A few questions about Developers and colouring Salt & Pepper hair

I have been pondering the same thing recently, but my hair is beyond salt and pepper, and i have chunks that are still dark which makes it all more complicated. Anyway, the higher the vol/% of developer the more lift it gives and also the more damage. So a very low vol will be the most gentle but won't lift your natural shade at all, just deposit the colour. So it really depends on how dark your natural hair is and what shade you want. If you lift dark hair a little you will reveal warm tones which may be difficult for the colour to cover, especially if it is cool or neutral.

Thankyou for the reply Wicked_Pixie. My natural hair is brown. What I actually would like is for it to be quite dark at the roots then a bit lighter then the bleached part (which is currently violet).

I think I might pick a couple of colours and try them out with a low volume developer. Just need to decide on 7 or 10 vol.

Do I colour dirty hair like when you bleach or is it best for the hair to be clean when using a developer?

If you want it lighter than your natural shade you will need a higher vol to give you the lift.(unless you only want the lighter brown on the already bleached areas?) A blonde demi with 10 vol will lighten my daughters level 6/7 hair a little but it wouldn't affect my own level 3-4 at all. Dye over dirty hair, you can also use coconut oil.

Thanks Wicked_Pixie. Is it OK to put 10 vol (or lower) on bleached hair? I am not planning on covering the bleached parts completely but I think it's going to be hard to avoid it touching a bit. Any suggestions on ways to protect the bleached parts also?

cheers

10 volume won't do much damage but I'd be wary of using it on bleached hair often.

I've never had any luck using peroxide to presoften my greys for a direct colour. I'm thinking something with ammonia might be a good idea for dyeing greys as it should swell the cuticle. I haven't tried it yet though.

The only tip I can give regards salt and pepper hair. I used to be ages ago 40% gray. Suggest leave any semi-permanent dye like Special Effects, Manic Panic, N'Rage, Sparks, Splat, Urban Shock, Pravana, Joico, Crazy Color, Directions, Adore, Punky Color, Paul Mitchell Ink Works, Beyond the Zone, Paint Box, Stargazer, to name a few, in for longer than 30 minutes perhaps an hour. Salt and Peppeer hair because of a lack of colagen in the hair hence the whitish color, semi-dyes have a harder time staining or hanging onto the cuticle.

Thankyou Jude and Andya for your replies.

I usually leave Directions on my hair for anywhere between 1 hour to 3. The bleached parts are quite stained with colour. The darker parts of my hair do colour a bit but the grey/white hair (natural/not bleached) generally don't colour except for a very wide streak of white in the front that colours beautifully!

Any suggestions on how to protect the bleached parts when I dye the rest with the permanent colour? I'm wondering if I should cover those parts with conditioner?

I would section it out and apply the permanent colour with a tint brush where needed. For added protection you could cover the bleached hair with coconut oil. I think it would be more effective than conditioner.

So I did a bit of an experiment. I mixed a bit of the Davines Mask (4.25) and a bit of Mask Violet Intensifier and 7 vol developer. I have no idea if you are supposed to add violet intensifier to the regular colour but figured it couldn't hurt (and I want violet tones). I decided to test in on my undercut/clippered hair since it is usually covered by the longer hair. Left it on for 15 minutes then washed it off. I couldn't believe how quickly and how much it coloured my hair - and how dark! The grey parts are lighter but still coloured. I haven't had dark hair for well over a year so it was a bit of a shock. I think I chose the wrong shade.

Anyway I had put it on the undercut on the side of my head because I clipper my hair very short every couple of weeks. When I was painting the colour on it was a light colour and I ended up putting it on too large an area - so now I think I need to remove it or at least lighten it a fair bit. When I google how to remove colour it tends to show videos on how to remove direct dyes - I think I would need a different method to remove or at least lighten this area. I'm actually planning on bleaching my undercut when I do my hair soon - but I imagine I would need to lighten this dark test part.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.