What happens if you leave hair dye on too long?

What color is your hair now, and what color are you using?

@pleiades Well actually I have been dying my hair for 27 years. (mostly at home, but sometimes pro done). Right now my hair is halfway down my back, so it’s a difficult juggle.
My natural color is light brown with some greys here and there. I dye it any array of red colors. Usually a light auburn. The top tends to get to be the color I want and the rest is a palette of dark blondes to reddish.

Usually you start timing once you have finished applying the dye to all of your hair, so your roots might wind up at 25 minutes. If your hair is getting really long it can be difficult to dye it evenly. Can someone help you do it?

The only one I have around handy is my husband. He has offered, but, I’m just not too comfy with that.

I would let my husband help me, but I can understand why some husbands that might not seem like a plausable idea.

I am relenting and letting him help me out. I will let you know how it goes.

I always did it by myself and I learned that with reddish colours it didn’t take well and I would end up having to leave it for double the time it says on the packet anyway. So an extra 5–10 minutes won’t make a lot of difference. Really it depends on how your hair reacts to this particular dye. If leaving it longer makes it darker I would apply it first to the lighter parts of your hair (probably the ends?) and work in to the parts that are naturally darker. With my hair I did it the other way round because my lighter parts took the red more quickly.

Red dye is notoriously the hardest to get right.

MOst home dye’s say to leave on longer if you have greys. No worries unless it starts to burn your scalp.