I am planning to dye my hair soon for the school year. So I have a question for you gals: Which brand lasts and is better?

Also any hair color lasting tips will be very helpful! Thanks in advance!

EDIT: I am dying it ruby red, if it helps in anyway.

Depends on what kind of color you're looking for. For "natural" colors, Clairol works pretty well. Red in any shade will fade faster than a new black t shirt in hot water. Most likely, you'll have to do touch ups for your roots more so than fading

If you're looking for more unnatural type colors, Jerome Russell's Punky Hair is AWESOME! Holds color longer than any of the other unnatural color brands.

I know garnier is good because it has natural stuff and it last long. I want a red hair. Not ginger red but closer to unnatural red.

Go for Jerome Russell then. Personally, I use the Poppy Red or Red when I do my hair, make sure you bleach your hair if it's not already blond.

I'd advise against buying a cheap dye just to save a few bucks. Learned the hard way that after a few days you'll be asking why your natural hair color is back and why the bottom of the bathtub has turned dark brown.

Just my two cents.

Truth is, even cheap hair color can be pretty good, you just have to know which cheap color to use. The key is keeping it on your hair longer and/or using a heat to seal in the color.

I usually buy Loreal or Garnier. Loreal is good, my ends are still black from last time I dyed it. It got screwed up because sis-in-law has no clue what she is doing.

To my knowledge Loreal Feria is good. I died with it last time, and like stated above I still have black even though I wash my hair everyday.

The great thing about black is you can't screw it up! I don't how many times I've used the cheap hair color from te Dollar Tree to dye mine black.

Well, this is right up my alley since it's what I do for a living...if you're not going to have it done professionally, the best brands are Feria, Loreal and Garnier...but I don't know whether Loreal has the unnatural Little Mermaid type red. If you know someone who has the know-how in using professional grade haircolor, check out Sally Beauty Supply if you have one in your area. I've found some great colors for special effects in there (they even have hot pink and fire engine red). One caution with red shades: use protective hair products if you're out in the sun. Red fades more quickly and dramatically than other colors. Also, use color-enhancing shampoos and conditioners to keep your color true for a longer period of time. These don't have to break the bank... they have several reasonably priced brands at Walmart, most drugstores and Sally's Beauty Supply (I buy alot of stuff there). Hope that helps!

EDIT: what color is your hair now? You may need to bleach it or use color remover (not recommended unless it's a dire haircolor circumstance...very damaging to your hair!)

It is like 3 colors now xD top is my natural light brown bottom is black and bleached blond.( I had pink highlights that washed off...) Do I still have to bleach? I'd prefer not too...Here is a picture, not the best one out there xD

That hair dye you mentioned, is it permanent? I don't want something that will wash off after 6 washes...

I like black...At least on muah xD

Manic panic makes the best coloured dyes - that's what they are known for. You probably don't need to bleach your hair again, but it depends on how bright you want the red.

As for colour lasting tips, invest in a good salon quality color shampoo/product. I like PPS products. Permanant might last longer, but they grow out - Semi's work just as well, and are less damaging to your hair.

christ manic panic freaking blows it's practically water and lasts about 2 days or 1 shampoo, whichever comes first, Punky and N'Rage rank FAR above manic panic

-.- well it works great in my hair.

Yes all of the haircolor I mentioned are permanent...but if you go to a place like Sally's Beauty Supply, make sure you double check the color because they have temporary and semi-permanent colors as well as the permanent color (and they're stocked in the same area). The only thing I would be concerned about would be the black section of hair. Since I don't have you sitting in a chair in front of me, I'll do my best to tell you how I would determine what we'd need to do. Even though this seems long and drawn out, I make this assessment usually within 5 minutes or less after my client sits down (it's important to be efficient since I charge $30 an hour for my services).

First, what kind of condition is your hair in? Chemical processes are damaging to the hair and if your hair is too damaged, coloring your hair can result in any number of horrifying effects from color not turning out the color it should to having your hair melt and turn into this mass of stretchable seaweed on your head (that actually happened to me in beauty school...I had to cut my hair into a short messy Madonna bob). However, just looking at the picture your hair looks pretty healthy.

Next, what kind of texture do you have? Your hair looks fine, which means it's going to be a bit more fragile...but the good news is that it isn't as hard to work with as coarse hair (Native American and Asian hair are very difficult to work with...they always have to be pre-softened or pre-lightened).

Your hair is right in the middle between needing a pre-lightening treatment and not needing one. I can't see the black section, but generally, putting another color over black will produce poor results. So you can do one of 2 things: remove the black color with a color remover, which is very damaging to your hair, so if you do this you will need to do a reconstructing treatment before you apply your color (Joico k-pak is the best stuff out there, but you have to buy it in a salon or a beauty supply house...alot of malls have supply houses open to the public and you don't get the huge mark up on the price that salons charge). Your second choice would be to leave the black section(recolor of course to make sure it looks as fresh as your red) and color the rest of your hair the uber red. I don't know that you need to actually bleach it, a high lift tint will lighten without damaging your hair quite as much as bleach...but high lift tints also deposit pigment, so stay away from ash based shades (ash is green and will cancel out red). Loreal Preference has an ultra-blond line...find the lightest neutral blond to prelighten your hair. Again, if your hair feels fragile when you're done with this step, recondition (it's easier to do color removal-if you decide to remove the black-, then prelighten, then just recondition your whole head). If your hair feels okay after you prelighten, then just wait until after your color is finished to condition. In general, your hair will need to be dry when you put on your final color (but follow the directions that come with your color over what I say), so you can just blow it dry and it's just a matter of following the haircolor directions.

Okey thanks a lot! I will be dy8ing sometime at the end of this week or begining of next.

I didn't see Sally Beauty Supply around my area, but I saw Walmart sell Feria and I think they have a shade I want( Here is the link Loreal Feria) so I will try that. If they have any blonding dyes that fit my budget, I will get that too. Do you think it will look nice if the color is lighter on top and darker on bottom?(that is if I don't lighten it of course )

Do you mean darker tips or a dark section underneath? And with that color you won't need to prelighten, so that will save your hair some stress!

well my current color is top is my natural light and the ends are black/dark brown. I think it will look nice, it will go from lighter red to darker red at the ends.

What is the best brand of shampoo to use after it is dyed? I use herbal essences when my hair is dyed.

Sorry for so many questions.

No need to apologize...hair disasters suckmonkeynuts.

Darker red at the ends would look really good. Because red is more susceptible to fading, you're going to want a good shampoo made specifically for color treated hair (as far as store brands, I like Pantene and Walmart has a store brand version of Pantene that works just as well and is a good bit less expensive) and if you alternate it with a red color enhancing shampoo (that is, switch every other day) your color will last longer. Also, if you can find a leave in conditioner and/or styling products that protect your hair from sunlight, you'll want to invest in those. I wouldn't use a color enhancing shampoo every day because it can build up on your hair and weigh it down (especially us girls with fine hair).

I will see what fits my budget when I go to Walmart, Sometime this week or next.

Do you mean moose, gel or hair spray as a styling product? I mean they are similar but all have different effects...

It depends on what you use and how you style your hair. I don't know of any gels that protect from UV rays, but there are some mousses, pomades, hair thickeners and shine serums that do...it should be listed on the packaging. Alot of people don't use styling aids, so if you don't normally use them, some protective leave in conditioner on its own would work fine.