How often can I dye my hair?

[CactusSucker]

Last night I dyed my hair using box dye for the first time. It came out pretty but I didn't go quite as dark as I wanted to. How long should I wait before I color it again?

[Rhivnnon]

at least a couple of weeks, you should never immediately redye hair.

[LittleSpaceCase]

Bleaching is really the most damaging part of dyeing hair, dyeing isn't too bad. Especially if you have a nice leave in conditioner on hand.

[legnanellaf5]

If you are going dark it isnt as damaging as if you are bleaching it. But box dyes are s**t quality. It really depends on what the color you want is vs what you have, and if it is better to let what you have fade a bit first.

[kage-ookami4]

LittleSpaceCase

Bleaching is really the most damaging part of dyeing hair, dyeing isn't too bad. Especially if you have a nice leave in conditioner on hand.

eh, not really. peroxide in permanent dyes is the same peroxide in bleach. most people tend to reapply dye to all hair rather than just roots (as with bleach) which results in increased damage. box dyes tend to have high volume peroxide (30 or 40 vol) which is really bad to reapply to hair over and over. I have seen way more people ruin their hair with dye than bleach. conditioners also do not repair hair, they only mask damage especially if they contain silicones.

to answer the OP's question a peroxide process such as dying with permanent dye should really not be done more than once a month as damage can take up to a month to fully show... and you really need to make sure your hair can take it.

If you don't like the color because it's too dark dying over it again won't fix the matter. you can scrub with clarifying shampoo mixed with crushed vitamin C tablets and then leave under a shower cap for 30-60 minutes to try to fade. you can also use a color remover such as color oops to remove the dye and start over (though your base will be lightened because of the peroxide so you will not get your original color).