To prevent a disaster from happening when putting ash blonde dye on red hair, you must understand a few things to achieve perfection.
- You will need to choose a 7.1 ash-blonde hair dye. This is the only ash blonde hair dye that won’t make a mess but rather will leave your hair ash blonde. And I’ll tell you why below.
- Your hair must be light red. Because if your hair is a dark or intense red, before applying the ash-blonde hair dye, you must bleach it. Otherwise, your hair will turn orange.
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I dyed my hair red, and I hate it; what can I do?
Colorimetry is a very complex science. When you look at the color wheel,it all seems very simple.
After all, the color wheel shows opposite colors that neutralize each other. But the laws of colorimetry don’t end there.
If you’re considering applying an ash-blonde dye to red hair, you must delve a little deeper into the color wheel. Why?
- Because you can’t just apply any ash-blonde dye . And I’m not referring to the brand but to the number that identifies each of the dyes.
- And because you have to tconsiderhow red your hair is.
If you keep in mind these two things, you can apply an ash blonde hair dye on your red hair to change its color.
So let’s go to the first rule you need to follow before putting ash-blonde hair dye on red hair.
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You should always choose ash-blonde hair dye 7.1 if you want to dye red hair
Why should it be a 7.1 ash-blonde hair dye?
Earlier, we discussed the color wheel, which shows each color with its opposite. And in this case, the opposite of red is green.
- Your hair is red.
- The 7.1 ash blonde dye contains yellow pigments, which make the dye blonde, and blue ash pigments. And , you get green if you mix blue and yellow pigments.
And green neutralizes red! That is, it makes it disappear.
Therefore, if you apply an ash-blonde 7.1 dye on your red hair, your hair will be ash-blonde, because the ash pigments in the dye will neutralize the red in your hair.
We’ve discussed the importance of applying ash-blonde 7.1 dye to red hair to transform it to blonde. Now, will 7.1 ash blonde work on all red hair, regardless of the intensity of the color?
Of course not, and that’s what I’ll talk about next.
You can only apply ash blonde 7.1 dye if your hair is light red
Light red hair is identified with the numbers 7.6, 8.6, and 9.6. And I know what you’re thinking.
“Alejandra, how do I figure out what shade of red I put in my hair?”
You have three ways:
- Check what dye number you applied last time . Maybe you remember because it’s been a long time since you dyed your hair a different color. Or you might still keep a box of dye in your bathroom.
- Compare a strand of your hair with a photo of a coloring kit in a store or supermarket.
- Go to a salon, and ask a colorist to help you identify the shade of red you have in your hair. I don’t think my colleagues would refuse to do you this small favor.
Once you confirm your red hair is 7.6, 8.6, or 9.6, you can apply the 7.1 ash blonde dye for a perfect color change.
Now, if you discover from the box of red dye you saved, or if a colorist informs you that your hair is red 3.6, 4.6, or 5.6, YOU CANNOT APPLY THE ASH-BLONDE DYE STRAIGHT ON YOUR RED HAIR.
Because in this case, you must bleach your hair beforehand. If not, your hair will become carrot orange.
Since your shade of red is very dark and intense, the developer contained in the dye would only fade the red color, leaving your hair an extremely harsh orange. Also, the yellow pigments in the dye cannot completely cover a very dark red.
If you bleach your hair, you can go up three or four numbers, leaving your hair ready to apply the 7.1 ash-blonde dye.
If you applied a 6.6 red dye, I suggest you do a strand test using the 7.1 ash-blonde dye to a small back section of your hair. This way, you’ll be able to check the results before coloring all of your hair. You’ll know if you need to bleach your hair first.
Conclusion
As a colorist, I recommend that if you have doubts or don’t have even a little experience in coloring, before putting an ash-blonde dye on red hair, go to a salon.
Because as I said at the beginning, the result can be a disaster or perfection.
