I've had red hair for around...5 or 6 years now? and I'm always trying to find the next best red hair dye. My hair dye journey started when I was 16 and starting sixth form college, my sister training to be a hairdresser and my dying passion to have red hair had grown to the point where I just gave in. My natural hair colour is a lovely rich auburn, however people continue to call me "ginger". Now I'm not saying there's anything bad about having ginger hair, I just really wanted something different.
My first red hair dye used was a brand called NXT which was the basic hair dye my sister was using in her college kit. It was a lovely dark red, however it didn't suit me as it was far too dark. I'm pretty sure the colour was "Red Scarlet no. 6-66". I'm afraid I don't have any photos of this hair colour as I wasn't really into the whole taking selfies etc...but as far as I can remember, I wanted something brighter. Don't I always?!
Within the next couple of weeks, I washed my hair more than needed to make the hair dye fade. And thankfully, it did. I'd always loved the look of hair dyes when walking through Boots and Superdrug, especially the Schwarzkopf XXL Live colours. Now, I knew my hair wouldn't be the same colour as on the box as it was really quite dark still from the previous hair dye. I'd used this hair dye for a couple of years as the only hair dye (and still do to this day for my roots) however the first colour I had tried was called "red passion" which to my knowledge, has a more of an orange undertone to it. I absolutely loved this hair dye as it would normally fade quite "orangey" so it meant my hair didn't look too bad between dying.
My world then completely changed. I trawled the internet for hours swooning over girls who had brilliant red hair, thinking "howwww do I get this?!". I was then introduced to a brand called "Manic Panic". I didn't know what to do with these "semi perm" hair dyes as I was still really quite a novice when it came to dying my hair. My sister informed me it's actually quite easy. Paste on, leave on, wash out. Ta dah. I instantly purchased a gorgeous shade called "Vampire Red". I remember putting this on over faded hair so I didn't bother doing my roots or anything. I. loved. it. It was the red hair I'd always wanted, although it stained my parent's bathtub pink and every item of clothing pink, my hands, arms, neck. Everything my hair touched, it stained. But I didn't care, my hair was finally brilliant red! From what I remember by using this hair dye, it faded pretty quickly which was quite saddening. I'd say about...6 washes in my hair. It left a nasty pink hue to my hair, however I continued to use it about 3 times but it was getting costly because I had to buy two tubs. I'm pretty sure it was around £8-9 each time.
Throughout using Manic Panic and Schwarzkopf, I decided to ditch the red hair and go for brown. Then accidentally, black. The less said there, the better. I can say this only lasted around 3 weeks before I got fed up of the "witch" "emo" and any other comment someone could throw at me. Humph. I swiftly bought a hair dye colour stripper and away that went!
Again, searching the internet for a cheaper alternative, I came across a brand called "Crazy Colour", I'm not even joking the picture on the website is of a lady in a multicoloured wig. I thought to myself "oh jesus...how 80's." but decided to try it anyway in the colour No. 56 "Fire". It's around £2-3 per bottle but as I buy them on a multibuy it's usually £6.00 from ebay. I've used this hair colour for around...3 years now? I think. I absolutely love it, it's my holy grail of red hair dyes for the moment. It's got really good staying power in my hair, it lasts around 4 weeks (I only wash my hair twice a week, any more than that and I'm a huge greaseball...) but again, anything it touches, it stains pink. I've tried many combinations with this hair dye to try and get it a brilliant red. I've teamed it up with L'oreal Majicontrast in Red, which lasted a couple of goes but had to ditch as again, having really thick and curly hair, I had to buy two tubes at nearly £9 a pop.
So, I quickly diverted back to the XXL colours but this time I'm using Real Red rather than Red Passion. I must say, for the price, Crazy Colour is absolutely brilliant. I really want to try a pinker colour but for now I think I'll stick to red. I can honestly say if you're not sure on whether you want red hair or not and you don't want to break the bank in trying, I suggest using Crazy Colour. It's vibrant, doesn't leave your hair smelling too bad and is long lasting (in my hair anyway!) but alas, I am always trying to find something...redder. As you can see, in the direct sun, it's very much a pillarbox red. But I wanted more. The last couple of times, I've mixed this hair dye with Ion Colour Flash in "Chaotic Crimson" which has definitely given it that little bit extra, but I wouldn't dye my hair all over with it as it's quite costly at £5.99 per bottle, so again, I'd be spending more than I wanted to on something that's not going to last so long! I normally use about half a bottle of Crazy Colour on my hair, so this lasts me about 4 months (as I buy two bottles at a time).
I'm still yet to use Directions and Special Effects, I'm waiting till I give in to actually try those as Directions is a little smaller meaning I'd have to buy more and Special Effects is always out of stock on my normal hair dye stockist. So for now, I'm sticking with my holy grail semi perm red hair dye. I'll probably be making another post soon saying "Ohhhh I changed again!" but for now, I hope this helps some of you who are wanting to try red hair. I absolutely love mine, have had red hair for the best part of nearly 6 years now and definitely would never ever go back to my natural colour!
♥
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