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I've decided I want to dye my hair black. Right now I have almost shoulder length medium brown hair. As far as I know I don't have to bleach my hair before dying it. If I did, I wouldn't dye my hair at all, as it is already dry. Can anyone give me any advice on dying my hair? Like: a good type of hair dye to use (I want it to be permament, and completely black), what to do before dying, and a certain shampoo to use after dying? Thanks...
I dye my hair dark brown to cover grey and use L'oreal (a woman's haircolor, yes, but my hair doesn't know the difference). The thing to remember, especially with dry hair, is to apply the after conditioner that comes with the dye and leave it in awhile. I like to apply it, then put on a shower cap to hold in the heat (heat activates conditioner and makes it work better). They have metallic looking caps at the beauty supply store that are made especially for this purpose. I leave the conditioner in for like 30min to an hour. The result is fairly soft hair after dyeing.
The important thing to remember is that dyes, like all products, work well for some people and not for others. Just try a few until you find one you like. (BTW, If you dye your hair black, you will start showing roots in a few weeks so you will have to dye it often, like every 6 weeks or so).
Hope that helps,
The Rev
You may want to think about trying a temporary black dye to see if you like the results...I had a friend to did the same and did not like the results...he had, what we jokingly called a "bar-room complexion", and the contrast between his complexion and black hair was too great...he settled on a darker color but not black.
ya dude, um u might wanna try the temporary first and u might have to have treatments done to ur hair to dye it. and u do need another shompoo.
are you going to dye it Natural Black, or Jet Black?
I think jet black hair looks awesome with light complexion.
I did this years ago and it made me look like a vampire.
at the time I was going out with this chick was into making out in cemetarys. she was also into everything black. black candles, black lipstick, black fingernail polish and even had her room painted black!
I hope you have good results and am sure it would look awsome especially with long hair!
I would like to dye it jet black. Yes, that is exactly the look I'm going for! I have pretty pale skin and vampires are like my main hobby :) I'm going to post a picture, could you guys let me know if you think I'll look alright with black hair? Thanks. I'll post it in another message though, not in this one.
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I'd highly recommend a demi-color; it'll last through half a dozen or so shampoos before it starts to fade. It's also a lot less damaging to your hair than the stronger permanant colors.
Make a pilgrimage to Sally's Beauty Supply and get
1) a tube of Wella black demi-permanant color (look for color number 1/0; dark colors are the 1's and 2's, light blonde is 8's and 9's)
2) a small bottle of color activator solution
3) a 8-ounce bottle to mix the color in
4) plastic gloves (optional)
With this stuff, you mix one part color to two parts color activator, apply to a freshly shampooed head, let it sit for 20 minutes, then shampoo out (use just about any shampoo that says "For Color Treated Hair" or "For Chemically Treated Hair"). Apply a dab of conditioner, and you're set. If you like it, just mix a new batch and reapply to freshly shampooed hair. If you change your mind, just shampoo with some hellashishly strong shampoo like Prell several times, and it'll come out like demons fleeing the shouts of Jimmy Swaggart.
On the other hand, if you later decide you want to make it permanant and won't mind tending regularly to the different colored roots that generally come with permanantly colored hair, you can use a permanant color. Keep in mind, though, that when you retouch the roots, you'll have to have someone apply the color to just the roots--reapply it to previously colored hair a few times, and it'll get wretchedly dry, feel like the business end of a straw broom, and you'll become a fire hazard.
Aside from that, as they say on Feb. 2, 'gopher it!'
Good luck,
--Tock
Hey Tock, thanks for the advice. That was pretty much all I needed to know. I do have another question though: You say that demi-permament color is not as damaging to hair, but wouldn't you also have to use it more often? Wouldn't it be better for your hair to use permanent color once than demi-permanent several times?
Another thing: the main reason I'm not sure whether I should dye it or not. What do you do about your eyebrows? If I have brown hair and dye it black, and my eyebrows are brown, wouldn't it look funny? But wouldn't it also look funny if I dyed my eyebrows black? Aahhh.
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Speaking from personal experience (i've used the the demi every 3 weeks) my hair is ok, not anything like a few years ago when I used "just for men" and had to cut it off after a few applications, and better than the folks who use permanant color in the hair school.
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It usually looks ok unless the difference in color is extreme. But the dyes & bleaches usually say "Don't put any of this on your eyebrows!" 'cause it can cause eye damage. So, don't even think about it. You can use eye pencil and make it darker that way . . .
Good luck
--Tock