Red Hair Color

Getting the Right RED and Keeping it Fresh!

Shades of red hair color vary from light strawberry to fiery copper to rich auburn and even deep red violet tones.

Browse the gallery below, which shows a whole spectrum of gorgeous reds. Subtle differences in tonal value make each of these shades unique.

Soft yellows, bright oranges, striking cherries and rubies and plums! So many beautiful versions of red hair color.

Photos     Maintenance     Tips

Red Hair Color Pictures

Consider both the level of darkness and the tone of any hair color you choose. This gallery begins with the lightest level (apricot blonde level 9) with mostly yellow pigments, through the mid-range with its orange pigments, to the darker reds and red-violets.

Click any image to enlarge and start slideshow

Maintaining Red Hair Color

Once your hair is colored, keeping the red in your hair becomes the challenge. Red hair color contains the smallest of hair color molecules.

Small molecules enter the hair shaft easily, so your hair soaks up the color.

They also escape from the hair shaft easily, which means you wash many of them down the drain each time you shampoo.

To prevent those elusive red hair color molecules from leaching out, use a pigmented shampoo and conditioner. These products deposit color molecules back onto your hair every time you use them. My favorite is the L'oreal Colorist Collection line, available at Amazon.com. The L'Oreal Colorist Collection comes in the following shades...

Tips For Achieving A "True Tone"

PREPARE YOUR HAIR
For best results (and to avoid common color mishaps), make sure your hair is ready for the color.

Minerals from water, chlorine from swimming pools, and build-up from styling products can all impede the haircolor formula's ability to do it's thing.


Use Joico K-Pak Chelating Shampoo before coloring to help eliminate these impurities.

Do you color your own hair? If so, you know that achieving the shade of red you want can be difficult. The color you see on the box is NOT necessarily the color you'll end up with.

More on the chemistry of hair color

Reds are tricky because you're not starting with a blank (white) canvas. You're dealing with the underlying pigment in the hair. With dark hair, that'll be an orange/red tone -- with light hair, it's yellow.

Adding an identical red hair color formula to either of the above examples of underlying pigment will produce a completely different result.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

If you're coloring your hair red, consider having your eyebrows tinted. Many women have ash toned eyebrows, which contrast with the warm, spicy red tones.

An esthetician can apply a special eyebrow color formula to just slightly deepen, or warm your eyebrow tone. Or you can try Mimic Color Kits which is a temporary colored powder that colors and contours the brows.

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