I've been thinking about changing my haircolor (again) and want to find the most efficient and least damaging method.  My natural color is medium brown.  My current color is dark brown - I used Wella's demi-permanent color from Sally's.  I want to go bright red. 

Should I colorfix?  I know it gets out color, but I vaguely remember reading somewhere that it only works on permanent dye.  Would it work on demi-perm color?

Would the Loreal Hi-color hot red with 30 vol developer lift a demi-perm color?

If neither would work, I can certainly bleach and tone.  To get a bright red, can I stop processing at the orange color, or do I need to go lighter? 

if your hair is dark brown and you want to go to a bright red a demi permanent hair color will not work! It might leave a redish tint to your dark brown hair but it won't do much else. Semi permanent and Demi permanent hair color do not LIFT the hair color to a lighter color. Only permanent haircolor can provide the necessary lift to go from dark brown to a vibrant red.

Do you currently have any artificial hair color in your hair? If so what is it? Remember you can't put more artificial color over previously colored hair as it will not lift the artificial pigment from the original haircolor so it will only appear darker.

Bleaching your hair to an orange state then toning could work however you hair should be examinded by a professional to determine if you hair can withstand the bleaching safely without breaking off at or near the scalp. If your lifting more than 2 levels of color then you should probably have a little ash in your haircolor mixture as a drabber to control unwanted brassiness that could result from bleaching out and exposing the underlying pigment. If you add some ash don't add too much possibly limit it to 10% of your color mixture. I wouldn't go any higher than that especially if your bleaching the hair. Don't go any lighter than orange or you could end up with pink hair if you accidentially bleach to a dull blonde color. If that does occur you would need to add a filler back into the hair to add that underlying pigment you accidentially just bleached out of your hair back into your hair before adding the haircolor back in.

After to care for your hair get some shampoo for color treated hair and condition it often.

G'luck

Claude,

I have demi-perm color in my hair now.  I know that color won't lift color, but I want to go from my current color, dark brown, to a bright red.  Do you think bleach is the only way, or can I use color fix and then use the Loreal Hi-Color?

My hair is in very good shape, very shiny and silky except for maybe about an inch at the ends which I will end up trimming anyway.

Hicolor only works on virgin hair.I know from experience.I did exactly what your attempting not very long ago.I had used a demi (med brown)And wanted to go bright red.You have been told right.Colorfix is meant for permanent color.What I did is used a color remover that was bleach based.It was also much less bleach power than if you straight up bleached.And yes you can stop it at the orangey stage to get your bright red.And make sure you use a protein filler so the color holds(demi or semi only).

Another option is to use a pro red color(not hicolor)with 30 volume.That could definitely work too.Good luck and post pics after your done.

This is what my hair looked like after stripping out the brown and using a filler.

http://photobucket.com/albums/b33/longhairdreams/?">

And here's what it looked like after I applied the color.I was going for a natural red color.

http://photobucket.com/albums/b33/longhairdreams/?">

HTH And good luck

Thanks longhairdreams!  :-)

I've always had really good luck using  Wella's demi-perm color to tone after bleaching.  I've never had a strange color or uneven color from it, so have never needed to use a filler.

I dyed my hair dark to match my virgin indian hair extensions.  Now, I think I'm gonna try to dye the hair extensions, too, so I'll have long red hair instead of long dark brown hair. 

My hair was the exact same color as yours last year.  I loved it.  I'm going to try it a bit darker this time, though.