Home hair dye experts I have a quick Question......

[flier]

I have mousey hair and have recently been putting an ash blonde permanent dye in it which has lightened it nicely, it looks fairly natural.

But, I have noticed this time that it is slightly reddish mid to ends of the hair.

Now, anyone know why? I'm thinking that the dye has either been on too long or not long enough. Any ideas?

red is the strongest pigment in hair dye, it will happen with any colour over time. as it fades, it also becomes redder. it will be redder where you describe as the colour has taken more there, ie, mid to ends, hair will be at its dryer, so more porous.

even ash colours have too much red in them imo. i do mine at home, natural colour is dark ash blonde. i've tried so many colours only to be disappointed to find it's really red compared to what's shown on the box.

did you put the dye all over for the full time, or do the roots first and then the rest?

Colour build up. It's a problem ime with home dye. I now go to a hairdresser and get it done professionally as it didn't matter what colour I used, my hair was was getting darker at the ends and quite reddish at the roots - not a good look!

I've only used this colour twice. I used to use a darker one.

1st time I used this ash blonde colour I applied it all over. The last time I used it I did the roots first then added to the rest of the hair. Followed the instructions to the letter.

flier, what brand and shade is it?

I tried daniel galvin water based colour which is meant to be much kinder to hair but found it didn't do a particularly good job covering the grey, but if you have no grey it might beworth a go if you don't want to pay salon prices.

I too have mousey hair and dye or bleach it myself. I always use nice 'n' easy in ash blonde or one of the cool shades. I have never had a build up of red pigment as you describe.

The only prob I get is that the roots never come up as light as the rest of the hair and can look a little cheesy sometimes. I should probably use a pre-lightener but ca never be bothered. My sister puts through some bleach highlights and this brings it up to a nice blonde.

Have you tried phoning the helpline on the box? There should be one.

lucykate - I can't remember! I kept the tab from it so I had the shade number but it doesn't have the make on it!

I'm currently googling - its one that has an "appli-comb" and the shade is 91 - light ash blonde

i've struggled with nice n easy shades, i find on my hair, the ash blonde shades come out far too light and a bit reddish, but the light ash brown shade is far too dark.

i've used that many different brands and shades, i keep notes now as to what the results where. sad i know but it keeps me from making the same mistake twice!

that's why i wanted to know from flier which one she's used to see if it's one i've used before.

is it one of those new l'oreal excel 10 ones?, they have an appli-comb, think they work in 10 mins.

lucykate, i think it is the l'oreal excellence creme one. Have been on the boots website and it is sooooo slow .

I have used the nice & easy in the past, same shade as you lucyjate, the light ash brown and I agree with you, it is really dark which was why I took the plunge and decided to go for the light ash blonde.

so, lucykate, have you used l'oreal excellence creme?

Supercherry, maybe I should try Nice & Easy light ash blonde then? I actually don't really like going to the hairderssers, its bad enough going for a haircut never mind a colour too

Sometimes with the ash shades I have a slightly purple tinge but usually fades to a nice colour within a week or so. It's difficult isn't it? I think bleach is best as you get a nicer shade of blonde but too harsh for all over coverage so you need to be half decent at doing highlights.

Could you get a friend to help with highlights? Me and my sister both do foils purely from copying the hairdresser and they look really good. We use Jerome Russell. I guess it depends on the look you are after.

i used shade natural dark blonde, but again found, for me, it was too light, too red, and faded very quickly. this is the one with the appli-comb i've used

the other l'oreal range, here, now the ash shades in this range are pretty good, have used light ash blonde, and ash blonde, but when you go to natural dark blonde, that shade is too red.

actually, the excellence one has a appli-comb now too! it's been a while since i've used it. i reckon this must be the one you've used.

i've never had any problems with that one other than it being a bit too light for me. i guess it's all a case of finding what works best for your hair, all dye will take differently on different hair.

if you want to try and strip some of the colour out if it is a bit too reddish, head & shoulders works as it's a very strong shampoo, i've used that trick a few times to tone a colour down.

thank you LucyKate.

I'll try the head & shoulders tonight

and Yes, that is the one I use.

upercherry thanks. The one and only time I have had my hair highlighted was around 7 years ago, at the hairdressers and I hate looking at photos from then, she made it more like a strawberry blonde (is lovely on alot of people but not me).
Maybe one of these days I'll pluck up the courage and go to the hairdressers.
I don't really have anyone to help me foing it at home Any offers

just wondered which brand you currently use, Lucykate?

Honestly, I tried pretty much every brand and had the exact same problem. I solved it by finding a haridresser to come to my home and do it with the 'flat' colours - she only charges £15 (granted alot more than out of the bottle) and the colour is VASTLY better. By the end of summer with the bottled ones I looked like a tangerine!!!

holland and barrett do a natural one. that might help with your red problem - but i'm not certain

flier, i tend to use a different one each time in an eternal search for the right colour! last time i used belle colour by garnier, shade 7 - natural very light brown, but i don't like it, its too light. did it 4 weeks ago, and am trying hard to leave it another couple of weeks before doing it again with a darker shade.

how's yours? is it still looking too red?

hi lucykate.

its looking less red today, thanks to the head & shoulders

I bought 2 new colours today in tesco, gonna try to hold off until next week to try one of them out .

Plan is that if it doesn't look noce will just put a darker one over the top.

Sorry - meant to say - she used salon colours NOT bottles ones.

thanks cluckyagain