Dark to Bright

When I decided that I wanted to be a vibrant, bright redhead, my hair was already dyed fairly dark.

If I wanted to get the red I desired I would have to bleach my hair, then dye it the red I wanted because dye will not lift already dyed hair. A fabulous friend I have going through hair school told me about this great hair dye made by L'oreal. It is the only type of dye that will lift already dyed hair. It is called L'oreal Majicontrast, Magenta- a red with a pink tinge to it. It also comes in the shade of red, just depends on what look you are going for.

This colour is only sold in certain stores, mainly stores for professionals to shop in which requires a membership to shop at that you can only have if you are a trained professional. Luckily my fabulous friend I was talking about earlier allows me to use her card to purchase my hair products. The store I shop at is called Cosmo Prof and I highly recommend it to anyone that has access to a professionals card. This dye goes for $13 a bottle, which to me is a very good price! If you are unable to shop at Cosmo Prof due to the membership issue you can find almost the same colour at Sally Beauty (a beuty supply store open to the public), I've only noticed the slightest difference in colour. It is called L'oreal Excellence HiColor in Magenta or Red.


< This picture doesn't do the colour justice, It is much brighter than that. You will see in the pictures of my hair.




Another product you will need is called developer, it comes in different levels of volume (5, 10, 20, 30, 40, etc). You don't necessarily have to use the same brand of developer as you do hair dye, I usually just buy the kind that is on sale at the time. They all do the same job, which is to lift to the specific colour you are trying to achieve. The higher the number, the more the colour will lift. Here is the kind that matches the brand:

Now that I have covered colour and where to get it, now for the process. For dying at home you will need:

• a plastic bowl/squeeze bottle to mix colour in- some find a squeeze bottle easier for when you are dying your own hair, I prefer the bowl and brush but everyone is different
• a plastic hair application brush for mixing and applying the dye
• old clothes you don/t care about
• towels/plastic sheets to cover counter and floor
• gloves
• towel for neck- make sure you dont care about the towels you use, if you get dye on them they will most likely be stained

Steps:

1. Cover all surfaces you may destroy with towels or plastic sheets. The dye usually comes off with rubbing alcohol if you get it on the counter of floor but it is much easier just to protect it to avoid possible stains. Wear towel around neck if skin is exposed to prevent stains on skin.
2. Divide your hair into sections to make application easier and use clips to hold in place.
3. Put on gloves
4. Add tube of colour to your bowl, then 75 mL (5 tablespoons) of developer. If you have long hair you will have to use more than one tube of colour, therefore you will need to add 75 mL of developer for each tube of colour you use. My hair was past my shoulders and I needed two tubes.
5. Mix colour together until completely combined.
6. Apply to hair and leave for 30-35 minutes. If you have roots that are lighter than the rest of your hair you must apply the colour to all of your hair EXCEPT for the roots and leave for 25-30 minutes. Once the time is up, apply the rest of the colour to your roots and leave for 5 minutes. This is done because the lighter hair (roots) will lift much faster than the rest of your hair and therefore will take much less time. If you do not follow this instruction your roots will be much lighter than the rest of your hair.
7. Once colour has be left on for 30-35 minutes you need to rinse it out.
8. Shampoo hair
9. Condition hair
10. Blow dry hair to see your new brilliant colour!!

Results:

Before                                                                                                      

After
The after picture shows the colour I ended up with after one application. You may not be able to tell in the picture but the colour is not solid it has different colours all throughout it, the more you dye it the more of a solid red it will become. Because red is a colour that fades really easily it requires a full application everytime. This special colour is a highlighter, therefore it lightens the colour every time. Because you are colouring a full head every time the next part is very important to maintain healthy hair. This kind of colour can be very damaging to yor hair if not used right.

< I continued to dye my hair until I got it to the colour I desired. Because I did not want my hair to get lighter and lighter every time I dyed it, I had to modify my process of dying. On the steps I gave you for dying step 4 and 6 will change to:

4. Add a tube of colour to mixing bowl (1 1/2 for long hair), then 75 mL(5 tablespoons) of WARM water (7 1/2 Tablespoons for long hair). ** The warm water will allow the dye to stain your hair instead of lifting it, this will keep the colour how you want it and not make it any lighter**

6. Apply the mixture to your hair EXCEPT roots and let sit for 25-30 minutes. While your hair is sitting mix 1/2 a tube of colour and 2 1/2 tablespoons of developer if your roots are up to 1" or 1 tube of colour and 5 tablespoons of developer if your roots are more than 1" long. Because your roots aren't already at the right level the hair needs to be lifted so you must still use the developer on your roots. But just the same as last time only leave on roots for 5 minutes. Then you may continue with the rest of the steps!
More posts on preserving colour and keeping hair healthy to come!
Hope you enjoy this information and find it helpful!