Will dying my hair very, very red ruin it?

[eyebrowseyebrows]

I've been growing my hair and keeping to my natural brunette for absolutely bloody ages in preparation for my wedding on 1st December.

I'm thoroughly bored of it so fancied a BIG change after the nuptials...I was thinking of the cut in the first pic with the colour of the second pic.

Does anyone know whether going so red would damage my hair? Would I be able to go this colour from brown or would it be bleached?

Any ideas how easy or hideously difficult it would be to go back to brown afterwards?

To get a very bright red you'd need to lighten the base colour, so bleach would be necessary.
However, red does fade quite quickly, so you'd need to reapply colour. That said, there are lots of semi-perm colours that do not contain ammonia so they wouldn't damage your hair.

My friend is a hairdresser and she said there are some new red hair dyes that don’t require stripping the hair as much . Maybe worth asking about .

A decent permanent red dye will cover brown and be vivid but it fades quickly. I would suggest topping up with semi permanent red to keep it vibrant. Also it stains and transfers so it's quite high maintenance

Maybe go brighter over a couple of sessions?

I had very red hair for about 10 years using a box dye - to get my hair back to a browny colour they had to basically take it almost all the way to bleach blonde because on my hair, the red pigment really really stuck and the only way to get it out was to bleach. It took about a year to do it gradually (possibly could have been quicker but I wanted to keep the hair healthy). The red didn’t damage my hair as such but it certainly didn’t let go easily!

Brunette is lovely - some people go to great trouble to achieve brunette. I am 69, brunette with not a single grey hair, as happens with many brunettes. Once you start tinkering it, especially if bleach is involved, you will never get your wonderful colour back. Love what you have!

@Mishappening I've been all sort of colours before, including bleach blonde and have always managed to get back to my natural colour eventually.

Worst case scenario it takes a few months to grow out

Take the high maintenance advice seriously. I have box dyed my hair very red over the top of highlights. It takes fine but my god every time I washed my hair was like the movie Carrie - anything with red pigment is the same. It comes out on towels too but it does wash out and my towels are snowy white.

Purple isn’t nearly as bad but it still bleeds on to towels.

The pictured colour is amazing though

And sadly I have lots of grey (genetic curse) so my brunette is now partly dyed anyway to cover all the grey

Just a head's up - make sure the red shade complements your complexion. I have cool skin tones and naturally ash hair. If I die it a warm shade, it brings out all the imperfections in my skin and makes me look a tad flushed.

This is one of those times where you really need to consult a good colourist.

that's dye it not die it. FFS.

Definitely lots to think about!

I never know whether I have warm or cool tones...I'm fairly sure I have warm tones as I can wear bright and jewel colours but camel, pastels, grey make me look washed out.

Does that sound right to be warm?

Doing the gold vs. silver test is the best way. One will probably look better than the other.

A good colourist will be able to tell and will go through it all with you.

YY to it being high maintenance. Red is one of the hardest colours to 'hold'. So although recent developments mean the dyes don't run like they used to, red does tend to fade more quickly than other colours.

I always think if you go for the shade in the op pic you need to look quite done and wear make up. Too bare faced and edged out willmaje you look like and awkward teenager

Totally agree Queen...I have just invested in the vamp stamp so will be all cat eyes

Eyebrows - love it