Do you think I could do this?

What's the info she's given you? Don't get depressed, I'm sure we'll be able to come up with some options for you!

Hi lauralei13! Thank you for your reply. 🙂

She wrote down:
Koleston Perfect
1/2 oz. 7/73
1/2 oz. 8/74
1/2 oz. 8/0
20vol.
Roots only
27 min.

I will say that as I have gotten more gray, and she has dyed larger areas of my roots, this is not a perfect match to my natural red but pretty close. It seems to be a bit brighter than my natural color. Perhaps this is as close as it can get with dye...and if that is the case, I will still be thrilled with a red close to my natural color. Anything but gray............ :'(

Thank you sooo much for you time.

I often find even dyes that are meant to be natural colours are a little brighter than the natural colour is, I think this is partly down to the fact that natural colours have strands of different colours making up the whole overall shade which is hard to replicate with a dye without doing something like woven highlights and lowlights.

Those instructions seem pretty simple anyway, you'll need digital scales though as my experience with Koleston is that it has to be mixed perfectly with exactly the correct amounts of colour and developer. So you'll need:

The three tubes of colour she suggested in the colours 7/73, 8/74 and 8/0
Digital scales and some kind of plastic container on them
20 vol developer (I use the Wella one with the Koleston, I think it's called Welloxon) This is the activator for the dye, it's also known as peroxide and may be referred to as 6% rather than 20 vol, make sure to get this strength!
a tinting brush
a shower cap or something to cover it with
plastic gloves

The Koleston Perfect mixes at a ratio of 1:1 so that means you need the same amount of developer as the total amount of colour, so basically you need 1/2 oz of each colour then 1 1/2 oz of the developer, mix them together in a plastic bowl with the tinting brush (mix well!) then leave it a few minutes to activate then you can apply the mixture to your roots using the brush.

After the allotted time is up, apply some water and rub gently as though you are shampooing your hair (this helps remove dye from your scalp) then rinse thoroughly and condition.

I always end up with bright roots for the first few days but it settles after a while.

The tubes of colour will keep for a while if you put the lids back on tightly, but I usually wrap them in cling film (Saran wrap?) as well. You might need to squeeze a little out and throw it away next time where the air got to it though. You can also keep the developer a while with the lid on tightly. You cannot keep any dye that you have mixed up though.

Hope this helps, and I hope I haven't spoken down to you with any parts you already know, I just went through the process in my head as I usually do it and wrote down everything I could think of!

Lauralei13,

Regarding the dye being bright, I will agree that after 2-3 washes, it seems like the intensity mellows out a bit. My natural hair has some strands that appear blonde, and some brown, but red is the primary color. Maybe I will get good enough to learn about woven highlights or lowlights in the future – I will stick to these basics for now, though. 🙂

So just one more question for you. Being that I have never done this before, and I don’t want to mess my hair up, I read there is something called blank/white natural hair swatches that you can test dye first (there is a company in Australia that ships worldwide – no place here in the States that I found). If I wanted to test the dye first, would I get the same results on the blank swatches as I would my own roots? Or because my own hair is 95% red, the color would be different on the white blank swatch? I also thought that if the blanks were not a good idea, I could swatch the end of my own hair (my hair is long) so I could just swatch off a small section about an inch or two long to test, and that way if my first few attempts to get the color right come out wrong, it won’t be too big of a deal as that hair will get cut off at my next trim. Sorry to be long winded, but does this make sense?

And with writing down everything thing you could think of, thank you!!! I thoroughly appreciate your details so if there is anything else that strikes you, feel free to share. I am a complete newbie here, so this is all very helpful. I know just enough to be dangerous at this point.  *devil* I have been able to piece some of this together from the Wella website, but regarding the ratio of 1:1 – I did not know that! Or rinsing with water and then conditioning – I did not know that! I would have probably shampooed then conditioned like I do when I normally wash. Details are critical and I have always felt if you are going to do something, take the time to do it right. Especially when it relates to your own head!  ;D

Maybe I will post some pics when I do this. Maybe someone else will find it helpful.

I've only skimmed most of the thread, but I just wanted to say - white swatches will be useless for you. Dyes are all at least semi translucent so the base colour of your hair makes a difference to the outcome. So yes, use your own hair to swatch. Some people use hair from their brush but I have such thick hair that I can chop out small chunks and never even find that chunk again, so I just do that!

As Janine says, strand tests are only ever helpful if you do them on your own hair - there are so many factors involved with how a dye will turn out (your natural colour, porosity, condition, the underlying tones in your hair). Yes highlights and lowlights would be more difficult to do on your own, I meant that hairdressers can sometimes achieve something more natural by doing these, but doing it yourself you will probably have to settle for it just being slightly brighter/ a single shade. (at least until you become an expert haha!).
Yes, your hairdresser should really have told you the mixing ratio - that part is really important! Really the most important things are getting the ratio and quantities of each thing right and the timing that it is on your hair.

Good luck, if you think of anything else you're not clear on let us know! Looking forward to seeing your results!

Really the most important things are getting the ratio and quantities of each thing right and the timing that it is on your hair.

This.  It's like alchemy!  :laugh:

Thank you ladies so much for offering input. I wasn't sure about those blank swatches so I am glad I asked -- I will test the dye on the ends of my own hair first.

I will absolutely post the results here after I color my hair the first time. I will be ordering dye, developer, brushes, mixing bowl, gloves, etc., later tonight.

Wish me luck, ladies!!! I told my husband I will be a redhead till the end...even if I live to be 100! He said I am the modern day Lucy, always getting into all sorts of funny business, so of course no other color would suit me. Haaaa!  *rofl*

Haha good luck in achieving your Lucy goals!