People with dyed red hair experience.. Come talk to me :)

[boomoohoo]

Hi there,

Im dark brunette with long wavy hair, Olivey skin. The colour red suits me. I'm really really keen to have pillar box red hair, and was just wondering if anyone had any experience in dying their hair this colour? And if so any tips?

My hair can be dry/frizzy so I'm worried about the bleaching..

To get it pillar box red, I'm afraid you would definitely have to bleach first. Red is a lot of upkeep as it fades really quickly so you'd need to reapply dye often to keep it bright. If you do go ahead and bleach, lots of conditioning treatments to keep hair in good condition. Be aware though that home bleaching, if that's what you're planning,is very tricky and usually ends up orange on the middle and ends, which the red will cover but will still be orange underneath so you'd have to be careful about dying it darker if you got tired of the red.

I had red hair for about a year. My hair is naturally black so I had to have a bleach wash done at salon then red applied, it looks wonderful when freshly done but it fades so quickly. I was colouring my hair every 2 - 3 weeks to keep colour looking fresh but all that colouring dried it out. Even with all the conditioning I was doing, so after a year I had it cut and coloured black.
I loved my hair when it was red and am glad I did it just wish there was a way of having that colour without drying my hair out.

I did it.

Went from my natural dark brunette to bright red via bleach. It was lovely at first but the colour was impossible to keep (red dye bleeding everywhere) and my hair was ruined.

My hair was so damaged by the whole process that I ended up shaving it all off 6 weeks ago.

I really wouldn't recommend it. It might be ok for someone with naturally light hair but not us brunettes.

Thank u for the advice, i worried as much, ill now steer clear of red!

I want to do something radically different though! I'm growing it at the moment.. It's nearly nipple length. Has anyone got any ideas?

Ps I'm not brave enough to shave...

There is a hair dye you can buy for dark hair that's meant to get it red. There are videos of people using it on you tube.

I'll have a look and come back to you.

Ah thank u

It's loreal hi colour, you can get it on amazon. You have to buy the developer cream to go with it.

Can't vouch for it working myself but the reviews are good

My natural colour is a mid brown and I managed to get pretty bright red without bleaching first. I had it red for years and it's always been in really good condition. I dyed it every 4-6 weeks with those Live XXL colours. I used the second to brightest shade of red they do. I'll see if I can upload a pic! I miss my red hair. I just kept dyeing it every few weeks an it kept getting brighter!

Sil did it diy. The whole process was so hard on her hair that it started breaking off about an inch from the roots.

The Loreal Hi Colour won't turn your hair from dark brown to bright red. Only bleach can do that.

You'll get a really red tint to your hair but it won't be pillar box red.

I used a mix of the Hi Colour in Magenta and in Red. The colour really is gorgeous but imo not worth the hassle.

There was red dye all over my towels and bedding. You have to rinse using ice cold water to try and retain the colour which made showering miserable!

And it faded really quickly anyway.

As you can see from Felix's photo it can work really well on light brown hair. It looks lovely .