Hair dying and how to keep it's colour.

Rook

Hi All.

I really love dying my hair (mainly reds and purples) but the colour in my hair never stays longer than a few weeks. At the moment I just use stuff from the chemist (L'Oreal Feria Hair Colour is my current dye of choice) which does a nice job of colouring and is never too messy.

However it absolutely leeches out in the shower, and after a few weeks my hair just looks like a vaguely tinted version of itself (you'd basically have to look at my roots to tell it's a different colour).

So I guess my questions are, are there better hair dyes out there? And what's the best way of keeping hair dyed the right colour.

Thanks in advance.

NightDragon

I assume you're using permanent dyes, not semi-permanent? Herbal Essences has been good to me, but then, that's one of the only hair dyes I've used the the last few years. What color is your hair, normally?

Munacra

what kind of shampoos are you using? are you using shampoo and conditioner that treat your colored hair good?

color fades away eventually, unless it's something like a bleach.
edit: and even then, just give it enough time.

I find that getting your hair colored at a salon lasts longer than commercial brands. ask your local salon what they use to color.

an_alt

I've heard Special Effects is the best dye for funky colours. Even permanent dye seems to wash out fairly quickly in fun colours, especially if one has really thin hair. If you really want to do it right, apparently professional products are the only way.

blincoln

How often are you shampooing your hair? When I had hair, and when it was dyed bright colours, I would rinse and condition it every day, but only shampoo it every week or two. Otherwise, yes, the colour goes away.

Rook

Yes, I do use permanent dyes

At the moment I use Allsoft by Red Ken (which I'm dearly in love with and would be loath to change). Whilst they do do a colour care shampoo, how much of a difference do these things make, it's like $40 for a set so I'm someone could swear to me it makes all the difference in the world, I'd be a bit more convinced. If it's just an extra week then, maybe I'll wait till I actually need to buy some more or something.

Yes, I shampoo my hair every other day when it's dyed at least. It kinda needs it though.

I'll see if I can get any of this Special Effects stuff in the UK, thanks.

polarblue

you can wash your hair with white vinegar.

it may sound silly and smelly

but it strips your hair of oils, and it helps set color

an_alt

Oh, I'm in Canada so the "u" is optional. I know it's not available in stores here, so some of the girls mail order it. You can get much cheaper shampoos that are still somewhat decent like Pantine Pro-V (sp?) and others that offer a colour care option. There's also the option of more rinsing to stretch an extra day between shampoos if your hair will let you.

Dak

I live in Canada, dye my hair blue a lot of the time. I find if you just leave it in longer, it'll last a lot longer as well. This absolutely depends on the kinda dye you're using, though.

The side-effect is that it'll also have your scalp that colour for a few days, and your hairline if you're not careful.

Also, avoid conditioner. Conditioner totally leeches the colour out of your hair, when it's unnatural colours like blue or purple.

NightDragon

Dak wrote:

Also, avoid conditioner. Conditioner totally leeches the colour out of your hair, when it's unnatural colours like blue or purple.

??

I heard that conditioner is really good for hair - it helps keep it moisturized and keeps it from getting really damaged.

Somebody toldme once that you whould watch out for citric acid in shampoo's (and, I assume, conditioners, although it's more prevalent in the former), as it really saps the color from your hair.

I'm getting my hair redone soon, too. Whee!
It'll be at a salon, though. It'll say semi-permanent, but really only last me through half of the washes it said it should last. I've heard that red is one of the most steadfast hair tints, though, and that it lasts the longest. Probably the only reason my hair has any of it still left!

FyreWulff

I had my hair dyed black once (freshman year of highschool) and then blue (senior year of highschool).

What my mom did first was bleach my hair. My hair stayed a solid color for like 3 months, and then slowly faded back to normal after that. So you might try that, but be careful, as bleaching dyed hair might turn it green.

PS. My head looked like the planet earth after a while.

NightDragon

FyreWulff wrote:

I had my hair dyed black once (freshman year of highschool) and then blue (senior year of highschool).

What my mom did first was bleach my hair. My hair stayed a solid color for like 3 months, and then slowly faded back to normal after that. So you might try that, but be careful, as bleaching dyed hair might turn it green.

PS. My head looked like the planet earth after a while.

Bleaching already-dyed hair is also godawful for the hair. That's one of the things that helps it turn to straw.

I heard that some idiot friend of some girl in my high school dyed her hair, bleached sections of it for highlighting, then dyed THOSE sections again, then went tanning.

Needless to say, quite a bit of her hair fell out. That's an extreme, obviously...but bleaching dyed hair is pretty wicked bad, on its own.

blincoln

NightDragon wrote:

I heard that conditioner is really good for hair - it helps keep it moisturized and keeps it from getting really damaged.

Yeah, if I hadn't conditioned mine every day, it would have broken off or turned into a poofy ball of frizz, the bleach I used before dyeing it was so harsh.

xxhennersxx

as someone with a love for flourencent hair color, I'm going to tell you straight up...

you can't keep it.

They don't make a permanent purple or pink or anything hair dye. -_-;;