HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME and I DYED my HAIR RED RED..HOW DID I DO IT?

So today is my birthday..yipee! I hope it will be the start of some good in my life. I am now 27 and I need to start making some changes in my life. My first change is finally getting my hair red!!

When I first dyed the bottom half of my hair red (see post here), I bleached my dyed black hair twice for 40 min and it only lifted it a little bit, so the red was a nice deep dark red, which I actually really liked, but would have like it just a tad brighter.

See the deep dark red? Nice huh?

The shade is MANIC PANIC VAMPIRE RED and it is a semi-permanent. So after about a month and half of the dye in my hair, it was starting to wash out and you can barely see the red anymore. That's when I decided it was time for a touch up. Instead of bleaching my hair this time, I thought I would try something different. I used Loreal Effasol Color Remover from Sally's.

I decided to try it because of what it claims to do:

• Leaves hair beautifully conditioned and ready for recoloring
• Removes color build-up and muddy-looking tints
• Does not restore hair to natural color, it removes the tint
• Leaves hair in lightened state
• Can be used with water or developer

L'Oreal Effasol Color remover creates a gentle foaming bath that washes away permanent hair color. Can be used with water or developer.

The description made it sound perfect for lifting the old, faded red, restoring my hair and making it ready for the new dye.

I took the color remover and mixed 1 oz of the powder with 1 oz of 20 volume clear developer (you can use water also, but I wanted to use developer since my hair is dyed black and now red, so I really wanted a good lift) in a mixing bowl.

Then with no fancy technique at all (just wearing gloves), I slapped the mixture into the bottom half of my hair and made sure I coated every strand with the color remover mixture. I let it sit in my hair for a 30 min, washed it out, dried it and this is how it came out:

TA DA!!

It is far from perfect, but it is pretty darn light, considering how dark red it was before!! That worked soooooooo much better than the bleach, it was WAY easier, and it didn't smell or make my head itch! :D

This Loreal Effasol Color Remover is a keeper in my book. I will be buying more for sure!

Now, it was time to put in the MANIC PANIC vampire red. I could not wait to see the results! Again, I just took the dye straight from the jar (with gloves on) and just slapped it into my hair, making sure I coated every strand with the red dye. I let that dye sit in my hair for about 30 mins, washed it out and..

VOILA!!

DARK BRIGHT RED HAIR!! luv it!! hehehe I was proud of myself..I never thought I could achieve this look because I have such dark hair. I always thought a hair stylist would have to do it, but I did it myself and I sooo luv it!!

After I dyed my hair, I went out with a few friends and we had a good time just hanging out :) 

Are you loving this red? Have you ever tried the color remover? Let me know what you think of how I did it and please share any tips you might have about hair dye. Thanks for reading ladies and have a great day!!