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Rant & Rave: Hair Dye
This Week’s Topic: HAIR DYE!
Your Mission: Tell us what you love, hate, or are otherwise indifferent to about hair dye. What drives you bananas? What makes them necessary?
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Hair dye doesn’t bother me but I’ve had professional training to use it. I just don’t get why people have such a hard time with it… especially those using the kits. I can understand if they’re buying the developer and dye apart and don’t get if the product has a 1:1 ratio or a 2:1 ratio but most hair dye is a 1:1 ratio.
Hair bleach on the other hand I’ve always hated since it’s such a pain and some hair takes to it easily and other hair (like mine) will never go past the dark orange level. Which reminds me… bleaching my daughter’s hair because she wants bubblegum pink hair for Christmas. Oh boy.
bubble gum pink hair 😀 cool
Yeah I used Manic Panic’s 40 bleach and couldn’t get it all the way down. I’ve heard some people use their “Snow White” (or is it virgin white…) to act as a toner to get rid of the orange. I may try that.
My advice–unless she has light hair to start with, go with a darker shade of pink–the light pink (I used Manic Panic Cotton Candy) was SO light and really didn’t show up the best in my hair because I couldn’t get it light enough).
It will be cute–and you earn cool mom points 🙂
I’m very much indifferent about hair dying. With my curly/kinky/wavy hair it would takes $1000’ds of dollar per year to bleach, treat and maintain. 🙁
Plus I got 5 different shades going on naturally in my auburn hair, why mess with the colour. lol
I’m more concerned about maintaining the curles/waves.
Actually, the price really depends on how much hair you have.
* You’d need bleach or color retouches every now and again, but it’s not too bad.
I HATE that the result is always much darker than it should be. I also hate that the ugliest non permanent dyes last on my hair till I cut it! (5 years at least…). I think that it’s great to cover white hair, but it shouldn’t be used for any other purpose, cause no matter what, havoc will happen!
I’m 26, I have premature grey hair, lots of it, so I love it 🙂 I wish it wasn’t so damaging, but I do try to take care of my hair as best as I could, just do my roots instead of changing color again and again, and trim my ends regularly. Some stylists will charge very cheap for a trim, or might not charge you at all.
Also, my hair is jet black. Think of black that doesn’t go red or brown under the sun. When I went lighter a couple of years ago, it’s like a light lit up for my complexion. It makes me look *healthier*, of all things, and works so well for my deep yellow toned skin.
black can be the harshest dye….I absolutely LOVED using Garnier Nutrisse, my hair never felt unhealthy. Also it does depend on what shampoo/conditioners you use. Cost does make a difference. The better the shampoo/conditioner, the better my hair.
Yeah I started going white at 25–that’s kids for you! LOL
I don’t have black hair anymore, I’ve been lighter for a couple of years now. Also I’m definitely going for sulphate-free shampoo & conditioners. The Body Shop just came up with a range and it’s very affordable so I’m gonna try that out!
I started growing white pretty early, college will do that for you. My friends did too, but they’re not as advanced as I am now. I have white hair genetics from my mother lol
I love hair dye! I’ve been dyeing my hair since I was about ten. First it was highlights, then more highlights, then I was a red head, then more highlights and now I am a light brunette (originally a very dark brunette). I think my only gripe is that it’s smelly. And my hair usually smells like the dye for a couple days afterwards. But I love that you can change your look for under $10. It’s time consuming and some what high maintenance but I love it!
Oh my goodness. Well, for starters, permanent dye freaks me out. Not that I never use it, but using on the regular seems dangerous to me what with all the chemicals. For seconds, I hate dealing with roots, ugh. However, sometimes the pay off it worth all the silly effort it takes to paint my hair a desirable color. Here’s some of my adventures with Manic Panic (http://sara-sayswhat.blogspot.com/2011/10/sara-sings-purple-haze-all-in-my-brain.html) and having an inexplicable red ombre (http://sara-sayswhat.blogspot.com/2011/08/sara-says-im-as-free-as-my-hair.html).
I have dyed my hair bright red for about one year. It’s a wonderful colour but it stains my neck, shoulders and face with the bright colour and the shower turns pink after hair wash.. lol
Hello! Hair dyeing veteran in the house, lol.
My favorite hair dye of all time is Revlon. I have dark ash blonde hair, and their lightest blonde box will remove color extremely well to give you a platinum blonde (ammonia free). However, when I decided to go one shade darker, my hair turned straight-up gray. If you use a Revlon brown, it won’t be very “multi-dimensional.” You pretty solidly get whatever is on the box.
Loreal brands are also very good. If you’re dyeing your hair like a normal person and only moving around a few shades, this is the product for you. I prefer their Preference and Feria lines, depending on the shade. Most drugstores neglect to carry ashy/cool-toned Ferias, however.
I tried the John Frieda foam dye once. My hair is fine and straight, so ideally I should have had no problems at all. I followed the directions, but every time I put a handful of foam to my hair, the dye immediately deflated. There’s a picture in the instructions that says “Your hair should look like THIS when you’re done!” and the photo is of a woman with lathered-up-sudsy hair. My hair looked like I had done nothing to it at all. I don’t know what the deal was, but I probably won’t try this product again.
There is no point to buying Perfect 10. It’s overpriced and they only have like five colors.
i love dying my hair as i have that mousy brown “almost grey” hair that is so boring and for me renders it almost a necessity!
i wish they werent so toxic though, they burn my scalp and the smell is nauseating. Also hate when the colour washes out so quick that its not worth it (I’m looking at you, schwartzkopf live!)
to help the colour stay in better
*use colour shampoos that protect your hair
*dont wash your hair too often
*the sun will also fade your hair so use hair products that protect fading from the sun
*also when you 1st colour it-try not to wash it for as long as you can so the colour will stay in for longer..
I have that same almost-grey mousy-brown hair color, too! It seems like EVERYONE I meet who has that color hair dyes it some other color.
I have the dreaded mousey brown, too! I like playing around with different colors, I’ve gone black to red to blonde, ideally it would naturally be blonde or copper-y red, but I’m always scared to diy blonde since my hairs naturally dark I’m afraid it’ll turn orange
My hair is that color too! I hate it, and hide it by whatever means necessary. My hair has stayed colored for at least the past 10 years, lol
If you don’t mind semi-permanent haircolor, you can get more natural color kits at the health food store. Manic Panic–while the colors are wild :)–are very very good for your hair (and are more of a stain than a dye).
Also, before you rinse, spritz vinegar in your hair, it will help set the dye. Just ordinary cooking vinegar, spritz it in your hair, comb thru, then rinse. You can do it again after and rinse once more. I got this tip from MP and use this when washing certain fabrics for quilting 😉
Heh, I think mousey brown hair is cute! I’ve seen it look great on a ton of girls.
I’ve dyed my hair on and off for years, and usually like the results, although I have had bad experiences.
Most recently, I used Nice ‘n’ Easy foam and it was TERRIBLE. Medium brown, turned out BLACK (and I didn’t even leave it on the full amount of time because of the terrible smell). It was runny and dripped all over (something a FOAM is not supposed to do) and stained my skin terribly.
I’ve used the John Frieda foam before and it was nice, so I suppose I will go back to that eventually.
OH MY GOD!!!! The same thing happened to me! I’m a natural brunette and had tried dying my hair more reddish, but I decided to go back to my original hair color and I picked up the Nice n Easy foam in the shade Medium Reddish Brown (5RB I think)–I looked like I had colored my hair in with a Sharpie!!! Also some major skin staining on my forehead and neck… After several weeks of swimming and using Prell shampoo to help strip the color, it finally faded out to a dark reddish brown, which looks nice NOW (2+ months later), but it was so horrible!!!! I would seriously advise against using that color or even that line of hair dye!!!
Only other commentary I can add is that non-permanent dyes are just as intense as permanent ones and don’t really wash out, and that Garnier’s non-permanent line makes your hair look really fake–specifically, while the “base color” of my hair (i.e. the color of it when in shadow or neutral lighting) was brown, the color of the hair when it reflected in the light (indoor or sunlight) was really red, giving me a weird red halo effect. It certainly gave my hair a reddish “tinge,” just not quite the way I wanted it.
Also, anyone have any recommendations for a nice reddish brown hair dye? I didn’t really find any at the drugstore or supermarket that was actually a *brown* and not just an auburn or a brighter red… Part of the reason I went back to natural was that everything I tried made me red or orange, even, though I had still wanted to remain a brunette (just lighter and redder)…
Thanks!
The John Frieda foam in 6G light golden brown gives a lovely warm glow to brown hair – almost bordering on reddish in sunlight. I find the Frieda colors with “red” in the name turn too red (unless going red is your aim), but the goldens are nice and warm.
I love the formula of this hair color and it is by far my favorite for at home color. My only gripe with it is that the line has a serious deficit of cool/ash tones. In fact, there are no ash brown tones at all.
it’s mainly the smell. i really don’t dye my hair all that often, but the best one I’ve used was one of the Garnier ones. The color was fantastic (#426 Deep Burgundy) and I got a ton of compliments and it actually smelled really good! And on the plus side…. it only took 10 minutes!!!
Oooh yes! That was my favorite color!! With all the white in my hair, in the sun it would glow purple. got hard to find IRL tho. I think I may have a box tucked away for emergencies 😉
I’ve loved hair dye well during my lifetime. I got my first grey at age 14. I see hair dye pretty much the same way that I see cosmetics. It lets me be creative, it’s fun! I enjoy playing around with my image or look.
Since turning completely grey, hair dye has become too dificult with my white roots showing in 2 weeks.
I’ve finally stopped dying and let the natural grey “be”
i love it but i dont like the maintenance and the damage it does. used to work at a hair salon so hair dye can become quite addictive..
i usuallly do semipermants which are realy good for LOW MAINTAINENCE and they fade very naturally if you arnt going to many shades lighter than your natural hair..
and CAP highlights are WAY NICER that foils.. mre evenly across the hair with thicker and thinner highlights but overall thinner than foils.. chunky highlights are just horrid..
I love the final results, but the process can be a pain. In addition to my normal dark-brown coloring, I also have purple in the front (formerly pink) which requires me to bleach. Bleach hurts! >.< The color is gorgeous, but the funky colors get everywhere like pillows, my face, and stains my nails!
I dye my hair all the time. I’m a natural blonde but i got tired of that years ago. My go to color for like 2 years now has been thing dark red that has a purple sheen to it LOVE IT! My mom is de hairdyer in charge. It’s just super easy and cheap to buy a kit at the drugstore and do it yourself. Unless for some reason i would have to, i’m never going blonde again 😀
I adore hair dye. My natural hair color is an awful, flat blonde with no shine whatsoever. I lighten it up a little, and once I learned the correct care routine, I see very minimal damage. I’ve had it salon-colored and used every box dye out there. I always end up going back to Garnier Fructise. It smells wonderful and the color always develops really well on my hair. For everyone complaining about the smell – this is the hair dye for you! It’s the only one my husband doesn’t run away from 🙂
I love dying my hair. I haven’t had my natural black hair color since 2008. I’ve gone from the normal colors like dark brown, light brown, to the extreme: platinum blonde. Right now I have a box-dyed purple/black hair color, but because my hair’s been dyed so much, the black doesn’t stay. it washes out and the brown comes right back. i’m planning on slowly going to an ashy sort of dark blonde (like the japanese gyaru hair colors).
My hair is naturally the dreaded mousy dark blonde that so many people seems to have. I have been colouring my hair since I was 12 and I can’t say I see an end in sight. At 24 I started going grey but the upside to that is the natural highlighted effect I get around my face! I have box dyed and been to the salon many times…. I usually go red and I can’t really say I like the salon results any better. Red washes out so quickly either way. My favourites are Feria and Loreal Preference. I will say with Feria yo have t be careful of your roots, they sometimes end up way lighter than the rest of your hair! The only thing I wont do at home is any kind of bleaching… My hair is so processed I woudln’t take the chance in getting orange ends and white roots…. yes it has happened to me before, Im pretty sure it has happened to everyone! I would probably never get my hair coloured at the salon if my best friend wasn’t a stylist, I think trial and error will reveal the best hair colour for you!
Also – for anyone else who goes red… I found this awsome mousse by Matrix that you put in after you shampoo and before conditioner. It is super conditioning and is supposed to extend your colour. In Canada you can only get it at a beauty supply store and I cant remember what it’s called right now but it works well, I can always tell the difference when I dont use it. I think its kind of like a toner, it goes on and rinses out pink but it has never stained my skin. Check it out!
I used to use boxed dye and it always made my hair feel like straw. Since I’ve switched to the henna hair put out by Lush, my hair has never looked better! It makes it so silky and the color (rouge) is amazing.
aye, I meant henna hair DYE* 🙂
I LOVE dying my hair, Im naturally blonde and I keep up little mermaid red hair. Its not so hard once you get used to it, Lots of freezing shampooing and mostly just conditioning, lots of dry shampoo but it looks awesome in my opinion. I am easy to pick out of a crowd if nothing else lol!
I’ve been coloring my hair since I was about 14, and even though I don’t have any formal training, I typically do a good job. I’ve had just about every color under the sun and I’ve never had any major hair disasters or weird results. Right now my naturally dark brown hair that was a medium auburn is dyed with Manic Panic Vampire Red. I get so many compliments from women of all ages, especially in ladies rooms. I have to touch it up often, but Manic Panic is made from vegetable pigments and it’s nourishing, so it actually makes my hair healthier. Coloring your hair, whether it is dramatic or subtle, is such a fun, easy way to play with your look and update or even drastically change it. I am a big, big fan of hair color, even moreso now that I have greys!
I’ve seen that color do amazing things! Wish I’d known about it during my red days. Now I have huge silver chunks in hair that’s turned naturally ash based black, or as black as European descent gets. Every gay guy I know forbade me to ever dye again but I’m so tempted! some Ultraviolet Manic Panic for the Holidays should keep the Witch Hair ( I get called that) but jeujge it up a little. Is there a spelling for that word?
LOVE hair dye!! I color my hair all the time, way more than I should, but I can’t help myself. HATE Garnier dye, I’ve tried it a few times and it always fades super fast on me.
I have more than 50% of grey hair now and I am only 36. I have grey hair since I was 17. When I was 19 I started using hair dye. I have to dye my hair every 2 weeks, which I hate, simply because it is such a waste of time and hard work…
I have no problem with the colour results whatsoever, that’s because I dye my hair just 2 tones lighter than my natural hair colour.
I think people start having problems when they decide to go more than 3 shades lighter or darker.
I have ALWAYS dyed my hair myself! I have no problems with that at all. I just hate the hard work. But the colour result ALWAYS works.
I use Clairol Nice and Easy and for me it’s the best hair colour in the market. Loreal hair dye is just too damaging and drying.
Nice and Easy does damage, but much less than other brands. Plus the colour is always ecxatly like in the box!
My hair is dark brown and I use #116 Natural Light neutral brown. It’s perfect for me because it doesn’t give me that orange redish colour.
I heard that if you hair tends to go orange when you are colouring lighter, that means you need to use a hair colour that says NEUTRAL on the box. That will minimize the orange tones.
It worked for me!
I love hair dye and am proud to say that by the ripe old age of 21 my hair had been every general color imaginable! I’ve let my natural color come back in for the last year (the ends are still pretty blond though) and I’ve been getting the itch to start dyeing it again.
I’ve started doing all my dyeing at home (with the exception of when I went back to my natural color last year, which still didn’t match right) because the hair dresser I went to my whole life shut down and I haven’t found anywhere that can do my hair like I like it. Honestly, I’ve had no problems with the bleach kit I used and only stopped because the upkeep was exhausting. My hair is a really odd texture/ very dark so places are always hesitant to bleach it, and the only places I know that do unnatural colors are up on the northside of the city and crazy expensive.
One last thing I would like to put on the record; just because someone dyes their hair bright pink doesn’t mean they are starving for attention or trying to irk people and they certainly aren’t freaks. It bugs me to death that people always seem to jump to conclusions, just like they do about certain make up styles.
In my early 40’s , started to ‘need’ to minimally dye my hair prob midish 30’s. I’m naturally dark brown. I do my own maintenance work ie. I only dye the top of my head and only the regrowth. I hate the whole process.Regrowth within two weeks !! Waste of time and effort. Wish my hair would just stay its natural colour for ever. I get the colour fairly close…and mostly avoid the red/orange hue. I could redo my makeup 3 times a day if I had to…but hair upkeep does nothing for me.
Until they come up with something better…I’m grateful that the dye option is available for these greys….
I use that Loreal casting gloss stuff most of the time. Even though it’s semi-permanent, it lasts for months and months in my hair although it does fade. I love using darker colours, like browns and plum. The only time I ever have problems with it is when I use those horrible gloves they supply in the box. They feel like plastic bags and are huge on my tiny hands. I use latex gloves now as they fit my hands a lot better.
I love it!
I love Blue Black Hair
But the PPD drives me nutz!
Why so toxic?
When I find a ‘Natural Dye’ it’s never really black. or it is not permanent.
Yes there are those online that can be ordered but Not Black.
There is no need for the heavy metals, PPD etc… for good hair dye so why is it allowed?!
rant over…… breathing easier… tx for the timely topic 😉
assuming that we are talking about at home hair dye, the best I have found for in-between professional colorings is at Sally Beauty – Zotos Age Beautiful color, but that is permanent. however, lately I’ve been using the Aveda Black Malva conditioner in my roots to keep them from going brassy/red between colorings.
Studying Cosmetologist here. :} I love hair color. It’s my favorite thing to do! Hair coloring really gives you the ability to be creative with your own look. <3
I’ve been getting my hair profressionally dyed in a salon for about 2 years. I always dreamt about being a red head, and I have been absolutely loving it. What is bugging me recently is the price increase my hairdresser has done. I’ve thought about dying it at home with professional dyes (L’oreal Majirel)buy I’m so afraid to burn myself or ending up with all of my hair stained. I tried going to another hairdresser but my roots ended up showing a more mutated colour than the rest and my scalp didn’t apreciate the change(she used inoa on me) and is full of scabs. I’m also growing my hair and I notice it’s getting very dry. I’ve been thinking about using lush’s henna, but it seems difficult to achieve my actual colour without being too red(I prefer a copper colour).
Any ideas or suggestions are welcome!
PS: Sorry for the rant and the english mistakes, I’m not a native.
The whole underside of my hair is turquoise right now and it’s really long, a little past the middle of my back. I bleach it and then dye it with Jerome Russell’s Punky Colors, and it doesn’t feel or look bleached. I’ve been using a leave-in conditioner since I did it and some hair serums to keep it shiny and smooth. I love it, I get compliments on it at least three times a day. I’m alternating between colors every now and then. I started with dark blue, then did turquoise, then green, now I’m back to turquoise. It’s been the most popular color so far, it’s ridiculously bright.
Back when I used to dye my whole head I would go to my stylist and get a cellophane treatment done. I only started doing that because I used to bleach the front of my hair, like Rogue from X-Men. It got really Barbie-like after the first two times though, so to get my hair looking healthy again I did the cellophane thing.
My hair apparently no longer holds onto dye, so I’ve been going back to my natural color for about a year and a half now.
I love hair dye!! I’ve dyed my hair every color of the rainbow and then some lol I just love how you can transform your look by dying your hair it’s so cool to me. Right now I’m blonde(I’m a natural blonde) But it’s dyed a lot lighter then my natural color. But I really want to dye it red or reddish brown for the winter but my only concern is how much of a pain in the butt it will be to get it back to blonde which I always go back to blonde and then it’s a pain staking bleach a thon to get it back blonde so maybe I’ll just get low-lights in my hair instead lol I don’t know
I’ve heard that red is the most difficult colour to get rid off. A girl I know even dyed it black and it still kept the red undertones.
I don’t like the messiness, but the more I color my hair the better I get at not getting dye all over my bathroom. My natural hair color is disgusting so I would be lost without hair dye! 🙂
I’m 44 and have white hair mainly around my hairline, which is horrible because regrowth is just too obvious! I dye my hair at home, 99% of the time, sometimes my teenage daughter helps me with the back. If I want it to look good, I need touch-ups in roots and hairline every 2 weeks. I have only ever used L’oreal Majirel colour and been wanting to have nice coppery red hair all my life – never dared, I just keep going to reddish-brownish tones. I absolutely hate the fact that I usually get the colour I want after maybe 1 1/2 or 2 weeks, when I need to re-do it and then it always goes darker!
I just dyed my hair midnight blue and I love it. My hair has been so many different colors since the 6th grade. I don’t even know what my natural hair color is anymore.
I love hair color! I started out dying my hair just for fun, but over the years–as my children gave me VERY “mom” hair (salt & pepper) it became a necessity. And now, I love using Manic Panic to color my hair whatever I want (currently light pink/dark purple). It’s a fun way to express myself–brings smiles–and it’s gentle so I can change it when I want to….next colors–Christmas! LOL
I’ve been dying my hair regularly for about 8 months, just for a change of pace. I have naturally straight, dark brown/black asian hair with no gray (since I’m only 23). I don’t have any issues with the process, though I have had a few years of practice helping my mom with her hair as I grew up. I find that liquids are easier to spread around the hair evenly, though cremes decrease the drip factor. Foams are too much work, I tried the John Frieda one and as much as I love the color, the application was too difficult to warrant a repurchase.
I have been using hair dye ever since I was 16… It’s hard to remember my own natural color LOL. It’s a very bland dark blonde, very boring. For about ten years I dyed it in every nuance of blonde possible; I loved being a long haired curly blonde. As I got older, the color got boring and step by step I dyed my hair a bit darker. From very blonde to blonde, then dark blonde and eventually brown. I wear my hair dark brown now and I love it, it makes my blue eyes stand out so much more!
I never had a problem with coloring my hair and I always did it myself. From blonde to brown and back and in the end I settled for dark brown. I’ve probably worn every color of the rainbow and various brands but at this point, I’m happy the way it is 🙂
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