Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with dye

do dyed eyelashes pass for normal?

Foam Pants — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:07:52 -0800

I am a fair-skinned, light brown brunette who hardly ever wears makeup. I am thinking about getting my awesome but light-colored eyelashes dyed. Will it look natural or startling?

Good colorist in ATL

Juicylicious — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 05:32:29 -0800

Looking for an expert hair colorist in Atlanta. Any recommendations?

Long lasting Hair dye

page123 — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 11:42:13 -0800

what is the best brand for box hair dye products, for covering grey hair, that will last longer than 10 days?

A dark mass, shot through with silver.

Phalene — Mon, 11 May 2009 14:47:48 -0800

Montreal Hair Filter: Looking for a salon to cut and dye my hair. Inexpensive, but friendly and good with colour. I have slightly wavy dark brown hair, that is all shot through with silver (I'm 23, it's genetic). I love the first part of my hair, and think the deep chocolate colour suits me. The grey, not so much. I'm not fashion confident enough to duplicate the origional at home, with drugstore dye, so I want a stylist who can help me come up with a practical soloution to the greying that's natural looking and does the least damage possible, who doesn't mind trimming my split ends without hacking off half my length, and can layer it to frame my face while, again, keeping my hair long. I'm a female, with armpit length hair and a square face.

So to recap: long hair friendly Montreal stylist with good dying skills, who won't charge an arm and a leg.

Where can I buy acorns?

Dr.Pill — Sun, 10 May 2009 08:48:53 -0800

To make a quantity of black dye I need a couple of kilo's of oak acorns. In the UK I have, naturally enough, looked under oak trees but last years season was a non starter and the squirrels got up earlier than me. Google has failed me.

Is there any hope for my drab, almost-perfect journal?

AthenaPolias — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 21:28:35 -0800

Is there any chance I could change the color of a leather journal - whether slightly or significantly - without removing the non-leather portions (thus destroying the journal)? Or am I stuck with it how it is? I bought a beautiful leatherbound journal when I was leaving Rome last summer. I'd looked the whole trip for something of just this type and found nothing until I was literally about to get on the train to the airport. There was a stationer's in the station, and there was my journal, a slightly pricey but affordable 50 Euro option. I grabbed it and got on the train. Trouble is, the colors they had available were atrocious - pink, pink & green, or this light taupe, which is what I went with. Other than the color, it's perfect, but the color really bothers me. I can't exchange it - I've checked for the manufacturer online but to no avail. And the journal is glued to the leather, so I can't remove the paper to do any significant work to it.

Is there anything I can do to alter the color? Otherwise, all I can think of is plastering it with stickers, like I did in fifth grade with my trapper keeper, or learning to love it as is.

How do you stop clothes dye from bleeding?

twinkles2sf — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 07:39:34 -0800

How do you stop clothes dye from bleeding? I have a skirt and jacket suit that is vibrant red in color. When I first bought it about a decade ago it would bleed a little onto the sweater I would wear underneath. Now just in the period it takes to try the outfit on my sweater will be red. The label says Dry Clean only so I've never tried washing it in a washer to see if the excess dye will go away, but maybe that's the route I'll have to go? I'm afraid of messing it up. The suit looks fine. It's just if I wear it I can't take the jacket off or everyone will see how red it's changed whatever I'm wearing underneath.
Any suggestions?

Eyebrow dye error

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:29:52 -0800

I dyed my eyebrows--can you help me fix this mistake? I had done this for years will no ill effects--I can still see, never got any dye in my eye, etc. I haven't for awhile. I decided to to my hair again to cover the gray, and once that was done and my graying eyebrows stood out, I did them too.

And I ended up with what everyone warned me about but never happened before--not blindness but big bushy dark caveman eyebrows.

I'd rather not visit a pro. Is there any DIY solution to this? My hair is dark brown and my eyebrows are now very dark brown and seemingly twice their size.

It looks like either a king-sized beverage spill or small pools of dried blood, and neither are upholstery colors.

fujiko — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:24:34 -0800

The rear seat belts on a 1997 Honda Accord bleed onto the upholstery. Is there any way to stop this? I have a 1997 Honda Accord that I use to transport animals sometimes. The upholstery has to be cleaned every couple of months, but I just now figured out that the rear seat belts bleed a chestnut brown dye anytime they get moist (dog drool) or wet (upholstery cleaner). Unfortunately, the upholstery itself is a pale beige color and so it often looks like someone has spilled a king sized, dark-colored beverage in my car. Right now, I have the seat belts covered by plastic umbrella bags so that the upholstery can dry.

Is there any way to seal the dye into the seatbelt? Scotch Guard? Other fabric protectors? Any ideas?

What's a nice to way to demand, "Please fix my hair so I don't look like I work at Hot Topic."

Viola — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 11:54:01 -0800

I just spent way too much money at the salon for highlights, and after a few days I realized that I am not happy with the outcome. Is there any standard recourse or should I just fix this myself? I came into my favorite salon last week to get a color correction where I initially decided to go from dark brown to medium red. The colorist advised me against a damaging correction and suggested red highlights. I was REALLY specific about not wanting anything fake-looking. The initial process worked well for everything but a few highlights, which didn't absorb the red dye. He asked that I give my hair some time to relax and he'd put apply more color in a few days, at no extra charge.

I came back after a week and the colorist put more color all over my hair and left it on for 15 minutes. When we dried my hair, I noticed it was darker than I wanted, but I didn't want to make a fuss over what seemed like a minor concern that a couple shampoos would take care of. Now that I'm home, I realize that the bright salon lights played tricks on my eyes--my hair is a lot darker than I wanted; the red is exactly the color I told the colorist to avoid. I'm not pleased at all.

The problem is, I put on a big smile for the colorist and said I was really happy with the outcome. He's a great guy, sometimes I just swing by the salon to say hi to him and the rest of the employees because they're all so great, and he was so pleased when I said I liked the color. I can't stand the idea of trotting back to the salon and whining about my hair if I'm SOL anyways.

So, how typical is it for a customer to come back after a few days and complain about a cut/color that they initially greenlit? Did I just forgo my rights to get this taken care of affordably and in good will because I walked out of the salon when I should have had the cajones to say something? Is there a home remedy I can use that tones down burgundy overtones?

How to get back to my natural color without losing hair

fructose — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 19:24:49 -0800

HairFilter: How do I get back closer to my natural light brown after going from bleach to red to dark without my hair falling out? About a month ago, in a moment of stupidity, I used a hair bleaching kit from a natural foods store on my then undyed light/medium brown hair that had natural highlights. It turned our horribly uneven.
I immediately went and used a color remover to try to tone down the yellow, but it didn't do anything.
The next day I used Garnier 100% Color (permanent) dye in "Mahogany Red Brown." Well, with my yellow/white hair, I got Strawberry Shortcake red.
I already had a box of Natural Instincts (semi-permanent) that I'd bought a while before but not used yet. It was a dark brown shade, so I used that about 3 days after doing the red. Now I have dark reddish purply brown that looks almost goth/emo teen with my short pixie 'do. I was hoping it would fade more back to the red over time since it's semi-permanent, but I guess with my hair being processed, it's here to stay.

I know that the best options are to go to a professional or let it grow out, but I can in no way afford what a pro would charge, and as it grows out with my light roots, it looks like I'm going bald at my part.

Any expert DIY dyers (or professionals) who have any tips on how to get back to light brown without my hair falling out? I have fine hair, and it has felt more brittle since my dyed adventures.

Should I use a color remover kit again to try to get it back to the blonde, or at least to red before trying to dye it again. Or should I find a dye that is meant to lighten dark hair? I've had little luck finding light/med brown dye shades that are meant for people with dark hair. They all seem to be for people with light hair going darker.

This is the 2nd time I've ever used permanent dye on my hair (the first time being at the age of 14), so I'm totally clueless on how this stuff works, as evidenced by my current shade.

Please help me clean the bathtub before my relatives find out and kill me.

naoko — Fri, 23 May 2008 16:32:22 -0800

How to remove dye (paper, not hair) from a bathtub? Ok, here's the incredibly stupid thing that I did:
1. I was sitting on the edge of a bathtub painting my toenails...and dropped the bottle and spilled polish all over the tub.
2. I tried to clean it up with nail polish remover...using some flower-print paper napkins (they were just the first thing I saw in the bathroom), and got the red dye from the flower print all over the tub (the nail polish came up, though).
2.5 I also dropped a ceramic tray and badly chipped it during this process, but I can't be bothered to care about that right now.
3. I tried cleaning up the dye with Clorox spray, which did not work AT ALL. Gaaaaah.

I am at the home of relatives who will hate me forever if they find out I ruined their fancy tub. Please help.

Dying cotton clothes without shrinking them?

flyingcowofdoom — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:28:37 -0800

Is it possible to dye white shirts and dark blue shirts (both 100% cotton with a shelf bra that is 95% cotton/5% spandex) black without shrinking them? I have some shirts that are white and some that are dark blue that I would like to dye black. All of the shirts are 100% cotton with shelf bras that are 95% cotton / 5% spandex. I have read about using fiber-reactive dyes that are supposedly "cold water dyes" but they still require very warm water. How warm can the water be before it starts to shrink the clothes? Are there any dyes that work in actual cold water? Any shared experiences would be helpful! TIA!

What is a good brand (and shade) of hair dye?

Addlepated — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 15:44:29 -0800

What is a good brand (and shade) of hair dye? I'm looking for something that is a nice auburn shade and will NOT get that unnatural-looking pinky purple undertone that shows up in direct sunlight. Semi-permanent or permanent is fine. I've had bad luck with a couple of different colors where they looked perfect on the box, but once on my hair they looked I I'd soaked in a vat of red wine or something.

I have medium-dark ash brown hair naturally with about 15-20% grey. I definitely do not want to look like my color came from a bottle.

Help Me Look More Like Ronald McDonald!

Gianna — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:59:04 -0800

My theoretically bright red hair dye has turned my hair the color of Barbie's dream pony. Looking for help to get the color I actually wanted and stop looking like I stole Britney's favorite wig. I just dyed my naturally medium brown hair Manic Panic Pillarbox Red after bleaching with Manic Panic Flash Lightning. Prior to this, my hair was "virgin". Followed the instructions, left it on long enough, etc.

It is not red, but screamingly pink, like this. I hate anything pink, so this perturbs.

What I would like is a deep, true red. I want firetrucks and stop signs and tomatoes.

I was wondering if anyone had experience in what color/product I should use over the pink to get there. An orange, maybe? "Pillarbox Red" seems to be the least pink red that Manic Panic offers, so just using some more of it doesn't seem like it would help.

Since that is the least-pink red they offer, would I maybe be better off going for the most fire-enginey of the "natural" red colors that are available in store brands?

Thanks for any help you can offer...

Yes, I'm taking the plunge

fvox13 — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 09:58:28 -0800

I'll be building a computer in a few months, and I have a few questions about aesthetics, case mods, and power supplies. 1.) Is it possible to find a motherboard with a floppy controller (especially a 5.25 floppy controller)? If not, is there a PCI card or USB adapter that would add this functionality?

2.) What cool stuff, other than this should I add to the front of my case? Do they have analog meters / gauges anywhere, for example? Or devices that aren't generally found in computers, like, say, an EZ-Bake Oven?

3.) Is there a way to elegantly dye things black so that they match? I know you can get optical drives that are already black, but if I realize my dream of having a 5.25 floppy in this ultra-modern gaming rig, I'll want to dye it black, since none of the early-90's drives were black.

4.) How do I decide how big my power supply needs to be? I'm going to have a dual-core intel processor, 2 or 3 NVIDIA 8800 GTXs in SLI configuration, 8GB of ram, 2 Hard Drives, a couple of cold-cathode lights, a couple of extra fans... you get the idea. Do I really need a whole kilowatt of power? Or will 750w cover me?

Come with me to the Casbah, Cherie

fish tick — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 20:05:45 -0800

Nontoxic, non burning fur lightener for cats? Is there way to painlessly, stinklessly give Ms. Black Kitty a light skunklike stripe for her own protection? She lurks in dark, high traffic areas on dark carpet and consequently gets tripped over occasionally at night. And please don't get all PETA on me - I am asking only if there are ways to do this that will not annoy the cat. Collars are not an option, and please don't tell me to keep all the lights on all night, and yes I have read this thread. Thanks!

The horror

sarelicar — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 09:39:46 -0800

Hair dye-filter, need to fix this mid-90's burgundy disaster I created on my head last night by 4 pm and I can't afford a pro at the moment. The dye I used was Natural Instincts. I expected a bit of red but the result is way beyond that expectation and really dark as well. My natural color is medium brown with a tiny bit of red.

What can I buy in a box that will tone this down a bit? Is there some brand that is less likely to say, fry my hair? I should add that my hair is on the mild side of damaged but not pristine.

The darkness I can handle but the red is hideous. I'm assuming I need to go with a permanent dye to have any success with the red-reduction. Somebody...anybody...?

Natural/Alternative solutions to cover unwanted bleached hair?

zippity — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 00:15:58 -0800

Peroxide Mishap - Is it possible to get my bleached hair back to its natural color without resorting to boxed hair dye? Using hydrogen peroxide as a facial toner for a couple weeks has caused my naturally black hair to turn brown and orange.

The peroxide only got so far as to bleach my eyebrows and a good portion of the baby hairs at my hairline.

Now my hair is a freakishly similar color/tone to my complexion and it makes me look completely washed out and lifeless. It actually looks like I have makeup foundation smeared in my hair.

I'm apprehensive to using hair dye to cover it because of the bad black-hair-dye-jobs I've witnessed in my life, plus I hardly have the patience to maintain the coloring. And frankly, I just don't want to use dye for such a small amount of hair. (plus I'd have to do my whole head otherwise it wouldn't match and then I'd have to constantly re-color because the roots would look gross, etc..)

I feel like I'm going to have to bite the bullet and begin the horrible cycle of dying my hair, HOWEVER, I was hoping someone out there might have advice or a work around for my problem.

Options I've considered:

Just shaving that bit of hair off (my hairline is freakishly high as it is, so this has the potential to look SUPERWEIRD)
Coloring it with a Sharpie (shrug)

That's all I got!

Is there some sort of home treatment where I can soak my hair in a natural solution of food products to restore the color, or a hair-gel that could mask the color until it grows out, or solutions of a similar vein? Should I just wait this horrible patch of bleached hair out?

If there are no alternatives (o plz say it ain't so), any advice on a black hair dye that won't destroy my hair?

I love my hair, but we can't seem to get along.

Medieval Maven — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 07:41:09 -0800

My hair and I, we are having a disagreement. I want to wash it at night, and it wants to look like crap the next day. So I did some color - magenta, actually, and of course that means washing at the roots with cold water. I want to do this at night, becuase doing a cold water wash in the morning is No Fun. What I'm running into is that my hair, which is waist length at its longest point, and is monofilament fine, is going oily on me. I'm used to that at the END of the day, or really over a day and a half, but not after ~8 hours. Cornstarch or powder, as previously discussed for these issues, isn't really an option because it will deaden the pink and also look a bit powdered wig-esque against the color (tried it). I'm considering sleeping in foam rollers, as my hair does not hold curl without Extraordinary Measures - I think that would keep it from dying next to my scalp.

Other suggestions? Experiences? Also of note - my hair rats up at a moment's notice. When I was washing it normally in the morning, I'd use Bed Head After Party, or Rockstar+Headrush. A small amount of After Party is OK but not great in this scenario (I mean 1/4 of what I'd use normally) and Rockstar+Headrush is a disaster.

"Machine that spits out the shape I want."

scottMontgomery — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 07:25:08 -0800

Trying to find a company that makes a machine that can make food moulds in the shape of an animal. Anyone? I've heard that there is a German company that makes these machines only I didn't get the name and now I can't seem to find this company anywhere on the internet.

Covering my grey in a healthy way

greta simone — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 16:44:20 -0800

The most natural way to cover my grey? So, it's time to start dyeing my hair. I have naturally very dark hair (of the caucasian variety, in case this matters), but the grey's are starting to take over like weeds. I've never dyed my hair before because I've always loved the color and didn't want to ruin the texture. Because of this, I want to figure out the most natural way to cover grey that will do the least bit of damage, in both the short- and the long-term. I will be going to a salon most likely, because I'm lazy.

I want to look for a salon that carries the most natural products and uses the most natural process. Thing is, when I call to research a salon, I don't know what to ask for. Henna? Aveda products? Some other organic brand? Semi- or demi- or permanent? Let me know everything I should know to cover my grey but to keep my hair healthy--
Thanks!

Help me with my hair color.

mintchip — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 21:45:19 -0800

Help me with my hair color. My natural color is a flat, cool brown. I use L'Oreal Feria Brazilian brown (bronzed brown) and have been quite pleased with the results. However, I do notice that over time the ends of my hair look much lighter than the newer hair growth--even after the newer growth has been colored. The ends take on a brighter "bronzed" color than the rest of the hair, which is a subtler bronzed color. It doesn't look entirely unnatural, but I would prefer to have my hair a more consistent color from root to tip.

Hence my question--are the ends lighter because they have *faded* or are they lighter because they are porous and grab onto more color? (I have heard stylists say that because the ends are more porous the color can become "muddy"). In other words, how can I correct this? Is the solution to re-dye the ends or to leave the ends alone and just refresh the newer growth?

Also, is Feria a semipermanent color or a permanent color? How damaging is it likely to be?

Lastly, are there any rules I should follow when coloring? My hairdresser said to only apply it to the new growth, but I always feel that the rest of my hair is fading and could benefit from a color boost...however, I don't want to damage my hair by repeatedly dying it.

How to get my hair back to normal?

liberalintellect — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 12:15:19 -0800

What is the best way to get rid of highlights? I have honey-colored highlights in my dark brown hair. I am sick of the maintenance (time-wise AND money-wise). I have heard bad things from people who have tried to get rid of them by dyeing their whole head back to its original color (i.e., as soon as their hair gets anywhere near the sun the highlights reappear). Any thoughts?

Bleach doesn't always work?!

rossmik — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 18:49:10 -0800

I sat in bleach. Why didn't it turn my chair white? It turned my jeans white with no problem. It dampened the seat in my wife's truck but didn't change the color. Why not?

The bleach: regular sodium hypochlorite laundry bleach
The jeans: blue cotton denim
The upholstery: course weave, blue and grey, something like polyester.

Guess 1: The dyes or pigments in the truck could be inorganic chemicals that aren't affected by bleach (like cobalt blue instead of indigo).

Guess 2: When you dye cotton, it sticks to dye sites on the outside of the fiber, but when you make polyester you can mix the dye in, all the way through the fiber, where bleach can't get to it.

Guess 3: I know nothing about dying or bleaching fabrics, so it could be something else entirely, and the hivemind here could have a completely brilliant alternative explanation.

I don't know how many dye chemists we have here, but thanks in advance for your answers!