It's a lovely brown red! It's quite similar to the hair color I kept when I was going through a legal case on the very conservative side of my state. I have naturally brown hair, which I didn't realize until it came time for me to dye it a natural color (blonde wouldn't suit my complexion, black looks too goth on me, and red is "slutty"... grr) that my natural brown is intensely dysphoric. I still dyed it anyway, because of wanting to put the best foot forward with the legal case, even though I cried buckets applying the dye and waiting for me to wash it out... so imagine my very delighted surprise when it turned out to be more of a red with brown undertones... although the red was deeper than your violet/rose. It's the lighting in the photo that makes it look so similar.
I was jazzed to find that my randomly chosen box dye was not brown, but my gf was insistent on going for brown. Apparently, my hair sucks up any red in dye, because the next one I picked was a chestnut brown box... and it came out... oh, well, let me just share a photo. This is after the roots grew out, but the color is essentially the same as it was when I first dyed it:
If this is more like the color you were going for, I'd be happy to look up what shade it was I used again. I definitely know which brand it was, since I am picky about my box dye brands.
Personally, one of my favorite ways to help battle the dysphoria, when I have the money to do so, is to visit the salon. I like to play with hair cuts, and I'm particularly fond of ones that are rather obviously queer. I haven't been able to for awhile, though, and my gf has been cutting my hair for me. (Yes, even in the avatar picture. She's
good.)
However! What I can do at home for that is dye my hair. I'm currently studying to enter the IT field (hopefully!), and living in the Seattle area, unnatural hair dye isn't blinked at. Since my hair is short and I don't have to use a full bottle of dye (I use ones that are vegetable stains by preference, with no developer; that way I can use what I need and back in the cabinet it goes), I have a collection of various shades of purple, pink, and red dye.
Currently, it's pink. I'm thinking of going back to purple, the same shade as in my avatar, soon, though!
Georgie (or anyone else reading who sees this and is interested), if you would like any advice at all about home hair dying, please feel free to ask me here or in PM. I am a complete geek when it comes to hair dye. I have not had my natural hair color since I was 19, deliberately (as you can probably guess from my reaction above), and I have used store bought box dyes, unnaturally colored dyes of various types (some that use developer chemicals, some that don't), and while I haven't used it personally, I'm fairly familiar with henna, too.
I have worked both with and without bleach. Whether you need bleach is very personal and dependent on your natural hair color. If you are looking for a brown-red, you should absolutely not need bleach with your current color. If you wanted to go lighter, that might be different (might; my hair is naturally fairly dark but even lighter colored shades of pink, I slap on, they come out like Rainbow Brite!).
And, if you'd like any info on hair dye maintenance, I am so your gal. It's taken
years for me to figure out what works the best for cleaning dyed hair without stripping the dye. It's a balancing act!
Anyway. Seriously, looking lovely, and if you'd like help, definitely drop me a PM or reply here. I've experimented enough on my own hair that I feel I ought share that hard-earned knowledge!
<3 and *cookies of choice*
