Hair Dying help + money saving?

you_wicked_gay

Okay so here's the thing. I have really dark brown/almost black natural hair. I want to go red but am not sure how to go about it.

I'm assuming I'm going to need to bleach/lighten my hair first as red won't take to my dark hair. What's the best product to use? I have rather dark hair so I'm gonna need some pretty good stuff to get my hair light enough.

Then after this I'm obviously going to need some red dye. What's the best to use? I was it to be pretty vibrant, and not ginger :rotfl:

I'm just used to having my dark hair and am sick of it now, but am pretty much flat broke and in no way can afford to get it done at the hair dressers. I was quoted £50 for 7 foils of bleach blonde - that was from a non-chain local hair dressers. :eek:

So any help, tips and advice on products to use that are good and cost effective would be much appreciated!

Thanks in advance x

belfastgirl23

If you're looking for something cheap, henna might be worth a try? It doesn't give a vibrant red but does def give a red glow. In Lush it's about £6ish for enough for mid length hair and it does leave your hair in really nice condition. Caca Rouge is the red one. Smells nice too.

Sorry I have a sensitive scalp so no recent experience of other colouring stuff...

you_wicked_gay

belfastgirl23 wrote: »

If you're looking for something cheap, henna might be worth a try? It doesn't give a vibrant red but does def give a red glow. In Lush it's about £6ish for enough for mid length hair and it does leave your hair in really nice condition. Caca Rouge is the red one. Smells nice too.

Sorry I have a sensitive scalp so no recent experience of other colouring stuff...

Thanks for that - I've seen the henna stuff in Lush but I'm not sure it'd work on my hair, i know to get it any shade of red i'm going to have to bleach/lighten it first as it's such a dark natural shade no other colour will show up.

brazilianwax

I have similar colouring and I wouldn't attempt this myself, and I've been dying my hair for about 15 years!

Put bleach anywhere near your hair and it'll go orange. Unless you have exactly the right kind of red dye it won't take properly and could completely wreck your hair.

Have you ever coloured your hair before?

you_wicked_gay

brazilianwax wrote: »

I have similar colouring and I wouldn't attempt this myself, and I've been dying my hair for about 15 years!

Put bleach anywhere near your hair and it'll go orange. Unless you have exactly the right kind of red dye it won't take properly and could completely wreck your hair.

Have you ever coloured your hair before?

Yeah I've coloured it quite a few times. I've mainly been doing an all over black dye but I have used bleach before to dye the bottom inch of my hair to add a bright pink edge :rotfl:

I'm aware of the gingerness that occurs when you bleach, it isn't pleasant but aslong as it gets covered then it's all okay haha

I may go ask in my local hairdressers again, see if they can give me a quote, do you think that would be the best thing to do?

brazilianwax

you_wicked_gay wrote: »

Yeah I've coloured it quite a few times. I've mainly been doing an all over black dye but I have used bleach before to dye the bottom inch of my hair to add a bright pink edge :rotfl:

I'm aware of the gingerness that occurs when you bleach, it isn't pleasant but aslong as it gets covered then it's all okay haha

I may go ask in my local hairdressers again, see if they can give me a quote, do you think that would be the best thing to do?

If it was me, and I wanted an all over colour, I'd get my hairdresser to do it first, but get them to tell me exactly what bleach/colorant they were using, and time how long things are left on for etc.

Then go to somewhere like Sally's and get the professional dye myself for the next time. I wouldn't use standard kits for such a drastic change.

Carrera74

I've just come back from my hairdressers. I use an all over black dye and have done for years but I wanted some bright red in here and there to liven it up a bit. They have a red colour that actually lifts your natural colour and deposits red. Much better apparantly then the bleach then colour as it doesn't leave your hair a dodgy ginger colour when it's fading. Unfortunately mine hasn't taken due to the black build up - looks great on the roots but the ends are much lighter I'm going to make sure I only colour my roots for the next couple of times and then in 3 months or so it'll be nice and red where I want it to be. Will need to train OH up on root application me thinks haha.

I also enquired about going lighter as I've had dark hair forever and think a change would be good maybe next year for my wedding. They can do this too and don't necessarily have to strip it with bleach til it goes orange. I think you should go to a few hairdressers, get quotes and definately get the first colour done professionally. My hairdresser isn't a high street one. I only do cheap and cheerful but I think to have a full head done with that colour would cost about £50 for a cut and blow too - well worth getting it right first time round? Good luck

Carrera74

you_wicked_gay wrote: »

Yeah I've coloured it quite a few times. I've mainly been doing an all over black dye but I have used bleach before to dye the bottom inch of my hair to add a bright pink edge :rotfl:

That's the colour I wanted today - damn black box hair dyes

you_wicked_gay

Carrera74 wrote: »

That's the colour I wanted today - damn black box hair dyes

Whenever I do an all over black dye I use Schwartzkopf (sp?) 'Cosmic Blue'. Its a lovely rich black with a blue-ish tinge when the light hits it. Lovely stuff. It leaves my hair lovely and soft and shiny too so I'd recommend it Home Bargains (if you have one near you) sells it pretty cheap, thats where i get it from.

you_wicked_gay

Carrera74 wrote: »

I've just come back from my hairdressers. I use an all over black dye and have done for years but I wanted some bright red in here and there to liven it up a bit. They have a red colour that actually lifts your natural colour and deposits red. Much better apparantly then the bleach then colour as it doesn't leave your hair a dodgy ginger colour when it's fading. Unfortunately mine hasn't taken due to the black build up - looks great on the roots but the ends are much lighter I'm going to make sure I only colour my roots for the next couple of times and then in 3 months or so it'll be nice and red where I want it to be. Will need to train OH up on root application me thinks haha.

I also enquired about going lighter as I've had dark hair forever and think a change would be good maybe next year for my wedding. They can do this too and don't necessarily have to strip it with bleach til it goes orange. I think you should go to a few hairdressers, get quotes and definately get the first colour done professionally. My hairdresser isn't a high street one. I only do cheap and cheerful but I think to have a full head done with that colour would cost about £50 for a cut and blow too - well worth getting it right first time round? Good luck

I think I'll go out and ask around in the hairdressers near by because i don't really want to screw up my hair haha I guess they know best. Its just a case of finding a decent price i guess, i may have to save up!