Love my black hair,fed up with indigo :(

[lillylonghair]

So I love my hair and want to keep it black but the upkeep,application and cost of henna/indigo is too much for me. I can't afford to keep buying as much as I need (I have a lot of hair that sucks up 200 grams of indigo easily) and my hair is only bsl! And I need to do the whoel head b/c I end up having the red henna shine a few weeks after application.:mad:

I also have a toddler and lets just say that applying indigo,sitting with a drippy head,and keeping after a toddler is a messy job and I don't want to do. Even every few months. The clean up (laundry,getting all the indigo up,etc) is too much.

So,in a nutshell I need some black dye reccommendations. I have Sallys right near me and plan to mix it myself and not get the box stuff.

[luxepiggy]

What shade of black are you after, specifically? Soft black, jet black, something else?

[lillylonghair]

What shade of black are you after, specifically? Soft black, jet black, something else?


Well right now I'd say it's a soft black. I wouldn't mind just keeping it a soft,natural black and maybe occasionally a blue black for the winter. I was thinking if I find the brand of color I like I could just keep up my roots and then maybe add some Manic Panic to my conditioner to give it a blue tint.

Oh and by ''natural'' I mean that it's almost a ''warm'' black. If that makes sense.

[lillylonghair]

BUMP!!!

Another other black hairs out there who dye? :)

[kwaniesiam]

I use Goldwell Colorance in 2A blue-black, love it. It's available to professionals only in stores but you can get it online somewhere. For a soft black I'd recommend 2N or 3N. The color doesn't fade much and doesn't leave my hair damaged at all.

Otherwise you can try Wella Color Charm.

[lillylonghair]

Thank you for the reccommendations!!!!

[virgo75]

I've been considering going back to a soft black dye because I'm tired of henna too.

I've only used drugstore dyes to dye my hair back to it's natural soft black hair color and my 2 favorites are Clairol's Natural Instinct's semi-permanent in their darkest brown color(they changed the names so I'm not sure what it's called now) which almost felt like a conditioning treatment and never dried it out; and Revlon Colorsilk pemanent dye in Brown Black- I used it to dye my hair back to black after bleaching and it covered very well without drying.

Best of luck! :flower:

[McFearless]

This thread might help you: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=72129

[Signe]

Do you stretch washes? Might want to give that a go, it will fade your dye a lot less...
Also, washing in cold/room temp water. The less it fades the less you need to reapply.
Sorry I don't have any alternate dye suggestions.

[chickpea]

Ion Color Brilliance is great stuff, I use it to touch up roots when I don't feel like dealing with indigo. I used the blue black but they have other shades too.

Using neutral protein filler may help the dye stick better, just follow directions on the bottle. CO washing for post-dye hair care can also help to retain color.

[starlamelissa]

I don't dye my hair black, but I do dye my hair red. My method is to buy manic panic in red, dilute with conditioner, 2 tablespoons of dye to a 1/4 of condish. Leave in my hair for half an hour.
No damage, and it's cheapy cheap, cuz the dye lasts a good long time.

[archel]

I used to use a Garnier color called "black tea" which was a great brown-black, very natural.

[val99]

I want to add another vote for Ion Color Brilliance, I use it in blue black and love it. It seems very gentle to me and it covers the gray well. The blue part is very subtle and seems to fade quickly but the black lasts fairly well on me.

[lillylonghair]

Thank you for the wonderful suggestions everyone!

I only shampoo my hair about 1-2x per week and in between I CO wash (my hair gets sweaty and gross at the gym). The indigo just doesn't want to stick in my hair anymore. When I did it a few years ago I had no problem:( Mostly though I just can't deal with the cost,smell,and cleanup.

Once I get to the beauty supply and do my hair I will post the results!

[DarleneH]

Have you all heard of mixing color and developer with conditioner, then applying to hair? It's supposed to still dye it without the damage.

[lillylonghair]

Have you all heard of mixing color and developer with conditioner, then applying to hair? It's supposed to still dye it without the damage.


I have heard of that! What I used to do was to let some oil soak in my ends,do my roots,then pull the color through for the last 5 mins or so. I might give that method a try depending on what I use.

[Anje]

For what it's worth, if there's one person on this whole forum I'd listen to regarding chemical hair colors, it's kwaniesiam.

All I know is that the box dyes have way more peroxide than you need to go black, and consequently are unnecessarily damaging.

[Artsy]

I have quit the 2 step hennindigo this spring after reacting to indigo:( I switched to demi box dye Herbashine from Garnier. The colour is nice, soft black. It seams to wash out from the roots and builds up on the length. I was doing roots only for few month now. It claims not to contain peroxide and ammonia and doesn't seem to impact my hair's health. It blended with my indigo very well. I have reacted to it as well after the last application unfortunately:(

[Roscata]

I recommend a deposit only hair dye that is amonia free like Natural instincts from Clairol, Loreal Color Gems or TIGI Colour Radiant Gloss Hair Color. They say it's semi-permanent and will wash out, but you can slow down the fading with a sulfate-free shampoo and conditioner like L'oreal Paris Everpure and Everstrong collections (available at Walmart). And honestly I used Natural Instincts and I had to bleach my hair 2-3 times to get the black out, so that's my experience.

If you really don't want to harm your hair in any way you can try Manic Panic. I've used it before and my hair got really dark, it does fade relatively quickly though. Good luck! :D