So, I've been using (mostly ) Adore Mahogany over a dark brown box dye (I found it came out richer over a dark base) and whilst I love the colour I'm really struggling with my roots as soon as they come through as they are light brown/ ash blonde so they show up really light against the dyed hair.
I've been trying to think of strategies on how to combat this and I wondered if making my base colour something closer to my natural colour would help, so that I can let the Adore fade when my roots came through and there'd be less contrast.
I've tried pre-softening with just developer before and it didn't really seem to work, but I was wondering if anybody had ever tried using a box semi dye to get direct dyes to stick? I'm wondering if it wouldn't actually be strong enough to help anything stick in the long run.
Bleach bathing wouldn't be ideal for me as my hair takes very quickly and goes straight to a light bright yellow, but any ideas on how best to get direct dyes to stick whilst staying as close to my natural colour as possible?
Topic starter
Posted : March 13, 2017 4:30 pm
Hmm... well in my experience (be it only from my own research) is that there are really only 2 ways to "pre-soften" the hair. What your aiming for is lifting the cuticle layer so that the dye can make its way into the shaft of the hair for the purpose of staining the hair. Besides chemicals to off set the pH of your hair, the only other thing is heat. So it depends on how natural you want to go with this process, personally I would try using a shampoo outside of the "good pH' balance which is normally 4.5-5 on the pH scale, if you can find a shampoo that is either more acidic or more basic that's going to left your hair cuticle and then using some form of heat, like a hot towel treatment right after using that shampoo and then applying your dye as quick as you can so that your hair cuticle does not close back up. Then condition as normal.
But just a word of caution, conditioner naturally closes that hair cuticle, so if your using your direct dye in conditioner, its kind of working against you at that point, even though I know a lot of people on here do that so help with the application process.
I might also try applying the hot towel when you have the direct dye on, wrap your hair in plastic and then put another hot towel on top of that to keep that cuticle lifted for maximum color pay off, or maybe using a hair dryer on a low setting to keep the hair as warm as possible. Hopefully my explanation makes sense! Good luck!
Posted : March 13, 2017 4:56 pm
Thanks for the answer, I don't think the shampoo and heat method would work on my hair as it is very smooth textured and can be pretty resistant even to pre-softening with peroxide. I don't use conditioner with my direct dyes as I find it makes them slide down my hair shaft so that my roots don't take.
I think ( when I have some money ) I'll try a colour remover and then colour my roots with a box semi and then use adore to even the whole thing out.
Topic starter
Posted : March 14, 2017 4:20 pm
A demi might work. It'll be a bit harsher than a presoak so might be enough.
Posted : March 14, 2017 4:42 pm
I think I'm going to try it, I love the really dark colour but it's so much upkeep, and I can always go darker with Adore when my roots are done and then just fade it out as they come through.
Topic starter
Posted : March 16, 2017 10:51 am
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