I need your help, I’m thinking of dying my hair. I really like my natural hair colour and have never wanted to dye my hair before but recently I’ve been thinking about dying my hair purple. I want it to be noticeable but subtle, maybe a very dark purple/ plum colour, I haven’t made up my mind yet. So since I’m a hair dye virgin I need your tips and advice.
I have very long hair, it stops just above my waist, so I don’t know if one box of hair dye will be enough. Any thoughts on this? Also what do you do with your eyebrows? In Scotland, about 50% of the girls dye their hair bleach blonde and you see so many of them with blonde hair and really dark eyebrows and I just think it looks wierd. I have brown eyebrows and I think if I dye my hair dark purple it won’t look too odd since both my hair and eyebrows will be dark. But what if it looks comical? Dying my eyebrows purple seems like a big risk. Can you even use the hair dye on your eyebrows? I’m guessing not.
What if the dark purple doesn’t suit me? I have very light skin so the dark hair might make me look a bit like a vampire and I can’t decide if I love or hate that idea. My eyes are green so I think the purple will compliment them nicely but if I end up looking all washed out I’m not sure what my options are. How soon can you re-dye your hair? If I dye it purple and hate it can I dye it brown the next day?
Please tell me if you dye your hair. Which hair dyes do you reccomend? Which ones should I avoid? Do you have any advice or tips? Also, I do a lot of research before trying stuff like this so I watched a few vids on youtube but no one seems to show you the whole process from beginning to end. If I decide to go ahead with this would any of you find a step by step video of the process useful? Would it be worth me uploading a video? Let me know.
Here is some purple inspiration, which do you like best?
I’m looking forward to your comments on this one, thanks for checking out my blog 
I live in the US, so I don’t know what’s available there. If you’re looking for crazy color (with not so crazy level of committment) you can try Manic Panic. Here’s a link to their UK site: http://www.manicpanichairdye.co.uk/ To keep the color longer, use sulfate-free shampoo. Sometimes even “color safe” stuff has sulfates, which strips the color. When I color my hair (rarely), I use a Q-Tip to put a little color on my brows, but I don’t know how that would look with a not-so-natural color like purple.
Thanks Bridget, I’ll check out Manic Panic and will definately keep the no sulphate tip in mind. Really glad you told me that, I had no clue. thanks for commenting
Hi, I’m a regular home hair dyer and I have dyed my hair purple before. I find home dying is very easy to use its like putting shampoo on but just making sure you don’t get any of it on anything else
I have dark brown hair too and it’s true it doesn’t show up much. My advice would be to go for the boldest purple you can find because the darker your hair is, the less you’ll be able to see it. And ontop of that, the colours runs out pretty quickly. Even though I got a permanent hair dyer within 3/4 weeks the purple had gone. However this is good news for you, as if you don’t like it, you know it will fade out quickly. And if you really like it you can reapply it.
Ofcourse if you wanted your hair to be bright purple, that would involve bleach (which I have tried also) and thats when your hair gets damaged and as a first timer I would definitely NOT recommend. Especially not to do at home.
I would say if you are really worried about dying your hair at home then go to the hairdressers. But for a whole head dye, they usually charge alot and it is very easy to do at home. Maybe just start with a semi permanent so you get used to applying the dye?
Good luck with the hair dye experience 
Oh and I would say you would need about 2/3 bottles of dye, one is enough for my hair which ends just below shoulder length
xx
Thanks so much Laurie, you’ve been so helpful and I’m now covinced that I should just take the plunge and do it at home. Thanks a lot for the advice
xx
I was planning on giving helpful advice, but AJ’s mom has got you covered! x
NO. DO NOT DO IT AT HOME!!!
OK. now that I’ve gotten that out of my system I’ll tell you why: first time should ALWAYS be done in a salon. i recommend streaks, since dyeing all your hair is going to take, say 6-8 bottles of dye. (I have long, incredibly thick hair, and dye mine every so often) To get the look you want, there is going to be bleach involved, unless you want it really, really subtle, in which case, its almost not worth the color change.
If you are going to do it, at least get the consult first.
Hi there Breige, you’re in a bit of a pickle here, aren’t you hun? At first I was getting worried when I saw your post. Phewww.. thank goodness it was something to do with your hair. Ok, so I used to dye my hair a loooot about 4 years ago, and then decided I should just leave my hair black. I used to DIY it actually and when I would want highlights, I would go to the hair salon. Have you tried visiting the salon yet for consultation? They would give you an idea of what would suit you best, plus they have this book thing with colored hair samples, which would give you more of an idea of what you would like. You don’t have to have it done there obviously. If this is your first time, I would go for hair dyes that are more natural, like no ammonia or something. I’ve seen in Boots some friendlier to your skin hair dye alternatives, so might work checking your local store out. Now, if you really like purple (and I do love purple by the way! I tried dying my hair with purple and because my hair is black, it won’t show as much, unless the sun shined on my hair – just a tint of purple was all I got in the end), I think the one on the bottom right would be best for you. Since it’s not so bright or dark, it’s just right, so I am sure it would compliment well with your complexion and won’t clash with your eyebrows. But just a friendly warning, I’ve not tried any of the natural hair dyes yet since before I don’t think they were widely available compare to now, but hair dyes I used before really killed my hair. The constant color changing like a chameleon really affected my used to be healthier hair. So yes, if you ended up not liking it, you can more or less change it back, it’s just at some point the effects of this would soon be visible. These are all based from my experience before. Oh actually, love212.org had similar post about hair dyes too. We talked about this a little. Might want to check her page out. I hope I have given you a little bit of insight into this.
AJ’s Mom
Thanks for the advice
this is really helpful. I haven’t visisted a salon yet because I was going to do it on my own but I guess it’s worth a consultation, and I was leaning towards the bottom right colour as well. The effect on my hair is something to think about, I’m not sure how damaging just a one-time dye would be, but I guess if I change it back it could have quite an impact. I’ll have a look into natural hair dyes and will check out Elena’s post. Thanks a lot for the tips, this helps a lot 
No probs at all. I am glad I am able to share my experience. Oh I just remember, you might want to check this brand called Inoa, it’s ammonia-free. I saw this the other day on the window from one of the hair salon here in our town. I am sure there’s lots out there now. And check out Naturtint or suvarna.co.uk since they sell a lot of natural hair dyes. I was looking few weeks ago for a natural hair dye – a black one- just to cancel my grey hairs!
Yeah I’ve seen posters for that Inoa stuff, I’ll check it out. Thanks again, you’ve been so helpful