this might be a dumb question, but I'm kinda new to this. are there any hair dyes that are permanent? Or are all these colors only in semi? basically what I'm thinking is, what if I find a really good mix, a really nice hair color that I want to keep.... now my hair is naturally strawberry blonde and I'm on the hunt for the perfect orange red, so it's more likely to hold that dye (reds fade really nicely on me), plus I only wash my hair 2 to 3 times a week. but still, theoretically am I going to have to reapply color every couple of weeks?
Semi reds last longer than permanent reds due to the size of the colour molecules.
If you do a quick bleach bath to your hair before applying the semi dye, it will last 4-8 weeks, depending on the brand. If you stay the same colour, you'll only need to do it all over once, and then just on your roots thereafter.
Permanent reds aren't as bright and usually only last 2-4 weeks before the red washes out and you're left with a dull brown. Additionally, reapplying a permanent dye repeatedly over your lengths causes damage to build up, as well as the base brown of the dye ... so you end up with darker, more damaged hair that you have to redye more often.