Using semi-permanent dye over unbleached hair

I've been asked several times: is there any way to do a crazy color in my hair without having to bleach? The answer, for the most part, is yes!

Excluding individuals with black or very dark brown hair, almost anyone can get a small splash of color without bleaching!

Unfortunately, if your hair is brown, you will be limited to red and bright pinks. Red can actually be very bright over brown bases. Some very deep purples work over medium and light brown, but they will look pretty muddy.

Blondes have a few more options. Pastels are meant to use over platinum blonde hair, so darker blondes will not have luck with pastels. Medium to light blondes will likely be able to use pink, purple, red, very dark blue, and orange with little to no issues. Greens and blues don't work so well over a base with yellow or gold tones, so I would only suggest those to very light blondes.

So there are limitations, but it is still possible to add some color to unbleached hair!

Personally, I have never gotten a color to stick to my medium/dark brown roots, which leads me to believe it will not work for virgin (never chemically processed) hair. If your hair is virgin, you could simply use a regular hair color (I do not recommend box dyes) to lift your hair one or two shades. The damage will be much less severe than bleach, but your hair will be damaged enough for the color to stick.

You will be able to follow normal dyeing and hair care procedure.

Here are some results I've gotten from using semi-permanent dyes on unbleached hair:

Jerome Russel Punky Color in Fire over medium brown.

Special Effects Nuclear Red over medium/dark brown

Special Effects Virgin Rose (Don't recommend; too hard to remove) over medium brown with ~4 layers of semi-permanent red

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