I have dyed my hair with permanent dark blue Swarzkopf Live Intense colour. I’ve had this on for a couple of months now and I’d like to strip the colour and put on red (Garnier Olia Bold, intense red). My natural hair colour is very dark brown – I did bleach prior colouring. I’m unsure whether I should be using a hair colour Remover or hair colour Stripper for the purpose of lifting the dye on my hair. It’s turned a mixture of green and blue over the months and I read about the pastel pink solution you told someone else but I’m not sure if that could still be applied to my situation. I’ve only dyed the ends of my hair, so not the whole head. Would it be okay to dye my hair after using the hair colour remover/ stripper or would it damage my hair too much? And so, what colour should I put on as I don’t want to be left with bleached/ orangey ends?

This time it has not really worked at all, in fact, I think it looks a bit darker than after the first time I tried it. When I was rinsing it looked lighter but once I had finished and it had dried, it was darker. I didn’t use any other products except the finisher in the box.Mix equal parts baking soda and lemon juice. Leave the mixture on your hair for just a few minutes. Lemon can really dry and damage your hair, so remember not to leave it on for too long. After de-colouring your hair you can re-dye it immediately without any problem. What we like about it: The pink contains a small amount of red molecule, which is enough to neutralise a small amount of green (aka mint). What you should find, is the hair turns to a silver or pearl blonde. If you find the hair looks a tad pink, it’s fine just clarify it once and this should balance it out. If you feel the hair still has a green tinge (after the pink), just repeat the pink application again. So, I have been researching how to remove the hair dye build up, and am confused. Do I use a clarifying shampoo, then a remover, or a stripper, and then a light ash blonde hair dye? My fear is that if the dye is removed, or my hair colour is stripped, I may end up with an uneven ginger colour, at which point I wouldn’t have a clue what to do… Some describe it as cat pee and other say it smells like rotten eggs. This could be because the colour remover is extra-powerful to ensure it works on darker hair dyes.

Here are the most regularly recommended color removers and shade-tweaking toners we found (NB not personally tested): If a colour is too dark, try to remove it immediately or within 48 hours. The fresher an artificial colour is, the easier it will be to remove it from the hair, especially if you have already washed it several times with baby or clarifying shampoo. Newly applied darker hair colourants that you want to correct will only require a hair colour remover – they shouldn’t need a hair colour stripper. 4. Be Patient With Colour That’s Too Light Hi Natalie, that light green tinge is a really weird thing that seems to happen when you get blue out of the hair. It’s a mixture of a reminance of the blue and the yellow of the hair/keratin. Hair Colour Removers like Decolour Remover (red box) cannot technically work on semi-permanent fashion colours. However, whilst Decolour Stripper will get the unwanted purple shade out of the hair, it will also lighten the underlying base, so you would lose your balayage which is sitting under your purple colour. I know Decolour Remover can generally get semi-permanent reds out of the hair (due to the red colour molecule). However, what tends to happen is the red will flush out of the purple shade and leave a blue behind. If the blue (left behind) is a fairly standard blue, applying a pastel pink throughout this hair will create a lavender result. However, if the blue appears more like a mint green, the pastel pink turns this mint green colour to a beige blonde.

I may still do it and have tried a Silver Grey Semi-Pernament in an attempt to colour or at least tone in the blonde to make the transition easier but it had little effect. I did use your clarifying shampoo beforehand. If I use the colour remover will my hair go orange? My long term plan would be to try lighten it and to help the process of growing it out to Grey, is there anything I can do to make the transition easier with a metallic colour or something, I’m not in favor of bleach if I can avoid it at all costs, as I had a frizz ball a few years ago and I think it may have broken my hair .

Hair colour remover is effective, but it does smell pretty grim. You can get rid of the lingering odour by using some natural remedies: baking soda mixed with water in a spray and sprayed all over your hair is a good solution. Ok, I have naturally medium brown hair with a few greys. For years I have had foils put in which lighten it significantly to be a light blonde but not to the extent of platinum. I always use purple shampoo so I didn’t have warmth. You can still brush and wash your hair without worrying it will fall out. If it feels slightly dry, a moisturising conditioner is all you need.

Hair Color Remover

You cannot use any peroxide based products on the hair for at least 3 washes or a week after use of a hair colour remover. However, a week or so later you can go in and create the balayage base. If you are confident to do the balayage, you can just proceed this with this. I’d recommend you keep using Colour Restore Cool Ash if you want the balayage to have an cream-ash tone. Or use Colour Restore Iced Platinum if you want the blonde to be more platinum toned. Do you think this would work? Is there any other product you would recommend either before during or after this process? Color Oops Hair Color Remover is the safest and most effective way to reverse an undesirable hair color application in just 20 minutes! Color Oops corrects your hair color by shrinking dye molecules, allowing you to simply wash them away. Color Oops Hair Color Removers do not work on direct dyes. Therefore, I would suggest you use Decolour Remover (red box) on the hair and get that dark colour out. I would then follow this with Colour Restore Cool Ash, not so much to cool the hair down but give you a more solid even, blonde shade. If the current colour is very dark, you might need two applications of Decolour Remover (a week or so apart), but you can keep using Colour Restore Cool Ash to tone. If you want a very cold, darker toner try my new Colour Restore Super Cool Ash.

Next, I recommend getting a box of my Decolour Stripper. I am recommending this for the process I am about to suggest, because I know Decolour Stripper is kinder on hair that has been multi-processed and will enable you do a second process afterwards. Timing is also key; do not attempt to conduct several permanent colour processes on your hair within a one-month period. Frequent exposure to peroxides, ammonia and PPDs can cause the hair to become very porous and damaged. Once hair becomes damaged, it is then difficult to achieve a good colourant result, as the shade could grab initially and appear too dark or patchy, and then fade fast over subsequent washes. 11. Fashion Colours Can Be Difficult to Remove I clarify my hair, then I strip it (as I do have brown roots with some greys), I then colour to lighten. Permanent hair dye replaces some of your natural hair colour molecules with artificial colour molecules. So what a hair colour remover does is get inside your hair shafts and dissolves the bonds holding the colour molecules together. It also shrinks the molecules. You’ve given some great detailed answers to others so I thought you could help. Sadly I had a nightmare salon experience with my hair ending up dark brown instead of the warm auburn I requested, I managed to fade it into a chestnut colour and then thought I’d be able to apply a nice Red copper to it, it’s now only taken to parts of my roots and some of the top of my hair but my mid lengths and ends are still a washed out chestnut.Hi Janet, I really do not think you will get the result you want from Decolour based on your history. You see, whilst your hair is naturally mousy and grey there would have been natural warm tones in the non-grey hair. Therefore, the moment permanent shades are applied to the hair that mousy shade can start turning buttery if the peroxide developer was too strong. It sounds like you have managed to get the secondary sandy colour out (which went coppery). Therefore, based on everything you are saying, it seems you really don’t like too much warmth in your hair. Before you try anything else, I recommend you apply either my Colour Restore Iced Platinum or Cool Ash to your hair. I believe you currently have a yellowish blonde base that will tone very well. I’d also recommend you only wash your hair in a purple shampoo (from now on) as this will also help. If you want a more light neutral blonde, I’d suggest using the Colour Restore Iced Platinum for 20 minutes, then only washing in a purple shampoo after that. However, if you’d like a more beige blonde use Colour Restore Cool Ash. Still wash the hair in only purple shampoo. Colour Restore shades fade off over washes, but they are conditioning and do not damage the hair. Therefore, you can re-apply whenever you want to replenish the colour fade. If you can, try to keep this regime up for about 6 weeks, it will give your hair a rest and create a good interim colour. Should I try a darker grey semi or will it need a permanent ? I’m loathe to do the latter as I’ve had breakage in the past and now am careful to only do the roots each with a tiny “overlap” to avoid over-processing so the idea of using permanent all over is a bit scary ! This method works best if you do it within a few days of dying your hair. You will still see results after this timeframe, but the results may be minimal.