I used to dye my hair all the time when I was a teen/pre-teen. I'd get bored with my hair a lot and always wanted a change. But I haven't done it in years because I have easily damaged hair and decided that dyeing was an easy thing to give up to make it slightly more manageable.

But now I've reeeaaally got the urge for a change again. I'm not terribly worried about the damage since I only plan on dyeing it once and letting it grow/fade out. What I am concerned about however is getting a dull/fake all over color effect.

Do any of you gals have some tips on how to get a more natural looking color at home? Any brands you think are better (and still relatively cheap)? Should I dye and then add highlights? (Something I've never attempted...) My natural color is a medium/light reddish-brown, and I want it darker and redder.

How red are we talking here? Lol. For intense color Feria is the best box-wise. It's really the only box dye I've ever used so I can't go much further on box dyes than that. If you go to a beauty supply store then they can give you salon-brand stuff. I've used it before, it was a Loreal brand I think but not Feria, and I got great results using what they gave me. I find it's a lot easier to use a brush and a mixing bowl over a bottle.
As far as highlights go I don't think at home high lights are the absolute best idea. I feel like the kits are kind of...cheapish and don't really give good results in the end. If you really wanted them I'd at least go to one of those hair cut chains, because sometimes they do have people that can give you great results.
I hope I helped a little bit!

Have you thought about just trying some henna? I used to dye my hair out of boredom as well but stopped. Once in a while, I'll buy some natural dyes with henna (although they aren't truly henna dyes) and use them.

I don't want a really intense bright red, more like a rich auburn. And I don't really -want- highlights, just curious if anyone has had good result with them or if they make home dyed hair look better.

And I have tried henna before but I wasn't happy with the results. I've thought about trying it again, not sure though. Where did you get yours? I don't really want to order online.

My color is Perfect 10 Light Auburn if that gives any indication. I know this because I used that to dye my hair back to its natural color and the roots were literally seamless. It takes like 10 minutes but the color stays well.

Please please PLEASE make sure you do an allergy test beforehand with ANY haircolor.

I had bought Surya Henna dye (again, its not true sit in your hair for 8 hours henna) from Whole Foods. If you have a natural foods type store near you, they should have a variety of options.

I used to use he Feria reds and loved them (I needed to oomph up my natural red as it started to get mousy) and I also used the Garnier, but it just wasn't nice to my skin and the color seemed to fade out quickly.

If you just want a temporary fix look for a level 2 (non permanent) color. It will fade out rather than grow out and you won't have roots to deal with. I liked the Natural Instincts (which comes in level 2 and level 3 so read the box carefully) reds.

As for highlights.. I agree that they are challenging to do at home. What you might look into is low/underlights like they do in european salons. The lighter color is on the underside of the hair around your face instead of on the top. It brightens and adds a nice glow to your complexion... my girlfriends who get it done drop a few years off their faces!

Good luck and let us know how it works!

Okay, so I took a leap and bought the Feria #56 Auburn Brown. I'm going to color it tomorrow night. I'll let you guys know how it turns out.

Eeesh, I've never been nervous about dyeing my hair before! lol (And I've tried some seriously daring shades.) Part of getting older maybe?

Okay, I can tell it's been a while since I've dyed my hair. I must have forgotten how I used to do it, or I used to be a lot less picky. Cause it turned out fairly uneven in color and I can see a few spots where my natural color shows through. But it's not that noticeable, and seriously I did a pretty intense inspection of it, and I very highly doubt anyone else is going to look that closely.

I'm about 50% happy with it, love the color. And 50% OH GOOD HEAVENS what have I done??? lol. But it's probably just my obsessive nature. I think I'll like it better after a few washes when it fades just a bit. I might get a bottle of head and shoulders and see how that works (I've heard it really strips dye out). I'll post some pictures later.