Naturally red hair keeps getting darker

[sandy259]

I think I'm fighting a losing battle but the older I get the darker my naturally red hair gets. On the underneath layers that don't get the sun its more of a dark brown than a dark red.

I would love to add more red to my hair but I tried a semi permanent colour and it did nothing to brighten it.

I would prefer not to have to use a lightener on it to brighten it but I think that might be my only option at this point.

Any advice, product suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I'm naturally blonde rather than red, but I've had the same process happen to me over the years. The underlayers that hardly get any sunlight are more of a light brown now. Apart from opting for (probably very expensive) highlights or lowlights at a salon (which I'm not willing to do), I don't really have a solution. Hopefully someone else will!

Also, now in my 40s with some grey coming in, the overall colour is lightening a bit again (with white sparkles mixed amongst the rest). I'm excited for it to be fully white at some point soon, if I'm lucky. But I appreciate that a wish to go grey isn't for everyone! 😅

I'm the same and have found any yellow baby shampoo or Head & Shoulders lightens my hair. I avoid shampoo that is blue or green in colour as that tends to darken my hair. Timotei used to be the one I used in winter to keep my summer highlights so I suppose a shampoo with camomile might do the job.

Henna? Do a strand test. A girl at our uni hennaed her red hair redder.

This happened to my mum and she kept colouring back to the more auburn/red colour - but it didn't suit her changing complexion and aged her badly, she looked much better with the new natural colour.

An aging
fellow red head here, I use red henna. Plus side is that add you go grey it gives the most beautiful tonal highlights!

Thanks for all your replies will give the baby shampoo and the henna a go

Might give this a go as I face the same issue.

I'm only 30 so dyeing my hair back to as close as I can get it helps/suits me well. But it's getting very expensive and I'm fed up with it.

I use henna on my dark brown hair which has a smattering of grey and henna gives me lovely red highlights.

Our daughter’s hair was very red/ginger as a youngster - has gradually darkened and is now a lovely conker colour - I so wish I had hair like her 👍🏿☘️