Red Hair Don't Care

Dress: City Chic

The old saying is, “Blondes have more fun”. While I’ve never been a Blonde to test it, I can tell you that red heads have a lot of fun as well, and they look damn fine doing it.

I first decided to become a red head when I was around 16, when I found my medium brown hair dull and generic, but my hesitant parents were not keen on the idea. I was shopping my local pharmacy and found myself staring at the box dyes with longing only a teenager with parents who set boundaries knows all too well.

I ended up finding a compromise with my parents. I could colour my hair red, with a semi-permanent kit I found by L’Oreal, and it was the first time I coloured my hair and certainly, not the last. That particular range is since long gone and I’ve moved to better and far more permanent dyes since then. Through the years I have gone through many shades of red and have tried any box kit companies had to offer, and I’ve gained knowledge not many hair dressers would otherwise be willing to share.

Disclaimer: I am by no means a professional hair dresser, and what works for me may not work for you. Please advise a professional before changing your hair to any colour if you’re uncertain about the result.

Before your dive into the wonderful world of red hair, please make sure that you’re able to invest time and money into it. It can be consuming financially, especially if you can’t stand the sight of dark roots or coppery hair between upkeeps. Red hair is also extremely hard to rid of or cover without professional help, so if you’re unsure if this is for you – I recommend you don’t colour your hair red.

Box dyes are nice and dandy, but if you’re anything like me and want fiery, vibrant red, there are steps you need to take in order to become a flaming ginger. Know in advance, no box dye from the pharmacy will give you a Rihanna red unless your hair is fairly light to begin with. If it’s that kind of red you’re after and you are not willing to fry your hair with pre-bleaching, keep reading.

I have never bleached my hair or used semi-permanent, vegetable based colours like Colour Riche Directions or Manic Panic when colouring to red. I have bleached and used them for other colours, but this is for another post if you’re interest.

My Holy Grail red colour is L’Oreal Excellence HiColor Red HiLights used with their volume 30 Oreor Crème developer. This colour is for dark hair only. I repeat - it’s for dark hair only. If your hair is lighter than medium brown or has been coloured black or brown, it will not work for your and you are set out for disappointment and long trips to the hair salon to correct your colour.

I cannot say enough about this colour, I get comments about how I achieved this colour from my hair dresser and bystanders all the time. My only “complaint” is that it grabs onto my roots/virgin hair better than it grabs onto hair that’s been previously coloured with it, but that is because it is made for dark, virgin hair only. This can be easily avoided with a few steps I’ll get to in a bit. 

So how do I colour my hair (upkeep only)?

My hair is long, and takes 2 tubes of L’Oreal Excellence HiColor Red HiLights to cover (if your hair is in a bob, one tube should be enough. Longer than the middle of your back, I’d use 3-4 tubes. Better use more than not enough).

1.         I start by sectioning my hair into 4 sections with clips. Making sure to wear gloves, I mix 30ml of L’Oreal Excellence HiColor Red HiLights with 75ml of volume 30 Oreor Crème developer into a plastic mixing bowl (bought in the pharmacy in a kit that comes with a tinting brush) with a mini whisk (bought at Kmat). Do not use a metal whisk as it will react with the chemicals in the dye! You should make sure the consistency of the dye is smooth with no lumps, and similar to thick cake icing.

2.         I distribute the colour with a tinting brush to the roots of one section, making sure to go about 3cm over “older” hair. This ensures a seamless transition between the roots and the remainder of your hair. I do the same to all 3 remaining sections.

3.         I leave it to develop for 20 minutes (don’t forget your timer!) and move on to colour the rest of my hair. This is pretty simple.

4.         Mixing another 30ml of the colour with 75ml of the developer in the same way as before, I then take sections of my hair and distribute the colour to the length with my hands (wear gloves!) and make sure to really scrunch it into the hair. I repeat to the rest of my hair and time another 10 minutes.

5.         In the shower, I carefully wash my hair under lukewarm water until the excess dye washes off. I then shampoo my hair with my regular shampoo until the water runs clear, following with Macadamia Natural Oil Deep Repair Masque to condition my hair, concentrating below my ears only.

Maintenance tips:

I’m sure you’ve heard it all, but let me tell you now – it works.  If you want your colour to last, you have to make sacrifices, so before you commit make sure you’re ready and willing. The reason red is such a hard colour to maintain and retain is because red contains bigger molecules than other dyes, so it is less dense when penetrating the hair cuticle and is more prone to separating=fading from the cuticle.

Washing your hair as little as possible is key to maintaining the vibrancy of your colour and preventing fade. I know, you’re screaming at the screen “But my hair is oily!!!”. Well, mine is, too. Or at least I thought so until I realized I was washing it too much. I went from washing my hair 3 times a week at least, to washing it once a week at most.

Your best friend is going to be your dry shampoo. The best dry shampoo I found is No Drought by Lush. It is cornflour based and has delicious grapefruit and lemon oil as an added perk to make your hair smell lovely and fresh. Personally, I only need to apply it on the third day and I can go a whole week without having to wash my hair!

When you wash your hair, use the coldest water you can possibly handle. It’s no biggy in the summer, because it’s lovely and cooling, but in the winter you’ll feel like you’re fighting an ice storm. Heat opens the hair cuticle, which then encourages fade. That also goes to hot tools like flat iron and curling iron, so use them sensibly.

Wash with SLS free shampoo or better yet, invest in a red friendly shampoo – like De Lorenzo Nova Fusion Fire Red Shampoo. Personally, I don’t use neither anymore however, I make up for it by using a conditioning colour depositing mask like Revlon Professional Nutri Color Creme 600 Fire Red every two weeks to counteract any fade and vibrancy lost and leaving it for 10 minutes at least before washing it off.

I hope this was helpful to some of you. Please feel free to share this post, and comment if you have any further questions. I’ll do my best to answer them.

xoxo
Shelly

* Disclaimer: All products mentioned were bought by me and were not given by the companies to review or mention.