For about a year now I’ve slowly changed my hair from dark auburn red to faded red with caramel highlights. I thought I’d share the process and how I upkeep my roots with my current favorite dye combo. I have a previous post on how I did the richer color here if you’d like to go maroon at home!
The first step of going a bit lighter was to stop dyeing the lengths, and just start upkeeping my roots. I used to go for Loreal HiColor Copper Red with a 10- 15 developer, but since my hair has lightened up more, I switched to a shade with more gold mixed into the red for a copper orange/rust look for my roots. Think more dark strawberry blonde to match my faded color rather than burgundy. Here’s my current concoction:
Wella 7RG
10 developer with a nice splash of 30 (so 17ish strength I’d say)
Left on right under 45 min
I still use the same application method that I talked about in my last post, and try to spend some extra time working on the back of my head/ crown. I’m only dyeing about 1.5 inches of my hair, I don’t touch the lengths and make sure to carefully avoid my highlights. I put a plastic bag on my hair to keep it hot and moist while it processes.
I have definitely noticed that my hair is much drier since getting the bleached highlights. I’ve been looking into the “curly girl method” of washing, which keeps as much moisturizer in the hair as possible. Check out the list of approved products for that here. I recently picked up the Not Your Mother’s shampoo & conditioner from it and will report back once I give it a try. I go through hair product pretty slowly since I only wash once a week so it might be awhile though.
I used to use Wella 7RG as a toner all over my head/ lengths of my hair years ago with 10 developer. If you have darker faded red hair and are trying to tone it down but aren’t liking the duller fade look, try it all over to spruce up and increase the vibrance.
The pictures above show my hair this time last year vs. now. I definitely want to focus on making my hair just as shiny as it used to be. It’s not damaged really, but I think it could definitely be better. I’ve talked about my haircare routine for keeping healthy in this post. If you’re trying to do this, go slow! Like I said this has been a year long process.
I’m happy to answer any questions here in the comments or on my Instagram. Thank you for reading and have a great weekend!
-Kim
did you put this all over your hair ? looks gorgeous
No, not with highlights. If you want your hair all that color you can tho!