Burgundy is a great hair color that is becoming more and more popular. Even if you have dark hair, it’s easy to dye it burgundy at home. In this post, I will go over a few easy techniques to dye your dark hair burgundy using bleach, without bleach, and with henna.

How to Dye Dark Hair Burgundy with Bleach

If you need your dark hair-dyed burgundy, the most effective way is to use bleach. This is because it is hard for dark hair to become burgundy since the dyed color might not show up. If you don’t use bleach, the most likely result is that your hair will end up with shades of brown and probably not the expected burgundy shade that you were hoping for.

Normally, burgundy is easily defined when your hair is a lighter color. For instance, you might want to bleach your dark hair to a red or brown tone before you dye it burgundy. It is also worth noting that bleaching is very damaging to your hair and might cause harm to the already grown hair. Therefore, you will need to be very cautious with the amount and type of bleach you use.

What You Need

• Bleach powder for your hair
• Burgundy dye of your choice – you can select a shade depending on your skin tone
• Gloves – to protect your hand and skin from catching the dye
• Application brush
• Mixing bowl
• 30 volume developer chemical
• Change of clothes (optional)
• Hair Ties

Step-by-Step Procedure

1. Wash your hair and ensure it’s clean.
2. Changes your clothes or wrap a towel around your neck to prevent the dye from getting onto your body. If you get hair dye on your skin, check out my post on how to remove hair dye from skin.
3. Put on the gloves. Before you can get cracking, you will need to ensure that your hands are well covered with gloves to ensure that you don’t catch some dye or other dyeing chemicals in the process. The dye can take some time to get off your skin.
4. Mix two parts of the developer chemical with one part of bleach.
5. Stir the bleach mixture with a brush until you can spot even consistency.
6. Section your hair into 4 sections. To do this, first, comb back your hair and create a part down the middle of your hair. This will create 2 parts: Left and Right. Choose the Left or Right part and create 2 parts, 1 starting from your ear down towards your neck and the other from your ear towards the top of your head. Clip each part separately and repeat again for the other half of your hair.
7. Apply the mixture to the hair and give it 10-15 minutes. Essentially, the duration could be shorter or longer. However, the results are visible, and you should see your hair turn brown within this duration.
8. Once the bleaching is complete and you have a lighter color, rinse your bleach off your hair before applying the dye. Normally, you might need a day off for proper conditioning of your hair.
9. Section your hair into 4 sections again as per Step 6.
10. Apply the dye. Depending on the dye manufacturer, the burgundy dye box will contain a set of instructions that you will need to follow to apply the dye. These instructions cover the amount of dye to use, and the time the dye will take for effects to show up. Ensure that the application is even and covers the strands of hair as needed. Work on each part at a time. You can also use your fingers to help spread the dye.
11. Wait around 30 minutes or follow the duration as indicated on the dye box instructions
12. Wash off the dye, rinse and condition your hair

How to Dye Dark Hair Burgundy Without Bleach

The best way to dye dark hair burgundy without bleach is to use reddish-purple or purple shades. Dyeing your dark hair burgundy without bleach is not as easy as with blonde or light brown hair colors.  However, if you want a very vibrant shade of burgundy, the burgundy box dyes that you can get from most drug stores may only yield dark brown shades on your hair. Therefore, you want to choose reddish-purple or purple shades to get vibrant burgundy tones. I recommend trying the L’Oreal HiColor HiLights in Magenta & Red. This dye is designed specifically for dark hair.

What You Need

• A brush for application
• Mixing bowl
• Gloves
• 1 Purple / Magenta box dye
• 1 Red box dye
• 40 volume cream developer
• Change of clothes (optional)
• Hair Ties

Step-by-Step Procedure

1. Wash your hair and ensure it’s clean.
2. Changes your clothes or wrap a towel around your neck to prevent the dye from getting onto your body.
3. Slip-on the gloves
4. Mix 1/2 of the red box dye with 1/2 of the magenta or purple box dye.
5. Add the 40 volume cream developer. Use a 1:1 ratio. This means use the amount of developer equal to the amount of box dye used.  For example, if you mixed 1/2 part of red dye with 1/2 part of magenta dye, use 1 part developer.
6. Mix everything up with your application brush.
7. Section your hair into 4 sections. To do this, first, comb back your hair and create a part down the middle of your hair. This will create 2 parts: Left and Right. Choose the Left or Right part and create 2 more parts, 1 starting from your ear down towards your neck and the other from your ear towards the top of your head. Clip each part separately and repeat again for the other half of your hair.
8. Apply the dye to your hair– ensure that the application is even and covers the strands of hair as needed. Work on each part at a time. You can also use your fingers to help spread the dye.
9. Wait around 30 minutes or follow the duration as indicated on the dye box instructions
10. Wash off the dye, rinse and condition your hair

How to Dye Dark Hair Burgundy With Henna

You can also use henna to change the color of your hair naturally without using any chemicals. Normally, the dyeing process for light-colored hair is straightforward and only requires henna powder, lemon juice, and water. If you need your dark hair to turn burgundy, you will need one extra item: beetroot.

What You Need

• 1 cup of water
• Henna powder
• 1 cup of lemon juice
• Henna powder
• Gloves
• Beetroot paste

Step-by-Step Procedure

1. Mix everything up. You will need to mix the lemon juice, water, and henna powder. For darker shades, use more water and less lemon juice. The mixture should have a consistent and smooth texture.
2. Section your hair into 4 sections. To do this, first, comb back your hair and create a part down the middle of your hair. This will create 2 parts: Left and Right. Choose the Left or Right part and create 2 more parts, 1 starting from your ear down towards your neck and the other from your ear towards the top of your head. Clip each part separately and repeat again for the other half of your hair.
3. Put on your gloves and use a brush or your fingers to apply the mixture to your hair. You can use both the brush and the fingers for more consistent results. Ensure to apply consistently to every section of your hair.
4. Allow the henna to take effect. Once you have applied the paste, let it sit for approximately one hour.
5. Finally, wash off the henna and complete the process by shampooing and conditioning your hair.