brown-->auburn. Advice on dye? (pics)

Hi everyone,

I've been browsing the forums for the past hour, and I've picked up a lot of advice for what I'm looking for, but nothing directly on point.

I have medium brown hair (naturally dark brown, but it was dyed a long time ago, so yes, there are roots involved). I am looking to go a deep, rich auburn color (or a dark red).

I've done strand tests for the past two days, and have had some vaguely horrifying results. Most of the "auburns" turn my strand test strands an appalling, unnatural, plummy red. I have thus far tried Clairol Herbal Essence Radiant Ruby (came out burgundy), and Natural Instincts in Rosewood (supposedly dark auburn brown but it turned an unnatural red with a purpley sheen and made the strand very brittle). The only one that did NOT do bad things was Clairol Nice n' Easy Light Auburn but the results were so tough to see on the strand that I'm disinclined to use it.

Any advice on a good brand to achieve what I'm looking for? I've heard to steer clear from feria because of the damage it can do to hair.

Here is what I'm aiming for:



or


Any help/advice is much appreciated.

First off, I am so glad you are strand testing instead of just slopping stuff on your head!  It really helps prevent hair disasters.

Have you considered looking into the brands of color you can get at a beauty supply store?  I like the Wella Colorcharm permanent line because there are soooooo many colors to choose from.  If these so far seem to be too red-violet (that's what I'm guessing "plummy" means), then look for a color with a red-orange base.  I love professional lines because they tell you what the base color is.

Here's the link to the color chart:

http://www.sallybeauty.com/shop/swatches/colorcharm/cc_perm. html

The one called light copper might be good.  I'm not sure how light you want to go, however.

Good luck!


Edited by leia1979