How to stop red hair dye from fading

[Ceilidh.]

I dyed my hair bright red today and I love it (it's this colour) Problem is red dye fades like a ***** >.> I don't really want to dye it constantly as, A) it's not very good for my hair and, B) I don't want to buy loads of hair dye every 2/3 weeks :p

What could I do to stop it from fading? Obviously I shouldn't wash it that much but that's kind of icky D:

[Jurv]

I've not really got a clue but I've had a quick Google for you and it says to avoid using hot water when washing your hair and use a certain type of shampoo.

Use a mild formula shampoo. Some shampoo's can be quite harsh on colored hair (anti-dandruff varieties in particular) and can strip out a lot of the deposited pigment. Make sure you're using one recommended for colored hair.

Hot oil treatments are also known to strip color out so avoid these also.

Use color enhancing shampoo's and conditioners, These come in all colors nowadays and work by depositing a small amount of pigment into the hair during washing and conditioning. Enough to 'pep up' the color and add a bit of shine back.

Red tones fade the quickest of all due the fact that most dyes don't have a lot of red tones in them. Again a red color enhancing shampoo/conditioner would be beneficial.

I hope this helps, I've not had experience of dying my hair so I wouldn't know what to suggest!

[Ceilidh.]

Thanks I've had red hair before and it turned a weird brown/ginger colour after a few weeks >.>

[beth]

hiya this is from experience:

kept my hair at bright bright red for 3 months. wash yr hair in cold water (sounds horrible) but it works, buy some of this http://www.stargazer-products.com/li...?id=1&sub_id=9 semi-permanent dye, no chemicals in it, uses vegetable colourings (and it's really cheap) and everytime you wash yr hair mix a little bit of this in with yr shampoo. will keep yr colour looking fresh. use a heat protection spray, heat will kill the colour, try to avoid washing yr hair quite as much. if you wash it everyday, try washing it every other day and using dry shampoo to keep it fresh inbetween

hope this all helps!

[Ceilidh.]

oooh, thanks I'll that shampoo. I may have to dye it again soon anyway, I was just looking through my hair and I've missed a few of my roots >.>

[buttons]

yeah use a natural shampoo,'make sure it says its non-sls because that strips everything out your hair. also, a good trick once you've rinsed out the dye is to put vinegar over your hair then rinse out which seals the cuticle and is an awesome conditioner. i used to do it when i dyed my fringe. & i only washed in warm water with a cold blast at the end.

[livin.x.dream]

Hello, I have red hair too Basically it's the shampoo that drags it out, so try just shampooing every other day or water it down. Red, Pink and Purple dye are the quickest to fade out because of their low pigment count so it won't stay as long as it would if you dyed it brown for example. Did you dye it permanent or semi-permanent? I dye my hair permanent red and it's stained my hair orange, so be careful of that. Hope that helped

[Ceilidh.]

It's permanent hair dye It was brown with blonde highlights before I dyed it.