She doesn't post for months, and lo here we have a hair question..

[hippybngstockng]

I dye my hair (what? you thought it was naturally blue?) and I am always trying to decide what to base the time on, especially when I am doing something with lots of chemicals.

At what point do others decide that "time" has begun with hair dye? When you have completely finished putting the goo on? When your roots are largely covered, but maybe you still have some length to do? Or from the moment you start applying the goo?

Especially when my hair is longer, I start to worry that calculating the time from when I am finished putting all goo on is possibly risking excessive processing time. Other times I worry I am not getting enough time in there because of basing my time on a kind of half-done applying the goo formula... I am deeply curious what others do to calculate their times, especially if you have delicate hair, or live in a town with water so hard it slaps you when you try to drink it.

Comments

It depends....

[sarinda.livejournal.com]

With a conventional dye, I do the roots first and usually go from the point they're covered. Everything else is just a boost and is usually okay with a little less.... This rule applied back when I had a waist-length mass of curls, as well.

Now that I'm chin-length and green? The roots get bleached, the dye's veggie-based and actually sits under a cap overnight. I rinse it out in the morning, and it's a little crusty like henna. Trade off? The colour's SO much brighter.

[poeticalpanther.livejournal.com]

I usually count from the end, and I'm pretty generous with the time, too - but then, I've also usually done patch and hair tests for the stuff, so I'm not as worried about bad reactions or damaged hair.

BUT! My hair is anything but delicate.

[quingawaga.livejournal.com]

FWIW I think that pro hair stylists start counting dye time from when ALL the product is applied, whereas bleach time starts the second you put the first drop on. That is how I count my times.