To preset: my hair is fine, but I have a lot of it. My gray hair does NOT like to hold color, and all the hair on my head has never had a developer touch it, because I cut it all off in December of 2020, and donated it for a wig to be made for a coworkers kid. (I had less than 1/2an inch of hair on my head after this). Up until the day I did this, I used deposit only color to cover gray/white, so it was hydrated and healthy before I started. I will list exactly what I did at the bottom. With that said; My hair was dyed, because I’m old and have gray/white hair, to a level 2 brown, my natural color (level 2 is almost black) w/semi hair color. 1st photo is the color my hair was. Every 3 yrs or so, I change my hair to red, because….reasons? (I dunno, that just seems to be the pattern). I’ve been doing this since I was 20, and I’ve ALWAYS used redken cherry cola (I have a hair license, so no issues with getting my hands on it, even back in the day). Two cycles of red hair ago, I was able to find it here on Amazon (happy days). So, when I went to get it again, shock to see I couldn’t get it on here anymore and the closest place where I could go in and buy it, is about a 35 min drive away, as the supply store near me, closed down. I’m to lazy to drive that far for hair color, and don’t like buying online from anywhere, but Amazon and big box stores, so I started researching colors comparable to redken cherry cola. Main goal being the deep red color, with the violet base, instead of orange, because my skin tone is to dark, but also to light, to pull off an orange base when the color starts to fade. I chose this because the color was right, and the ingredients were better suited to keep damage to a minimum, as I would have to bleach bath my hair to lift out the brown. I have to admit, I was scared when I mixed it, because it definitely looked like it had an orange base. But, I had already done the bleach bath, lifting it to a level 5 (6 in some spots towards the base of my neck) and I was looking all sorts of funky so I put it in anyway. And I am so happy I did! Because for reasons that are beyond logic, even though it went in looking like an orange based red, rinsed out looking like an orange base, the color itself is DEFINITELY a purple based, red! As you can see in the photos above, the color came out dark and rich, blended beautifully with the dark roots (you can see the dark against the red in the photo with my hair pulled up) and came out beautifully! Even better, I bought two, as my hair (when straight) reaches past my shoulder blades, and, as I said before, I have fine hair, but I have a LOT of fine hair. But I only needed one. Don’t get me wrong, it was a bit of a stretch, at the end, but I was able to take what I had left and get a pretty even spread. A good moisturizing mask after, and my hair is shiny, looks hydrated and not showing damage after two processes in one day. Four days later, aside from needing a bit of dry shampoo and a root lift, the curls are still holding, the shine and lack of frizz is still there and my hair is acting as usual, even after I abused it four days ago. Will definitely be using this again. The process: (I did try to use a permanent brown hair color to cover my gray roots first, but it didn’t hold, so had to redo them, but wanted to mention it, as it was technically my first step, and it did have developer in it. Right after I rinsed it out and conditioned my hair, I began the process listed below). I used ion cream bleach with 30v developer, mixed in equal parts with shampoo and applied to towel dry (damp, not dripping) hair, to lift the brown out. Left that in for 20 minutes. Rinsed out and used olaplex 3, leaving it in for 10 minutes and shampooed. I then used L’Oréal semi permanent-gray coverage, on my roots, to cover the gray, on towel dry hair, and covered with a plastic bonnet to keep it wet, leaving it on for 40 minutes (the deposit only color I have been using for the last 3 years). Rinsed out and I applied a leave in conditioner, and used a blow dryer with NO HEAT, to dry my hair. Then waited an hour to be sure my hair was bone dry. I mixed this color with 20v developer, applied, left it on for 35 minutes (my hair doesn’t like to drink in color, so 20-25 min would probably be fine after a bleach bath if your hair does color well). Rinsed, and applied a moisturizing mask. Left that in for ten minutes. I rinsed that out, applied leave in conditioner, and blow dry heat protectant, using a wet brush to spread each of the products evenly. I dried my hair with medium heat, using an ion brush/ion blow dryer on my mids/ends to combat frizz (not on my roots because fine hair, even if you have a lot of it, likes to lay flat at the top, so frizz at the roots is kind of a good thing). I applied olaplex 7 (oil) to my ends (two drops) and worked it up to my mids. I let my hair rest for an hour. I then sectioned my hair, applied a heat protectant (Kenra) to each section, as I pulled it down, used a wet brush to evenly spread until I couldn’t feel the heat protectant in my hair and used a 3/4” curling wand and curled that section before moving on to the next. I repeated this for each section and then didn’t touch my hair for an hour so the curls could fall and set into place. Slept with my hair in a silk bonnet. The photos above were taken the morning after I did my hair.
