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bitbang3r wrote:

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If you're ready to try something a bit more adventurous (and effective), go to Sally's and buy a box of Jheri Redding One 'n Only Colorfix (it comes in an orange box), costs about $12, and has enough to use 3-5 times. If you don't want to go to the store and buy it in person (been there, done it, know the feeling), you can buy it online instead -- http://www.sallybeauty.co...S-342350,default,pd.html

What it does: dissolves old dye so much of it can be washed away, and softens up the new growth so it'll take dye like hair that's already been dyed a few times.

As you've probably discovered, when you use JFM, the hair that was previously-dyed a few times before soaks it up like a sponge, the hair that was dyed last time gets a little darker, and the new gray roots end up almost as gray as they were when you started. After ~20-30 minutes with ColorFix, even the new growth should take up the dye as well as hair that's been colored a few times.

ColorFix is NOT bleach, but it will almost certainly leave your non-gray hair some nasty shade of purple-red or dark orange. That's because JFM bleaches away some of the hair's greenish-blue pigment (that makes the hair look "brown"), but doesn't make a dent in the hair's orange-red pigment. Don't panic. You'll be fsck'ed if some emergency forces you to leave the house overnight, but it'll look fine once you've re-colored it in the morning.

Note that ColorFix comes with 3 bottles, and you can just toss bottle #3 into the trash & skip the second step listed on the box. If your beard were colored with true permanent haircolor, the second step (applying solution #3, then washing it again) would re-darken the dye that was broken down by the first step, but didn't get washed out of the hair. If you're using JFM, there won't be much dye left inside the hair anyway, because JFM's dye molecules are too big to get inside the hair. It won't hurt, but after you've experimented for a while, you'll discover that if the dye you're taking off is demi-permanent (JFM is), it won't really make any difference whether you do the second step (with bottle #3) or not.

Shopping List (for Sally's): Box of Colorfix (~$12), at least one applicator bottle (the cheap Sally's-brand ones that cost around $1.50 and are translucent-white with black nozzle are fine). When you get home, cut ~1/4" from the nozzle's tip so you end up with a hole that's about 1mm diameter. You can re-use the bottle -- just rinse it out with hot water after each use. It doesn't have to be spotlessly clean. If you're buying online, here's the URL for the bottle: http://www.sallybeauty.co...ult,pd.html?cm_vc=SEARCH

Typical workflow you'll follow:

Evening, about an hour or two before bed:

Mix ~14g of ColorFix #1 with ~15g of ColorFix #2 (the solution in bottle #1 is a tiny bit heavier per milliliter than the solution in bottle #2). Volume-wise, you're mixing identical quantities. I prefer to weigh it, but that's mainly an old preference from chemistry labs in college. A digital scale with ~150g capacity costs around $20 on eBay and makes mixing everything a lot easier.

Apply colorfix, then use your hands for the next 15-20 minutes to massage it into the hair and warm it up. It'll work better if you do this. Pretend you're Macaulay Caulkin in "Home Alone" doing the "hands on the face" thing

Wash it off, and finish the job with the most alkaline shampoo you can find (volumizing shampoos tend to be alkaline, because they work by swelling the hair).

Wait 8-10 hours.

Dye in the morning, and notice that your results are MUCH better than you've ever gotten before.

IMPORTANT: If you're going to stick with JFM, buy a shade that's lighter and "ash-ier" (less red/orange) than the shade you used before. For one thing, your hair will "grab" it a lot harder after you've used ColorFix. So a "Medium" shade will end up looking like a "dark" one. Second, try to pick an "Ash" tone (which means it has less red/orange pigment in the dye). If your goal is somewhere around "dark brown that's clearly brown and not black", I'd recommend "Medium Ash Brown" (http://justformen.com/pro...color/facialcolor3.pdf), which will end up looking more like the guy shown for "Darkest Brown" (http://justformen.com/pro...facialcolor9.pdf). 

Disclaimer: I'm not a hair stylist... just someone who's been fighting premature gray since before I was old enough to legally buy alcohol. Don't try this for the first time the night before and morning of some major event.