If a girl (or guy) wants red hair, she (he) wants it red, dagnab it! But novelty colorings like Manic Panic (or its inferior, cheaper cousin, Splat) are both extremely messy and will stain tile and other surfaces permanently. Plus, they look amazing at first, but after a week of washings, they start to fade and after three weeks, they just look sad and flat, and if you don't keep touching them up, it's like an old manicure that would have looked better if you'd just left your nails naked (which is what I do because ain't this girl got time for that).
So you can imagine my excitement when I saw this at Walgreen's last night!
Dude, that is *red*.
When I first started coloring my hair, I always said that I wanted a color that exists in nature, but over time, I've grown fond of a little too red to be true. I know I can only get that for a couple of weeks, but since tomorrow is Valentine's Day, at least I'd have some construction-paper red hair for that day, right? Plus, with the gentle chocolate shampoo and conditioner, maybe I'll have some luck keeping the color strong for a while.
This dye is typical for drugstore dye, which is $10.99. Some colors were on sale for $8.99, but not this one.
There was nothing special in the box. Development creme, color mix, after-color weekly conditioner, and gloves. Oh, and the gloves are elastic, not the fast-food one-shape clear gloves, so they're easy to work with.
After I mixed the dye, which was a bright orange (always a good sign), I started applying it and was pleased by how "dry" it was. It didn't drip, it wasn't "goopy." It was easy to apply and I didn't get any drops or anything on the floor, or my hair-color sports bra, or anywhere else that I did not want dye.
Since my existing color was quite a bit darker than the hair color, I went ahead and colored everything at once instead of just doing the root touch-up and then the rest of the hair shortly.
See? Super dry. It didn't weigh my hair down, and my hair didn't want to fall off of my head. Also, the dye did not smell bad. It didn't smell good, either, but neutral is better than suffocating.
When it was time to rinse it, the dye liquefied quickly and rinsed out easily. The rinse water started out deep, bright orange, which was a good sign. When it's purple, it makes me a little nervous. The conditioner was silky.
The color looked very bright even when my hair was wet. Once it dried, it looked like this.
I love it! I can't wait to see how the color holds up over the next few weeks. I'm tempted to go back to that Walgreen's and clean them out of this color. I've never seen it before, and actually just looked online to see that it's not even available on Amazon.com. It *is* available here, on drugstore.com. They also have London Lilac, and I'm tempted to order one of those. For Easter, maybe? I'll let you know!
How did the color hold up? I am thinking of dying my hair this
ReplyDeleteI haven't updated yet, but... I colored this over a month ago and the color is still pretty red. The only real "problem" is that since it hasn't mellowed as much as my normal red color, my dark roots are more noticeable. :) I bought four more boxes immediately as I was having trouble finding the color locally. Good luck!
DeleteInterested to know what color is your real hair before you applied the product. Typically when I try a new red, since my hair us dark brown, it turns out brown with red highlights.
ReplyDeleteMy hair has gotten progressively darker as I have aged. It was blonde when I was little, but pretty dark brown in my mid-20s, which I didn't think worked with my white complexion, and that's why I first started coloring my hair red in the first place. After having consistently colored it for 15 years or so, the colors on the box are pretty true to what I get now. Although I don't recommend stripping the color before you dye your hair (it's super stressful for your hair), you might try first coloring with a lighter shade, something that will give you a lighter base to work with? Otherwise, just start coloring it red and every six weeks, do the same thing and eventually, it should lighten up because it does take some color out (it doesn't just deposit color on top).
DeleteOn the box, it only gives the results through "medium brown." I do remember that the first time I colored my hair "strawberry," on top of the brown I had, it was, to me barely noticeable. Over the years, though, my hair tends to fade between colorings to a red that's a lot lighter than my natural color (and roots). So it might just be a matter of committing to a color and going at it with consistency?
I was wondering if you had any problems with the color rubbing off on your hands after you dyed it? I seem to have a lot coming off, and my hair is dry.
ReplyDeleteI haven't had any come off on my hands, but the second time I colored, it did take a long time to rinse clear. Like two weeks. The second time I shampooed after I had colored it, I noticed my hair drip-drying had left orange streaks on a yellow T-shirt (which I washed immediately and it came out fine). I don't know why that happened the second time and not the first. Maybe this is one dye it would do well to shampoo immediately after coloring. All I did was wait for my hair to be VERY towel-dried before letting it down, and that seems to have worked (because I have dark towels).
DeleteThis color is amazing! I saw it in the store and thought it would be too red but with the ones I buy I always wish it was redder(?)So maybe I will go grab a few boxes of this kind.
ReplyDelete