Hi, I haven't done anything to my hair since May 24th 2008 and that was a bit of bleaching and a bit of dying with red and "natural" red.

Here is a picture, its from prom. I don't have a camera yet so I stole this from a friend.


The bleached red is faded now and the bleach part is growing out. I am wondering if I should color strip my hair before I bleach it? I kinda want the dark still because I wish to do a lot of coon tails, but should I use it to take out the natural red? then bleach it with number 30 and then dye it the way I wish?

Also, what is a good brand I should use for permanent dye? I think I want to use RAW. I want a deep purple and a medium green, like Green Apple from Directions.

If you want Apple Green you'll definitely need to bleach it lighter. I don't know how good a stripper will be on the red part if it's already faded as you say. Try a strand test.