Red hair dye--experiences and advise?

Question

I am brunette and I'm seriously thinking about dying my hair into a red, but not orange, I mean red like Grey's Anatomy's Addison Montgomery red, you know what I mean? Would you recommend it or would it look disastrous? I'd go to the hairdresser's.

Answer 1

Red is such an easy colour to dye your hair.  Unless you are blonde there is no way it will go orange. I'm a stylist by the way.

Because your hair is dark already you won't have a problem with the ginger issue.  This comes from dying hair that is light, such as light brown or blonde, red.  All you need to do is buy a mahogany hair dye (permanent) - I recommend home kits like Loreal Feria Colour (as this colour stays in better and you won't end up dying all your clothes when it rains or the bath!).

Your hair will be brunette with beautiful mahogany tones and it will still look natural.  To go completely red (as in a huge red change) you would have to beach your hair first and then build up the red that way.

Remember you can't 'dye' over a darker colour with a light one, you must bleach (which strips colour out) first.  If you imagine drawing with a black crayon and then trying to colour over it with a lighter red one you wouldn't see a difference.

Go for the Feria and put it straight on.  It will look fantastic and won't be too much of a shock.  If you like it you can go for a brighter more striking colour red next time.

Please also remember though RED is the hardest colour to strip out of your hair and very hard to dye over.  Make sure it's what you want.

Good luck!

Answer 2

A hairdresser will give you the perfect shade and it will look hot :) but red hair fades faster than any other colour

:)

Answer 3

natural color is good

Answer 4

redheads usually are very pale-skinned and often freckled

If you have red hair or are thinking about changing your hair color, here are some tips from the experts on hair and makeup colors:

Be sure you're committed to maintenance if you decide to go red, says Anthony Izzi of Jacques Dessange salon in Shadyside.

"With reds, you have to worry about more than just your roots," he says. "The biggest problem with red is fading. It starts to fade within about a week and a half."

There are products your hair colorist can recommend to stall the fading process, but you'll still likely need a touch-up every four to six weeks to keep your hair looking vibrant.

Don't dye your eyebrows, Izzi says. "It really looks terrible. If someone does it, they'll hate it."

Be aware that red is an attention-getter. "Be ready for a lot of reactions," says Sandy St. Roi, manager of salon product evaluation for Clairol — and a redhead. "It's an experience — but it can really make you feel good."

Try out a temporary color if you're not sure. Clairol's Natural Insincts is a demi-color that provides vibrant shades that eventually wash out. "It's a great chance to try it without leaving a line of demarcation where your hair is growing out," says St. Roi.

Weigh the options of having color professionally done or trying a do-it-at-home process. St. Roi, whose company sells hair color to salons and on the shelves of department stores, says it's mostly a matter of what you feel comfortable with.

"It depends on confidence. You might get as good a red as you would at a salon, but you have to consider your own comfort zone and whether you want a consultation."

Izzi takes several points into account when suggesting a red shade — skin tone and eye color, for example.

Keep makeup shades warm. Choose brown- and orange-red lipsticks, says Corinne Chowaniec, color consultant at Sephora in Shadyside. And be sure to try them on before you buy them or make sure they're returnable. "You really cannot tell what a lipstick will look like on you unless you try it on," she says. "You can make a good guess by looking at the lipstick, but you won't know for sure until you wear it."

Also, try bronzers or blushes in terra-cotta or peach shades and avoid pinks, she says. For eyes, you can use vibrant shades of blue and green or warm shades of peach or golden brown. Taupes, purples, steely grays and silvers also don't work well on redheads, she says.

Answer 5

My mom tried it, and it went orange.