Help! Bleached hair won’t hold new salon colour and it’s costing me a fortune! Can I box dye?

blagoslovljena

Up until recently I had a half head of bleached highlights, with the lightest Redken permanent colour as my main hair colour. 

Before Christmas I asked my stylist to dye it a dark purpley red colour. She said because it was bleached she didn’t need a permanent dye on it as my natural hair colour was already stripped out, so put a semi-permanent base on it. She then added two semi-permanent ‘coats’ of the new colour, as one on its own wasn’t enough to match the equivalent permanent colour she put on my roots. I was under the impression she had put a semi on it because it would work the same way as a permanent dye, because the previous bleach had made the hair porous and able to accept the new colour. Turns out my interpretation of what she was saying was wrong.

After one wash a few days later the colour had faded enough so the difference between roots and rest of hair was noticeable. Two weeks and another couple of washes later I needed to wear a hat out of the house to cover my obviously redder roots. The hat was used for six weeks until my next salon appointment as my roots were red and the rest of my hair turned light brown with twice weekly washing.

This time my stylist used a different dye (Redken pro colour gel oils). I’m not sure how she mixed it up, but it was a better colour match for the roots, and four washes since having it done it is going an increasingly lighter red rather than brown thankfully.

But it is still washing out, and my stylist seems powerless to be able to stop this happening. She’s convinced my hair won’t take a proper permanent colour due to the previous bleach. Every 8 weeks it is costing me £120 to have the colour redone to make it red again, and then I have to watch my money literally go down the drain as the red comes out with each wash. 

Financially this is completely unsustainable for me. I thought when the colour went on it would be cheaper than the highlights in the long term, with just a root touch up here and there. I didn’t realise my hair wouldn’t be able to hold the dye.

Is there a way around this? Would a permanent box dye red colour work? I’m getting a bit desperate and don’t know what to do.

Pollycat

blagoslovljena said:

Up until recently I had a half head of bleached highlights, with the lightest Redken permanent colour as my main hair colour. 

Before Christmas I asked my stylist to dye it a dark purpley red colour. She said because it was bleached she didn’t need a permanent dye on it as my natural hair colour was already stripped out, so put a semi-permanent base on it. She then added two semi-permanent ‘coats’ of the new colour, as one on its own wasn’t enough to match the equivalent permanent colour she put on my roots. I was under the impression she had put a semi on it because it would work the same way as a permanent dye, because the previous bleach had made the hair porous and able to accept the new colour. Turns out my interpretation of what she was saying was wrong.

After one wash a few days later the colour had faded enough so the difference between roots and rest of hair was noticeable. Two weeks and another couple of washes later I needed to wear a hat out of the house to cover my obviously redder roots. The hat was used for six weeks until my next salon appointment as my roots were red and the rest of my hair turned light brown with twice weekly washing.

This time my stylist used a different dye (Redken pro colour gel oils). I’m not sure how she mixed it up, but it was a better colour match for the roots, and four washes since having it done it is going an increasingly lighter red rather than brown thankfully.

But it is still washing out, and my stylist seems powerless to be able to stop this happening. She’s convinced my hair won’t take a proper permanent colour due to the previous bleach. Every 8 weeks it is costing me £120 to have the colour redone to make it red again, and then I have to watch my money literally go down the drain as the red comes out with each wash. 

Financially this is completely unsustainable for me. I thought when the colour went on it would be cheaper than the highlights in the long term, with just a root touch up here and there. I didn’t realise my hair wouldn’t be able to hold the dye.

Is there a way around this? Would a permanent box dye red colour work? I’m getting a bit desperate and don’t know what to do.

Why didn't your stylist recommend this?
I'd expect a professional to know what would work.

blagoslovljena

Pollycat said:

blagoslovljena said:

Up until recently I had a half head of bleached highlights, with the lightest Redken permanent colour as my main hair colour. 

Before Christmas I asked my stylist to dye it a dark purpley red colour. She said because it was bleached she didn’t need a permanent dye on it as my natural hair colour was already stripped out, so put a semi-permanent base on it. She then added two semi-permanent ‘coats’ of the new colour, as one on its own wasn’t enough to match the equivalent permanent colour she put on my roots. I was under the impression she had put a semi on it because it would work the same way as a permanent dye, because the previous bleach had made the hair porous and able to accept the new colour. Turns out my interpretation of what she was saying was wrong.

After one wash a few days later the colour had faded enough so the difference between roots and rest of hair was noticeable. Two weeks and another couple of washes later I needed to wear a hat out of the house to cover my obviously redder roots. The hat was used for six weeks until my next salon appointment as my roots were red and the rest of my hair turned light brown with twice weekly washing.

This time my stylist used a different dye (Redken pro colour gel oils). I’m not sure how she mixed it up, but it was a better colour match for the roots, and four washes since having it done it is going an increasingly lighter red rather than brown thankfully.

But it is still washing out, and my stylist seems powerless to be able to stop this happening. She’s convinced my hair won’t take a proper permanent colour due to the previous bleach. Every 8 weeks it is costing me £120 to have the colour redone to make it red again, and then I have to watch my money literally go down the drain as the red comes out with each wash. 

Financially this is completely unsustainable for me. I thought when the colour went on it would be cheaper than the highlights in the long term, with just a root touch up here and there. I didn’t realise my hair wouldn’t be able to hold the dye.

Is there a way around this? Would a permanent box dye red colour work? I’m getting a bit desperate and don’t know what to do.

Why didn't your stylist recommend this?
I'd expect a professional to know what would work.

She said a permanent colour would wreck my hair because of previously bleaching it. And because she works with salon colours she’s VERY anti box dye so I daren’t raise it with her, especially as she might take it as a criticism of what she’s done already.

But I don’t know anyone else who’s had this experience of colour leeching out of their hair every wash, so thought someone might know if a permanent box dye is safe based on their personal experience.

Pollycat

No wonder she's anti box dye if you're paying her £120 every 8 weeks...

The thing is just because someone else who’s had this experience of colour leeching out of their hair every wash used a box dye successfully, it doesn't follow that you'd have the same experience. 

Mnoee

Permanent colour has lighteners in it - peroxide, usually. Even in pitch black box dye. They lighten and deposit colour at the same time. This is why it's not a great idea to put it over bleached hair that has already been lightened - it can really damage your hair, like breaking off levels of damage. Semi permanent colour just deposits colour.

A dark purpley red 'permanent' dye will still fade, just slower than semi permanent stuff. Changes to your natural colour needs upkeep, no matter how you do it - there's no 'put on once' solution. 

I've been dying my hair at home for 20-odd years, I've been every colour under the sun, and I've totally shaved my head. That's always a possibility with home dye - you may damage your hair so much that a pixie cut is the only thing a proper hairdresser can do for you! I don't mean to be dramatic - it is 'just hair' to me but I know that's not how everyone feels. 

Getting semi permanent dye to top up at home would be the only money-saving suggestion I have. 

blagoslovljena

Mnoee said:

Permanent colour has lighteners in it - peroxide, usually. Even in pitch black box dye. They lighten and deposit colour at the same time. This is why it's not a great idea to put it over bleached hair that has already been lightened - it can really damage your hair, like breaking off levels of damage. Semi permanent colour just deposits colour.

A dark purpley red 'permanent' dye will still fade, just slower than semi permanent stuff. Changes to your natural colour needs upkeep, no matter how you do it - there's no 'put on once' solution. 

I've been dying my hair at home for 20-odd years, I've been every colour under the sun, and I've totally shaved my head. That's always a possibility with home dye - you may damage your hair so much that a pixie cut is the only thing a proper hairdresser can do for you! I don't mean to be dramatic - it is 'just hair' to me but I know that's not how everyone feels. 

Getting semi permanent dye to top up at home would be the only money-saving suggestion I have. 

Thank you for taking the time to explain all that. I have waist length hair and it’s something that I’ve looked after really well for so many years, so the whole situation’s a bit gutting really. 

I was hoping the more ‘coats’ of red were put on over time, the more it would ‘stick’ to my porous hair if you know what I mean, so I thought worst case scenario would be a few months of gradually losing less and less colour. I think I might have to bite the bullet and talk to my stylist about the cost and box dye option. 😬

blagoslovljena

Pollycat said:

No wonder she's anti box dye if you're paying her £120 every 8 weeks...

The thing is just because someone else who’s had this experience of colour leeching out of their hair every wash used a box dye successfully, it doesn't follow that you'd have the same experience. 

That’s a fair point actually. And I have a LOT of hair… 😩

Pollycat

blagoslovljena said:

Pollycat said:

No wonder she's anti box dye if you're paying her £120 every 8 weeks...

The thing is just because someone else who’s had this experience of colour leeching out of their hair every wash used a box dye successfully, it doesn't follow that you'd have the same experience. 

That’s a fair point actually. And I have a LOT of hair… 😩

I have my very short hair cut every 6 - 7 weeks.

My stylist (who I've been going to for over 35 years) is always very helpful with my questions about various box dyes.

I didn't realise your hair was so long.
With me a bad hair colour (I've not experienced one so far in 20 + years of using box dyes) would only last 12 weeks at most.

Mnoee

I'd definitely talk to your stylist and ask what can be done to give you a lower maintenance colour. Even if that's a different colour to what would be ideal. 

All over box dye on highlighted hair will not to lead to all over same colour hair, if that's your aim. Once bleach is on hair, that hair will behave differently to natural hair until it's cut off. It'll fade differently and hold certain pigments more or less - you had permanent all over colour (i.e. with lighteners) plus highlights and you're battling the 'line' to your roots, from what I can tell, which currently have semi permanent dye on. That's quite a complicated situation. 

A good stylist who can see and touch your hair should be able to tell you options to blend that line into something that looks nice now and will grow out with minimal trips, but all over red might not be the solution.