I was going to scrap this hair dyeing post, after realizing, I forgot to photograph all the product bottles...Oops. Nonetheless, I'm really loving the color, and wanted to share it with you.
You hear people say "I've dyed my hair every color in the rainbow," but I literally have. My hair has been orange, green, blue, teal, pink, even big bird yellow, but my signature hair colors are all spectrums of red and purple. This Spring, I had a yearning to return to some shade of purple.
Originally, I was going to get the process done at the salon. But, given my history of using these colors labeled as "permanent," they all tend to fade quicker than your standard shades. So, I made the choice to save myself 30,000 yen, and I went with a dye I've never tried before, AGEbeautiful's Anti-Aging Permanent Liquid Hair Color. I couldn't choose between shades 3V Darkest Plum Brown and 4V Dark Plum Brown. Thus, I cast the dye (pun intended), with both shades, to see what the concoction would yield when mixed together.
Here's a tip when you're dyeing your own hair: don't be stingy with the dye. It's better to have more than less. Worst case scenario, you can save whatever boxes or bottle for the next application.
Purchased on sallybeauty.com, I got four bottle of the 3V Darkest Plum Brown and 4V Dark Plum Brown (8 in total), and one 16 oz AGEbeautiful 20-Volume Creme Developer, to use for two separate dyeing occasions. When I took off the cap and looked at the white foamy-paper inside of it, 3V Darkest Plum Brown was plum, and 4V Dark Plum Brown was violet.
AGEbeautiful hair color is mixed using a 1:1 equal parts hair dye to developer ratio. My hair is thick and long, and each bottle contains 2 oz.; therefore, I mixed two bottles of each of the 3V Darkest Plum Brown and 4V Dark Plum, totaling 8 oz of dye and 8 oz of developer. Also, the ammonia fumes are strong with this one.
In my rush to "get er done," I completely forgot to test AGEbeautiful's 100% gray coverage claim, and contaminated the test subject with Ardell's Gray Magic Color Additive. speaking of which, Gray Magic works wonders at covering gray hair.
The mixture looks like something out of a horror film.
An image before cleaning up my hairline, ears and putting on the disposable shower cap. After rising off the dye, I always skip shampooing and apply conditioner. I've dyed my hair twice using this mixture, and both times, my hair showed no signs of dryness, lack of shine, and/or damage.
The color is immaculate! A gorgeous, vibrant, plum-violet dark black cherry brown, and to quote my friend Sara, a radiant plum-violet shine that "looks like candy." I'm really obsessed with this shade. In my own vanity, I love catching a glimpse of it under any lighting; it's just so darn stunning. Whenever I'm out, I get tons of compliments on the color. Now, the water is exceptionally hard in Tokyo. So, the color does begin to fade until after the fifth wash. What I'm left with is a still pretty in its own right: deep, reddish, raspberry brown, with a faint plummy-violet shine.
I change my hair color a lot, and I'm already thinking of my Summer shade. But, I'm definitely going to revisit this shade in the very near future.
