With any hair dye, you've got to remember that the end result is
dependent on your base hair color - don't assume that the you'll
always end up with that amazing shade modeled on the box. It's all
very well smothering your hair in fantastically bright red hair
dye, but if it's applied on top of your very dark hair, the results
won't be anywhere near as striking as you might hope. If you're
feeling adventurous and want to choose a vibrant, bright red shade
but have brunette hair, you will need to lighten your hair
first.
Bear in mind that lightening hair will always create some damage
by the very nature of the process, so be prepared to lavish your
newly red locks with some good quality conditioner. If you want
dramatic red results, but just haven't got the patience for a
two-step process (and who could blame you, I always found upkeep of
my red hair a real pain) L'oreal sell a type of dye called
Majicontrast that's a high lift tint containing peroxide - you can
use it to lighten and dye your darker hair bright red in one step,
so no fussing about with bleach beforehand.
