Hair Clinic Summary: Red Hair Colour

Hey everyone - here's some of the best questions and answers from my Red Hair Colour Clinic that took place on Facebook in September. Be sure to check out the Facebook page to catch the next hair clinic.

Q: what would you suggest is the best home dye to achieve bright red hair, on dark hair? and would your deep red colour restore help maintain the brightness or would it be too dark for such a shade?x

A: You ideally need a permanent level 3 red as it will lift up the base enough to deposit the red colour molecules. Feria, Receital Preference and Garnier have some deep red permanent shades in their ranges. Yes Colour Restore Deep Red would really top up the red in the hair. Also, if you are very dark sometimes doing a 10 minute stripping on the hair (prior to colouring) will lift away the natural dark molecules and expose the natural warmth. Then when you apply a permanent red colourant on top of this you will get a very vibrant red result. Kind Regards Scott

Q: How can I remove red from my hair... I've bleached bathed it now I'm a ginger/pinkish colour?

A: Hi Terri, if you've bleached bathed it and it's showing pink you have cuticle staining in there. My immediate advice to you would be to apply a 6.0 permanent colourant onto it and get he hair to a soft brown. Try to leave it as long as you can (even a few months) and either remove this artificial colour and see what of the cuticle staining is still there, or you could have highlights over the top of the new 6.0 base to create a lighter effect. Fine Highlights done on top of new base shade will not tend to display the cuticle staining as much and can be toned to cover much better than if its the whole head. Kind Regards Scott

Q: In between dyes if I use the colour restore which option do I use? Is it just the wash in and rinse or were you leave it in for 20 mins? And can I wash and condition my hair before I put the colour restore in?

A: A rinse through Colour Restore will keep the existing tone topped up, where as if you leave it for 20 minutes it will go very vibrant. You don't really need to use Colour Restore with a conditioner, so you can shampoo the hair and then use the Colour Restore as you would a conditioner on either methods if you choose to. Kind Regards Scott

I've written a few blog posts on red hair already. If you want to know how to create vibrant red hair like Florence Welch or if you want to try a balayage effect, you can read my colour recommendations.