Anyone an (un) natural red-head? Please come and talk to me!

[Helium]

I'm thinking of going red - have always loved red hair and now my son was born with the most gorgeous ginger hair I feel the need to match!!
Does it fade quickly? How will I know what shade to choose (I have a tendency to quite a red face so dont want to end up looking like a raspberry). Would consider a more radical red-type colour if achievable. I currently have highlighted mousey thick and curly hair.

I have very red hair.
Pic on profile.

Its lovely. I love it. Everyone else loves it. you dont know how many compliments you get having hair that colour. People have stopped me in the street.

Its fantastic.

It took about 3 goes at the hairdresser to get the colour in my pic. ( so 3 months)

Here is the downside.

It fades like crazy. Within a week it looks nothing like the same.
The red comes out when you wash it and leaves your bathroom looking like a scene from texas chain saw masarce.

I have got my hairdresser to get me some salon dye, which, as she knows me, she lets me take home.

I need to redo it every week. It still fades to a chestnut colour within 4-5 weeks.

You get BAD roots. ( like people with dyed blonde hair get)

If you can accept that its going to be really high maintence, quite costly, and WILL fade, then go for it.

If those things will bug you, then dont.

Also, once you have got fed up with it, whatever colour you have on top, it will fade and the red will keep coming though for ages and ages ( depending on your lenght of hair and how often you have it coloured) but about a year if you have long hair and are having it coloured once every 6 weeks.

BUT - all the bad points for me, do not outweigh the good.

It would look awesome i bet.

I have natural brown hair but have been red (very red) on and off for years. My roots are not to bad and i find the pinky reds don't fade as quick as the orangey reds so look for maybe deep reds rather than bright copper reds

But once you are red its hard to change colour!!

I have been red in the past. I think it can look lovely on some people especially with brown or green eyes and the right complexion.
The only trouble is if you don't like it once you have done it,it can take ages to get it out or go a lighter shade.

I would try a semi permanant one first!

What she said.

I do mine with live colour at home. Do it every 4 weeks.

Once you do it red permanently it won't come out (duh) and you'll be brassy forever.

However I do think red is the best! If you can get your hands on directions semi permanent, do that. It'll come out and you can get properly red with it. Haven't seen it in about 10 years but I live in the sticks.

I saw a beautiful red colour today. So much so, I asked the girl what shade it was. She said Scarlet from Live XL at Superdrug. I am seriously considering it.It was gorgeous. It won't look the same on me, she was young, long hair. But I'm old enough to carry the occasional mistake. Worrying to hear it might be a long-lasting one...

I use that live colour xxl to get a really good red. I love it.

Roots are a bugger they really show. But it's cheap enough because I use the home dye kits.

I feel much more confident when my hair is bright.

Redderthanred - you look lovely.

I use henna - its permanent, but doesn't damage your hair, it sort of varnishes over the top, leaving it very shiny. You have to be committed to it though, as you can't remove it or dye over the top. Your highlights will come out very red!

If you want to go for it, Lush sell it in solid blocks here. I use the rouge, but the marron is also good, more browny-red.

The other advantage with henna is that it fades gradually, so your roots don't look so bad. It is messy and time consuming though, you have to apply it as a sludge to dry hair, wrap it in cling film and leave for a few hours.

My natural hair colour is dark brown and I use a Live XXL colour - Red Passion. On the box, it looks like redderthanreds (gorgeous!) colour but on my hair it's more subtle although still v noticable. I get lots of lovely comments about it :)

It does fade quickly, like the others have said, but I find that it fades to a nice colour if that makes sense? I dye mine every 5-6 weeks, and to be honest my roots aren't that noticable when it needs doing.

Go for it!

Ooh. feeling a bit inspired by this thread and am tempted to dye mine red. but don't want to go permanent. are there and good semis?

I had red hair until recently and I mean RED, look at my pictures. I loved it but it was such hard work, in the end I just could not be bothered any more. I do miss it though. If you can be arsed with it all it is worth it.

Redderthanred - is that a bright vegetable colour? I dyed mine pillar-box red when I was 17, which involved bleaching it first then applying v.messy Directions colour over the top. The roots did come in looking black when my natural colour is a pale mousey grey/brown, just because it was so bright. When I used vegetable dye again I used it over standard boxed dye as a colour base and didn't have the problem. You need to chemically treat hair in some way to get good results from vegetable dye, and that's the kind of dye you want for bright bright colours. If I was going to do it again now i might consider a professional job just because it's messy, but I am dyspraxic This type of red is about as high maintenance as platinum blonde.

If you want a standard bolder red colour at home I'd really recommend L'oreal Feria. They do fade a bit but switching to SLS free shampoo helps (I had to do this anyway because my scalp was playing silly buggers). Also using Aveda colour conditioner - I've been trying a bottle an old housemate left behind and it's great, though £££. For a more natural tone, Nice'n'Easy and the Boots/Superdrug own-brand colours are pretty good. Never been able to get henna to work on my hair for some reason.

I found Live Colour didn't have enough to cover my shoulder-length hair and ended up with a really patchy dye job.

Oh - my colouring is very redhead anyway, so if my hair is dyed a natural shade people think it is my own. Might be worth trying on some wigs if you can to check on the colour, or working out which are cooler and warmer tones. You'll probably want two boxes for curls.

I like using Herbal Essences 'Paint the Town' (pic on profile).
But I'd really like to give henna a go.
Any chance you can put a pic up OP - we might be able to help you with the shade.

paisley - love your hair colour. its sort of what mine fades out to.

mippy. No, its done at a salon. tbh. i wouldnt do a home dye job on red. If its patchy it looks poo. Plus, she bleaches my roots first, else it also wouldnt match.

Then she gives me colour gloss which i stick on once every two weeks which lifts it back up again and helps keep the redness.

Thankyou :) I find red does fade quite nicely. That pics a while after an application and then it goes more sort of copper-red if I don't re-do it. (I don't do it that often as red does linger).

Paisley and redderthanred - love both your colours. (Love your wreath too, paisley!)

I am a natural redhead and have been au natrel for a while, but might have to try out the Herbal Essences one.

Did you give him a deathly stare?