Demi-permanent dye faded already?

I doubt that you were “seeing it wrong”. If it looks the same as before, it probably is.

red fades fastest, regretfully.
I use permanent and it fades in about a week.
maybe pull out a bright light and a mirror, you’ll find the red, somewhere.. :C

I have pretty dark hair already, and whenever I go darker it always fades pretty quickly. It sounds like the salon didn’t leave the dye in your hair long enough, though. Demi-permanent is supposed to last a few weeks to about three months, isn’t it? You must be pretty disappointed.

Red fades fastest because red dye molecules are bigger than the molecules in other dyes. So it takes longer to get it in and it washes out faster. Bleaching your hair a little bit before you go red is actually helpful even if it’s a darker red. The bleach damages your hair follicles a little, which makes it easier for your hair to absorb the dye even if you don’t bleach enough to visibly lighten your hair.

I’ve been dyeing my own hair crazy colors for years. When I first started doing this I went to school with a cute goth girl with firetruck-red hair and I asked her how she got the color to stay. This works really well, but it probably fucks up your hair real bad. Bleach your hair if necessary and wash it out, allowing your hair some time to dry. Put petroleum jelly around your hairline and any other skin that could be exposed to the dye. Put the dye on according to the directions and wrap up your hair in something plastic like a hair cap. Leave it on for way longer than the directions indicate- as long as you can stand it, a couple hours or overnight if possible. Every hour or so, blow dry your hair through the hair cap. The point isn’t to dry out the dye- you want it to stay wet- but to apply heat to everything. Finally, rinse out your hair, and wait a day or two before shampooing it. You might want to get a colorsafe shampoo.

Whew. Going through that reminds me why I don’t dye my hair anymore. What a pain in the ass. This actually lasts longer than getting your hair dyed at a salon. They’re (understandably) worried about health and safety, and they need to take care of customers quickly to make money. So they probably leave dye on your head for about 20 minutes or so. It sounds like you chose a nice dark auburn color, and my directions are more for colors like green or blue. But you should still leave the dye in a little longer and apply some heat to it.

@Haleth: Wow, great answer! I’m going to use some of those tips next time I do mine purple. The first time I followed the package directions, and it didn’t show up at all, the second time I left it on about 2 hours, and it lasted for like a week. That sounds like a lot of work, but I’m excited to do it at least a time or two!

Demi-Permanent generally sucks baboon cock.