I used Blood Red on chin length hair shorter in back and barely used a 1/4 bottle. I took all precautions and suggestion on various websites if you google beeunique you can find UK website that has all kinds of tips.
Preparation:
Always do a strand test! Less surprises and you can adjust the color if you don't like it. I did mine 3 days before so I could see how washing effected it. They suggest snipping a strand I chose a small portion of the underside of my hair.
It looked good but in the end it was still a little much after I did my whole head.
My hair was a mix of natural light brown regrowth and strawberry blond from previous permanent hair dye.
Prepare the Blood(y) Red scene!
It was amusing my soon to be partner in crime came home to find the whole bathroom covered in plastic made a few jokes referrencing a few horror movies...
I covered my floor and and vanity with cheap dollar store shower curtains. I also used a few dry cleaning bags and painters tape to cover the walls near the sink. Mind you even with regular hair dye I always manage to spatter something. This dye is even harder to get off stuff. Prior to covering the sink I smeared a light layer of petroleum jelly on the porcelain as I'd read stories of people scrubbing thier sinks and vanities for 3 months and still having stains. For the sink I snipped a small hole for the spigot and a tiny hole for the water to drain directly to the drain. I left the sink handles covered to avoid possibly have to wipe them if I turned on the water.
Prepare to Dye!
I made sure I had a rat tail style comb for parting and a wider tooth comb for distributing the dye and backup combs. I had a dye applicator brush purchased from Sallys,I used a disposable plastic bowl for my dye. I picked out old clothes that I didn't care if they were stained by the dye. Tip: Have long sleeves to avoid potential dye splotches on the arms.
I bought those thick dishwashing style gloves to avoid getting on my hands. I had my shower cap ready also bought at the dollar store (Deals)in a pack of 8. I also had a hairdryer nearby. I used a jar of Palmers (thick) cocoa butter to apply around my skin to prevent the dye from getting on my face, ears and neck which is more skin friendly than vaseline especially if you are prone to acne. I found that Soft Soap Aloe did a fine job of washing the dye off if I washed immediately. Tip: Try exfoliating if you get it on you and trouble getting it off your face or hands. Wash off with Soft Soap Aloe.
All item were lined up on the counter and ready to go. Other items I'd suggest or you really need: are distilled water for hair prep and white vinegar 1/2 cup and 1 Quart REGULAR water(not the distilled they are chemical different) for your rinse, some sort pitcher to mix your vinager rinse in so you can dump it on your head. Paper towels, old towel, Hair dryer Hand mirror. You might want to Vaseline or find some way to protect your glasses if you wear them. I found plastic wrap as suggested a pain. Glove fingers are another suggestion but I suspect they will be a pain too.
I washed my hair with a volumizing shampoo which I read raises the hair follices which is ideal since you want this dye to get in it if possible. I washed twice to remove build up of hair products. You should at least use a shampoo that doesn't promise to condition your hair. Avoid conditioner it seals your hair which is not good for this application! I rinsed with regular water to get shampoo out and I did my final rinse with DISTILLED water I've read online it swells up the hair follices 20 time to their normal size. This is ideal for this type of dye if your hair cuticles are open they will absorb more dye. You may notice your hair is a little tangly. This because the cuticle are not laying flat so they may catch a bit. It will go fine when you put in the dye the comb ran through easily. If you have already have naturally very porous hair(born with it) you may want to skip the distilled water. I used half gallon to rinsed my hair use however much you want.
I blow dried my hair
Tip: Make sure you let the bathroom cool down after blow drying washed hair I was pretty darn hot and I had to keep going.
I brushed on the dye onthe front myself trying to miss my scalp the best I could. I was successful around the front and on the top part around my ears it was harder I didn't want red ears.
May Sure Someone's Got Your Back!
For the back I got help and I would not suggest going the back alone it's too easy to get dye on your scalp and miss spots if you have short hair in back like me. You could find people will be lookng at bright red scalp for days if you get it all over. My helper also checked my whole head and still found places I had missed. Mostly near my ears.
Timing
I allowed it to process for 45 minutes I checked my head at that time rinse a little out of the front (you can reapply) and I could see it was really BRIGHT! My goal was NOT for the punky red hair most of you reading this will be aiming for. I'm older and work in a office I wanted vegetable dye that is not tested on animals this fit the bill. It's Vegan for anyone that cares. If you want really bright red it's perfectly ok to leave it in for hours even overnight and it will last longer. It won't harm your hair like permanentdyes. I wanted a subtle burgandy and after asking around based on my current tone of hair this was suggested.
Washing the Bloody Stuff Out!
Keep your gloves on! Bring an old towel and a hand mirror with you. You may want to rubber band the ends of the gloves and strip off your shirt. I highly advise washing your hair in a stationary tub if you have one. Use it every time you wash it hereafter. If it's a sink you care about coat it thinly with petroluem jelly and get help with washing the dye out to avoid splatters. DO NOT wash in the shower unless you like a blood red shower that you will be scrubbing for ages. I've read many reviews and stories stating this can happen.
Vinegar Rinse
So I went and quickly made my pitcher of 1/2 cup vinagar and 1 cup water for my rinse. That is the prescribed amount I decided to go with quart of water to have more rinse water. It worked. My hair had a odd smell similar to that of photo fixer like in photography darkroom after I put in the vinager rinse. So that it would fix the color in my hair made a little sense (they say it raises the PH which is supposed to be good with semi-perm dyes) but it did make me pause as to wonder what have they put in this dye? (supposed to be natural) I left the rinse in for 5 minutes and then rinsed and rinsed my hair until the water was fairly clear. I used very cool water which is supposed to help preserve the color. I used a sprayer hose nozzle which was great for helped to remove dye from my scalp. Pay lots of attention to rinsing and washing your scalp,neck and ears so you don't have any runs. I've seen people with brightly dyed ears,necks and forheads not cool! If you don't have help use your mirror to help you find any dye spots on your scalp neck or ears. I washed my hair with a color preserving shampoo. I got the water to run fairly clear even with shampooing rinsing with cool water.
My results:
It's pretty color the light brown parts of my hair which are underneath didn't take the dye well at all but they blend in since the ends are lightened. In case you think you will do better if your natural color is a shade brown by leaving it in overnight. I did my strand test overnight and I didn't get much better results.
My hair is a bright red especially when the light hits it indoors and out
I like the color except when the light reflects off off it in which case you REALLY see red. I think most of you who want that effect will be very satisfied. If I didn't work in an office I wouldn't care. Outside my office people say they like it and while some people can't wear colors like this I can pull it off. So if want something that looks a little unnaturally red and cool (bearing in mind not all people want excessively red hair) this is a good color without have to bleach your hair excessively if you have a fading red permanent hair color it will take and not look bad. For me I am in the process of finding out what other base color I have to mix with this to get the more burgandy tone I was seeking so I can be more office freindly. If you know post your comments.
For Follow up care:
If you like your color they suggest washing your hair less often to prevent fading maybe rinsing instead. The suggest adding a small amount of color to your conditioner and leave in for 10 minutes to help preserve it. Using color preserving shampoo. I am going to wash as normal which is every 2-3 days. I tried using a brown based conditioner to help tone down my hair to no avail.
One Last Warning:
The color did run even though I was very thorough in rinsing and washing my hair. I know I spent a minimum of 20 minutes doing this. I found pinkish-red on my forhead and edge of my face and obviously it was on my neck because it turned the collar of a jacket I wore a reddish color. I hope I can get it out the jacket was recently purchased. So stick with dark colored tops the first few days after dyeing. I didn't have much trouble removing the dye runs with some lotion and soft soap. I just washed my hair I used a couple of styling products that I think will help seal my hair. I will update to let you know if it runs still. I may post a picture later of my results and correct my grammar and spelling!
UPDATE: It took about 3-4 washings before I could stop worrying about runs onto my collar. It took about 6-7 washings before I could safely wash my hair in my shower. The color still ran but it was weak enough not to stain the shower. You will know when you can switch just be looking at the water when you wash your hair in the sink.
To tone down and maintain my color I added Neffretti Brown by Manic Panic to my conditioner with a little SFX Blood Red the brown is a discontinued color and hard to find. You might try Ebay. My color has lasted a long time it's mid June 2010 and I am now ready to redye but with some Neffretti Brown added this time. I also have some green Manic panic I bought that I'd like to try add a few drops of because it's the opposite end of the color wheel and supposed to tone down reds. So far I am chicken to do it because I am worried of getting an odd color. Maybe on a long vacation. If you're young and have no worries about work you might try it.
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Ok, first off: a review of the seller. Then, a small tutorial on how to achieve pastel pink/candy colored hair!
Review:
You are probably not going to find Special Effects dyes cheaper from any other seller on amazon. This place is great, I got standard shipping and my dye got here within about 3-4 days. The packaging was great, my dye was bubble-wrapped and in a BOX not an envelope, so it wasn't roughed up from shipping at all. Inside the box, was their cute business card and for some reason....a Swedish fish candy...I don't know why they gave me a Swedish fish, but that was a cute/odd touch. So overall:
Shipping 5/5
Packaging 5/5
Price 10/5 (Atomic Pink for $11? Crazy cheap!)
Now, here's how I dye my hair:
Disclaimer: I AM NOT A PROFESSIONAL. However, I bleach and dye my own hair at home on a budget! These are all tips and tricks that I learned through trial and error and what I have found through hours upon hours of research. Until just a few weeks ago, the thought of bleaching my hair terrified me, too. But I spent a LOT of time realing posts from the LiveJournal Community PinkHair (go check it out, it will save your hair the first time you dye) and now I'm fully confident in dying my own hair and getting it exactly the way I want.
First of all, I want to say that if you have light brown hair at your roots that you haven't dyed, this dye WILL soak into them and give them a pink tint. Aside from that, YOU NEED TO BLEACH YOUR HAIR. If you want to get the color in the bottle exactly, you will have to bleach your hair, there's no way around that, your hair needs to be WHITE. The only reason to skip bleaching is if your natural hair color is very light blone (almost white) or you just want to tint your hair.
Trust me, if you do it slowly (over the course of 2-3 weeks) bleach is not scary and should NOT burn. It may be slightly itchy, but it should NOT ever burn or hurt! Ideally you should not wash your hair the day before or the day of bleaching. This builds up enough natural oils on your scalp to protect it from the bleach and keep it from hurting. Yes it may be gross and oily until you bleach it, but when you come out without hurting your scalp, it will be well worth it.
Now, the reason why bleach is because you want the color to be exact to what is in the bottle, or close to it. Think of it like this: take a white sheet of paper. On one side, color with a brown/black/red crayon (this is your natural hair color)...now take a light pink crayon and try to color over that brown/black/red. At best it turns into a nasty mud color, at worst, the pink doesn't show up at all, does it? Now color with the pink directly onto the white paper...the color is vibrant and true to the crayon, isn't it? The white paper is like bleached hair.
If you're looking to get a pastel pink/light candy pink out of atomic pink...you will need to dilute it, and that's because the color IS STRONG. The best way to dilute special effects dyes are with really thick conditioners or deep conditioning hair masks (think pantene, or those conditioners that come in jars, just avoid anything with dimethicone in it, as it separates the color from your hair).
If your hair is already bleached, then mix tiny amounts of Atomic Pink with your conditioner to get the exact color you want. Don't make it darker, because your hair will turn the EXACT color your conditioner/dye mix is. Then, just put it all over your head like you would with normal conditioner, and let it sit in your hair as long as humanly possible! I mean at least half an hour if not more! 15 minutes will only give you a tint, it won't dye your hair correctly. And don't worry, with all that conditioner, plus the natural ingrediants in the dye, your hair will be baby soft by the time you wash it out. =)
And then just dry your hair and you're done! If you're like me and went for a lighter candy pink, then this bottle will last you a LONG TIME. My hair is very thick, curly and down to my waist, and I only used about a teaspoon of Atomic Pink and about 2-3 cups of conditioner.
Have fun,
Wulufii
Best Deals on Special Effects SFX Hair Color Hair Dye
I did a lot of research before buying this product. I wanted a nice deep purple color that would last. I ended up deciding to buy this product in "deep purple." I'm glad I did. The purple color is perfect. After I first dyed it, it was almost black and a nice dark purple in the light. It slowly faded to a more "purple" color. At first I was a little worried when it started to fade, because I thought it would continue to fade, but it stopped fading after a couple days and left me with a really nice, but not too dark, purple color. It's been a couple weeks and the purple is still vibrant. The purple does bleed a lot, and if you put stuff in your hair too early, it will make the color fade. I did a natural deep conditioning to my hair two days after I dyed it, and it faded a little, but my hair seemed very happy. I did bleach my (pure black) hair before dying (Manic panic flash-lightening with a 40 developer). Some of my hair was orange-ish, some was still a light brown, and some was bright yellow-blonde (This was my first time dying my hair so it was put on pretty unevenly). The color still came out vibrant on all of my hair. I'm happy with the outcome of this product. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who wants a nice purple color.
Honest reviews on Special Effects SFX Hair Color Hair Dye
I used Special Effects Blue Haired Freak on pre-bleached/toned hair (peekaboo highlights) and left it on for 15-30 minutes. The result was an amazing INTENSE royal cobalt blue. It was so bright that it looked like artificial/synthetic extensions!
I had no problems with this staining anything whatsoever (skin, bathtub, sink, pillow) I actually expected it to bleed out a lot naturally, but for some reason, for me it only bled out a very tiny bit the first shampoo afterwards and after that did not bleed out, at least visibly. Nothing was stained! I was very pleased.
The super brightness lasted about a week and then the intense in-your-face is-that-even-your-real-hair blue started to mellow out to a nice bright blue.
After 2-4 weeks it starts fading. I actually love how it faded out better than the original blue. In the well-bleached parts, it fades to a lighter blue, then a really pretty pastel lavender. In the not-as-well-bleached parts (like a little bit at roots, for ex), it fades to a blueish teal and then a pastel teal. So I got a sort of ombre effect going on with light teal, sky blue and lavender. Lovely!
Eventually (after ~2 months) it starts fading out completely, becoming the original silvery-ashy bleached blonde starting from the tips.
I can't wait to try all the SFX colors!
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Color is vibrant, especially on lighter parts of hair. Washes out, but if you use conditioner and only use shampoo every other day for a week, color lasts longer. Eventually it washes out until no more blue comes out in the shower, then it leaves a nice dark navy color (over brown hair). I'd say it washes out in about 3 weeks if you shampoo regularly (and it probably depends on your hair color). If i used harsh shampoo (to get it out faster) it still lingers for about 2 weeks. Can last up to 4 or 5 if you continue to shampoo every other day and condition every day.
I leave the top layer of my hair undyed, so the blue shows through and looks pretty neat. I love the way it makes my hair feel (nice and conditioned) after using it. It will stain the tub, but it will also eventually wash off and fade. I've used this multiple times, and at the moment, my (white) bathtub is stain free. Note: I've also used blood red, which is much more stainy (it actually stained my skin, which is pretty fair). The blue did not seem to stain my skin (when washing out).
Definitely recommend!!!
