I get asked a lot about my red hair from women who are thinking about taking the fiery plunge. I love having red hair. Dying my locks two years ago was one of the best hair decisions I’ve ever made. However, this wasn’t the first time I had red hair. I was actually born a ginger:
The Southern California sunshine bleached my strawberry hair into pure blonde, much to my red-headed grandmother’s chagrin:
Since then, I’ve highlighted, lowlighted, and dyed my hair lots of different colors, but I think red suits my coloring the best.
So you want to have red hair, too?! YAY. Before you join Club Red, this is what I think you should know:
~Red hair is not for the lazy.
And by lazy, I mean hair-lazy. Red hair fades fast – faster than any color my hair has ever been. It also doesn’t grow out well. There’s a reason why you don’t see many ombre gingers. This means you have to dye your hair frequently if you don’t like the roots look. I highly suggest getting your hair professionally dyed the first time you go red, and then asking the colorist if s/he can suggest at-home treatments that you can use yourself if you can’t go back every few months for touch ups (s/he will probably caution you against this, for lots of really good reasons, but it’s always worth asking). But, if you know you can’t or won’t be able to color your hair very often, ask for a very subtle shade of red that is close to your natural color to help your roots blend.
~Extend your color’s life.
The best way to make your red color last is to wash it as little as possible. Obviously this is going to depend a lot on your hair’s texture and your habits. When I am allowed to exercise, I have to wash my hair after every trip to the gym. When I’m pregnant, my hair is awesome and really only needs to be washed every three days. But normally speaking, I try to wash my hair every other day. When I do wash it, I use a shampoo that is made for color-treated red hair. I’ve tried bunches of them (I’m a product junkie), and I’ve found that the ones that seem to make my color last the longest are sulfate-free. Sometimes sulfate-free shampoos and conditioners can be pricey, but I’m currently using a red-head formula by John Frieda that’s only $6.50. I know L’Oreal has a couple that are even less. When you wash, be sure to only put shampoo on your roots, and only put conditioner on your ends. Also, dry shampoos are great to help between washings.
~Cheat!
If you don’t want to rock the roots, there are ways to cover them up. Spray-powders do a good job of covering roots (Bumble and bumble makes a good, albeit pricey, product). You can try a root concealer as well, or a touch up color pen (Rita Hazan and Oscar Blandi make the former and the latter). Or, you can use my method of a scarf or headband to cover roots! It’s foolproof!
But really, if you want red hair, I say do it! It’s hair – if you don’t like the result, you can always dye it back!
Annie says:
Red hair looks great on you! Can I ask a dumb question? I’m always a little confused when people say they only wash their hair every other day or go 2 or 3 days in-between washes. Does that mean when you shower you keep your hair dry (or skip showers)? Or do you rinse it with water but just skip the shampoo?
Heather says:
I keep my hair dry! I put on a shower cap when I’m skipping the shampoo.
Kate says:
I started using henna on my hair instead of dyes several years ago–I get rich, vibrant red that doesn’t fade, even with daily shampooing. Lush makes some awesome stuff that’s super moisturizing and pretty easy to use!
Heather says:
Oh awesome! I will definitely check these out. At Lush, right?
Kate says:
Yep! They come in solid bar form, so I grate mine (with a cheese grater) when I buy it, then store it in a ziploc. I’ve found the easiest way to apply/make sure I’m completely covered is to use a paintbrush and work in layers.
I started out using the Rouge, but now mix Rouge and Marron for a bit darker red. Best part? Any grays/natural highlights aren’t just covered up–they still look like highlights, so you end up with awesome dimension without any extra expense/effort.
GreenInOC says:
I use Surya Brasil premixed henna. I put Chocolate on my roots (covers up the grays beautifully) and then the length of my hair. Then I use Mahogany all over for beautiful highlights.
I do this on clean but not quite dry hair. I don’t follow the directions anymore – I let it sit for hours! Then I don’t shampoo it but just rinse it (I can never get it so the water runs clear). Dry and style.
I don’t shampoo my hair again until the next wash.
Christine says:
You should be warned though that switching from Henna hair dye back to normal hair dye can be a disaster. My mom initially died her hair with normal brown hair dye, then tried henna from Lush, and then went back to normal hair dye. The henna hair dyed parts turned BLACK. And it isn’t going away. We have tried going to a salon to see if they can fix it but nothing has worked…so she is growing out the black hair! Just a warning!
GreenInOC says:
@Christine, that’s interesting!
I’ve gone back and forth without issue.
I wonder if it’s because there wasn’t any henna left in my hair when I went back to conventional?
Christine says:
Probably! She dyed it with the normal hair dye a few weeks after the henna, so there was probably some sort of chemical reaction between the two that caused her hair to turn black It looked super strange for a long time but it is almost grown out completely now.
karen says:
I went red about a year and 1/2 ago. I LOVE it!! I was a (fake) blonde and wanted to go red for a while. I was thinking a pretty coppery color but instead my colorist went with a darker auburn. I get tons of compliments on it. It does fade fast but I have to color every 3-4 weeks because of my roots anyway so it’s not a problem.
You look great as a redhead!!
Jen says:
I was also born a ginger. As a toddler I became a brunette, but decided to go back to my roots (pun kind of intended).
I actually brought a baby picture to my stylist to match my original color, and it looks more natural than my real color.
My advice for dyed redheads is pretty much what you say (I only wash my hair every 3rd day). I highly recommend using L’Oreal Ever Pure or another sulfate-free shampoo. It helps keep my hair looking fresh.
And for a cheap dry shampoo, you can use cornstarch. But I add cinnamon to it to match my hair color more (thanks Pinterest).
Heather says:
Oh my gosh – I’ve seen that pin! So it really works?
Jen says:
It does! I was thinking of doing a blog post this month on homemade beauty products (since I’m unemployed for the month and have time to test things). Maybe we can partner up to do that post!
Cheryl says:
I can tell you as a ginger, that even natural red wears out sooner than any other color. I’ve been told it’s why you rarely see a “natural” red head past the age of 40 or so. I started having noticeable greying when I was just past 30. And when I started coloring it, it was a challenge because I only wanted to match my color and cover the grey, not change it.
Ashleigh says:
I’ve been red for 5 years and love it. My hair handles it well, plus I only wash my hair 2x a week which is awesome.
I also married a ginger and have two strawberry blonde kids, so I might be edging towards obsession.
Becky says:
Nothing to say about being a redhead but I do need to say that my mother had (has!) that very same table featured in the first picture. As soon as I saw it I was like WHOA that looks familiar!!!
Meg says:
I also started out naturally red and came back to it artificially in adulthood (my hair gradually darkened to various shades of brown). I’ve kept it red almost all of the time for the past eight years — when I let it go back to dark brown, people ask me if I have pneumonia. I’M NOT KIDDING, I am really that pale. Some of my cousins can pull off the black Irish look, I can’t. It’s definitely not for the lazy, because my hair grows extraordinarily quickly, but it’s worth it for me.
Shelly says:
I was born a redhead, which went to blonde to brownish red and now I am back to red. I do dye it due to the gray, which makes some really cool highlights when dyed. It does take a lot of work, but I love my hair!
Megan says:
Thanks for sharing! I’ve always wanted red hair (and every other color and texture except my natural, which is straight medium-to-dark blonde) but after reading this I think I’ll pass. I dyed my blonde hair auburn in college and really liked it, though it didn’t look natural at all…actually, maybe I just liked it because my mom hated it Anyway, it very quickly faded to a darker/reddish blonde, and it took absolutely ages to grow out and was a pain until then. No more hair dying for me.
Glenda says:
I love your red hair. It looks so natural. I too use a shower cap on the days I’m not washing and I use Enjoy sulfate free shampoo and conditioner (pricey) and Bumble & Bumble to stretch the shampoo.
I have naturally thick curly hair and it’s a pain to wash, blow dry and flat iron too often, besides I don’t suffer from oily hair so I can go longer especially in the winter months; not so much in the summer.
Amber says:
I’ve been dying my hair red since I was 15 (I’m 30 now). Everybody including me agrees that it LOOKS like my natural hair color. I dye it myself now because I don’t make very much money, and typically do it once every 6-8 weeks. I am currently combatting the fading problem by doing this: for the first two weeks, I only shampoo my hair once a week. I get it wet and condition it with the conditioner that comes with the hair dye every couple of days, because my hair is LONG (I also cannot afford to get my hair cut, so it’s been about 1.5 years). I find that this lets me get away with 2+ weeks of real vibrant color, then eventually I break down & end up having faded hair for a while. In some ways this is good, though — I get a LOT of compliments on my faded hair (what?) and also, that is the time I can go swimming in chlorinated pools without it stripping the color.
Tracey says:
It’s interesting reading all the comments from you gals who go red. I’m a natural redhead (auburn) and HATED my hair color growing up. I didn’t really embrace it until my early 30’s when everyone started going red. I can’t tell you how many people asked me what color I used on my hair. Um, nothing?! Now in my early 50’s, I still have my same color – some gray here and there which I dye – but I’ve accepted it. I inherited my red hair from my great grandmothers on both sides, and am the only redhead (aside from one niece) in my very large family….
My hair is also very thick and naturally wavy – I have to admit I’m a little vain about it…
Jayme says:
I also color my naturally light brown/dark blonde hair red, and I loooooooove it. I’ve run the hair color gamut, from platinum blonde to bluest black, and red is the only one I’ve wanted to keep long term. I use Redken Color Extend products, and they’ve really helped hold the color longer. But my absolute favorite, favorite, FAVORITE red hair product discovery is Tressa Watercolor Shampoo. It’s a color depositing shampoo that you can use daily or every few days (which is what I do) for a color boost. I use Liquid Copper, and it works so, so well to enhance my color and tide me over until my next salon appointment. So recommended!
wendy says:
another born ginger, but now a brunette here. i have juuuust enough red/auburn mixed in with my brown to get away with spreading out the trips to the colorist to 4 months. I got for a brassy auburn, which only really screams “red head” when i’m in the sun (not often here in dreary western washington).
i’m loving everyone’s tips for shampoos. i’ve been using Pantene’s Prov-V Red Expressions for years, but i recently noticed it does have sulfates. time to change!
Sarah says:
Like many, I was born a redhead, but my color has gotten darker and darker over the years. Now, people don’t even think u was a redhead. I HATED my hair color growing up, even though I got all the usual compliments that comes with being a ginger. Now, in my late 30s and years if highlighting my hair, I really want to get back to my red hair, but wasn’t really sure how to do it or if it could be done and not loom totally fake. You have all inspired me and I know it can be done. This ginger is going back to ginger! Thanks everyone!!!
Kristen says:
I use Superdrug Rich Red temporary shampoo-in colour to cover my roots when I don’t have time to henna, I just apply to roots at the beginning of a shower and by the time I’ve washed, I rinse it out and voila!- the roots are covered and I can give it another few washes until the roots need done.
Heather says:
That is awesome! Thanks for the tip!