What would happen if you apply red dye to already dyed black hair ?

[as141]

This might be a bit confusing so I'll try to be as clear as I can.

I have naturally black hair. Have been dying it "bright red" on the box for years. Gives a dark red/burgundy tint to my hair. Looks very dark red most of the time but under the sun/bright lights its visibly red.

Accidently picked up the "lift" version of my usual box red dye which has lifted (bleached) my hair to make it a much more vibrant red. Hated this, looked like a clown. Have died over it a "red black" which to be honest is completely black.

I would like my dark red/burgundy back. How do I achieve this, would it work if I apply my usual red box dye or not as the current black hair is no longer natural but dyed black. I just want the red hues back, this jet black look takes me back to my childhood and just feel its a bit too intense for my liking (though natural). Any advice?

Use a colour stripper to get your normal colour back? Then red dye with the correct version. Saying that, apparently the colour stripper absolutely stinks.

Red dye over black dye - the worst that will happen is that nothing happens and you stay black. The only other possible outcome is a red tinge - so it's worth a go imo :)

Waiting for dye to grow out is really frustrating, but in your specific situation (waiting for black hair to grow out from under black dye) at least you wont have the horrible 'dye line' and you will be able to start to do your red dye trick on your roots after a couple of months and have that redy sheen on your crown at least.

@Cherrysoup

Use a colour stripper to get your normal colour back? Then red dye with the correct version. Saying that, apparently the colour stripper absolutely stinks.

I don't think a colour stripper will work if the hair is bleached as the pigment has already been taken out. So you'd just go back to that colour that the hair was after bleaching.

Might be beat to just go back to black and try again. I'd be wary of using too many colours/ products as you don't want to damage the quality of the hair so make sure not to over process it and use a deep conditioner on the ends if the hair is long.

I died my hair black last year and wanted a change recently. I thought the black had 'faded' considerably as it looked so much more like my original dark brown, so tried dying it blue. Only the roots and grey hair that had lost the black went blue, nothing happened to the black so it must not have faded as much as I thought. I am going to continue growing it out and dying it blue until the black has grown out and it will eventually be all blue, in the meantime I will have two coloured hair, or three coloured when the grey is showing through!

So interesting. Thank you all for your replies.

For all intents and purposes I look like I have my natural hair colour now (black) there is the tiniest tiniest bit of a dark red tint under bright lighting.

The red that I used to dye over my natural black hair was quite subtle too because black is hard to lighten but I must say it definitely was red, albeit a dark shade and under a bright light it was vibrant red.

It's just hard to know what will happen to if I dye it red (clearly has some bleach in it to lighten my jet black natural hair/roots). I know when my roots come through now it'll look no different, I do have grey's though and I wonder if I dye it my usual red if only the natural black(+10%greys) will take the red dye on or if the rest of my dyed black hair will too...

The red dye will do nothing to the black, you'll have red roots and black ends.

Yep, the red won’t work on the black dye - just your roots. Don’t do it.

@Roominmyhouse @MyAnacondaMight

but my natural Asian jet black hair is darker than my dyed black hair - you guys still think the natural black roots will take the red dye but the dyed black ends wont?

[quote as141]**@Roominmyhouse* @MyAnacondaMight*

but my natural Asian jet black hair is darker than my dyed black hair - you guys still think the natural black roots will take the red dye but the dyed black ends wont?[/quote]
Based on my DD doing similar I’d say it’s probable. The top of her hair and roots is much noticeably redder!

I think when you’re looking to fix something like that a hairdresser is the best way to go!

[quote as141]**@Roominmyhouse* @MyAnacondaMight*

but my natural Asian jet black hair is darker than my dyed black hair - you guys still think the natural black roots will take the red dye but the dyed black ends wont?[/quote]
Yep. You can’t lift dye/colour with dye/colour. It’ll only lighten on natural hair. If you want the ends red to match the roots you’ll need to have them bleached up to lift out the black or try a colour remover.

Once you've dyed your hair black any colour your put on your hair will just make the ends blacker and blacker. I think you need to go to the hairdresser to get it sorted.