Bleaching and dyeing hair BRIGHT RED! :)

What brand of dye are you using? If it's a direct semi permanent dye, than, as far as I know, it's better to leave it in longer, than it says on the package, just name the brand and other guys here will sure tell you how long does it take. Otherwise sounds like a good plan to me :)

If you're using a direct dye, you don't really need to condition like crazy afterward - most direct dyes (like Manic Panic for example) are conditioning. If that's the case, you can just skip step 7 and rinse it off.

I want to ask you - is your hair 100% virgin or has it been previously processed? If it's been previously dyed, use a color remover first.

One way to maintain the color is to put a little bit of direct dye in your conditioner. Some put it in their shampoo too, but I don't really see what's the point because the purpose of a shampoo is to clean your hair. If it's really, really faded, you can just put direct dye over it again.

You have such nice long hair! I just want to say that you should make sure that you have enough bleach and dye to cover it all (assuming that's your plan).

Just remember to get enough pots of colour to cover all of your hair. It's quite long! What brand and shade are you planning to use?

Also, rinse with cold water when you shower and use color-safe shampoo and conditioner to help preserve your colour.

what you've got should work as a plan, here's a few articles to help you along:

http://haircrazy.info/beginner-guides/dyeing-your-hair-an-unnatural-colour/

http://haircrazy.info/beginner-guides/bleaching-your-hair/

also, have you done a strand test? http://haircrazy.info/beginner-guides/how-to-do-a-strand-test/

it will help if you aren't sure about bleaching enough.

step 1 is a good idea, but you don't need to do that. coating your hair in olive oil just before you bleach works just fine. leaving your hair for a day or two before bleaching also helps because you get your natural hair grease on it. remember to do the roots last when bleaching (it says that on the instructions too :) ) 30 vol should be fine, but strand test before dissapointment! for eye-rapingly bright colours, it helps to have a lighter base to work on, however, red is a very forgiving colour to having a darker base. even if bleaching gets it this shade and no lighter then it'll still come out looking good, but the lighter the brighter: http://whatrosiedid.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/ginger.jpg

step 5: make sure it's fully dry, i sometimes speed up the process with a bit of blow drying, just be careful because your hair is slightly more damaged than normal. putting it on hair with something like wet ends can make the colour not take on the ends.

step 7: slow down cowboy! i think if you've been reading the forums you might have heard loads of horror stories about bleaching too much and having your hair break off and be all nasty. the likelyhood of this happening after one bleach with 30vol. is SO LOW. after you've bleached it and not conditioned it will feel scary, but if you're used to conditioning it, it'll feel much worse than it is. after you've used your red (assuming you're using a direct dye) then it'll probably feel exactly the same as it did before you started. i once heard that you shouldn't bleach any part of your hair more than 3 times, and that's a good rule of thumb, but you don't have to stick to it religiously. if you feel like your hair is nasty and dry afterwards, soaking in olive, coconut, argan oil, etc. for 1/2hour under saran wrap before washing your hair can really help it feel better.

maintaining colour is easy, get a shampoo and conditioner for coloured hair and put a bit of your red dye in it. this only works with direct dyes (ones you don't mix). word of warning: it might turn your hands orange/pink when you use it, if you're nervous about this, then put in a little less dye, you can always add more!

http://haircrazy.info/beginner-guides/tricks-to-long-lasting-color/

http://haircrazy.info/beginner-guides/getting-the-most-out-of-your-red-hair/

when the colour fades, simply re-apply the red dye, no need to bleach anything except your roots if they need doing.

last thing to say: make sure you have the right amount of hair dye/bleach. you might need 2 or 3 of each, bleach and dye, to cover your hair since it's really long. happy dying!

still_larva wrote: What brand of dye are you using...

At the moment I’m actually not sure haha, my mum is the queen of dying her hair so I’m going to let her choose the dye and bleach when we go shopping for it :) But it will definitely be a permanent dye, as permanent as possible! Haha :P What brand would you reccomend for being most vibrant and staying the longest?

lucemon wrote: If you're using a direct dye...

Awesome thanks for the tip! And nope, not virgin hair, I’ve attempted to dye my hair red several times before but I’ve never gotten the colour I wanted. I’ve used peroxide in it before, just a very low volume, mixed with dye. I’ve also gotten it dyed at salons and just red box dye at home. It’s never been the red I wanted it, the most red it’s been is still pretty dark red. The last time I dyed my hair (which is when I did it with peroxide) was 6-8 months ago, I believe. My hair is pretty much back to normal now, it’s not red at all anymore, but it’s a tiny bit lighter than it used to be, but it’s still just as healthy, if not healthier, than it used to be, which I guess is a good sign, it means my hair can handle peroxide, which is good considering I’ll be drowning it with peroxide tomorrow! :P

And thanks a heap for another awesome tip! I was gonna get those expensive red hair shampoo and conditioners but now I know the cheaper alternative, woot! And yeah I’m thinking of re-dying it every 6-8 weeks.

Thank you so much! The secret is to pretty much never cut your hair haha xD You do get a few split ends, but that’s good for me, I’m going to get a trim after I do my hair, because bleaching and dying your hair from what I’ve heard can really dry out the ends, so I’ll be getting of dry ends and split ends at the same time! :) And yeah I’m dreading the amount of bleach and dye I’m going to have to buy for all of this xD Oh well, I’ll buy too much and save the leftovers for root touch ups! :)

vivienne wrote: Just remember to get enough pots of colour to cover all of your hair...

Haha I know, it only takes me a few weeks to use up 1 litre of conditioner, and I only condition my hair 2-3 times a week! :P And I was going to use Special Effects - Devilish, which is by the same people who do manic panic I think, but unfortunately I don’t think that’s sold where I live, I think it might just be an online thing, and I’ve got to dye my hair within the next 4 days and shipping would take 10 days so maybe I’ll get it later and use it for touch ups/roots :)

And thanks for the tip! :D

ickle_cat wrote: what you've got should work as a plan, here's a few articles to help you along...

Oh my goodness so much info! Thank you so much! Those guides are awesome, btw, they helped me out soo much! :) No I haven’t done a strand test yet, but after reading that article I probably will! Just to see how much damage I’ll be doing to my hair, and how much effort I have ahead of me to make it lovely and soft and strong again :P But I’m pretty much 100% about bleaching my hair, I have been for a long time, even though so many people have told me not to, I’ve wanted to do this for about 2 years now :P

And that’s awesome about the olive oil! Haha I was thinking “Where the heck do I buy coconut oil? It’s probably expensive :’(“ haha xD And no problemo, already done! I washed my hair a few days ago and I’m doing it tomorrow :) And yeah I’ve had dark red before, and it’s ok, but it’s not what I truly want, which is bright crazy Ariel hair! Haha :P And no worries, I’ll make sure it’s completely dry for best.. adherence? Haha :P And yeah I watched a video of a girl bleaching/dyeing her hair red, and when she first did it and blow dried it looked so dry! But then she took another video a couple of hours later and it looked actually pretty healthy :)

Ooh and that rule of thumb explains a lot about my friend whos gotten highlights soo soo many times, her hair is wrecked now D: And I’ll definitely be doing that olive oil soak! I do them 1-2 times a fortnight usually anyway, they work wonders :D And awesome tip, thank you! Maintaining the red has been a problem for me every time I’ve dyed it red :P Oh and that’s fine haha, I usually come home from school with my hands covered in pen, highlighter, paint, etc, so a bit of red on my hands doesn’t worry me :) I really love these little beginner guides you’re linking me, they’re awesome! Really helpful :D

To be safe I might just buy 3 bleach kits and a lot of red dye, and I can just use the leftovers for touch ups and roots in the future! :) Thank you so much for this post, it helped me out so much! :D

I hope you are considering manic panic and special effects as they are both good direct dyes. I saw you mention permanent dyes but you should steer clear of anything that says permanent. Permanent dyes will not last you any longer, give more damage, etc. Make sure you consider the fading process as the bright red will really only last you a couple weeks before it starts fading depending on your hair routine. Pink-based reds will fade to pink and orange-based reds will fade to orange-obviously. Depending on how light you bleach it will determine how bright the color will come out and the fading route. It will look more even for a longer period of time after you dye it if the base is light. Also, it may be cheaper if you could find a pot of bleach and buy a bottle of developer instead of individual bleach packets.

To dye the red color you want need to bleach the hair to a dark blonde at leaat. The lighter the hair the more vibrant the red. other colleagues have already given great suggestions on technique. Humbly suggest using either Special Effects ro Manic Panic. The red pictured seems more of an Nuclear Red by Special Effects.

I agree with Kayvach.

I wouldn't want to use a permanent red dye myself. That's also double-processing your hair if you're doing bleach and permanent dye in a same day. I will like to suggest using a direct dye instead of a permanent dye since it doesn't damage your hair at all.

Ooh ok thanks a heap for the tips guys! Got it, no permanent red dye :) Although my mum actually found a hairdresser who will do it for only $180 which I can afford, woot! But I will DEFINITELY come back to this post/forum/question/whatever it's called every time I need to do my roots or a touch up, you guys have given me great advice, thankyou so much everybody! :)