Hey Everyone! I thought I was going to get this post out earlier, but I didn't get a chance to. I dyed my hair about one week ago. I was basically just getting tired of my hair color. My natural hair color is a medium/dark brown that pulls towards brassy tones very easily. If ever dye my hair a different shade of brown, it will always fade to the exact same color. A caramel/light to medium brown with auburn-ish tones. Although, it is a pretty color, I'm not sure if its the most flattering color for my skin tone. I think when I'm tanned, a little deeper brown compliments me better. I was a little stumped what dye to purchase.. I decided that I would like to go with a semi-permanent dye (ammonia free) rather than a permanent dye so I will lessen the damage, and just to not completely change my hair color, but darken/deepen it a bit.
I ended up purchasing Clairol Natural Instincts Brass Free Brunettes in 5C Medium Brown. It claims to "counteract unwanted red or orange tones in your blonde or brunette hair color. Use it once a month and Brass Free will give you all the color without the brass." And, it says it will last through 28 shampoos. I thought that it sounds great since I don't want a drastic change. I just want to remove the auburn tone in my hair from past highlights.
What I really like about this is, you only need to put it in your hair for 10 minutes. I first sectioned off my hair. I took about 1/3 of my hair, from around the middle of my ears across I tied it in a tight ponytail and swirled it around into a clip. That section of my hair I did not want to dye. The reason I didn't want to dye it is because I wanted my lighter hair to show through a little bit. I thought it would add a nice little pop of color through the bottom of my hair. I then, very quickly started to apply the mixture to my hair starting at the roots on the top of my head (where my part is) and bringing the mixture down to my ends. I worked very quickly at applying it everywhere. I rubbed very lightly on my scalp (do not massage into your scalp) and I massaged my hair for about a minute to make sure the hair was coated very well. This dye is harder to get off your skin than the regular 40 minute hair colors, so once it hits your skin, be sure to rinse it off right away or you will be scrubbing for a long time. :) I waited about 12 minutes. Yes, I took 2 extra minutes because I wanted to make sure my hair color wasn't going to be too light still. Then, I showered. It says on the box "for the best results, wait 24 hours before shampooing". Considering I took 2 extra minutes, I shampooed. My hair felt pretty dry. Then, I applied the conditioner that was included and my hair was like silk. It was probably the best boxed dye conditioner I ever used. I actually shampooed over the conditioner once more because I don't use conditioner because it takes double time for my hair to dry. My hair felt slightly dry again, so I ended up putting a little more conditioner on my ends only.
viola!
I really like the color. It's very rich and shiny. I do believe I will be using this dye again in about a month. :)
