My Hair Dilema (Not Really)

I'd like to take this moment to complain about something in an obnoxious sort of way...

I'm cursed with hair that looks good in any color. And trust me, it's been every color. Before you kill me for complaining about what many would consider a blessing- the ability to be a chameleon- consider the downside of this: the extreme temptation from which I suffer.

When I am in that hair aisle, there is nothing at all to stop me from dying my naturally blonde hair black, a la Von Teese. And I have, and it has complicated things.

My hair is naturally an ash blonde, and is very porous. Porous hair grabs color very strongly. This is the only problem I have. When I dye my hair dark, It becomes a challenge to go light again, because my hair won't let go of the dye.

Quick summary of dye-ing vs. lightening:
When dying hair darker, pigment is distributed. Think of pigment as a stain. It seeps into your hair cuticle, and stains the strand darker. When lightening hair, the chemical structure of the hair is actually altered. You can't add pigment to something and have it be lighter (for the most part..as far as hair is concerned, at least.)

This is why it is far healthier to dye your hair darker than it is to lighten it with chemicals.

So, after many a problem having stemmed from dying my hair from:

to a much darker this:

I made myself a promise that I wouldn't dye my hair anything but blonde, as soon as I could get it back. But now I'm having a case of the mean reds, the sort that Tiffany's won't cure. Every time I visit Doe Deere Blogazine, I can't help but long for beautiful red locks that even Raggedy Ann would envy. I've been there before, and I loved loved loved the red look. So...what to do? If I choose to go red, I'm going to have to stay red for a while, and gradually progress back to blonde when I decide to go back (bleh.) I'm thinking that I might try high-quality henna which would both increase the health of my hair, and give me a shocking red hue. I cannot decide. Maybe I should stay blonde until next winter, then convert to red then. Or maybe I should just get a nice red wig, so I can easily switch back and forth? Oh, I do not know.