Dying Hair?

Question

Soooo, I've never dyed my hair before and I've been longing to dye it red. Not like a bright red, more like a darker red. My hair might as well be black (it's a really, really, REALLY dark brown -- you can only tell if the light is beaming directly on it). So I wanted to know if I had to bleach it (I'm sure I will), what kind of stuff I buy for that.
I'd rather not bleach it, but I don't want a "tinted red" hair color. I want red. :) 
Here's pictures of my hair, not really doing justice! It's probably more of a black than anything. I just need something new. :(

Answer

I'm a cosmetologist as well, and my advice is to have it professionally done.  Yes is can be more expensive, but if you try it yourself and end up with orange hair, or fried hair, you will pay so much more in the end to have it fixed.  Believe me, you don't want to deal with hair breaking off because of overprocessing.  There is no coming back from that.  Good luck!

Answer

Hi:) 
I'm a hairdresser and I would advice against you bleaching your hair, your hair looks quite damaged in these photographs at your ends and this would just cause a whole lot more breakage. I would go to a hairdressers and have them put a red into it without bleach and see how you go. Try doing a lot more conditioning treatments in the meantime to get your hair into good shape and also maybe have an inch or two cut off the ends :)

Answer

I would get it professionally done since you want to go from dark to light

Answer

I have such dark brown hair it might as well be black. I have tried coloring my hair without bleaching it but it won't color at all. So I have to bleach it to have any color show. I color my hair on a regular basis. So I would try coloring it without bleaching first and see if your hair doesn't need bleach. But if you have to sometimes you just gotta cave and bleach it. Plus I bleach because I change color often so I strip out the old dye and change colors. But I am not a professional. Here is a picture to see what my hair looks like before I do a touch up today

Answer

I would henna it with red my hair is dark too and it's not so bright but you can see it in the light . I would look into it

Answer

You will have to bleach it...  Sally or any beauty supply store should have what you need for a bleaching treatment(s).

You will then most likely have to dye it a neutral color....with an "ash" tone to cancel out the bleached hair that can come out orange. Most likely an ash brown...

Then, the red can most likely be achieved.