Home Hair Colour Advice?

[fireheart]

So I'm dying my hair well....possibly this colour or a chestnut brown (similar to that, but more brown). (My shade from the hair colour chart is closest to the bottom one, I'm a dark blonde naturally)

I have never coloured my hair before. A friend is going to do it for me because I'm a klutz. Any advice on what I should do, what I need to bring/have etc.?
We're using Schwarzkopf Brand hair care products-either the one I've linked or the Napro Palette Natural Range.

Anything I should expect? I'm getting a hair cut soon as well.

[Seshat]

Do an allergy test - basically, open the container and squeeze a tiny bit out, put it on your elbow, a couple of hours before. If your elbow goes red and itchy, you're allergic to something in that particular dye.

You'll be washing your hair, then smothering it in the dye (evenly, if you can), then wrapping your head in plastic wrap to keep the dye from getting everywhere. Put a shower cap on if you like, too.

Most dye packages include the plastic gloves you'll want, to keep your hands from being all dye-stained. Have some tissues or cotton balls, so if you get dye on your forehead, ears, or neck you can wipe it off.

Wear old clothes, things you don't mind getting dye-stained. If you like, one of those cheap-o rain ponchos makes a decent clothes-protector.

Half an hour to an hour after you've smothered your hair in dye, you have a shower and wash it all out. And it's all done!

[Cazzi]

As Seshat says... and definitely an allergy test, but I'd do it 48 hrs before. I colour my own hair regularly and every type of dye I use has had 48hrs as a recommended time.

Also, read through the instructions well in advance, I notice on the website you posted there is a downloadable copy. Not all hairdyes are applied onto wet hair so its best to find out before you wash if thats the case or not
I sometimes apply a little petroleum jelly around my fringe line in case of drips, but I've noticed it will wipe off the forehead ok with a little water. Not so much on hands though, it'll find every crease going and stain them wonderfully I say that not from personal experience, but I've seen it done!

You'll definitely need the old clothes/towel though.

[MaggieTheCat]

I've never died my own hair before, but regarding stained hands, here's a tip to clean them and help remove whatever is staining them. Mix together equal parts white sugar and olive oil; usually about a tablespoon or less of each will be enough if you're just cleaning your hands. Wet your hands under warm running water and rub the sugar scrub all over your hands. I do this after I've worked with colored polymer clay; red clay, especially, will stain my hands and regular soap and water won't get it out, but the sugar scrub helps get it out of the nooks and crannies of my palms and fingers. You can make bigger batches of the sugar scrub and use it all over your body in the shower, and you can also scent it with herbs, spices, extracts, or oils. It'll really help keep your hands moisturized, too...polymer clay really dries out my hands when I work with it a lot, but using the sugar scrub once or twice a day helps keep my skin smooth.

Not sure if it'll be as effective with dyes, but it's worth a shot in case you do get some on your hands and can't get it off.

The only other advice I'd recommend is to sleep with an old pillow case for a few days after you dye your hair, or you might end up with a brown/red spot on your pillows.

[Kheldarson]

I use L'Oreal Colour Experte (or however you spell that) and it recommends using dry, unwashed hair (like not washed in 24 hours) for best results. Make sure you read all directions!

And old clothes and towels, definitely, unless you live out in the middle of nowhere like I do and so feel comfortable sitting around topless/with just a bra for a while

Oh, and keep your hair well-conditioned. Mine tends to go all split-endy on me if I don't do a massive conditioning wash at least once a week after coloring.

[fireheart]

thanks for the advice guys.

I'm definitely wearing old clothes-I have t-shirts are OK for it, especially because we're combining the hair colouring with my boyfriend and a bunch of the guys from his medieval group working on their stuff for the next fair. So while they do that, she's doing my hair.

Re pillowcases, I'll buy a couple of cheap crappy ones that I can throw away eventually.

Just one final question-I've had problems with headlice up until recently, with the treatments usually being lotions or shampoos that get applied, washed off and then going through my hair to remove the dead ones. Will this be a problem?

[fireheart]

yeah with the headlice, because I'm getting my hair cut first, THEN coloured, I'm doing a treatment tonight and then going through my hair in the shower each night to kill off the buggers.

[Mel]

Just a note of advice for the lice. My daughter got them bad when she was in the second grade, and we tried treatment after treatment and the little buggers were really resistant.

A public health nurse suggested olive oil.

I really have to leave for work right now, but I can send you a PM explaining the method when I get back tonight. It's 11:20 am for me right now, and I get back sometime after 9 pm.

Good luck with the hair dye. i think everyone gave good advice already.

[Cazzi]

The same thing happened with my kids when they were younger, we also found that the shampoos (then) weren't very effective.
We used a tea tree oil conditioner every night.. wash hair, apply conditioner but don't rinse if off yet, then comb through the hair well with a nit comb & repeat every night or 2 for 2-3 weeks to make sure they're gone and any eggs have had time to hatch & the resultant lice combed out.
Doesn't have to be tea tree oil conditioner, bit a little tea tree added to the rinse water from now on will help keep the blighters at bay!

[ArcticChicken]

I have a friend who's parents, when he got lice, smothered his hair in mayonnaise and then dried it with a hair dryer. I think it sat overnight. It killed the lice, but he will never eat mayonnaise again.

[fireheart]

Re the headlice remedies: thanks guys, we normally use a combination of "head lice solution" plus combing the buggers out and my sister and I do it in the shower as well-combing that is.
I did a treatment last night and I'm combing all day today and my boyfriend will help me check tomrorow morning. We found that the trouble spot for ME is the nape of the neck, as I will comb around my ears int he shower.

[Mel]

ok, I'm back from work.

The thing about the olive oil is that lice nits are porous and when you comb out nits, you pretty much always leave some behind. Olive oil suffocates the nits, so that they can't survive to hatch and re-infest you. The treatments you're buying only kill the live lice and not the nits. The olive oil gets the nits you happen to leave behind when combing.

The olive oil method, as best as I can remember is:

Saturate your hair with olive oil. Put on a shower cap and leave the oil in the hair overnight. In the morning, wash your hair twice with dish soap (it cuts the grease way better than shampoo). Keep checking every day or two for nits with the nit comb.

Repeat the olive oil application every 2 or 3 days (I think it was?).

When the method was explained to me, I had been dealing with lice in my home for about a year. I'd think they were gone and I did everything, tried every treatment on the market, and we even gave my daughter a buzz cut, we were desperate. They told me to do the olive oil application method for 3 weeks. We did it for 2 weeks, and we hadn't seen lice again for another 5-6 years, until she got infested again. We did the olive oil method again and they were gone within a week.

I'm telling you, it works.

I really don't like to give unasked for advice, but I know how annoying this problem can be, and the buggers ARE getting resistant to the treatments sold on the market.

[ArcticChicken]

tea tree oil conditioner

Oh, god. When my sister got lice, my mom had heard that tea tree oil was a good treatment. She put it on my sister's head. Undiluted. I think sis spent 45 minutes in the shower trying to get her head to stop hurting.

[fireheart]

Oh, god. When my sister got lice, my mom had heard that tea tree oil was a good treatment. She put it on my sister's head. Undiluted. I think sis spent 45 minutes in the shower trying to get her head to stop hurting.

the stuff I had is diluted and mixed with chemicals.

Arctic, we use a combination of the tea tree and combing-the teatree kills the lice, the combing gets rid of the eggs. But I will try the olive oil thing when I get home tonight from work. We use these nit combs for the process.