Ever feel like doing something drastic?

[Shannon]

I do, often. I think a shrink may refer to it as mania. That is beside the point. I am seriously considering dying my hair a weird color. It is auburn with blond streaks in the front. I have made the blond streaks hot pink and purple in the past, but I never took the plunge and dyed my whole head. I will probably have my hair cut shorter and layered so there would be less to dye. I was thinking of a fiery red, like a fire hydrant, but John thinks it wouldn't go well with my pale complexion, and I trust his judgment on things of this matter as much as I would a gay boy. I'm thinking a dark blue. I know it will fade to green if I don't maintain the color. I wonder what it would do with my already dyed color, though...? I get it dyed a dark auburn, but it has faded to a light copper color, which means something needs to be done with it. How do you think the color would turn out if I just applied to my dyed hair instead of bleaching it first? Any educated opinions? It is recommended to sleep with Manic Panic on your hair overnight, but how people don't get it on their sheets in not something I can comprehend. I would probably put it in in the morning and wrap it in plastic and let it sit all day a marinate.

Here's a picture of my messy hair. It is actually a bit lighter than it looks in the picture. I think the flash made it darker, but taking picture of one's own head with a one pound DSLR is quite a task, so no flash was not an option.


And, the colors I am considering:

After Midnight Blue


Divine Wine


Vampire Red


Rock 'n' Roll Red


I am leaning towards the blue. I have blue/grey eyes, and I think it would make my eyes look amazing. /narcissism

[sammit]

you cant do blue!! hahaha i just dyed my hair blue!!! ahahahaha, well dark blue with pale white/grey/purple streaks that im considering making bright pink. but yes... either the blue or the vamp red. but yes you have to bleach first and if you have alot of colour build up in your hair it wont all turn out the same shade. the way you sleep in it is in a shower cap taped to your head (been there done this) but you will get it all over your skin. i recommend doing it on friday night and then staying home all weekend until you can get it off properly lol.

[Comatose_Angel]

I love dying hair ^_^ At the moment, my purple has faded to the point of being almost a pastel/neon pink.

From personal knowledge, I've found that Manic Panic fades out quicker than most dyes. I personally use SPLAT! hair dye. You can get it at Walgreens for about $10 a box, and it includes the bleach kit.

I've used the manic panic Midnight Blue before and my results were iffy. The SPLAT! Blue turned out fantastic for me. I marinated for about 2 hours, then washed it out. My hair was NEON blue for a few days until it faded a bit to the darker blue that I had wanted.

As to your questions about putting hair dye on already dyed hair, it will make the new color darker. I did that with my purple over my way faded out green. It turned it a darker shade of purple than it was supposed to, but that's fine with me. <3

Honestly, I wouldn't want to marinade over night. Just for the fact that wrapping your head in plastic wrap is a pain, and then keeping it on while you're asleep is even more of a pain. You'd have to cover your pillow and bed in towels that you don't mind ruining with color, find some way to secure the plastic wrap to your hair, other than just wrapping. Mostly because you move in your sleep and the plastic will probably ride up, resulting in dye EVERYWHERE! lol ^^ So I'd do it in the morning, and wear the dye for a few hours.

Oh and here's my biggest bit of advice. If you're looking for something that's a bit cheaper. SPLAT! is cheaper compared to Manic Panic. I know you can get most of the jars of Manic Panic for $8-10, but you also have to pay for the bleach kit, which is about another $10-15. So over all with SPLAT! being about $10, its a better deal. <3<3

Some of the colors that Splat has are:
Blue, Red, Pink, Green, Purple, Yellow, White



And now Shannon, you devious person you. You've made me want to go into the bathroom, grab out my hair dye and go crazy. Thanks. lmao ^_^

[Tikigurl]

Yay for dyeing hair! I used to do it a lot but my hair is so dead now, it feels like Barbie Doll hair, ew. So i've decided to give it a break and let it grow out so i can cut all the dead hair when it's long enough.
I love your color hair though! Well, the color it is in the picture. I wanted my hair that color sooo bad i bleached my hair and dyed it. And it STILL didn't come out like that .

But i agree with Sam. Either the Blue or Vamp Red. I think Bright Red hair is awesomely awesome .

[leebee]

I love, love blue shades. I think that they always look amazing, especially with a paler complexion.

It is recommended to sleep with Manic Panic on your hair overnight, but how people don't get it on their sheets in not something I can comprehend.

I did this once! I slept with a shower cap on and secured it with medical tape, it really does help to make a colour more vibrant.

[Samantha1025]

Personally I LOVE the color your hair is now. I've tried for that color myself many times but my hair doesn't take color normally . From the colors you've listed, if I was you I'd probably go for the blue to make the eyes pop. Have fun.

[pixibubbles]

put vaseline around your skin line that way the leaks dont dye your skin too.

If you are considering long term maintenance i would personally go red. Then you can use henna to strengthan the colour as it fades. Henna also has the added bonus of a mass conditioning moisture drench

That said, if you're not i like the purple splat! Especially with pink highlights!
Shame i wouldnt get away with it at work. I'd be laughed out of funding meetings.

[Skittles]

IMO I would go blue.

Red is TERRIBLE to maintain. After the third dye session, THEN does it stay the colour you want.
I have peek-a-boo highlights under my natural colour which were platinum blonde and I dyed them a gorgeous violet red. It took 4 days for the colour to lighten up to an almost pink colour.

Second try, worked perfectly. Its fairly light now, but it's lightened to a reddish brown

If you do decide on red, the first week you wash your hair, don't use hot water. use a cool-warm temperature, the colder the better actually.

The warmer the water is, the more the pores in your hair will open and release the colour.
The colder the water is, keeps the pores closed thus retaining the colour.

EDIT: Also for got to add: I had my hair dyed purple using the manic panic dye and it lasted FOREVER! Even as my dark roots came in, it suited the deep purple look.

After a while though it looked so washed out so I just dyed it back to my normal dark colour.

[McDenny]

It depends on your skin tone. You want a color that matches your tone (warm or cool). I'm totally a huge fan of red, but it is definitely hard to maintain and looks funny when it begins to fade.

[leebee]

I think red really depends on your natural hair colour.
My sister dyes her hair bright red and as she naturally has almost black hair, it fades to a really nice darker red.

[Shannon]

I think I'm going with blue since I've never tried blue before. Also, my cheeks have a tendency to blush really easily and having red hair may bring that out more and I hate it as it is. I made a hair appointment to have my trimmed to my shoulders, and I'm going to have it layered. I don't want to bleach my whole head because it just kills your hair, so I think I'm going to bleach random chunks of it. Plus, my hair is super thick, and bleaching it myself would be really difficult. Hopefully it turns out bright blue on the bleached parts and a dark, dark blue on the dyed parts. If not, I may be making a trip to the hair salon. Thanks for the input, everyone!

[mizpriz]

I like either the blue or the vampire red. Look at your avatar, that there girl has a very fair complexion yet looks ravishing with fire-engine hair. I wish I could do something crazy like that, but I learned a few years ago that my hair and bleach should never mix. WAY too much damage.

[Barb]

I like the rock 'n roll red. Red is super sexy.

[Melza]

Imma say blue! You wanna go drastic... go fully drastic!

[Shannon]

Boo, looks like I have to wait to dye my hair. My great-grandma died and I'm going to New Mexico for the funeral with my parents, so out of respect for others I'm waiting. I hate acting like an adult sometimes. *humph*

[Piatchie]

First of all! Sorry to hear about your great Grandmother


Now, if I can give you a little advice....I am a hairstylist.

I think the blue would be AWSOME! However, I don;t think you will be able to put it on your hair the color it is now. I work with Funky colors a lot! Blue is the most frustrating of them all! You will need to bleach if you want to go blue. Problem with that is you need to go really light! Yellow and blue make green so if the hair is a brassy blond color, you are not going to get a nice blue. Also, you have a lot of red tones in your hair. while red is one of the hardest colors to keep in your hair, it is also one of the hardest colors to get out! I normally don't recomend peopl to try and bleach their own hair, but if you are going to do it let me give you some advice.

When you buy a bleach kit at the drug store it contains a very harsh, very strong bleach. you need to be careful of damage. I would recomend you get a couple of kits and a friend to help you. Start by mixing only half of the product and applying it to THE ENDS OF YOUR HAIR ONLY! do not put it on your roots touching your scalp. Your scalp is warm and the heat makes the bleach work faster so if you applu all over you will get nice light blond roots and dark spotty ends prob;y in some awful shade of orange or gold!

Once you get it applyied to your ends cover it with plastic. seran wrap works really well. let it sit for a while and check it periodically.....it will turn orange first, then gold then blond. I would not leave it on any longer then 30 minutes. at this point I would rinse it off, dry your hair and thenif the color is good go back and do the roots. if its still not light enough, repeat all over again on the ends only. Once you get your ends up almost to the desired color then do the roots.

The thing is, in the salon, when I do this kind of color, it needs to be done in stages....especially if their is a build up of color on the hair...to prevent it from getting damaged and cracking off! if your hair starts to feel mushy.....STOP! you have gone to far.

as for the Blue....I would apply it to your newly blond hair and wrap it in plastic and apply heat to it! heat will blow open your cuticle and push the color in. 20 min with heat=45 min without. I don't think you need to leave it on for a overly exptended amount of time.....I have never left it one for longer then 60 minutes. when you rinse it make sure the hair is hot and use the coldest water you can stand on your head. The cold water shuts the cuticle down and locks in the color. And as was already said, use cool water to shampoo andalways condition! Conditioner helps lock in these color as well.

It will definetly fade a lot whithin the first few washes and will most likely need to be reapplied. but once you reapply the same color a few times it tends to stick better.

Anyway, sorry for the supper long rant, but I just wanted to give you some tips to do this the right way. I know it sounds like a lot of work, but if you do it right you will end up with better results and your color will probly last longer. I really don't think you should apply blue over your current color....I think you will end up with a gross mucky greyish color if you do.

Now the red....you could probly put over what you have and be fine....

Also (last thing I promise!) I would wait to cut your hair till after. That way if you do get any damage on the ends, you can be sure to cut it off!

I have some awsome pics of some of my work I can post if your interested!

[sammit]

id like to see some pics... i just spent $200 at the salon getting my hair grey and blue.. so good luck! it took them 6 hours!!! and my hair was base red too with regrowth and i hadnt dyed it in 4 months.

[Piatchie]

yip! Thats what I mean! It's not as simple as bleaching and coloring blue!

[Shannon]

Tracie, thank you so much. I have been bleaching my own hair since I was 16, so I know how to do it without killing my hair. BUT, I hadn't considered that unless I made it white that the color would turn out green. Excellent point! My hair takes a really long time to lift, and usually two applications at max time to turn white. I was just going to bleach it to a golden blond and dye it because I hate the way bleaching kills hair. I think I will go with the vamp red...I really don't want green hair, which is what has made me avoid blue in the past. I may consider a dark purple. Thanks again, I really do appreciate it. Oh, and too late on the hair. I had it chopped off this afternoon!

[Piatchie]

your very welcome! If you go red or purple you can actually leave a fair bit of gold in your hair and it will help keep the color in longer. The lighter you go of course, the brighter your color, but if you want a good color that sticks well...leave you hair kinda gold. I think purple would be awsome! Purple all over if one of my faves!

[4keets]

I cut off all my long hair 10 years ago and wear it real short. I don't care what people think, I don't have to brush my hair! HA!