From today’s reader mailbag:
"Dear Lil Bunny,
On the subject of hair, I’d love to hear about favorite do-it-yourself
hair colors. I’m a redhead (enhanced), and salon or over-the-counter,
red always fades. But maybe somebody out there knows a brand that looks
beautiful and natural and lasts awhile. Thanks!
A."
Now, we no longer color our hair at home. We used to. For many, many, many years. We were "red" (it was quite plummy) in our younger years, then black for what seems like a hundred years. We have tried a couple semi-permanent colors recently (just dark brown – for shine – as our stylist made us promise), but we have given our hair a break. As such, we know nothing about this topic. We asked a dear friend who often colors her hair. She said she has been told by two stylists – independent of each other – that Natural Instincts is the safest because of the low ammonia content. She also said she was told that Feria is the worst because of the tiny bits of metal they use to enhance shine, and that tears up your hair shaft.
We may not know much about haircolor, but we KNOW we do not want tiny bits of metal anywhere NEAR us. Ever.
We open this to our readers who can hopefully help A. with her quest. Please comment and let us know what haircolor you have, what color it is, and what dye you use (please be specific!).
Natural Instincts Haircolor – Spiced Light Tea Auburn, $9.89
-LIL BUNNY
I agree with the Feria comment. It wrecks your hair.
I’ve tried pretty much everything under the sun. I also had very bad results with Feria, middling results with L’oreal Excellence and Preference, not-great results with Clairol… Finally I have resolved this issue once and for all and have committed to Garnier, which also provides a range of tones – for example, “medium brown” comes in mahogany, golden mahogany, golden, ash, natural – my color – and red – wow!
Thanks, LB, for posting my question. For years I went to a chi chi salon and the color was beautiful (though it faded, too), but right now I’d rather spend a fortune on a great cut than on color. I’m glad for the warnings about Feria; I was curious, but no more! (I also went through a henna phase for a while, and then I was told bad, bad, bad: also metallic.) I’ve tried Natural Instincts (nice), and recently tried Garnier for the first time. I’ll probably try Garnier again, though I also look forward to any other suggestions that come in. Thanks, everyone!
I was a hairdresser a lifetime ago. One of the reasons that Reds do not hold is because the size of the color molecules (if I’m remembering correctly) They’re bigger than, say, brown. They cannot penetrate the hair shaft nearly as far, so they wash out much quicker. So the Natural Instincts, or the ‘temporary’ colors, probably are fine. You may have to do it more often, but you’re going to *have* to do a red color more often.. may as well use something a wee big more gentle.
My sis has been using Natural Instinct to cover her gray, and it looks great, but she says that she goes several shades lighter than the box says to use–it runs dark, I guess.