So I dyed my hair with Raw Deep Purple and it held strong for a month or so. It still looked okay but I was ready for something different so I started washing it with clarifying shampoo instead of the color safe stuff I had been using. Now it's an interesting gray-purple with hints of dark purple still lingering.

I'd really like to dye it something that I could stick with for awhile. I was thinking of getting some nice n' easy or some similiar conditioning permanent dye and going with a strawberry blonde or light orange. Some kind of natural red.

I was wondering should I bleach or strip the rest of this purple out first? I really don't want to have my heart set on red and it come out brown :-/ I was also wondering, is it going to make my hair break off to use permanent dye on bleached hair or anything? Any thoughts at all on the subject would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank you!! :)

You'll need to strip out that purple but beware - it may turn pink when you bleach it.

Do you have a particular shade in mind? Maybe you could post a link to the nice n easy site. Some reds will cover it if it goes pink and others will not.

Permanent dyes will cause a bit of damage but nothing like bleaching. Do the strand tests suggested on the box as you may not need to leave it as long on bleached hair.

This is an exact swatch of the color I want:

sorry the swatch is so small, I couldn't find a bigger one.

And this is the website of the brand I plan to use:
Revlon ColorSilk

Would you suggest bleaching the purple out or using a color stripper? I know these are basically the same thing, but I ask because they are sold as separate powders so I assume there may be minor differences. Thank you! :)

Okay, I think I found a better example of this color....On the color results on the box it looks more intense, but this picture is pretty close to what the girl's hair looked like on the front of the box...

Man that's light! Oh well, yay for experimentation! I can always dye it again if I don't like it...

Okay, I think I found a better example of this color....On the color results on the box it looks more intense, but this picture is pretty close to what the girl's hair looked like on the front of the box...

Man that's light! Oh well, yay for experimentation! I can always dye it again if I don't like it...

*removed a few broken images*

Ugh, I'm just screwing this all up, maybe the picture will show this time...

Bleach is probably your best bet but do a strand test to see how pink it's going to go. You'd need to get rid of the colour completely for that kind of apricot shade. Any trace of pink or purple will really interfere with the colour.

Okay...I got some bleach powder and deep conditioner. Going to bleach it out once tonight and see how it goes...If I have to bleach it more than once I will probably wait a few days [AT LEAST] in between. I'll make sure to take pictures throughout the process, so I can post how it turns out. Thank you so much for all your help!

So, I just wanted to show my progress. I bleached it last night. I used 30 volume developer which I think was a little too strong. Or maybe it was the bleach powder, I used a different kind then what I usually get. But it lifted in SECONDS. I literally didn't have time to cover my whole head before it was time to wash it off of where I started. And it feels FRIED. So I think I'm going to leave it alone for awhile and deep condition it. Then maybe bleach it again before I try the orange. At least the spots I missed that are still purpley. By the way, I know my roots will be darker, but I'm not that concerned about that...I kinda like dark roots What do you think? Is this yellow too bright to dye the apricot over it?

I'd do a strand test but I think that should be fine for the apricot shade. You did well getting Deep Purple out so easily. I would have thought it would be a pain to get out like SFX's Deep Purple.