Mumsnet Talk

So i used Colour B4 just over 2 and a half weeks ago. My hair is now, what i'd call an auburn brown, darker through the lengths, lighter at the roots and parting.

I have got the Perfect 10 Light Auburn by Clairol, a permanent colour as i want my colour to be a more 'solid, richer' auburn, I'd say the colour on the box is lighter than my darker parts of hair and 'brighter' than the lighter parts of my hair, iukwim? how would i apply this colour when its comes to doing it, would i start with the roots first or the lengths and ends? basically i want to avoid 'root glow' and at the same time i don't want my lengths and ends to go any darker.

Also i know i have to wait a bit before applying a permanent colour after using Colour B4, have i waited enough?! its driving me nuts knowing i've got my hair colour in the cupboard! But then again, i've also heard a couple of horror stories about putting an auburn dye on top of an already auburn-ish colour can send the hair purple?

A little morning Bump!

I would be very worried about orange roots if you put another red toned colour on. Bitter experience has shown me that reds on red just brings out more orangy tones

I would probably go with a neutral colour first, the John Frieda ones have an N on the colours that are neutral.

Are you supposed to wait after colour B4? Oops. I literally dried it then threw a dye on!

Mine was evenly coloured though, which might have helped.

I would henna. Or else go to a hairdresser.

I'm pretty sure you can colour straight after colour B4.

You are meant to wait 1 week before using a 2 part colour. 2 and a half weeks will be fine. I would avoid henna if you plan to dye again before it grows out. Its not compatible with other hair dyes.

The lighter roots is normal with colour B4, its due to the heat on your head accelerating the process, as well as accelerating the peroxide in the colour you used previously. Are they just lighter, or redder? What is the end result you want? To get an even result you need an even base. You can lighten the ends with bleach. You can darken the roots by colouring them first. Another option is to use a semi-permanent colour to check the result before committing to permanent.

I find that colours come up darker than expected. can you post photos?

I'm really tempted to try colour before but I'm not sure if I'm suitable. I have long hair (down to the middle of my back) that I have been dyeing black for years (it is naturally a mid-brown, I think). I last dyed it about 8 weeks ago. Will colour b4 work?

TIA

Bonzo is right, it brings your roots up more. It does work though and has lightened my hair a few shades. I used a semi permanent nice & easy 6 washes that doesnt need to be mixed after using colour b4 at that was fine too.

Since then I have been using a permanent - its still not quite how I want it but i'm getting there. My hair was very red and dark before!

mrsmartin i was in exactly your situation last year. Colour B4 will work.
1. follow the instructions to the letter. especially rinsing times.
2. use the extra strength one in the silver box.
3. you will find that the ends remain darker than the top. this is colour build up. You can reapply to the ends if you want to. If that does not work, you either need to a)accept it, b) bleach the ends or c) trim it off.
4. you will end up really quite light and also orange, more so at the roots. this is because the permanent colour you have been using contains peroxide which lightens the hair.
5. you must not use a 2 part colour for a week after (perm- or semi- permanent). this is because the peroxide will re-oxidise any dye pigment left in the hair, resulting in your hair going dark again. Instead get a one part colour (labelled 6-8 washes, usually about £4). Boots do not normally stock this. Superdrug does. If you hair is long you will need 2 packets. While you will need an "ash" toned colour if you want to cover red tones, beware, ash + blonde = green. Use with caution! I would stay away from ash colours initially.
6. after one week use a sem- perm colour (28 washes, something like casting). you should have an idea of what colour you need from the temp colour you used before. Once you are sure of the colour you want, go permanent. Beware, the colours always come out darker than you expect. if you are too light it is easy to go darker, the opposite is not the case.

On my profile are some photos from where I removed some bright red from my hair. I need to update with the current colour. The photo where I am really stripey does not really show things that well, but I was very very light! I stupidly used an ash brown, and the blonde bits were unmistakably green. It was bloody awful. I ended up painting some red dye on the green areas before recolouring with a medium brown.

Bonzo I absolutely LOVE your hair in the last pic!

EEEKK! Thanks Bonzo. I won't lie, I'm abit scared to do it now. I'm just intregued as to what my natural colour is now...I used to be bright cherry red but I went over it with black and have completely grown out all of the red dye that was underneath (would never go red again - it doesn't know when it's not wanted anymore!!). So now I have lovely long glossy hair in perfect condition, just dyed black. I'm and can't decide what to do now. Do I strip the colour and see what I get? Or do I start using a semi dye and grow the colour out, which may take years if I keep it long? DH loves my dark hair (I have very pale skin in the winter and very dark eyes so he is currently referring to me as snow white) but I just haven't seen my hair for about 13 years

Bonzo- my root area are just slightly lighter. I'm wanting a colour like Karen Gillan's (from dr who) i'm in two minds now whether to use the the permanent colour that i have or last resort apply another Colour B4.The lengths and ends of my hair are a couple of shades darker, depending what light i look at my hair in, sometimes my hair looks just as dark as it was before, as it has darkened over the last few weeks & i haven't coloured it since using CB4.

I'm just worried about applying the light auburn permanent colour now, in case it makes my hair darker, I really don't want to be dark again or have to go through another CB4 process, takes ages and hubby will go mad - he hates me messing on with my hair - 'wasting' money as he's calls it.