The joys of being a red head

My hair causes me no end of grief. First of all, it's super curly and takes ages to straighten and de frizz. Secondly, it's orange. I refuse to use the 'g*nger word to describe it... those of you who have the same colour hair will understand why. Years of having that one word shouted/chanted at you in a derogative manner kind of puts you off it, funnily enough.

My natural colour (ish). I dye it every two months so have forgotten what 

my actual natural colour is! Definitely more orange than this...

Anyway... when I was about 20, I decided to start dyeing my hair. I used to dye it a dark brown at first, which didn't suit me because I'm very fair skinned and it made me look like a ghost. I then decided to just dye my hair bright red, in order to get rid of the 'orangeness' of it. I was happy with the finished effect, and have been dyeing my hair red ever since. I use Schwarzkopf Live Color XXL, and have never had any issues with it. Orange hair is notoriously difficult to dye so my hair never turns out as it looks on the box, but I'd probably have to bleach my hair in order to get that effect. And that's just not happening.

I always find this picture slightly freaky. Why would you want exactly the same

hair colour as your partner?

So, I decided last week that my roots were getting horrendous so it was time to get the dye out again. I always make a huge mess when dyeing my hair, even though I should have mastered the process by now. Red dye seems to be extra difficult to remove too, especially from your face, so I usually have light red patches on my face for a few days after the process. Delightful. 

Here's the finished result:

Excuse the flyaway bits, I desperately need a hair cut

I'm always very pleased with the final colour as it's vibrant, and definitely more red than orange. Result! It does still make me a red head though, but I'm attempting to embrace it. Can anyone recommend any other hair dyes, specifically for people of the orange haired variety?