... and you pretty much end up being a ginger.

Epic fail. This is what I get for trying to go for a "classy" red. Going back to manic panic stop-sign red because this is lame.

Red is one of the toughest colours to keep up,in my experience. I'm sure you already know this,but always use shampoo for coloured hair,and use cool water to wash and rinse it.

I wanted purple black hair. But after trying umpteen times only to have it fade to a medium red,I've been colouring mine black for a few years now.

I used to have blue hair (back in my rebellious days), and one unlucky dye job I wasn't paying attention, and the wet hair flopped down into my face. I had a blue forehead for about a week. I was getting my picture taken that day.

I use a loreal feria R68 or something like that.

THe advice I was given by a friend who works in a hair salon is pretty much the same as what wiccan said.

It's the fastest colour to fade, get colour specific shampoo and conditioner, wash your hair in the coolest water you can stand.

You will still need to redye it about every month and a half.

Edit: And make sure when dying it to use all of the dye, and let it sit for at least the max time the box says, if not five minutes more.

Oh and it will set better on hair that hasn't been washed in a day and doesn't have styling products in it.

You do realize Manic Panic is not only a semi-permanent dye with a shitton of chemicals that strip your hair, ensuring no color will stick to it well until it grows out further, but that it's also a pretty weaksauce dye, even for bright colors, yes?

If you want something neon/hyper bright, try Special Effects (it is win.) But also realize you'd probably chemically damaged your hair pretty badly if the color isn't setting well.

Reds with blue tints (purples) tend to stay longer than orange-tinted reds, but both fade with the quickness. Not much you can do to get anything to stay though if your hair is stripped, other then buy a dye several shades darker than what you wanted, as it'll be fading regardless.

Any boxed dye has a preset amount of chemicals in it that stop activating after 25 minutes, to prevent the average consumer from coming away from their self-dye job with crumbling hair follicles. But as Dresden suggested- an extra couple minutes never hurts.

My best friend does hair.... the last thing she did to mine BEFORE she went to school for it was dye it black with some L'Oreal bullshit.... That shit turned my thick, virgin hair into dry hair that tended to break and fall out in massive amounts. I guess the color was good, though.

Now that she actually works in a salon and knows more than she did back then, she would NEVER, EVER let me use anything on my hair from a box. I take that back: We did do chunks of hot pink for a while, but she stripped the natural color out of my hair first and then used Manic Panic on it, weekly. She actually swears by MP for that kind of stuff. Manic Panic is a VEGETABLE DYE. It doesn't hurt your hair anywhere near as much as boxed dyes or salon dyes do. You can sleep in that crap and be totally fine. Just have to heat it up to get the good color out.

I don't know how it works where you live, Lexi, but whenever I want my hair dyed (for cheap, as opposed to her salon prices), my friend has to go to the hair crap store that is closed to the public. She gets what she needs for about ten bucks, brings it home, and we usually end up with enough stuff to dye my (VERY thick) hair 3 separate times. For like ten bucks.

Besides, red is such a difficult color to get perfect. Actually, when I dyed my hair a very bright shade of red (a little brighter than Dresden's is right now), we ended up having to do it 2x in a row to get the color to stick.

.......But I'd NEVER, EVER recommend using a store-bought BOX dye 2x in a row. Or even once, for that matter.

After getting the initial color, it didn't fade very much at all. I forget which brand it is.... I can ask her for you. She'd nag me to re-do it about once a month or so, anyway.

Posted by Emma Peel My best friend does hair.... the last thing she did to mine BEFORE she went to school for it was dye it black with some L'Oreal bullshit.... That shit turned my thick, virgin hair into dry hair that tended to break and fall out in massive amounts. I guess the color was good, though. Now that she actually works in a salon and knows more than she did back then, she would NEVER, EVER let me use anything on my hair from a box. I take that back: We did do chunks of hot pink for a while, but she stripped the natural color out of my hair first and then used Manic Panic on it, weekly. She actually swears by MP for that kind of stuff. Manic Panic is a VEGETABLE DYE. It doesn't hurt your hair anywhere near as much as boxed dyes or salon dyes do. You can sleep in that crap and be totally fine. Just have to heat it up to get the good color out. I don't know how it works where you live, Lexi, but whenever I want my hair dyed (for cheap, as opposed to her salon prices), my friend has to go to the hair crap store that is closed to the public. She gets what she needs for about ten bucks, brings it home, and we usually end up with enough stuff to dye my (VERY thick) hair 3 separate times. For like ten bucks. Besides, red is such a difficult color to get perfect. Actually, when I dyed my hair a very bright shade of red (a little brighter than Dresden's is right now), we ended up having to do it 2x in a row to get the color to stick. .......But I'd NEVER, EVER recommend using a store-bought BOX dye 2x in a row. Or even once, for that matter. After getting the initial color, it didn't fade very much at all. I forget which brand it is.... I can ask her for you. She'd nag me to re-do it about once a month or so, anyway.

My friend works at a salon. There are places that are open to the public to get the stuff they use in salons. you just need to measure it yourself before mixing it and such. I should probably do that. She would help me figure out how to, I am sure of that. I'm just lazy. : ( lol

Find yourself a Sally Hansen or some other comparable beauty supply store. There's one near here, I go there once in a while with my sister for hair color. Often, you can buy a half gallon of the activation solution, aka ammonia based bleach, for like four or five bucks. So, usually once a month we're up there for color, which usually comes in single use containers/tubes/etc. The color usually will have mixing instructions on it which tells you how much to use of the solution and what type of activation solution to use and most of it's salon grade material. Just one tip...don't go trying to buy perm solutions or materials...that's the one thing that most stores will ask you for a beautician's license for. Hair color is a different story.

The solution brand usually doesn't matter. All you need is a generic bottle. The color matters somewhat. Usually the ones I've bought are single use bottles or tubes, like toothpaste. Mix it with like a cup of the solution and apply. Some of the stuff requires a little more or a little less of the solution, the most I've ever had to use was like 12 to 14 ounces, but that made enough color for my sister and for me to use.

If you want something that lasts...there's a color called "Cherry Bomb" or "Black Cherry" they sell, it's premixed, you just put it in your hair. It's marketed as a "Semi Permanent" color, but it's permanent like a scar. It's like a black/brown/red color, but the red tint to it is a serious red. It's not a color for the squeamish.

My sister used to dye her hair a different color every other week, so we were in there all the damn time during high school. We still go about once a month.

Shael

I'm letting my hair take a breather right now, haven't been able to find my shade of Manic Panic anywhere. I've never, ever in the years that I've been dying found something that was more vibrant than manic panic. I've dyed with many red boxed hair dyes and they've all faded out faster than the good ol' vegetable based dyes. I've also never felt any hair damage due to Manic Panic. It's mostly just a wax based dye that coats the hair and stains it, and while it does have alcohols, there's no more in there than what you'd find in a deep-cleaning shampoo. I hate boxed hair dyes but can't afford to go to a salon, so my hair feels crunchy now. I've been wetting my hair before bed and putting in a deep moisturizing conditioner, then sleeping with a shower cap on and rinsing it out in the morning to prepare it for the manic panic.

None of this would have happened if I didn't have such a stupid natural hair colour.

At least you didn't go from Jet Black to bleached blonde in one step. Kinda worked *giggles*