I've always wanted to dye my hair a different color but have been way too scared to do so. I actually had put it on my "Goals for 2020." I thought about it but dropped the idea pretty quick because I still had some of the balayage in my hair from two summers ago. It was kind of faded and lower down my hair but it didn't look bad. I didn't want to mess my hair up or damage it.
I came back to campus a week early and so did my roommate. She kept talking about how she wanted to dye her hair blue and I told her that if she did it then I would dye the bottom of my hair violet/red. So we decided to do it.
It was pretty easy for me because my dark hair had lighter locks in it from the earlier balayage treatment. I used the L'Oreal box-dye in "Deep Violet." Surprisingly I only had to leave the product in my hair for 25 minutes. The process was very messy, especially when washing the color out. My entire shower looked like a murder scene with the watery red dye splattered on the walls. The directions told me to rinse my hair with the given shampoo 2 times or until the water runs through my hair clean. Then I had to put in conditioner and leave it in there for two minutes.
After washing all these products out, I patted my hair dry and put in a heat protectant. My wet hair looked even darker than usual and it looked just plain black all over until you looked closer. The bottom of my hair was a deep wine red. I was really happy that the color had shown up. After blow-drying my hair, you could really see how beautiful the color was. When the light hit it, it was brighter maroon color and without direct light, it looked more violet than red. I loved it. I still love it.
What's funny is that I didn't even realize I completed one of my 2020 goals until my friend reminded me! It was a really good experience but if you have lighter hair or don't have bleach in your hair, I would be more careful with how you color your hair. I had a really good experience with it though!