Red hair colour advice!

I would suggest not using either to be honest. Certainly if you're re-dying over your whole head each time. It's extremely damaging.

What is your natural colour?

Well I've been using the B Red for about 3 years now, and hairdressers are generally surprised with the condition of my hair as it's quite good!

Natural colour is mouse brown but I've been dying it for about 12 years - started with semi permanent, moved on to permanent but then the colour was never as bright as I wanted so I'm using the B Red for about 3 years now I think I said 12% earlier, must be 9%)

It could actually be a lot better if you stop using the b red 🙂

What I would suggest is doing a bleach bath, you can find a tutorial in the tutorial section, just on your roots. Then using a red of your choice from beeunique.co.uk You can mix reds to get the exact colour you want. So there's pinky reds, orange reds and you can mix then to get a true bright red.

You can carry on using the b red if you really want, or switching to the majirouge, it's the same thing, but just use it on the roots. Then top up the rest of the colour with one of the dyes from the above site. You can search by reds.

Those dyes actually last longer than permanents. I know it sounds weird, but it's actually true. So, you'd be topping up the colour on the ends with no damage and you'd be doing less damage to your regrowth as it comes through. You really don't need a lot of lift in the shade for a really bright red, so a bleach bath should be more than enough.

Considering I bought 6 tubes online the last time I ordered, I'll have to use up the bRed for the moment!!! :/

How would I match the colour with using 1 dye on the roots and mixing others for the rest?

So a tube of majirouge is the same as a tube of bRed?

(My hair actually doesn't seem to be in bad condition and I use Coconut oil (when I think of it!) on the ends!)

I haven't a clue what a bleach bath is but I will have a look now! (Only joined the site today!)

Had a look at beeunique there, I have some Crazy Color and usually use that once between dyes to 'brighten' it up again. Came across Manic Panic before (the rest aren't familiar) but what's the difference between b Red and Manic Panic? Is B Red only meant to be used on roots?

Reds are very forgiving. You can have a fairly uneven base and it'll give a pretty even result. Many of them are very highly pigmented, so cover well. You put the direct dye (the ones from the site I linked to) all over the hair, roots and all.

Majirouge is basically the same thing, yes. Just a different company and probably a slightly different colour. It's not any better than b red as far as I'm aware.

Your hair might be in decent condition, but wouldn't you want better condition? It seems a bit odd to me to carry on using a method that is damaging, even if your hair is in OK condition. 🙂 Also, there's a lot of products that heavily mask damage. If you're using Aussie 3 minute miracle for example, your hair is probably in far worse condition than you think.

A bleach bath is just a mild version of bleach. It's diluted so it lifts less and is less damaging. You only need to get your hair to a mid ginger and you can get a super bright red. I think this is likely to help with your problem of darker hair underneath.

Edited to add - there's also the trick of bleaching or dying while you have coconut oil in your hair. It helps prevent damage.

Okay so you're suggesting this bleach bath thing on roots, then using something like Crazy Color all over?
Developer creme not needed only for the bleach at the start?
Is that done each time to apply new dye?

I don't use Aussie 3 minute, and yes of course I would like good conditioned hair 🙂 I wasn't aware that this particular method I'm using is overly damaging. A few hairdressers asked me what I used and didn't discourage me from it! :/

(Do you mind linking me to the tutorial on the bleach bath, as I looked in tutorials but can't see it!) Thanks

Moderator combined posts

Sorry, it's not in the tutorial section, it's a tutorial, so I always expect it to be there! It's in the bleaching and lightening section. It's a sticky thread at the top. If you're using tapatalk then you'll have to click on the stickies part. I'm using tapatalk now, so I can't link I'm afraid!

So yes. Just bleach bath the roots (or use up the b red, if it's just on the roots it's ok, bleach bathing is just a bit better and cheaper) then use a red all over. I wouldn't actually suggest crazy colour. I'd use directions or special effects. Though, special effects have been a bit hit and miss with stock for the last year, but they are good. Oh, or adore. Many that love reds like the adore reds. I've not used them, but they are especially good for not bleeding colour.

You use no developer for direct dyes. They're basically conditioner with pigment in! And yes, each time you do the roots. And in between if you want to brighten up the colour. Even better, add some to your conditioner and each time you wash you get a mini top up of colour.

Hairdressers aren't always the most up to date with super bright fashion colours. Or even the best at understanding the best ways to avoid damage. Those of us that change colours constantly have used trial and error, lots of error in many cases, to find what works best.

PS instead of double posting, can you edit your last post instead please 🙂

Okay, no idea what tapatalk is (!!) but I'm sure I'll find the thread now I know where to look!

If I DON'T bleach bath this time, are you saying I can use the bRed on the ROOTS and then a direct colour all over? Do the roots have to rinsed and dried before the direct colour? I'll have a look at Special Effects/Directions, haven't heard of these before. Are the likes of majirouge/bred etc only intended for roots and not all over lift? I only did this because I'd looked at a few tutorials, especially one of a girl who's hair I admire so I thought it was okay to do!

I found I would ask the hairdressers for 'bright red' and it never turned out like I wanted. They even showed me the little booklet with different colours, said they'd mix a small bit of the bright one with another colour - I said 'I want it all that bright colour' but they said they couldn't do that - why might this be?

Apologies for double posting, I see the 'modify' button now but thanks for merging them for me!

(Also apologies if these seem ridiculously stupid questions, I just want to arm myself with information before I start attacking my hair and end up bald!!)

I found I would ask the hairdressers for 'bright red' and it never turned out like I wanted. They even showed me the little booklet with different colours, said they'd mix a small bit of the bright one with another colour - I said 'I want it all that bright colour' but they said they couldn't do that - why might this be?

A lot of the dyes used by hairdressers have bright colors but most actually need to be mixed with a base color. So the bright red has to be used with a darker red base and then activated by the developer. I used to do this for my boyfriend when he wanted blueblack. Most of them do not use direct dyes at all. (which is a shame)

If you want to use your B-red then you put that only on your roots, then rinse it out and shampoo. Do not condition.
then you can put on the direct dye (any of the beeunique.co.uk brands). some of us like to do it on dry hair, others damp so its is your choice. you do not need to mix it with anything and can leave it on for as long as you want as it is not damaging.

There's a thread on how to get, maintain and remove red hair in the tutorial section. I would read that as it's got a lot of these details and more. You can just ignore the bits on removing 🙂

Tapatalk is a mobile app that you can use to access the forum.

Thanks to you both for your help. What's the difference in putting it on damp or dry hair? Does one absorb better than the other?

Also, I am discouraged from using bRed on my whole head because of damage, or is there another reason?

It's not too bad to use the b red on ONLY the roots as they grow in every 4-6 weeks. What you want to avoid from now on is dying the whole of your hair each time.

With dry or damp hair, it's just a personal thing. I can't put it on dry hair as my hair just soaks up moisture, I use three times as much dye putting it on dry hair and it comes out far more patchy! Others swear by putting it on dry hair and they get better results that way. It's just trial and error, but both work. It's easy enough to reapply if you try one way and get slightly patchy results.

And it it advised not to use it all over because it's unsuitable for some reason or bad for your hair?