SPECIAL EFFECTS/HAIR

I try my best to do my research before I try a product and I couldn't find anything negative about using Special Effects on hair that currently had dye in it. I'll go over my hair journey in hopes of someone out there having had a similar experience and knowing what may have gone awry.2 months ago I bleached my hair (dark brown) to a light gold. I did this in two stages on two different days with time in between with lots of coconut oil being used. After I let my hair rest being blonde I then dyed it with Manic Panic.Once it began to fade and I had run out of dye for touch ups, I moved to the Special Effects. I'd say my hair had about 40-50% of MP's pigment in it by the time I went do to the new color. I read the instructions, looked up online for tips, etc, before actually applying it to my hair. When I got it out of the bottle this particular color (Blue Velvet) had an inky, coppery shine to it and was much more "goopy" than the smooth texture of the manic panic.When I tried combing my hair with the dye it tangled fiercely. This was clean, dry hair without conditioner in it, per the instructions. I didn't have this problem with the other dye. So it was frustrating experience going on and also when rinsing out. I rinsed in cold water about 3 times, trying to get the grimy texture out of my hair. I ended up actually showering and shampooing it, because it was so bad. The horrible texture softened a bit, but it was still very unnerving for me - my hair wasn't this bad after I bleached it!I ended up straight up shampooing and conditioning it afterward about 4-6 times before my hair started to feel normal again. There was a good deal of bleeding the first few times, but my hands stopped getting stained and the color has persisted despite how many times I've washed it. I still have to use copious amounts of conditioner, though, more than I've ever had to before. My hair is fine, so I'm usually very sparing with conditioner, but if I don't condition the dyed parts my hair becomes a tangled mess and feels fried.Anyone else experience this? I don't know if I got a bad batch or what. :( I have yet to find someone else online with a similar experience.

I love this hair dye. It's opaque and vivid, lasts quite long compared to other brands, and all while blending 'Blue Velvet' along with Special Effects' 'Electric Blue,' I can successfully maintain a strongly vivid Royal Blue that lasts endlessly. When used alone, 'Blue Velvet' has a heavy dark-purple undertone while 'Electric Blue' looks a little too unnatural for my personal tastes. They're both still great colors, though. To keep my Royal Blue strong, I put this formula of the two blue dyes in with my regularly-used Sulfate-Free Conditioner, only ever use Sulfate-Free conditioner and shampoo, only ever wash under cold water and apply Apple Cider Vinegar regularly; leading to extremely healthy hair and an almost-never-fading outcome. BE SURE YOU KNOW HOW TO TREAT YOUR HAIR BEFORE DYING IT, however.Something I can warn you about is that their Blue Velvet does fade quite quickly into purple/violet/lilac when not maintained well. Their Electric Blue fades purple as well, but lasts much longer than their Blue Velvet. The first time I put my blend of the two dyes into my hair together, [which was bleached to platinum before dying, mind you] I treated it poorly with hot water and sulfate hair products ['Bed Head: Control Freak,' to be exact] as an experiment to just see how fast it would fade. After one wash, it was Easter Purple. With this said, BE CAREFUL HOW YOU USE IT. Do not judge this dye poorly simply because you do not know how to maintain the color. Making any kind of hair dye last takes a lot of hard-work, research and effort, especially for unnatural colors, and because of it's extremely-unnatural chemical formula, Blue is most definitely one of the most difficult to upkeep. Know what you're getting into before dying it, or pastel colors will prevail.Nonetheless, this is a great brand, has a high reputation as one of the most successful for unnatural colors, and I'm happy with it. Give it a go. Highly recommended.

After trying a couple of other blue dyes that were gone after a couple of washes, I'm happy to say that after seven weeks, the Special Effects Blue Velvet is still going strong with very little fading. This is a very dark blue with, as other readers have noted, a slightly purple tint. As the dye fades it loses most of the blue and turns to purple, which still looks pretty good. I have dark brown hair so the dark blue against it is subtle enough for work, but still really fun. To get the correct color you MUST, MUST, MUST bleach your hair to practically white before you apply the dye. Using shampoos and conditioners for color-treated hair and skipping days in between will keep your color in as long as possible. As for mess, I took my bottle into the salon and had it done there, but I imagine if you did it at home you'd have to only use your dark towels and be careful not to get it on anything else because I'm sure it would stain.I heard Pravana is also a good brand, but it's generally not as easy to find as Special Effects because it's only marketed to salon professionals. I was very happy with this brand and look forward to trying some of the other colors.

This was my first time dying my hair something so colorful, and it worked better than expected. After bleaching my hair, I used Blue Velvet and Fishbowl Special Effects hair colors. I put the dye on and kept it in much longer than the recommended 15-30 minutes, as per advice I found on the web, more like 2-3 hours. The Blue Velvet turned out very dark, and definitely purple, not blue. However, with washing it every third day, using cold water, it stayed nice for 2 months, fading a little bit to a pretty dark/medium purple. It might have even gone longer, but I'm trying to wash it out now. I probably wouldn't use this specific color again, but I would use the Special Effects dye.