about to dye my hair! nervous, need advice!

[cupcake0619]

im about to dye my hair this color
http://www.google.com/imgres?q=herbal+essences+hair+dye+paint+the+town&hl=en&safe=off&biw=1024&bih=513&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tbnid=ayr3_8WaB55f0M:&imgrefurl=http://www.overstockdrugstore.com/products/Clairol-Herbal-Essences-Color-Me-Vibrant-Permanent-Color,-44-Paint-The-Town.html&docid=gVXjMigbtW3-EM&w=500&h=500&ei=HO99Tu70IsOUtwfrxb1U&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=114&vpy=148&dur=391&hovh=147&hovw=147&tx=99&ty=76&page=1&tbnh=147&tbnw=147&start=0&ndsp=10&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0

i need advice on how to minimize damage and if you think this color would work on me TIA

my hair right now is about 3 inches of virgin dark blonde and the rest is bleached very light. i have never had red hair and it makes me kind of nervous, i dont want it to turn out super like crazy red because my hair is soo light right now.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6159/6142350092_d6e3eb9cb9.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/61675284@N04/6142350092/) IMAG0862.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/61675284@N04/6142350092/) by cupcake0619 (http://www.flickr.com/people/61675284@N04/), on Flickr

that ^^ is me now.

[blondie9912]

Do you want my HONEST advice? :p Personally, I wouldn't do it. There's nothing I love more blonde hair, and since yours is natural, consider yourself incredibly lucky! Its very difficult to dye your hair red, because its such a difficult colour to hold on to, and I've always thought that blonde roots with darker hair look a little strange. Is this is spur of the moment decision, or have you always wanted to have red hair?

Sorry for being so opinionated, I've ruined my hair mannyyy times in the past with at home colour and regret it so much in hindsight! I don't want others to make the same mistake

[Lostsoule77]

A couple of things. First that dye is meant to dye over brown hair, not blonde, so the color is probably going to be brighter than what the box shows. If you want to go red you should get a dye that is meant for blonde hair. I think red would look nice with your eyes, but not sure on your skin tone. I'm not sure how it would go over bleached hair because I have no experience with that, but I wouldn't do anything until you know for sure. Lastly I'd go with a temporary dye first to see if you like it. Try a semi-permanant dye. It shouldn't damage the hair too much and it'll wash out quickly. That way if you don't like it you won't be stuck with it.

I would wait for more knowledgable responses and wait a few days to decide before you go through with this. Either way good luck. :)

[UltraBella]

Your bleached lengths will probably be a different color than your roots and either VERY bright or very dark.
Considering it is permanent color, be careful. Even a semi color is going to stain your bleached lengths and not wash out fully, so I disagree with that advice.
The color is beautiful, I really miss my red hair sometimes......

[jojo]

I have to agree with the others, although I do think you will suit red hair because you are so light you may end up with orange hair. Id think about it for a few more weeks and then if you are really sure, it may mean putting a dark blonde on first to give your hair a darker base and then putting a red on top of it but id go for a temp colour.

[Vanilla]

I've dyed my blonde hair red for about 2 years straight. I found it very difficult to hold onto the color at all, so i had to dye my whole head every 3 weeks. I never used henna though, which might have helped with my hair color staying.

When I wanted to go back to blonde, I had to have a professional colorist redye all of my hair back and my hair was so dry after the process. I ended up having to chop off all of my length to my shoulders.

If I were to do it next time, I'd definitely opt for henna after I found out that red looked good on me with a temporary dye first.

[Sylvanas]

Others have given good advice, so I'll just give you my personal opinion:

I don't think that shade of red would be the most flattering on you. I'd go for a cool shade of red, so it won't clash with your natural colours (eyes/skintone). You have a very pretty face, so I don't think you have to worry about looking horrible if you do decide to use that specific shade, but you might end up looking pretty despite the colour - which isn't really optimal :)

EDIT: I've just googled that shade, and it looks completely different in other pictures. If it looks more like this; http://www.zuckermanpharmacy.com/images/products/big/021981.jpg it would actually be an excellent choice. Just look at the picture from your link, and then the one from mine. They look like two different colours!

[theodora]

I have to agree with what everyone before me has said. Do not dye your hair with a permanent dye before you know for sure that you will like it.
Also, STRAND TEST before you dye even if you have established the colour would suit you (you can figure that out by using a website where you can change your hair colour - the one from instyle.com is pretty good - or by trying on a wig).
I am saying strand test because I can give you my experience of dying a similar auburn type of red on my bleached blond hair about 2 years ago, and my hair turned PINK. I kid you not, it was pink. I then did a second layer to get it darker, and it was PURPLE. I ended up dying brown over that which I maintained only for a few months because I had to dye it ALL THE TIME as my hair grows an inch a month and even 1/2 an inch of blond roots on dark hair looks extremely unattractive like you're balding. Then I tried going back to blonde which took me a long time, not to mention a huge amount of money at the hairdresser (that was before I knew about colour removers which are a godsent product for idiotic blonds like me who keep dying their hair stupid colours which stick to their porous bleached hair).

Excuse my enthusiasm and use of all caps. I am not trying to spare you making a potential mistake with your hair, as I think it is not that big a deal and everyone learns from their mistakes. Sometimes you have got to take risks and see what happens, but in this case, I think it is good for you to go into this with your eyes open and aware of the fact this dye might not work out the way you want it to, and that you might have to dye over it/strip it.


Henna is very nice and good for your hair, so it is another option, but it is permanent. Last summer I started doing henna glosses to get a nice strawberry blond colour. The first couple of glosses were lovely and washed out but then I did two more glosses and I have been trying to remove the henna from hair to get back to an ashy blonde, and it is not easy.

So, with henna as with permanent hair dye, proceed with caution!

[Demetrue]

You are going to do what you want to do because it is your hair, growing out of your head. From my own personal experience, I would not go ahead with that particular color dye. Your hair is gorgeous as it is and that color may end up looking bright orange on you. If I had your hair on my head right now, I would just flaunt the beautiful blonde and not change a single thing :)

[spidermom]

My daughter is a natural blonde and dyed her hair red. Every time she got roots (about 3 weeks), it looked like she had bald spots. She had the color stripped by her stylist, but the length is still kind of orange.

Please try a temporary dye first - the kind that only lasts through 6-8 washings. And look on the side of the box for what the color does on your natural hair color.

[Peggy E.]

If you didn't have long hair and still growing it out, it wouldn't be such a big deal - cutting out the growing out red dye wouldn't take so long, should you not happen to like it.

But for long hair, it takes forever to grow out and the dyed color seems to change over time if you don't keep it up.

You have beautiful blonde hair, but I know it is easy to grow tired of the same-old/same-old and dying your hair an exciting color is one way of adding a big splash of fun into your life. Unless, of course, it's nothing like you'd hoped and you hate it..... :o(

You've been given excellent advice particularly so with the strand test. But, were I you, I'd consider having it professionally done by a trustworthy colorist, just to be absolutely sure you are receiving the best experienced care for the optimal results. It would just be such a shame to ruin that beautiful, beautiful hair.

Whatever you decide to do, it is always going to keep on growing and changing, so nothing is a permanently done deal. The important thing is that you enjoy your hair and have fun with it, the sort of thing you do when you are young and carving out your future path - try new things!

[Mairéad]

I also think you won't get the color depicted on the box. I've used that exact color box before and my hair still turned out very orange. (I naturally have medium blonde hair.)

[growingpains]

There are several major concerns with that color:

1) It will NOT go the box color since your hair is so light
2) you will get two different shades, one a bright red, the other a darker richer red (on the roots)
3) Growing that out will be a nightmare. You will have a very visible demarcation line. Of course bleaching is an option, but as someone experienced in having my darker dye stripped out, you will sacrifice the quality of your hair and it will probably both break off at the ends and prevent you from getting any longer until you grow out the damage (which would take upwards of 2 years unless you pixie).

Unless you have strand tested and also want this color for a very long time, I would advise against this. I agree to try a semi or demi first.

[heartgoesboom]

i'm in a bit of a disney kick right now, so my first thought it omg, she's going to look like ariel! cool!

but if you're nervous, do a strand test! :)

[misspurdy06]

DON'T DO IT! Red is the most difficult to maintain and the most difficult to get rid of it paradoxical and nonsensical. Unless you are willing to color your hair every 3 weeks or so.