At last, something I know a fair bit about! Aine, enjoy the red hair; I'm sure it looks beautiful on you. I've been completely bleaching my hair for more years than I care to let on. I look best as a blonde, and my natural hair color is somewhat too dark for my complexion. My hair is thick, shiny, and strong with no split ends. Maybe I'm lucky, 'cause I do use Quick blue and 40 Volume Peroxide, but, I also do nothing else to it. No gels, sprays, mousse, or hair dryers.

When I tried to dye it back to what I thought was its original brown, I got a nice deep Auburn. It looked great, but faded quickly. Back to blonde.....after purple for a bit.

Have fun with it, love it, and hey, get some really temporory stuff (may I suggest "The Punky Professional")at the beauty supply place, and try an outrageous color for a day. It'll wow 'em at the PTA!