I need to go back to a more natural colour

[BelleBot]

I've got interviews for nursing degrees next week (eek!) and I'll need to tone my hair back to a natural colour as I don't think bright pink will go down too well.
I'm tempted to go back and use henna as it does lovely stuff to my hair, but then again not sure if I want to risk not being able to go back to pink for the summer.

A brief hair history, my lengths have had numerous box dyes both semi and permanent, also salon dyes which I believe were semi. Though semis always stick to my hair whereas "permanent" dyes wash out within a couple of weeks. Autumn 2008 I used henna for several applications, the Lush Caca Marron and Caca Noir stuff, did wonderful things for my hair but the colour never seemed to last for more than a few weeks. I'm currently using lightener on my roots and Renbow Crazy Colour in Cyclamen to make it pink!

Anyone know of any decent wash in wash out dyes that would do the job as a temp solution? I don't want to cause any unnecessary damage.

Also any suggestions for colour? Perhaps a mahogany? I need to stay away from anything too orange as although it can look great, it clashes horrifically with my motorbike leathers
Any advice would be great. Cheers in advance.

This is what it's like at the moment, though even brighter pink as this was a few months ago.

Rough idea of length, it's tailbone. Sorry for the strange colours, photoshoot with a photographer who likes post processing. Though the hair colour is fairly accurate.

[brok3nwings]

Hey there! I absolutly LOVE the colour you have. It does suit you very very well. But if you have to change it ... (i know cause i have a friend that had to cut his beautiful afro and he was studying nursing)
you have two options...
trying henna -> i would be very careful with this. As you bleach your roots everytime you would have to make the process everytime you wanted to put the henna again... not only because of the lightness but also because the pink also changes the colour that henna will give you.

trying chemical colour-> for this one i advice you a hairsalon colour expert! First you will probably have to use colouroops or something similar to take the pink you have and then put another.. the thing is.. you are not working with virgin hair! So you need someone with experience that can see what colour you put to end up with what you want.
For example.... if you are a bleached blonde (that is probably what you will end up when taking off the pink) you cannot put a brown directly over it otherwise it will end up green. You need to put more red than a medium blonde for example cause you took all the pigment away. You would need a redish brown to end up with a neutral brown. So... colours can be complicated for those who has no experience so i would ask some help to a professional.

Good luck! You have a beautiful hair anyway and your face is very pretty so i think it goes well with anything

[IttyBittyKitty]

I also have to say, that colour is gorgeous on you!

[florenonite]

Your hair's gorgeous!

I'd be hesitant to dye it with the intention of going pink again, though. Although your hair appears to have made it to TB intact (it's hard to tell damage in pictures, but your hair looks lovely and shiny), bleaching and dyeing are quite damaging and it would be a shame to have to cut your hair trying to restore it to pink.

I can't help you with brands, but I'd definitely recommend for a wash-out dye. I'd suggest a very dark colour because the pink is quite bright to cover and wash-out dyes are usually reliant on the starting colour. The downside to wash-out dyes is, of course, that they wash out, so you'll need to repeatedly dye your hair. Anything more permanent, however, would lift the pink colour so you'd have to re-dye the length later rather than just the roots.

The advantage to henna, besides the conditioning properties, is that you can get a bright colour that can still pass for natural, though of course you're then stuck with it afterwards.

[BelleBot]

Thanks lots of stuff to think about.
Considering how much dye it's had thrown at it over the years it's remained in very good condition. Though the ends are beginning to split a little as I've not a trim in over 18 months. It's naturally a dark dishwater blonde which I'm not very fond of, so I'm quite happy with darker colours, but roots are always a pain, at least my hair doesn't grow too quickly so they don't show too much. I've been every colour from honey blonde to blue/black in the past 10 years.

I'm aiming to be able to say bye bye to lightening the roots once I've found a "natural" colour. So henna could be an option in the future. Though I imagine I'd have to get the whole lot a similar colour to natural first to avoid looking like a striped flag once I start hennaing virgin hair coming through in my roots. Going back to pink may not ever be viable especially with my future career, so I'll have to say goodbye to it sooner or later, though it'd be nice to keep it for one last summer.


Think I'll try a very dark wash in wash out to start with like florenonite suggested. If it doesn't quite work I'll have to look at something more permanent and no pink summer.

[BelleBot]

Apologies for the double post, I can't edit my posts yet.
Lifting the pink on the lengths you just get red/orange, I only go back to blonde on the roots. A red "semi" from the salon when I was 18 will not shift from the lengths come hell or high water, plus there will no doubt be bits of henna adding to the red as well, though the henna (Lush stuff) never made much of an impact at the time so not sure if it had the staying power you'd find typical of henna.

[enfys]

I've never used henna but I know the Lush one is heavily diluted with conditioners which stop it sticking as well as the pure stuff members here use. The herbal haircare part of the forum has lots of info on this, as does the articles (see the top bit under the title).

With hair that colour I'd probably get a wig to wear so I could keep the colour; it's awesome!

[Aeon F.]

I don't have any different useful advice but just wanted to chime in to say your hair is gorgeous!!!! Such a beautiful color and it suits your features so well!! No chance at all you can keep it and be a nurse too huh? I would 2nd the advice from florenonite about the wash out dye- I've used Roux Fanci-Full temp color rinse to color my roots when I'm trying to stretch out dyings. It works well, no damage to hair, but it does come out by the next wash. Certainly worth a try to see if it can darken your hair- maybe a darker red? (like a burgundy-maghony, not orange-red).
http://www.sallybeauty.com/Color-Rin...efault,pd.html


While I love my (dyed) dark hair- I've always been tempted by vivid maroon/burgundy/pink shades (oh & the occasional purple too). It's too bad people can't just "swap" hair colors- I'd take yours for a week or so while you interview, and once you're accepted- you could just swap it back! LOL

[Aeon F.]

With hair that colour I'd probably get a wig to wear so I could keep the colour; it's awesome!

Oohh!! Would that be a possible avenue for you to try as well???

[getoffmyskittle]

Oooh, there's a member on here who hennaed right over pink hair. I can't remember who it is though! She doesn't seem to have much of a line of demarcation.

Though I agree with everyone else -- it would be a shame to lose that color, it's awesome.