For Those That Color Your Hair...

It's chemistry.

The red molecule is the smallest (black is the largest...so large it gets "stuck" even stripping your hair won't get it out easily, the other colors are medium sized between the two ) so red washes out of the hair the easiest. Literally every time you wash it, you lose some. So it fades.

It's not sulfates to watch out for with Red... it's GLYCERINE. It's in most regular conditioners, and SOME color safe conditioners. Read the back of the bottle. If it says glycerine, don't buy. DITTO look on your hair products and make sure there's no glycerine.

I can actually take a bottle of pure glycerine (we use it in the lab as lubrication for glass) and go from fire engine red to seal brown in less than 5 minutes.

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I'm naturally auburn, and dye to cover the grays, but I always stay red :) I think because I'm a natural redhead, the color stays really well. It looks super brassy the first 3 days or so, then calms down to a natural red. I use whatever's cheapest!! Usually Loreal I believe... Sometime's if you dye it red once, use the same exact stuff about 4-6 weeks later... red clings to red, so if it's already red, it tends to last longer :)

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I used to do reds and did notice that they needed to be redone faster than most other colors. You'll just have to learn to color more often I guess! :)

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Reds do fade fast no matter what you do. I used to dye my hair red, and I used the clariol line from sallys.. I think each bottle was something like 5 bucks ( and I needed 2) so that plus the developer never cost more than $20 alltogether.

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My entire 20s into my mid 30s I dyed my hair red. It washed out and I re-dyed OVER AND OVER AND OOOOVER. Red does fade the fastest. :(

One day at work we tried on some of the wigs we sold and the black wig I tried on changed my life. Since then I went with black and love it. I tried black back in high school and looked HORRIBLE on me but now I'm converted.

IF I could AFFORD a professional dye job I would LOVE to go red but that's not in the budget so I double up on my cheap stuff from Walgreens and do it myself.

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I have hair that just naturally bleaches out. Even though the natural color is medium red brown it get damn close to blond when I was younger.

So I use Ion light reddish brown. It seems to go a month before I have blondish brown with a little reddishness in it. I used to use the medium but it was such a drastic change when I dyed it I got tired of the oh you dyed your hair comments. This seems to make the cycle less noticeable. Is that spelled right or is google messing with me.

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reds fade very fast. it doesnt matter what brand you buy or how you wash it after. It sucks because I love the way my hair looks for about the first couple of weeks after coloring it red, but after that it just looks almost orange. I have decided to boycott red (even though it has been my color of choice for about 10 years now) and am going back to my natural-ish brown. my problem is I am trying to lighten it to a dark blonde-ish color and I cant get my hair to lighten. and I also am a cheap skate in that I am not going to pay to have it done, even though my hair is very short I am sure it would still be at least $50 or $60, maybe even more I don't know.

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Reds never stay on me either! If I want red, I have to get it professionally done, but even the last one was only the right color for about 3 weeks. I went back for a free redo and the second job faded just as quickly. I've given up on red!

However, I've noticed if I use a color with a golden tone, the reddish hue will stay much too long. It's like I can't hold the vibrant color but the pale one will stick around until it looks awful. And I was once a natural redhead!

I've heard it is the hardest to maintain. I'd go cheap for it, too, since it has to be redone no matter what.

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Reds always fade fast. I hate it because I like those tints on me, but don't want the hassel of upkeep (I am so lazy when it comes to cutting and up-keeping dye on my hair), lol. I think I have tried just about every brand and professional. Instead I will get highlights of red tones, atleast when it fades it seems to fade into the base color better...which is usually a lighter brown.

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I used to use henna. I purchased it on-line from www.hennaforhair.com and it lasted forever on my hair. The only problem (and the reason I no longer use it) is that it turned auburn on my brown hair and made great hightlights on my greys, but the white hair I have around my temples turned a glow-in-the-dark orange. I got tired of people commenting on my haircolor because the orange was obvious. So I would not recommend it if you have any white hair but I would recommend it if you have some grey (I would say 50% or less grey). That is my personal opinion.

The website I mentioned above is a great place to get a lot of information about henna and see before and after pictures. Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

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I like red tones in my hair, too, and the last time I colored I used Garnier Nutrisse in Medium Golden Mahogany Brown (535). It pulls red, so it's more an auburn color instead of just a brown. It's dark at first but lightens to a very pretty color after about 3 to 5 washes. It grew out before it faded out.

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Perfect10 was rated #1 few years in a row by fashion beauty editors.

I buy plain henna at Whole Foods - one $5 box turns my naturally brown and grey hair auburn with copper highlights for about six weeks, and since my hair is short, one box does my hair twice.

do not use a shampoo/conditioner that says "moisturizing" on it. speeds up the fading process for sure.
and the posters below that explain the science of the red molecule being large are totally correct. unfortunately with red...its the nature of the beast and brand probably won't make a difference

I have been sending all of my color clients home with Aveda Color conditioner. I use it myself to perk my color back up between touch ups. It comes in several different shades. Clove, for browns. Blue Malva, for blonds who tend to yellow; Madder root for Red heads, and so on. I tell my clients to use this 2 or 3 days in a row (until they feel their color is back where they want it). You use it in place or your regular conditioner and leave on for a few minutes. Go to Aveda.com for salons that carry Aveda products or stop by The Incredible You in Mt Morris.

Reds fade quicker because they have a much larger molecule and it doesn't penetrate and bond to the hair shaft as well as the other colors. My Mom has been a stylish/cosmetician for over 35 years and I dye my hair mainly reds. Red fits me much better than my natural dark ashy blonde or the platinum blonde that my Mother prefers on me.