How to dye red hair black in 5 steps (secrets to do it at home)

If you’re thinking of dying your red hair black, you just need to apply the black dye.

Your hair will turn out a beautiful black color with some red or auburn undertones.

If you like this type of tone, go ahead without any problem!

 

Now, if you’re looking for a black color without any traces of red, there are several points that you should keep in mind before changing your hair color so drastically.

First of all, I want to clear up that it isn’t the same if you have permanent red dye in your hair as if you have semi-permanent.

Permanent dye lasts for longer than semi-permanent, whatever tone it is.

 

Red colors also have a particular quality.

 That is, they are colors with a lot of pigmentation, which means that they are tough to remove from your hair, and even if you change your hair color to black, after a few washes, the red could reappear. 

I don’t mean that one day your hair will turn completely red again!

 

If you apply black over red, the tone you’ll have in your hair will be a shade of auburn black.

This is because the red color doesn’t go away very easily.

To solve this, you’ll need to have two bleaching sessions, and then you can apply the black dye.

In this way, the red color will not appear again.

 

This is true of permanent dye—with semi-permanent, something similar happens.

Even though semi-permanent dyes have a shorter duration given that they don’t contain ammonia, the red dye, even semi-permanent, is difficult to remove.

 

 If you want to dye your hair black with semi-permanent dye, you should also bleach your red hair beforehand. 

Being semi-permanent dye, it won’t be so difficult. With only one bleaching, it will be enough.

Then you can apply the semi-permanent black dye.

 

As you can see, it’s very easy, going from a red color to a black one, if you don’t mind red undertones.

Now, if you don’t like them, you’ll have to bleach your red hair so that those undertones never appear.

 

 

How to dye your red hair to black with permanent black dye?

As I was telling you beforehand, the red color is a very persistent tone. Once you’ve applied it, you could be months trying to get it out.

There’s a myth that says that black covers up everything. And it’s the truth!

 

 Your black color will perfectly cover up your red tone, but after 2 or 3 washings you’ll notice that your black hair will start to take on a reddish hue. 

To prevent this from happening, you should bleach your hair.

 

Bleaching is a chemical process that is done with 30 volume developer and ammonia.

Your shade of red will determine the number of bleaching sessions that will be necessary.

If you used a red permanent dye, it will be very persistent.

What do I mean by this?

 

Permanent dye contains ammonia. The function of ammonia is to fix the pigment of the dye in your hair.

In this way, the dye will last for longer, and you don’t need to redo your color so frequently. For this reason, it’s much more difficult to remove permanent red dye. So you should bleach your hair.

Do you know how to do it?

 

If you have an idea of coloring, you can do it easily.

 If you have no idea, I would recommend that you go to a salon and ask that they put in your black color. 

 

In the salon, the stylist can remove your red color and apply the black without a problem.

Keep in mind that a badly done bleaching could be a real disaster for your hair.

 

How to bleach your hair to dye it then black

To bleach your hair, you’ll only need two things:

 

And now, let’s talk about bleaching your hair step-by-step.

 

Step 1: Preparing your hair

Brush your hair, detangling it completely, so there are no knots.

 

Step 2: Preparing the mix

In a plastic container, you should mix the 30 volume developer and bleach powder.

Stir until it has a uniform consistency.

 

 Step 3: Applying the mix

With a dye paintbrush, start to apply the mix from the long part of your hair to the ends WITHOUT TOUCHING THE ROOTS.

Leave 3 cms from your roots without any of the mix, until you’re finished applying it to all of the rest of your hair.

Once you’ve covered this part of your hair, let it sit for 20 minutes.

Once the 20 minutes have passed, apply the mix to your roots.

Let it act for 5 minutes.

 DON’T LEAVE THE MIX ANY LONGER 

 

Step 4: Rinsing

Once the 25 minutes have passed, you’ll rinse your hair until no trace of bleach mix is left.

Don’t use shampoo or conditioner.

 

 Step 5: Drying

You should dry your hair with a dryer at a low temperature.

When should you apply the black dye?

 

You’ll notice that your hair doesn’t look red anymore like before. Now is the moment to apply the black permanent dye.

You can apply it after the bleaching.

 But if the red color hasn’t been removed completely, and there are still signs of it, you’ll need to repeat the process once more. 

 

Remember that permanent dye is more difficult to get rid of.

You should only need the kit of permanent black dye, and you can apply it in the same way as always.

And you’re all set—your change will be complete.

 

Colors like black don’t need strict maintenance, so if you don’t have many gray hairs, you’ll only need to retouch your dye every 5 or 6 weeks.

 

How to dye your red hair with semi-permanent black dye?

Well, with semi-permanent dye, it’s a different story.

Even if red is a difficult color to remove, you have on your side that semi-permanent dyes don’t contain ammonia.

Ammonia is what makes the pigment fix in your hair fiber.

 So it will be much easier to go from red hair to black with semi-permanent dye. 

 

Perhaps it won’t be necessary to bleach your hair. That depends on the shade of semi-permanent red dye that you’ve applied.

All the same, I want to remind you that bleaching is optional.

 If you like reddish tones, by applying the semi-permanent black tone over your red, you’ll have a black color with red highlights: an auburn black. 

So you can decide.

 

If you decide to bleach, you should follow the steps I outlined before if you have coloring experience.

With just one bleaching session, the red color will disappear completely from your hair.

Do you know why?

 

Because the semi-permanent dye doesn’t contain ammonia, and thanks to this, the color doesn’t get fixed for as long of a time as with permanent dye.

So, after a bleaching session, you’ll be all ready to apply the semi-permanent black tone that you want so badly.

 

Generally, semi-permanent dyes should be redone every 2 to 3 weeks, but in this case, because it’s a dark color, you can space out your coloring sessions and do it every 3 or 4 weeks.