My hair is naturally light brown but I want it to be dark dark brown. I've dyed it twice now and the color just will NOT stay in! I dye it so it's very dark and in two weeks the color has already washed out so my hair is again light brown with a reddish tint. My hair is not damaged, I wash it every other day at the very most, and also blow dry it at most every other day. I use good shampoo/conditioner and a leave in product.

So I guess my question is, how can I keep my hair dark or how often can I dye my hair?

And I'm 100% positive that I used permanent hair dye. =)

Thanks!

Ideally, you only dye your hair once -- and then touch up the new growth. You try to avoid overlap (I know it's impossible, but you still try).

Hair does not heal over time. It has no blood supply and no chemical reactions that repair the hair. Therefore, there is no frequency that you can dye your hair. Damage accumulates as you bleach or dye your hair. Each time you do it, a few chemical bonds rupture. Eventually, the hair's backbone will fail (chains of amino acids) and the hair will break.

Hair fading is the problem you're experiencing and it is ubiquitous. Fading is exacerbated by porous hair. The more you dye it, the more porous it becomes and the more fading you'll experience.

You can try other brands of hair dye -- some are more permanent than others. For example, in addition to oxidative dyes, some Feria shades use direct dyes. These tend to be stronger colors, and they don't fade as fast as oxidative dyes. Also, if the hair is porous, demi-permanent dyes (marketed as semi-permanent, but they use a weak developer solution) use large molecules so as not to penetrate the hair shaft as much. If the large molecules don't get inside the hair shaft, they will fade more than permanent dyes. At least that's the theory. However, if you use demi-permanents on porous hair, they can get inside the hair shaft and because of their size, they become more permanent than the permanent dyes.

Hope all that made sense. Common brands of demi-permanents include Clairol Natural Instincts, L'Oreal Castings Color Spa, Clairiol Radiance, Redken Shades EQ. You can Google others.

I naturally have light brown hair too.I have died it 3 times this year. BUT IT Won't STAY IN. I died it dark brown a few week ago & I bought some extensions to go with it. But within a few days the extentions+my natural hair was a massive difference in colour. IT Won't STAY IN. anyone help?