Saturday, September 09, 2006

Temporary trouble...

Killing two birds with one stone might have been a good title too. Other hair blogs sometimes give product reviews. I'm not going to do exactly that. But I do want to close the loop. A few weeks ago I mentioned being tired of being a redhead. Well, I wasn't all talk. I would very much like to try being a classic brunette. I moseyed on up to my neighborhood beauty supply and bought a couple of bottles of temporary hair color. Going both feet in seemed like bad idea for a few reasons. One, since my hair is already colored, I was worried about getting the final result I desired. Two, since my hair is already colored, I was concerned about the harshness of effecting a chemical change with permanent color. The temporary color seemed an ideal way to test a new hue with less damaging chemicals.
The problem has been that despite the fact I rinsed my hair forever, it has continued to stain my clothing and presumably my skin weeks later. I am also still a redhead, but that's neither here nor there. The only hitch I can think of is that I did not sit under the dryer after the application. Perhaps the heat sets the color in the hair and prevents staining. Nonetheless I have a towel and several blouses and tees that are worse for the wear after my experimentation. My pillowcases have been molested with color as well. The whole mess is supposed to come out in four to six washings, but I am tempted to get some color remover and be done with this.
I won't say the brand, but I used what I thought was a dark brown. After I got finished rinsing my hair --which never came 'clear'- what was left of the color still clearly showed red. My hair is slightly darker, but it has beenn hardly worth the trouble.
So I am going to put my garments on hand wash and hope for the best...

2 comments:

brunsli said...

Oh, how frustrating!

My Aquis hair towel has black spots on it from when I dyed my hair black after I didn't want it light anymore. At least the spots gave me a rationalization to buy another one when I saw that it comes in purple now.

Maybe you can buy new clothes?!

naadii salaam said...

renea,

i think that i have some advice that might help, if you can bear with a lengthy comment. first, BE CAREFUL WHEN USING A COLOR REMOVER. they can damage your hair too. i have used the uncolor system by clairol for semi permanent and permanent hair color. the color remover for permanent hair color is very damaging and acts very much like hair bleach. the color remover for semi permanent color, didn't really do much. red hair dye has some of the largest color molecules so, it tends to wash out on a continual basis because the molecules don't bind to the hair as well as other pigments which have smaller molecules. my favorite brand of temporary hair color is jazzing which is also by clairol (i think), it comes in a pink bottle. jazzing gives more intense and long lasting color than some of the cheaper brands available at a beauty supply store. also, when using temporary color, it is works best when applied to clean, dry hair, with not much oil in it. definitely apply vaseline around your hairline and on your ears and use gloves when applying. wash your hair a day or two before the application and avoid a lot of oil or grease on your hair. apply the color to dry hair, comb through and put on a plastic cap. i think 30 - 45 minutes under a dryer is plenty...the heat from the dryer opens the cuticle of the hair shaft allowing the color to penetrate. what most people don't know is that you should end the dryer session with 5-10 minutes of cool air, to help close the cuticle and keep the color in. then rinse the hair with cool water (as cool as you can stand it) to further close the hair cuticle. if you rinse with hot or warm water you are basically washing the color right back out. the water still may not run clear, but it should help. i have some dark towels and pillowcases that i use when i dye my hair. lastly, the color brown is made by mixing red and purple, so a color like black-brown might be better to help you get rid of your red color altogether, even if it may be darker than what you want. sorry this was such a long comment, but i hope it is helpful.
~naadii~