Advice for home-dyeing virgin hair?

liah

My hair is almost completely virgin-- the first and last time I dyed it was around four or five years ago, and it didn't take (lasted half a week). I do blowdry my hair almost every day, but I don't straighten it.

It's quite fine, very long (mid-back), layered but really needs to be cut (should I colour before or after cut?).

I want to go quite dark, a sort of chocolatey brown (click for example). My hair is ash-blonde based but still dark. Kind of hard to explain (example 1, example 2 -- eh, excuse the 2-day-old makeup, it was a long weekend ). Do you think that kind of brown would take to my hair, considering it's basically never been dyed before and is in very good condition (I can't use conditioner, makes my hair really greasy, will the colour affect that?), incredibly soft with just shampoo because it's so fine and thick. Are there any extra steps I should take considering my natural tone? Should I use a darker dye than what I actually want to ensure it takes?

I so don't know what I'm doing but I just CANNOT afford a hairdresser! I miss my hairdresser-mommy, wish she came in a travel kit!

Miss Dymph

first of all, your hair is fab as it is and i envy you so much having virgin hair.....think so carefully before dyeing it! But to ensure the colour sticks and to make it not just a block colour you could use your average home dye and a lowlighting kit over it in strips, breaks the colour a bit and allows for some fading. Dye your hair first and then give it a cut so you can chop off any dry ebds that occured during the dyeing process, it shouldnt cost too much for you, even make sure you just keep the ends hydrated with an un-oily serum or invest in a really decent shampoo, all the salon services outlets sell to non trades-people and have wonderful products for cheap. Keep it nice and long and just layer it lightly, will be fab!

Shazanne

Liha - there is only one bit of advice that I can give and that you should take - wait until you can afford to go to the hairdresser!!
You obviously dont know what you're doing and you are a prime candidate for a disaster - and it will be a costly experience (in many ways!) to put it right.
Also, if you are considering such a drastic colour change, try to take your skin tone etc into consideration - unless you want to look totally falso and silly.
Again I say - wait until you can afford to have this done professionally, even if it means volunteering as a model for a hair salon, which is a cheap yet professionally supervised option. Just don't risk it yourself:eek:

liah

I don't really have another option and I am just so damn sick of this.. weird.. straw/honey/mouse-coloured hair. I don't even know wtf colour it is, I want a hair colour that has a name! :P

Chuchoter

Anybody I know who box dyed their hair before going to a hairdresser at least once has regretted it. It ruins your hair, but the dark colour is lovely.

Miss Dymph

Liah, yes definitely its a definite risk but i think a bit much of a fuss is being made here, i always always dye my own hair from pink/red/blonde/brown everything and dyeing it dark should only be considered if you can be confident that you will keep your hair dark for some time, but once you can guarantee yourself that then i say go for it, its very risky dyeing it back blonde and thats when its advisable to see a hairdresser but dyeing it dark provided there is absolutely no existing colour in it, leaves very little margin of error. A nice rich colour, add some lowlights for texture and get rid of all the dry bits and your hair will be lovely!

Sound Bite

liah wrote: »

I don't really have another option and I am just so damn sick of this.. weird.. straw/honey/mouse-coloured hair. I don't even know wtf colour it is, I want a hair colour that has a name! :P

Liah, best advise is to wait until you can go to hairdresser. Why not even see if you can find one who'll do it for a discount some evenings when the salon is closed, it'll be done by a supervised trainee.

I did exactly what your planning. My natural hair colour is non descript, just bland, mousy brown at best. So got sick of it and decided red was for me. Big mistake, followed the instructions to the letter but still a disaster. Ended up costing me more as I had to go to salon, who sort it out.

cc-offe

Don't go for a darker dye if you do decide to dye it yourself.....i've been dying my hair black for 10 years, the first 7 years or so I was dying it with permanent, my hair is still in great condition but now I only use semi permanent (20 washes) I use a dark brown and it makes my hair jet black...not brown black...jet black...so I would prob actually suggest you try a lighter colour than you're looking for

nicola09

I also envy your hair as it is now, my natural hair was the same as yours and I absolutely destroyed it with highlights, I'm now bright blonde and although everyone says it suits me better than my natural colour (which is kind of insulting lol what did I look like before?!) I wish I'd left well enough alone!

However I don't think any harm could come of putting a semi-permanent colour in your hair, if you dont like it it will eventually wash out anyway, just don't go putting two semi permanents in as two semi home colours means basically permanent I believe?! All the hairdressers seem to say that brown is the best colour for home dyes (compared to blonde) so I don't think you could go too far wrong! That said, I've never dyed my own hair because I get highlights so my advice should be taken with a pinch of salt!:) Put vaseline around your hairline to prevent staining and use very very old towels! Oh and the colour on the box is never the same as the colour it will appear on your hair, so be careful, a few of my friends have ended up darker than they would have liked!