Red Hair Dye - Natural Instincts, Herbal Essence, Or?

[sarina32]

Hi!

So it's time for me to dye my hair again as my roots are coming in and I'm looking for something that will be gentler to my hair and that I can find easily.

The last time I dyed it I did a true red by Garnier Fructis, and the two times before that I did a bright auburn-brown by Feria. All three times it faded to a light auburn thats a little brassy I think, but the color it fades to still suits me and no matter what color I dye my hair it gets a reddish-brassy tinge to it, I guess that's just my undertones. Anyways, my natural roots are a light-medium brown, closer to the medium brown side.

When I've looked at the ingredients in the Herbal Essence hair dye (I've particularly been looking at Paint the Town - true red color), it doesn't look like there is any ammonia in it even though they don't advertise this. Does anybody know anything about that?

I have also been looking at the Natural Instincts Spiced Tea color. Does anybody that have similar hair coloring to mine have experience with this shade? I'm just not sure if it might be lighter then my hair will let me go, but the Cinnaberry seems too dark/burgundyish. Also when the NI fades will I be left with the light auburn-brassy color thats on my lengths right now and even more medium brown root growth? Or when it fades does it still leave a bit behind (thus evening the contrast between the two)

Any other brands that are gentle and easy to come by please feel free to suggest as well

Thanks for all you help! Bad hair dying is scary

[sarina32]

Bump

[teric506]

Hi there,

Natural instincts does not have ammonia in it and I have used the spiced tea and the cinnaberry color and it does give a nice red. It does fade but I have never noticed it fading to brassy, just my normal light/medium brown. Hope that helps.

[GRU]

Ever looked into henna?

[crimsonshedemon]

I've been dyeing my hair red for several years now. I don't fade a lot. When I dye the outgrowth, I just pull the color thru the last 5 minutes or so.

I've used Feria before and loved the color. Don't remember why I quit using it. I'm now using Robert Craig which I love! I'm using 13# and mixing it 2/3 #13 and 1/3 Clear.
My profile pic is the Robert Craig color.
HTH
Nicole
BTW, I'm very fair, green eyes, naturally blond.

[sarina32]

Thanks for all of your replies!

I ended up dying my hair with the Natural Instincts Spiced Tea and it came out great! Not too dark (like I figured Cinnaberry would be), but not too light. Just a nice medium auburn with hints of light auburn in the sun. I can only tell a difference between my roots and the rest of my hair if I look really closely, and probably only because I know it should be there, so its basically untraceable.

I also expected my hair to make some of the shower water reddish each time I washed because it did for a week after using permanent dyes, but not at all with the NI! Which is great because then I don't have to worry about staining my towels. I dyed it on Friday so it has been about 5 days and I haven't had even a touch of fading so I think this will last me alot more then the 28 days it says (probably helps that I don't really shampoo).

Oh and for the henna suggestion...it is very tempting to me cause I can just imagine how nice it would be to my hair, but I am just way to scared to use something that I either have to keep using or grow all out before I can use a different dye

[Salamander]

I used to dye my hair red with chemical color, but it frustrated me how quickly it faded. Apparently red fades quicker than any other color, and my hair was super-porous which made it even worse.

I am using henna now and LOVE it. It covers my gray completely, doesn't fade at all, and my hair feels strong and healthy.

Of course, it is VERY permanent. Though if you use body-art quality henna, you can dye over it with chemical color -- but I don't think you'd be able to go lighter or it would probably come out orange. You could, however, color over it with an ash brown if you wanted to get rid of the red. Or you can use other herbs such as buxus or indigo along with henna to get shades of brown rather than red.

The compound henna dyes that you see in stores have other stuff in them besides henna and should be avoided; those are the ones that will turn your hair green or worse if you use a chemical dye over them.

[Khadija.D.Carryl]

Yes do give henna a try. It is permanent, and a lot of chemical hair dyes are just as permanent. It'll add shine, and strength to your hair as well.
Get your hands on some samples and do a hair strand test to see how it'll come out. A few companies offer that.