bottle blueblack and come up with a blue I can wear without it looking bad. If I use semi permanent it'll fade out soon enough. I think my SO can deal with the blue in passing. He feels odd about my unusual colors but he doesn't mind it so much when we are out and people are stopping to tell me they like it. He employees a lady who dresses fashionably, has her hair layered and trimmed at a salon, dyes it shades of brown, looks professional. He wishes I was more like her but we both know better.