Question for sophie or lilibeach

Hey sorry bother u, but i really need some quick advice from a pro! I was wondering if u had any experience w/ the loreal excellence hicolor line. Since i have naturally black hair i bought this brand in "red fire" from sally's along w/ the oreor 30 vol. creme developer. Normally my hair is pretty easy to lighten, however i have performed approx. 4 strand tests so far and they all have been unsuccessful, and i have heard rave reviews from other brunettes abt this brand. I mixed one part of the color, a drop of intensifier, and 1.5 parts of developer then left the strand in the mixture, 30 mins later i washed it out and dried it & it was still dark but with reddish tints. So here's the question, am i not getting the (strand-test) proportions correct for the color to "lift" my hair and deposite the red? (In the hicolor box to color the whole head, it says to squeeze the entire tube into the coloring bottle along w/ 2.5 fl. oz. of 30 vol. developer) so what would the equivalent proportions be for a strand test? I am certain that i'm doing something wrong becuz this seems like a really good product! Anyways sorry this query is soo long, but any help would be much appreciated!

i''m bummed that you didn''t get an answer- i''m online researching the exact same question. i dye my hair black (last dye 3 weeks ago). i used the HiColor Magenta before (for highlights), and it worked. But i just got done with the Red, and it didn''t. it did dye the bit of roots that i have (dark brown), but didn''t do jack to the black. so i have some red polka dot things going on... but it looks like i now have to go in an black my roots, then go back and do this the old fashion way... bleach then dye. OI.