Dying dreads...

I know a lot of the ladies here dye their dreads quite frequently....
I'm feelin' I need to revamp my red. I don't think I've ever used that word before...

Anyway, I googled for some tips, but they were all meh.. (all of them talked about using wax after...I figure I should just ask you all here...)

Well, I had a dream last night that that I had bleached my hair and dye it blue. It was awesome. But I'm not one for craaazzzyy hair colors...
I was just viewing the inspiration thread, and well, I am inspired to dye my hair red. Some of the red dreads were gorgeous.

Use regular dye? Special technique? Anything I should know about dying dreads,
or is it just like dying regular hair?

Mine are about 2 months, so they are still loosey goosey and flowing, should have no problem being dyed....just want to make sure.


I would have asked this in 'what are you/ have you been doing today'

But I can't post there due to that whole two account thing.
So thread for me.

 

same as normal hair, just takes ALOT of dye to soak it all in, and alot of rinsing...ALOT

 

So I used to touch up my friends mom's color. She had bright green dreads.

We would bleach (Normal dye, normal process, just work it into the dread as much as possible) her naturally dark roots, wash and rinse, and then run the deposit-only color through all of her hair which we would leave in for a couple hours. Wrap the color in saran wrap as the heat from your head helps the process to color, then rinse with a white vinegar-water mix, this helps the color last, and seals the cuticle a bit. I wouldnt recommend bleaching the developed dreads, as it can cause weak spots and breakage.

 

The dying of red hair is sacrilegious and will incur my wrath.

 

just make sure you get all around the individual dreads, it takes a little longer to make sure you get everywhere and also washing out takes ages.

 

actually, you don't soak it at all... don't listen to that Sarah Kangaroo.

You just need to cover the outside of the dread... basically you want to paint the color on the outside. And yes, just normal hair color. Other than that, just follow all the directions on the package. Make sure you rinse well and you're good.

 

I would possibly like to avoid that wrath...
Unless it is you bunny-filled, as I imagine your wrath would be.
If that is the case, it would be the cutest wrath ever.

Unless it is all Monty Python-ish with that damned killer bunny. Just like a typical under-dog story, the cute little bunny ate everyone's heads off.

 

this is pretty much it

 

no, what he means is that very dense dreads will soak up the color/bleach like a sponge. twice as much hair = twice as much dye.

but sarah, your dreads are very young, so you shouldn't worry about much except that it might make them unknot because of the conditioners in the dye. all you really need to do though is follow the steps on the box minus the combing through at the end and the using the deep conditioner when you wash parts

 

Make sure to get enough dye. Pre-dreads I could use one bottle on my hair that was to middle of my back. Now it takes at least two bottles.

I wouldn't soak your hair because it may not all come out then but make sure you do cover every centimeter of your hair. I had a brownish red color before I backcombed and after wards I bleached my hair then tried to get it back to blonde and I guess when I bleached it didn't penetrate enough and now I have a couple darker colored loopies.

Can't wait to see pictures!!

 

MAN! Had you not told me this,

My dreadlets would surely cease to exist!

 

oh yeah.... forgot the "don't use the conditioner" part, but I trust you're smart enough to figure that part out yourself. At least I'd hope so.

 

oh, and I thought your dreads were actually dying when I came into this thread btw. I was sad.

 

:smilielol5::smilielol5::smilielol5:
No, :smilielol5: I tried to use the search function to see if such a thread existed, and all these sad threads came up about death. I was like 'This isn't what I want at all!'
And I thought that it was a bad omen. The internet was warning me.....



*man, those smilies are fucking creepy.

 

that's because its dyeing...

 

lol sometimes I enjoy stating the painfully obvious.

but then again I think the process of dying dreads is painfully obvious

*pats Sarah on head*

 

I've never had to dye my locks coz luckily the Lord blessed me with naturally pink hair...

I heard that more vegetable-based dyes which aren't full of metal salts etc aren't so potentially harmful if you don't rinse them out very thoroughly. I use Special Effects dye, definitely don't rinse it properly, and it's all going well.

What else was I gonna say....oh yeh...for several months I had to use fuckloads of dye coz the dreads would just soak it up so fast. Now I don't seem to need so much, so...er yeh, that's all really hehe

 

I gave on painting...

too much work, too lazy

 

yeah, dyes like special effects don't contain peroxide or ammonia, hence being semi/demi-permanent. (the difference with demi-permanent is that the molecules of color are actually small enough to penetrate the hair, so it lasts longer.) Even on undreaded hair, you can leave these types of dyes on your head for as long as you want and they won't do any damage to your hair. So not rinsing it out all of the way won't really hurt anything with those.

I do hope you get the bleach rinsed well though... different story there.

 

some lass who i used to "know" who was a hairdresser said they do this shit called magma lights or some shit thats a powder and bonds with the hair and is intended for dying dark hair bright colours without bleaching, but last time i checked it was expensive and probably difficult to use.