Hair dye help please

[FriedSprout]

Hairdresser has had the nerve to go away on lovely holiday , but left 'instructions' for me to touch up roots.

I have no idea what they mean, and if I did no idea where to buy the stuff. I was hoping the instructions would say "Clairol Bla, bla put on and leave for 5 minutes, £5.99 in Boots

She has left the following instructions "I used 8.0 with 20vol but if you think it needs to be a bit darker use 7.0 with 20vol. Hope that helps you..good luck I'm sure you'll colour it lovely"

Help needed -Aggggghh!

She means shade 8.
Shades go from darkest (1) to lightest blonde (10)

See colour chart

The 20vol is the developer you mix the tube with.

Go to a Sallys hair shop who will have the stuff, or buy on ebay.

Those shades seem a bit light, this might be better here

Vegan I didn't think you could buy hair dyes from Sallys unless you had a trade card? I could be wrong but seem to remember that until I qualified I wasn't able to buy anything with chemicals in?

Fried I would say the easiest thing is to buy an equivalent colour in somewhere like Boots - some brands have the numbers written on them (then you don't even need to worry about the 20vol bit).

For instance <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=2.bp.blogspot.com/-9iSuwnkl_hk/Tz7JE5djGKI/AAAAAAAAB_0/ZqVa3oT7mDY/s1600/hair_garnier8_box.jpg&imgrefurl=pretty-perfect-beauty.blogspot.com/2012/02/review-garnier-nutrisse-80-vanilla.html&h=1024&w=768&sz=319&tbnid=Bdjx7nFK0jJWTM:&tbnh=115&tbnw=86&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhair%2Bcolour%2B8.0%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=hair+colour+8.0&usg=__lrdOQ5jYgByXJ0Asoob9N56x9is=&docid=68b6kFFYc88ywM&sa=X&ei=wHbBUd-nDOHL0QXO6YCoCg&ved=0CFAQ9QEwAQ&dur=335" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">this

or
<a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=nlyscandinavia.scene7.com/is/image/nlyscandinavia/211027-1768_1%3F%24ProductLarge%24&imgrefurl=nelly.com/uk/beauty-women/beauty/hair-colour/lor%25C3%25A9al-pr%25C3%25A9f%25C3%25A9rence-2492/permanent-hair-color-80-211027-1768/&h=500&w=393&sz=48&tbnid=TFqiyVTMyOpztM:&tbnh=111&tbnw=87&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhair%2Bcolour%2B8.0%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=hair+colour+8.0&usg=__HvFwD_jUiYnEaRm3C8Nww3QnxzU=&docid=EMeMds5RHNBPMM&sa=X&ei=wHbBUd-nDOHL0QXO6YCoCg&ved=0CFMQ9QEwAg&dur=302" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">this

or if you do want a shade darker, this

Thanks ever so Vegan, will have a look at the chart, and hour suggestion. Think there is a Sally's in Town.

Wish me luck

*your - doh!

Thanks Regina, never even noticed the numbers on the bottles.

Would you just do the roots or all over to try and blend on. Sorry, am very definitely a hair dye novice

Thanks both for your help

Well if you buy a box of 'kit' like I linked to there will be instructions - actually there are also instructions with the stuff you get in hairdresser suppliers - but basically you mix an equal amount of the colour tube & mixer (20vol stuff) together, prob just a tablespoon of each if you're doing roots. Cover all the roots with a little brush or dab on with your fingertips (with gloves on!) and leave for the allocated time - usually about 30 mins or up to 45 mins if you have lots of grey. Comb the colour through the rest of the hair about ten minutes before the end of the total time; just to avoid getting a bit of a 'line'. Leaving the mixture on too long won't hurt - it stops working after the allocated time anyway and will just sit there till you wash it off. That's not the case with bleach, btw - leaving that on too long will ruin/break off your hair. But the stuff you'll be using doesn't have bleach in

Right - that's great, when can you fit me in?

Seriously, thanks very much x

how about this :

superdrug

in shade 7.77 so in between 7 and 8?

Just do the roots leave for 10 mins, then add quite a bit of shampoo to the colour thats left in the bottle (make sure you leave a bit if only a tablespoonful) mix it well, and lather it up all over the whole of your hair. leave for just a couple of mins, no more than 5, then rinse the lot off.

Personally I would stick to a single 7.0 or 8.0 (or just 7 or 8).

The numbers after the point indicate variants on the tone, adding either reds or coppers or other shades to the overall base colour. To best match what you already have stick to what your hairdresser said, I think

Seriously sprout if you were anywhere near me I would fit you in

Oh, that's very nice, decisions, decisions

Thanks R

And PS if you're generally happy with the colour your hairdresser uses, stick with one of the '8' ones . Home hair colours tend to be darker rather than lighter anyway.

How long is your Hairdresser away for anyway? Are you not tempted to just leave your roots for a bit?

Can I chip on and ask how do you know from let's say nice n easy that the colour won't turn red. Every colour I put on my roots goes red. I have blonde hi lites and the colour my hairdresser puts on my roots, base shade I think it's called fades really quickly and then just goes a bit gingery. Then whatever colour I apply goes red.

Red dye fades really quickly - the red pigment particles are not as well absorbed by the hair as other colours so just don't 'stick' as well. The only answer to the gingeryness is to reapply the red regularly. But you don't want to keep going over permanent colour too often, so you can do an all-over refresh with a semi-permanent red colour to brighten in up inbetween.

And if you are finding most colours you apply to your hair turn red, it's probably that you have lots of natural red pigment in your hair. It's not always obvious until you do apply a permanent colour, which contains peroxide in (as they all do), which then shows up the red in your hair. If that's the case I would keep away from red/coppery tones of colour and go for more ash toned colours.

Aw Regina thanks three entire weeks she is away! I am a slattern too, and that accounts for very loooong roots needing doing - right now

Regina and Vegan - SUCCESS , and a very big thank you

I used Garnier Vanilla Blonde and followed your instructions to the letter.

Must say it looks fab, very pleased

glad it all worked out for you. in case it helps anyone else, when i was a redhead, i found the best dye that pretty much refused to budge was the copper Nature's Harvest ones from Planet Organic or Whole Foods. I thought it would wash out straight away being organic and that (i assumed that meant it was a bit airy fairy) but it lasted ages and the shade and shine were so much better than the other ones I'd tried (Feria - ick, v flat colour looking, some Preference ones that had nice tones but didn't last long and a Nice & Easy copper one which was ok)

Aw Sprout you're v welcome

pickle interesting about the Nature's Harvest dyes - have never used them so maybe worth a look next time I'm dabbling with reds...