I got out of bed early Saturday morning and colored my hair. I used Hydrience permanent color, but like a dweeb I threw away the box so I don't know exactly what color.

Edit: The color was "Scarlet Shimmer".

I'd been looking for a *really* technicolor red, and I appear to have found it. My head looks like it's on fire. Now if only the color lasts for a while, I'll be well pleased. As an added bonus, this hair color doesn't have that "chemical" smell that's hard to get rid of.

What's your favorite hair color, both for color and how long it lasts?

My favourite brand is Clairol's Natural Essence (semi-permanent).

Not only does it stay put for a while (with use of colour fortifying conditioners) but it also has a wide, wide range of reds and doesn't dry out or damage my hair, something that is extremely important to me when I'm colouring. Damaged hair looks horrible, and once damaged, there's no way to 'un-damage' it.

The dye that fried my hair was Herbal Essence permanent which gave me my favourite colour so far (bright shock of burgundy) but unfortunately left my hair looking and feeling crappy. I've had to use fortifying conditioners, sometimes conditioners for permed hair in order to restore it enough from wash to wash where it still looks human.


I'd suggest semi-permanent over permanent any day because semi doesn't usually have peroxides, yet it stays in colour almost as strong as permanent.




If you want to retain the red sheen in your hair, add 15 drops of red food colouring and 5 drops of blue food colouring to your shampoo.




~blood rose~

I once coloured my hair with the Hydrience "Ruby Twilight" - while the colour was certainly the bright, bright red I wanted, it faded out within 2 days. I shit you not. 2 days, and that shit was GONE. I was so distressed...

Right now I used Herbal Essence's "Beyond Cherry" for an uberbright red - but I have to concur that I've got damage going on. I'm currently seeking a different brand of haircolour that'll give me the colour I want.

I use Clairol Hydrience Tropical Burgundy right now. I've never had a problem with it, it lasts a pretty long time for me. I have really thick hair and always have to use two boxes for coverage. It always comes out nicely though and it even smells good.

~Gen~

I am a Wella girl - all the way! They only sell it at beauty supply stores, but they have a wide array of colors to choose from and if you lnpw what you're doing you can really turn out some nice "custom" colors. The only downside is that it isn't a pre-packaged color that comes with all the conditioners and stuff, so I always buy a protien pack for use after I have dyed my locks to keep them from getting that icky straw feeling.

If you want wicked bright red, though, I usually go with Manic Panic Fire Engine Red. If you put a shower cap on over the color and applt heat to it for about 20 minutes, it stays about 4 weeks without the need to touch-up.

~Spider, who will be dying her hair black cherry (again - getting sick of brown) and chopping off her locks tonight.
Remember-always cut AFTER you dye! (:

I tried paintbox's fudge in a blue velvet color. I had it applied properly in a salon, after having streaks of my hair bleached out as to take the color completely and attempt to have the blue stay for as long as possible. Well, after about five washes with color treated sensitive shampoo and conditioner, it was almost completely gone. This was over the course of about two weeks (i didnt wash it every shower in between.) I would like to find a blue that remains for a couple of months before having to worry about reapplying. Mind you, i understand that no color lasts forever, but two weeks???

Suggestions? (no, im not going red either :p )

~spiral

Spiral - I still say try Manic Panic. It's messy as hell, but with your hair being naturally sandy blonde, it should show up pretty well even without the bleaching. And you must use heat while it is setting otherwise it will wash out. They also have tinted shampoo which helps a great deal in maintining the color. It's the same stuff I used when I did the front of my hair Blood Red.

BTW-I led you all astray..I planned to dye my locks black cherry, but I am currently sitting here with a headful of "Mahogany" colored dye. I'll let you know how it turns out - looked pretty interesting and it is one of Wella's new colors.

~Spider

I recommend using Miss Clairol. I dyed my hair black and it lasted for about three months.

Wow! Beyond Cherry was the EXACT shade I used that damaged the FUCK out of my hair. Of course, when my hair fades out from the semi-permanent it fades to a brassier light red.





~blood rose~

If you want really, REALLY insane bright colour - you can't go past Fudge (although I'm not sure what countries it supplies to). It has a great red that sticks like glue (if you use enough of it! ).

Also, I haven't used it, but this product is being advertised like heck on the sides of buses. They have a range of 'extreme' semi-permanent colours that I'm going to try soon, so I'll let you know how I go!

@->---

I'm not exactly certain, but I think I use Clariol... But I know the name of the colour I use; It's called Malaysian Cherry. It's one of those dyes that washes out in twenty four washes, but at first it's a beautiful, dark burgundy (on my hair) and I abolsutely love it. If I could find that colour in permanent, I'd dye it but alas, I have yet to come across it.

I won't be using Schwarzkopf Live coulour again, it turned out completely different to how it looked on the packet and faded really quickly, it was quite cheap though i suppose.

BR: Yeah, the colour of the Beyond Cherry is a BEAUTIFUL colour, but seriously, I think they need to work on how damaging their dyes are to hair.

I'm going to be dying the bottom half of my hair black - anyone have a "this one is the best one" sentence to say for me? - next weekend and the top will be, again, the cherry =_=; Unless I can find a comparable colour...? QUICK, suggestions?!

I also have a question for folks who do the Manic Panic/Fudge route. I want my hair to look about this red for Halloween.

Does anyone have any experience with a RED RED dye that will turn naturally honey/auburn hair a BRIGHT wine colour, and not eggplant burgundy?





~blood rose~

I use... whatever the hell I can get my hands on. Selling black hair dye in Hong Kong is kind of like selling snow to an eskimo. NOBODY sells it here, I finally had to settle for the one and only brand of black that I could find (and trust me I looked far and wide). I have no idea what the brand name is as I am only familiar with the western alphabet :p. From the basic look of it I get the idea it's for colouring grey hair, it's one of those weird ones where you have to mix the concoction in a non-metal bowl and the fumes put you on a nice pluck while you're at it. Truly dodgy stuff.

I used to use that blue/black shade by ..er, some brand. I think it was Clairol.

As for 'does it last?' Well, no not really, eventually it turns into a horrid version of brown.