I am a licensed esthetician and not by any means a hair stylist! My last roommate, who was my best friend for a very long time, is a hair stylist, and when she did my hair, she clued me in as to what products we were using and how much of what. I also kind of gave my suggestions of things I wanted to try and what mixes to do. When I became licensed, I was then able to go pick up my own dye and have her do it for me whenever. It made it a lot cheaper and easier for me to grasp what to do for myself when I ended up moving out and cutting that relationship off. I won't give away exactly what I used, but I used Redken on my roots and Pravana Color Vivids through the ends. This gave a very subtle ombre that always looked fresh and got me plenty of compliments! I've used this method for years now, and I probably will continue to use it for the most part. I've gotten tips on refreshing from the Pravana stylists online, and although I miss someone else doing my hair, I can't afford to have someone else do it every 2-3 weeks.
On Instagram, I was scrolling through and saw a comment on one of the gorgeous ladies I follow referring to this dye used by Kristen Leanne.
Arctic Fox Hair Color is a vegan, cruelty free brand that donates a certain amount from your purchase to an organization fighting animal cruelty. After seeing this one comment, I kept seeing this brand pop up everywhere and hearing great things. So, I ended up following them on Instagram, checking out their website, and I felt like this would be a great product to try out. I'm pretty used to only using high end professional products from beauty supplies where only licensed professionals can shop to be completely honest, so I was a little nervous about this. I bought the small bottle (4.0oz) of their red color called Poison, so I could at least try it out. Turns out, Hot Topic is now selling them. Had no idea! So, anyways, I dyed my hair today. I used about half the bottle I purchased, which is about the same amount I use with the other dye to complete my head. Typically, you would want to pre-lighten your hair, but I just wanted to see it put on top of what was already there first. Like I said before, I have a routine with my hair, and it isn't quite time to use lightener before dying yet. I will be lightening my hair the next time I dye it, and that is when I plan on using the remaining product from the bottle of color on top of it. Now, for this dye, it says to shampoo your hair first, and then apply to damp hair. I believe this is the same with Pravana, but I have never done this on wet hair before. I have always had my hair dry when dying. Trying this whole new world out! As for the coloring process, it was the same as any other time. I poured a little less than half the bottle into my mixing bowl, and I used a hair dye brush on my hair in sections. I ended up leaving the dye in my hair for about an hour. There is conditioning in it, so I figured why not. Usually, I would only leave it for a half hour or so. I ended up just throwing my hair into a bun for the evening as I don't like to use too many heated tools on it, and I will wait for my hair to dry overnight. From what I can tell so far, the dye comes off your skin and counters super easy. I've become pretty well with not leaving too much a mess when dying my hair lately, but I also have a Color Stain Remover that works pretty well, I suppose. The color looks refreshed and vibrant again, not too different from the color it was before. Without lightening, it really is only meant to work as a tint anyways though.
After drying and curling my hair, it looks like it took pretty well to the color. It is super bright and gorgeous red again. I will have to wait some time to see how it holds up as far as washing and all that goes. I typically only wash my hair 1 or 2 times a week because I don't need to do so more than that really and also because I don't need my color washing out even quicker. My only complaint about this dye is that it has rubbed off on my hands all day as I touched or moved my hair. It happens with the other dyes as well, only on the first day after. I will give it some time and update on how well the color stays, and I will also have to review how it goes when I lighten my hair as well. All in all so far, I like it!
