Ok so this is kind of a long story but I am not sure what I can do to save my hair color!
I have dyed my hair black (boxed dye, I know, I know!) several times over the past 18 months. In August I decided I wanted to go purple, so I bleached it. Twice. In 2 days. The roots came out very, very light, but from the middle down it was a very dark brown. I couldn't leave it that way because I have to work, so I immediately put in the purple dye (Manic Panic). It came out..purplish. However, the purple will not stay in my hair. I have had to add more purple every week because it fades too quickly, and it fades to a coopery brown color, but still quite dark. I have used more Manic Panic, then switched to ION purple. Still, no good. I used a purple colored shampoo (for blondes/silvers) as recommended by someone at Sally's, and that doesn't help and I don't even know if that was even correct advice. I do wash every other day because my hair is very, very oily. Currently, my hair is dark grayish purple with pieces of brown. I don't really know what I should do from here. I don't want to dye it black because than I will be back to square one. I'm scared to do more damage by bleaching it again, and I'm not sure if my color is too dark to lighten. I would love to be able to get it back to purple, but brighter and hopefully longer lasting. I would also be open to a more natural color so long as its not black!
I have done things like this to my hair in the past and never had these issues before. I've only fully bleached my hair on one other occasion, and done bleached streaks a few times, but I have never had an issue with the color washing out so quickly and my habits haven't changed.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
I know, I've committed crimes against my hair, but I am looking to change my evil ways!
Thanks in advance!
There's a lot of things going on here.
Bleaching your hair twice in two days could easily have been enough to have damaged your hair to the point that the cuticles have been ripped off. This means there's nowhere for the dye to cling on to and so just washes off easily.
Manic panic and ion are not the best dyes, by far. Some people love manic panic, but most of us finds it washes out fast. Use Special Effects or Directions and they're likely to last longer as the purples are more highly pigmented and tend to stain more (sometimes a bad thing if you want to change often!).
You need to wash your hair less. I know, it's super oily. It's almost certainly super oily because you over wash it and with shampoo that's harsher than it needs to be. Generally, unless you live in a huge city like London, New York, or any other over populated and highly polluted city once a week is more than enough to remove dirt, but your scalp needs time to get used to it. If it doesn't and it's still getting oily after a few months, then it's possible there's something else wrong and a doctors visit might be in need. But mostly, we need to get used to the idea that hair needs a little oil! A little oil for a day or so as you're stretching washes out is not a bad thing. You just adapt with hairstyles that help mask it.
Conditioner only washing is a good method of keeping colour, but also washes quite effectively. Many of us here co wash once a week.it would even be a better way of washing for you if you don't want to cut down from every other day. You just need a silicone free, light conditioner to 'shampoo' and then a slightly heavier one to finish off with.
Purple shampoo, while I get the logic of what the person in Sally's suggested, isn't really the best way. The shampoo is probably quite harsh and due to the condition of your hair it's likely it's washing out more dye than it can deposit. You'd be better off adding some of the manic panic or ion to your conditioner and leaving it on for 10 mins when you wash. I've been washing my hair about once a week for my entire life and I only really start to feel oil in my hair when it's been more than a week and I've forgotten to wash!
For future reference. When you've been using box dyes and you want to go lighter, use a colour remover before reaching for the bleach! You can use them up to three times. They're a little drying, but a good conditioner will sort that out. Only then, after another week to make sure the colour remover has fully done its job, should you bleach.
Also you can still use a colour remover now to get some of the staining from your lengths. I would wait a bit to let your hair recover somewHat from bleaching first.