Why is this dye not taking properly any more?

[heartofdarkness]

For the past 7 years or so, I had dyed black hair (naturally reddish brown) that hung about halfway down my back. But I damaged it through heat damage with the hairdrier, and where I put some bleach in the front so I could have brightly coloured stripes in the front. The damage was so bad that, back in November, I took the drastic step of shaving my head completely clean.

When the hair started to grow back, I didn't want to have it my natural colour, so decided to dye it again. But after 7 years of having it black, I got fed up of it, and decided to go with something different, and more vibrant. I decided to go for the Schwarzkopf LIVE 'Cyber Purple' because I used that dye regularly before going black, and never had any problems with it; it always looked really lovely and vibrant, and so had complete confidence in using it again.

However, my confidence was short lived. Because to my utter disappointment, it didn't go the lovely purplish red it had always done before, but a really dull brownish purple. Plus, it also went extremely dark, much more than it had ever done when I used this shade before (I never used bleach with it back then, because my natural colour was light enough for pre-lightening to be unnecessary).

I assumed the dullness was down to the fact that I was sat in a steaming bath while the dye was settling; I've found that, for some reason, the steam seems to interfere with the final colour result, and cause it to appear faded. But, when the roots grew out, I tried it again, and although it wasn't faded this time, and went a tiny bit more purple, it was still extremely dark, and still not vibrant

Why is this happening? I kept the dye on for 30 minutes as per the instructions, and kept away from the steam this time. Is it because my hair is now short, and the colour will look better as my hair grows longer? Is it that having had black hair for so long, every colour I try now will automatically go dark because of being accustomed to such dark dyes?

I had my heart set on having this colour, because as I said, when I last used this colour, my hair was long, and needed no bleach to create vibrancy. After the damage caused the last time I used bleach, I am extremely reluctant to try using bleach again, so can anyone give me any advice as to how to get this colour the way it's meant to go?

Please help, because as trivial as this may sound, this problem is depressing me somewhat

 

[emily_3383]

Isnt it dark because your hair is natural and the color holds on more to it?

 

[Vivre.Votre.Vie]

Well, I don't know quite what your asking, but i'm gonna try to help.

If your hair is dyed black, you need to make sure you strip your hair back to natural color. You could try this product, Developlus - Color Oops. This worked wonders for me. This should also repair the damaged hair. So after you do that, you can dye your hair the desired color the same day. You will probably have to dye it a few times to get the vibrancy of the color you want.

I hope I helped. This is what I did, and I hope it works for you.

 

[heartofdarkness]

As I said in my original post, I shaved my head to get rid of the dyed black hair, as it was damaged. The colour I'm now having problems with, I applied to the new hair that has grown since shaving.

I had thought that maybe it would be a bit darker because I was applying it to natural hair, rather than pre-lightened, but I applied it to natural hair when I used this colour years ago, and it didn't go on as dark then as it has now

Cheers for the advice, both of you; I will continue to use this dye for now, and see how it goes

There was a fair bit of difference between the colour result the first time, and the second time, so with any luck, once my hair's a bit longer, it should start to look more vibrant

 

[HairEgo]

Ok...Im a hair stylist...this is quite easy to explain. I know the dye you're refering too, they did do a formula change about 2 years ago, so this may be where the problem lays. You also have to keep in mind that I am assuming your hair is quite short now - that being said when colour is applied to short hair, its never left on the time specified. Your scalp generates a lot of heat which speeds up the process significantly. Try cutting back 5 mins or even half the time next time.

 

[heartofdarkness]

Yes, it's been exactly 3 months since I shaved my head, and my hair is now about an inch thick, maybe a bit less.

I have to say, I never knew that reducing the developing time would provide a better result on shorter hair. To be honest, up until now I had been contemplating increasing the developing time from 30 to 45 minutes next time, as I've found in the past that this can make all the difference. But reducing the time for shorter hair...why can't they put this on the instruction leaflets?!

It'll be another few weeks now before the roots are thick enough for a touch up, so when I dye it again I'll try leaving it on for 15-20 minutes, instead of 30 as instructed, and see if that makes any difference...cheers for the advice