My Adventures in Maintaining Red Hair! Featuring L'Oreal HiColor HiLights in Magenta & RAW Color Hairdye in Flamingo Pink/Fuschia Fatale

I've had my hair this red for a little upwards of 2 months now, and it's definitely been a trial and error process in maintenance! In the past, I've had jet black, blue black, bleach blonde/orange, light brown, dark brown, auburn, burgandy, pink, and deep red hair... but vibrant red was something I hadn't ventured into before! My love Serenie at super-ser.com gifted me some L'Oreal HiColor HighLights in Magenta, and her hair looked fabulous, so I wanted to try it out for myself :)

You can buy this dye at Sally's for ~$5-7.

• For highly-visible, intense red highlights even on dark hair, without brassines
• Breakthrough technology lifts hair 3-4 levels, no pre-lightening required
• Rich, no-drip creme makes it easy for control of creative techniques
• True-to-shade color that resists fading
• Quick processing time of only thirty minutes
• Available in three Hi-lift Red shades

NEW HiColor RED HiLights by L'Oreal Excellence is the first highlighting series formulated for dark hair. Rich, no-drip creme makes it easy for control of creative techniques . True-to-shade color that resists fading. L'Oreal Excellence HiColor Red HiLights is available in Magenta, Red, Copper Red and Copper

This was after I dyed my hair!
It was a bit deeper colored with pink undertones irl.

For this dye, you mix the entire tube with a cream developer. I used Jerome Russell 30 Vol Cream Peroxide. The ratio is 1 part hair color (1.2 oz) to 2 part Crème Developer (2.4 oz). Basically add in cream developer and mix until the consistency is like a thick cake batter.

Apply to hair in sections and leave on for 30 minutes to develop! I like this dye because it is specifically for dark hair so you don't need to pre-bleach. However I already had bleached hair that was dyed a deep red that had faded to an auburn shade... so dying over this color made the magenta SUPER bright and vibrant! I've seen youtube vids of people doing it over black/dark hair, and the color is still vibrant, but not as bold imo as doing it over a "lighter-dark" shade of hair. After 30 minutes you wash out the dye until the water runs clear. Wash with cold water!!! This dye did not stain my tub but it did continue to bleed out color for several weeks when washing my hair.

I'm not big on maintaining colored hair... usually I get bored fast so if I had my hair a funky color, I'd just dye back black over it when it started to fade. But I really liked the way this color came out, so I started trying to maintain it better! Some tips I picked up along the way...

Wash your hair with cold water!

This is not something I actually did for more than a few days because I just can't stand cold >_< BUT washing your colored hair with cold water does help keep the color because it closes the cuticle and seals in the color better.

Wash your hair as little as possible.

This is also something I have a hard time doing, because I feel like my hair gets oily really fast. So originally I had been washing my hair every day, and that stripped the color wayyy too fast. So the most I can tolerate without washing my hair is every other day without feeling like a greaseball, and this has kept my color for at least 2-3 weeks without fading too significantly. If you can go longer between washes, I'd recommend that! I would also recommend using dry shampoo between washings. I tried one by Tresemme but it was not very good. But I've heard from many people that dry shampoo works wonders for them at keeping their color longer.

Use products for color-treated hair.

I use Redken Color Extend shampoo and conditioner. I got a set from Trade Secret for I think $23. This shampoo works the best for me and has done the best at preserving the color the longest. I had used Warpaint Beauty color-depositing shampoo from Hot Topic because I thought it would help revive the red, but I think it actually did the opposite and stripped the color faster. So I'm not sure if there are other color-depositing shampoos that work good, but I wouldn't recommend that one.

I would also recommend some kind of serum to keep your hair looking healthy. My hair is pretty fried as is, but I can still fake it! I use HANA Shine Shield, which I reviewed here. It's great for adding shine to hair and making it look smooth and silky :)

Don't overuse the L'Oreal Dye.

I had acquired 3 tubes of the L'Oreal HiColor Highlights, and used 1 for the first time to do my entire head. I used 1 more tube -- half the tube at a time -- to touch up my roots and do an overall coloring when my hair needed reviving. I wouldn't keep using the L'Oreal dye though, because it is for dark hair specifically, the more you use it to re-do the red, the more it is actually lightening your hair in the process because of the cream developer in it. It starts to fade faster and the lightness becomes more apparent as it fades.

Do touchups with demi-permanent dye.

I use RAW Color hair dye from Hot Topic. Mixing equal parts Fuschia Fatale and Flamingo Pink together create practically the exact same Magenta shade as the L'Oreal dye. In fact, it comes out a bit pinker, so I think the combination is nicer :) I leave this dye in for at least an hour before washing it out. BEWARE, THIS DYE WILL STAIN YOUR TUB!!! Be sure to rinse it off really well. I've tinted my tub pink several times already :P

I thought this dye would fade out pretty fast since I haven't had the most luck with hair products from Hot Topic, but it actually lasts relatively long. It claims 3-6 weeks, and I'd give it a good 3 before it starts looking a bit dull. Using this dye between touchups with the L'Oreal dye also worked really well for me because it counteracted the lightening effect of the L'Oreal dye and darkened my hair instead. For info on demi-permanent VS semi-permanent dye, read this article.

This is after using the RAW Color Hair dye in Fuschia Fatale and Flamingo Pink mixed together:

I'm planning to keep this hair until I run out of dye, so maybe for another month or so. Overall, it's a lot of work to maintain red hair, but if you're willing; it's definitely a fun and funky color that will turn heads! :)