Loreal Colorista: Brunette to Pink

I have wanted dip dyed ends for so long, I wanted ombre hair for years but more recently the idea of pink hair has been on my mind constantly so when I saw the advert for these new Loreal Colourista wash out dyes, I had to try them!

However, as I have dark brown hair with red undertones, that makes it a little more difficult. I first bought the Garnier Nutrisse Truly Blonde D+++ Maximum Lightener Dye from Boots and applied it to the last two to three inches of my hair for the dip dyed effect. I'd love to say that it worked really well but it didn't; it made the ends of my hair ginger even though on the box it shows the dark brown hair being lifted to a much lighter shade than I achieved. So I then opted for the Jerome Russell B Blonde Max Lift 40 Volume Peroxide Powder and the Jerome Russell B Blonde High Lift Powder Bleach which you have to mix together (you can't just use one of the two, they have to be combined) and it worked so well as you can see below. Thankfully neither bleach left my hair damaged or dry as I was expecting!

The Jerome Russell bleach lifted my hair much more so much so that it was mostly a strawberry blonde shade with lighter more straw coloured areas as you can see from the final bleach process above. I didn't want to bleach my hair a third time in one week and I also didn't know which toner to buy or even if it was worth it as I was adding a bright colour on top of the lightened ends. So I added the Loreal Colorista Semi Permanent Dye in Dirty Pink to the ends of my dry hair the next day and...it kind of worked as you can see from the above photo. It dyed some areas of my hair a lovely shade of pink but other areas were peachy or orange which I didn't like so I applied the second half of the bottle to my hair again the same day, it doesn't have bleach or ammonia in it so it's fine!

After the second application of pink dye, it came out so much better! My hair, as you can see above, is the final result and is mostly a gorgeous metallic rose pink shade which I adore (it looks stunningly metallic in the sunlight) but it does still have some peachy tones in it - I don't mind them now as it blends nicely into the pink and it much more subtle than it was after the first application of pink dye. FYI: You have to saturate the hair really well for it to show up well and it only dyed the blonde areas of my hair, not the brunette hair.

The application of the Garnier bleach (which I wouldn't recommend), the Jerome Russell bleach (which I definitely would) and the Loreal Semi Permanent Colorista Dye was very easy and almost fuss free. I did the whole process over four days which probably wasn't the best idea but my hair is in surprisingly fantastic condition especially as I've been using a lot of moroccan oil on it since.

It's now been about a week since I started this process and four washes since I applied the Loreal Dirty Pink Dye and it's still going strong. It isn't quite as bright as it was but it is now a beautiful peachy rose shade which looks metallic and almost rose gold in some situations. I couldn't be happier with my hair and I am now looking at other shades I want to dye the ends; I'm thinking either lavender or blue! If you have any semi permanent dye or toner recommendations then let me know! Finally here are a few tips which have helped me as a bleach and coloured dye beginner:

- Make sure you have a lot of gloves and tin foil on hand as they help to protect your hands and the tin foil is perfect for keeping the hair contained and covered while the bleach and dye is working

- Do your research before you start and maybe just do a stand test or dip dye the very ends before applying more as you don't end up with all of your hair shade you don't want or very damaged

- If the gloves I have are too big then I put a hair tie/bobble around my wrist to stop them coming off but make sure it isn't too tight!

- No matter how careful you are with any dye, it will usually get on your skin somewhere and I find that micellar water or micellar wipes are perfect for removing dye from the skin

What do you think of my dip dyed pink hair? Have you tried any semi permanent hair dyes?