Colour Restore Deep Red for Redheads Review - How to Maintain Red Ombré Hair

Where did I buy it and how much was it?
I bought this tube of Colour Restore Deep Red from Boots for £11.99 for 100ml of product and a pair of gloves & instructions.

What does it claim?

"General washing, styling, heat and sun damage can deplete the tone and vibrancy of an artificial colour. The red artificial permanent molecule is so small it’s prone to flushing easily from the hair leaving behind a dull shade.

• Colour Restore Red Pigment Hair Infusion toner developed by Scott Cornwall replenishes and returns hair colour to its former glory without the need to use a peroxide or ammonia based colourant
• Simple to use, just rinse through (like a shampoo) to maintain tone or leave in for up to 25 minutes for deeper tonal results.
• Contains no ammonia, no peroxide, no harsh chemicals.
• Restores and replenished red tones, adds a deeper ‘conker’ effect to mid blondes or brunettes.
• Creates vibrant lowlight results in highlighted hair.
• Can be used immediately after perming, colour removal, straightening or bleaching"

Find more information on the Colour Restore website.
Why did I buy it? 
I bought this product because about half a year ago now, I dyed the tips of my hair red using L'oreal Majicontrast (I will write a proper review of this product sometime I promise), which has lasted a very long time, considering red hair dye is notorious for fading rapidly. However, my hair has finally reached a stage where whenever I wash my hair normally, no more red hair dye is coming out of my hair - i.e. all the dye has faded out of my hair. My hair is now a gingery/reddish/brown colour and I really want to restore the vividness of when I first dyed the bottom of my hair red, without having to damage my hair with further use of peroxide or ammonium.  

Check out this post I wrote where I way up the pros and cons of using different methods to do this: "A Hairy Dilemma". 

 Therefore, when I saw this in my local boots, it seemed like the perfect product just to "top up" my hair colour with minimal damage.
What did I do?

N.B. This is what I decided to do, not what was instructed on the instructions. 

1. TEST: First test a small amount of the product by putting a spot of it behind your ear and leaving it for 48 hours to see if you react to it. I was very naughty and didn't do this, but I advise everyone to do this as it's better to be safe than sorry! I should really practise what I preach...
2. WASH: I washed my hair with a clarifying/clear shampoo because using a cream shampoo can leave a residue onto the hair, which will prevent Colour Restore from penetrating into the hair (lol).
3. DRY: I lightly towel dried my hair.
4. PROTECTION: I put a plastic bag over my shoulders and put some plastic gloves on.
5. MIX: I mixed 1 splodge conditioner with 1 splodge Colour Restore Deep Red
1. This was so that this process would condition my hair whilst dying it too.

1. COMB: I combed the mixture through the ends of my hair for about 5 minutes.
2. LEAVE: I left the mixture in my hair for 20 minutes
3. RINSE: I rinsed the ends of my hair with cold water until all the conditioner was out of my hair, NOT when all the Colour Restore was out.
1. If I were to rinse all the Colour Restore out of my hair, my hair would be back to the colour at the start, so don't do this! 
4. DRY: I then towel dried my hair with a dark coloured towel, otherwise it would've been stained bright red.  

How does it work?
In order to understand how this product works, I think it's time to dissect the ingredients and their properties - I'm really fascinated by the science behind everything so yeah.

N.B. Please bare in mind that I am a 15 year old girl, thus my chemistry knowledge is confined to the  GCSE syllabus and whatever resources I can find on the Internet, so please excuse me if I get something wrong. I may not be 100% scientifically correct, but I'll try to express things in layman's terms. 

• Aqua 
• This is water and the reason that it is used is pretty obvious. 
• Cetearyl Alcohol
• This is fatty alcohol used to thicken the emulsion and to keep it from separating. It also acts as a foaming agent, as well as having emollient properties which leave the hair soft and smooth.
• Cetrimonium Chloride
• This is a conditioning agent used as a softening, detangling and anti-static agent for hair care products.

~BONUS NUGGET OF KNOWLEDGE~
In dry conditions, hair becomes "static" as each hair becomes statically charged with the same charge, so they repel from each other and thus appear to stand on end. Cetrimonium Chloride carries a positive charge that attracts them to the slightly negatively charged skin and hair proteins, preventing this from happening, thus making the hair smoother and more sleek.

• Triethanolamine
• This is a strong alkaline substance, which is used to adjust the pH of the product and a surfactant. This basically means it helps emulsion formation by reducing surface tension of the substances, enabling water and oil-soluble ingredients to mix.
• Methylchloroisothiazolinone and Methylisothiazolinone
• This is a preservative and a biocide (prevents biological infestation such as harmful microorganisms from growing). It is also associated with allergic reactions, so remember to do your skin test!
• Parfum (fragrance)
• This is so that the product doesn't smell too bad (pretty obvious). 
• Basic Yellow 87 and Basic Red 51
• This is what actually gives the colour, not all the other ingredients listed above. 
• Magnesium Chloride and Magnesium Nitrate
• I honestly have NO idea what these two salts are for in this product, even after research. Anyone care to enlighten me?

Advantages?

From ginger straw to lushious red locks!

• The colour!
• As you can probably can't see from the pictures below since my camera seems to make my hair look super red, regardless of what colour it is, I was pleasantly surprised by the results for this product.
• My hair went from a gingery-brown to almost the same colour as when I first dyed it: a true conker/mahogany red (yay hardwoods)
• The condition my hair was left it!
• Because I mixed in lots of conditioner with the Colour Restore, this process also helped to soften my hair and make it more shiny as it was deep conditioning as well as dying. I used a normal conditioner to mix with the CR, but I imagine that if a deep conditioning masque was used, it would be even more beneficial to the hair 
• Because no hydrogen peroxide or ammonium was used in this process, there was no damage created - there were only benefits! As you can see from the ingredients list analysis, there are no products that actually affect the hair itself.
• The little amount needed
• As you can probably see from the image above, I used very little product when restoring my hair colour, so I can imagine this 100ml tube lasting a good while. 
• Since I diluted the CR further with conditioner, it meant even less was used. 

Disadvantages?

• The price
• This cost £11.99, which could be seen as alot, compared to traditional dyes. However, bare in mind that only a small amount of product is required, so perhaps this isn't too bad value for money.
• The mess
• Red hair dye is also being notorious for being super, super, super messy and this stuff is no exception! This will stain hands, towels, tiles, clothes if you get it anywhere, so you must be extra careful when using this product, otherwise it will look like there has been some sort of bloody massacre.

Would I repurchase?
Oh yes! Once you have bleached/dyed your hair for the first time to lighten it, I reckon you could just keep buying this product to "top up" your hair colour as it fades. Since I use so little, I think this tube will last for a long time, thus justifying the price. I have no idea about the longevity of the colour produced as I only used this product for the first time one day ago, but I have a good feeling about this (I will update this once I wash my hair again).

I think this product works in pretty much the same way as a semi-permanent dye, so if you have light hair (medium brown or lighter), this would also be a good way of dying your hair a bright red colour!

ScatterrBrained rating?

Four and a half brains out of five!

Keep calm and have good hair,


Rebecca x

P.S. Hello everyone, what do you guys think of this new style of review? I have ALOT to talking about regarding hair dying, and I was wondering if this was too long already or if you guys would be willing to read my ramble? Was this too sciencey, or you guys interested? Please comment below your opinions, as in the end, this blog is for you guys to read. :)
P.P.S. I've really gotten out of the habit of blogging regularly, so sorry! I have so many posts that I want to write, but I never seem to have time. :( 
P.P.P.S. There is still time to vote for your favourite name for my second blog. Go to the top right of this page to vote!

Chronicles of Ombré Hair: Part 2 – IS IT FOR YOU?

Don't understand what this is about? Click here to read from the first post.

Let me clear up a few things before we start in the actual dying process...

1.       These posts is going to extremely extensive/in depth/over the top for something so trivial. I am going to state absolutely everything I know about hair-dying here, because I know that if I had something like this to read before I were to dye my hair, it would’ve been so much easier! I am going to try and make it slightly easier to understand, but it is going to be a lot of writing. If you are not interested in dying your hair, then press the little x in the corner right now.

2.       This is not an instructional post about dip-dying hair. They both involve two different colours of hair on one’s head, but they are slightly different.

~BONUS NUGGET OF KNOWLEDGE~

Ombré literally means “shaded” or something like that – French is most definitely not my best subject.

Anyways, this means that there is a gradation of shades between the two colours, as one slowly blends into another. Dip-dying is more about having two different colours that are abruptly change into each other- I.e. there is no fading into each other.

The Hairington Twins

3.       I am mainly going to explain how to ombré to red from black, but of course this will also work with other colours. I will state in italics if any steps will change if you wish to ombré blonde/blue/rainbow/etc, from any other hair colours.

THINGS TO CONSIDER BEFORE YOU OMBRE YOUR HAIR:

·         Do you only want this semi-permanently?

Well, if this is the case and you have very dark hair (like black Asian hair, like mine) then it is simply not going to be possible to ombré your hair to a lighter colour. If you use a semi-permanent dye, the colour on the box will NOT be the colour that will come out of your hair. If you use a coloured semi-permanent dye (like a red or purple colour, which seems to be all the rage nowadays), your hair will have very little difference, unless you are directly under sunlight, then a slight tint would be visible. If you want an ombré which is actually visible under normal light, a permanent dye will HAVE to be used. The only way of removing this colour from your hair is I suppose chopping it all off, or dying it all black, as that would be the only colour dark enough. I have seen colour removal kits on the market, but I doubt it would work on dark hair, purely because they only remove hair colour which is darker than your natural colour.

If you have light hair such as blonde, then it will be possible to use a semi-permanent or temporary hair colour to achieve ombré to a darker shade or colour, but not a lighter ombré.

·         Do you want to keep your hair in perfect condition?

If so, this will not be possible. Obviously, if your hair is already strong, healthy or resistant to split-ending, the damage could be reduced. However, there will always be a negative impact to its condition when dying hair, regardless of whether you use semi permanent or permanent dye. There are temporary hair dyes that are vegetable based dyes (e.g. manic panic) which are ammonia and peroxide free, but still will dry hair out to a certain degree. Of course, aftercare is highly important and can prevent any further spilt-ends from forming, but subjecting your hair to such strong chemicals inevitably will cause significant damage.

·         Do you do lots of water sports/swimming/wish to shower a lot?

If so, then this may be a slight problem. If you are wishing to dye your hair an unnatural colour (such as red for example), even if the small print of the packaging says that it is permanent, the colour will undoubtedly fade and also bleed when in contact with water. If you are in contact with water a lot, then the colour is not going to last very long at all, plus chlorine from swimming pools also cause detrimental effects on the colour – you don’t want green hair (unless you are going for that look!).

IN SUMMARY:

If you are aware that...

1.       Ombré hair is going to be a permanent commitment (unless you chop it off or dye over with black)

2.       Your hair will be damaged by it

3.       When you go swimming, you will leave a trail of hair colour behind you

And you are still not put off...

TIME TO COMMENCE THE DYING PROCESS.

Yay,

NEXT STEP WILL BE UPLOAD TOMORROW

Peace,

Rebecca x

Chronicles of Ombré Hair: Part 1 – INTRODUCTION

Hello there cool people. I had such writer’s block about what to post next, but as my “Whip it Real Good” has proven rather popular and I always get asked about it in real life, I’m going to instruct and inform you about how to achieve ombré hair.

Magritte style, mainly because my face looked silly, and apples look cooler

What on earth is ombré hair?

“Ombré hair colour is generally darker at the roots through the mid-shaft and then gradually gets lighter from the mid-shaft to the ends. It is usually achieved using a balayage technique and is ideal for clients looking for a low-maintenance style.”

That is the definition from About.com and I have to agree with it. Last year it was very popular both on bloggers and celebrities. One reason why it is probably so popular is that it is just so low-fuss and budget friendly as root touch ups are not required- it basically just having really bad roots. That sounds so easy doesn’t it? Just slap on some peroxide on the ends of your hair and then you’re done! Well, yes if you want to turn your hair into straw. However, I don’t have the ever so popular brown to blonde ombré, instead mine is black to red and dying black hair to any colour (which is lighter) without bleach is usually pretty hard. Nevertheless, I have managed it and I really would like to spread my knowledge of not just the method in achieving that hair colour, but also the science behind it (because I love chemistry- sounds lame, doesn’t it...), to everyone.

After I started planning my initial post, I realised that it was going to be absolutely ridiculous if I were to put it all into post, so I am going to create a mini-series on my blog called “Chronicles of Ombré hair”. I’ve decided to break it down into bite-sized chunks that will be easier to follow, rather than a never-ending essay with me over-analysing filamentous biomaterial sprouting out of one’s head.

Expect to see reviews of hair dyes, explanations of the science behind how hair dye works and colour theory, maintaining hair colour and easy to follow step by step tips on taking the plunge.

Keep checking this blog and especially this post, because as each part of the guide goes live, I’m going to link them all back to this post.  I hope to try and add a section each day!

*CLICK HERE FOR PART 2 OF THE CHRONICLES OF OMBRE HAIR!*

再 见,

Rebecca x

P.S. I can’t believe I’m starting a series about something as trivial as this. I’ll try to make such a superficial topic as in depth and scientific as possible (LOL WHAT A JOKE)

P.S.S Sorry for all my readers who probably don’t care at all about hair dying, I will continue with normal posts next week!

P.S.S.S Just noticed that the three pictures of me, Jessie J and Snooki all involve some sort of animal print in it... weird!

Disclaimer:

I would first like to say I AM NOT A HAIRDRESSER nor do I claim that my method is the “correct” way of doing it. I have simply done a lot of research before proceeding onto the dying process, so I wouldn’t end up of with a hair disaster. Since I am just so nice, I am going to inform you about everything I have gained from experience and research, so you don’t end up with a hair disaster either (not guaranteed!).