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firicia
March 16th, 2011, 04:49 PM
Hey everyone, my friend dyed her hair from blond to red a couple weeks ago and now she hates it and wants to go back.

I'd love to know if anyone has any advice who may have done this or knew someone who did. Is there anything she can do to help not completely kill her hair? I suggested some coconut oil, but I am at a loss cause I have never bleached my hair blond at home (once got highlights at a salon but that's it).

She's gonna come over Sat night so I was thinking maybe if she wants we could do a coconut oil treatment together, she is dying her hair before the weekend tho so I won't be there.

Thanks for any advice, it'll be fun to be girly Sat anyways and have some hair fun.

daemonwildcat
March 16th, 2011, 06:39 PM
As a natural blond gone red, all I can say is good luck. I once determined that there were 3 ways to get red out of hair:
1. dye it black. 2. shave it off. 3. set fire to it ;)

Seriously though, the one time I tried going red to blond it took 2 boxes of a colour remover (inbetween which my hair was bright orange) which took me to straw yellow. I followed that up by good old nasty chem dyes to get "Medium Ash Blond" which was as close as I could get to my natural color, but there was still a light but distinct strawberry tint, and my hair was quite frazzled.

eta: This was chem dyed red to begin with, probably garnier or herbal essences. I think the colour remover was revlon? Might have been Loreal.

Firefox7275
March 16th, 2011, 07:07 PM
Do not let her bleach it, it will probably go orange and might break off. She needs to soak as much of the dye as she can with product designed to remove dye, then wash it a few times - some red will come out as it's the worst colour for fading. Then get a hairdresser to fix the remainder. Otherwise dye brown over the top.

There are loads of threads on the boards from people who have wrecked their hair trying to bleach a dark colour mistake out. Also some talk of the effect of coconut on coloured hair, in the oil shampoo thread on the Henna board. IIRC there is the suggestion it helps your hair hold onto colour longer.

Kathie
March 16th, 2011, 07:10 PM
Unfortunately red is the hardest color to lighten. I’ve gone from dark red to blond a few times. The best outcome was when I did it over a period of time using foil highlights. The worst is when I went blond in one step, my hair turned to the consistency of chewing gum when wet. So, regardless of whether she is planning to do highlights or a full head lightening I would suggest she do it in a few stages. Also I would strongly suggest she goes to a professional... but you’ve said shes going to do it at home so perhaps her mind is already made up.

One way to protect the hair is coconut oil, you actually coat the hair in coconut oil and then apply the bleach over the top of it, no rinsing.

And... what about trying Color Oops before she bleaches?

Amraann
March 16th, 2011, 08:00 PM
As another blond who has red hair I can second the other replies.
However,
There are a couple of ways to go back with less damage.
Option 1... do it slowly with a trim each time and a lot of tender care.
Option 2... have a professional strip the color and then re-dye it. Again lots of tender care and a few trims at least.
Option 3.... she is a blond which means she has the smallest hair follicle whereas red is the largest.
If she is patient the red will rinse off to a point. Blond hair does not hold red dye very well.
Over a couple of months it will really fade. Then it may not be so damaging to follow the other tips.
I suggest letting it fade. ( I have naturally blond hair and have dyed it red for years and even now it still rinses down the drain after several poos)
Once it has faded she can go to a brown shade and then slowly move from there.
IMO that is the best way to dye it back without ruining her length completely.

Lianna
March 16th, 2011, 09:23 PM
Depends how blonde she wants it. I think a dark ash blonde color and some level 8 highlights could work for her (that's what I did).

Mesmerise
March 16th, 2011, 09:27 PM
Honestly, she should wait some weeks for colour fade, and then see what the result is. As everyone else has said, she'll do some serious damage trying to get the red directly out of the blonde, and will probably end up a bit orangish anyway (which is worse than red on blonde hair!!).

I think the best bet is to wait for colour fade, and then dye it a dark ash blonde over whatever reddishness is left and then let nature take its course! maybe she could add some blonde highlights as her roots start showing through to help blending at this stage.

Shermie Girl
March 16th, 2011, 09:55 PM
Hey everyone, my friend dyed her hair from blond to red a couple weeks ago and now she hates it and wants to go back.

I'd love to know if anyone has any advice who may have done this or knew someone who did. Is there anything she can do to help not completely kill her hair? I suggested some coconut oil, but I am at a loss cause I have never bleached my hair blond at home (once got highlights at a salon but that's it).

She's gonna come over Sat night so I was thinking maybe if she wants we could do a coconut oil treatment together, she is dying her hair before the weekend tho so I won't be there.

Thanks for any advice, it'll be fun to be girly Sat anyways and have some hair fun.



Okay, years ago, I did precisely this. I had dyed blonde hair. Decided to go red. Went red, liked it for a couple of months, decided I was sick of it, and tried to go blonde, again. I used Loreal Colour Remover, stripped out the red and back to pale blonde, added pale blonde high lift permanent colour and by the time I was done, my hair was trashed. It was the colour I wanted but it was mushy, gummy and just shattered when I touched it. :justy:

Red fades like something crazy but it is a stone biatch to remove from hair. If your friend has hair in good shape under the red, removal may be possible. Have her get some colour remover and before you guys go anywhere near her hair, run strand tests. See how her hair reacts. If the strand tests turn out okay, follow the directions exactly and time it all precisely. When it comes time to tone it out (colour remover does not restore the original colour) use the lowest volume developer and keep the toner in as little time as needed to get the colour she wants.

Remember, run strand tests!

Better yet, refer her to a really fabulous stylist/colourist. Because trust me, a head full of shattered mush is heartbreaking.

firicia
March 16th, 2011, 10:18 PM
All very interesting thank you. I don't think she is naturally a blond, forgot to add that, she went blond a while ago for a change from her dark hair which I think was dyed as well. I am not really sure what her natural colour is, maybe a lighter brown.

I'll definitely pass along this advice. She was telling me the other day she wants to grow it long so if that's the case she may want to avoid changing back to blond, unless she's willing to have to sacrifice some length and hair health.

Thanks so much for all the advice! :D

Shermie Girl
March 16th, 2011, 11:31 PM
Yes, if she is a dyed blonde under that red, she needs to proceed with extreme caution and do strand tests of every step to be sure that removing the red and re toning out to her shade of blonde won't destroy her tresses.

If she is determined to be a blonde, I still think that taking her head to an expert, if she can afford it would be her best bet.

I hope that everything works out for her hair. :)

UltraBella
March 17th, 2011, 12:29 AM
I have gone from red to blonde using bleach but I did not do my entire head at once. I foiled in highlights and lowlights several times so that I was not damaging it all at once. It worked and my hair was fine. And then for some reason I went back to red ! Ugh, why !!! Don't get me wrong, red looks good on me, but my ashy roots look terrible very quickly. So, I toned my entire head with a neutral light brown and then started bleaching in highlights again. That means quite a bit of my hair has made it through two bleachings. I feel very lucky, because my hair is really healthy still.

NouvelleNymphe2
March 17th, 2011, 06:35 AM
If she's a fine haired, and she already chemically colors her hair (from brown to blonde to red...now to ???) bleaching her hair will over-process her hair. IMHO any chemical coloration on fine hair is a big NO NO. If she has amazingly thick indestructible hair (like Ultrabella :)), perhaps she'll be able to bring it around. I would be SOOOOO cautious if I was a fine haired person in that situation. I would probably just stay with it and let it grow two toned.

wvgemini
March 17th, 2011, 07:09 AM
Yeah, I did that many years ago and it wasn't good. Think Easter Egg. shudder:

I ended up going to the salon to get them to "fix" it and I left in tears with straw yellow hair. If she hates the red that bad, I would advise going browner, not blonde.

polette
March 17th, 2011, 07:43 AM
I did this exact thing many years back!! I loved the red, but I was sick of the up keep.

Personally, it wasn't too hard to get my hair back to blonde, just EXPENSIVE. My hair suffered damaged, but nothing horrible. I I also haven't dyed it since, and the dye has all but grown out.

I went to a Salon, and went through a two step process. I am a complete Salon Noob, and have no idea really what they did... but it was similar to a highlight process (from what I understand...) I will say after the first process, the overall color was a dirty pink orange as the blonde streaks mixed with the red that was left. I had to go back and have them finish it like the next day because it was pretty horrific. After that, my hair was all blonde and wasn't mushy or breaking or anything... Definitely lighter then it is naturally (I am a natural blonde) so I still had to deal with roots.

I think the whole thing would have cost 200-250$ except I was pissed that my hair was so pink/orange in between processes. I kind of knew it would happen, but they told me it would look fine, so they gave me a discount. If she is serious about having to be blonde again, she can do that... Maybe she could do a brown over it if she just hates the red and doesn't want to drop $200

cataphract
March 17th, 2011, 11:08 AM
I have also done this, but am a natural medium/light ash blonde. I found that the red was fading too fast and my hair stopped looking the way I wanted it to very quickly. I'm sure having very non porous hair helped with this. Anyhow, I tried bleaching it, and while I was able to do it successfully with very low damage despite being fine-haired it didn't bleach out to a color I'd consider acceptable. We're talking Lelu Dallas.... I dyed it again very soon afterward with a medium ash blond to get some sense of normalcy out of it, but still have some interesting color to the length. I've decided it's best just to let it grow, deal with the ombre look, and when it gets to a length I like keep trims up until the red has grown out and I'm ready to grow it longer or do something else with it.

My fine hair is basically impervious, though. It's very strong and resilient, though difficult to moisturize - which I again think would be how low it's porosity seems to be.

prosperina
March 17th, 2011, 11:24 AM
Go to the salon. (Yes, this is the extent of my advice. :D)

Been there, done that, and I wouldn't have been able to do it myself. It's just so much easier and less risky to have a professional fix this sort of thing.

princessrose
March 17th, 2011, 01:57 PM
Going to a salon, if she can afford it, is the best advice.

If she must do it herself, I suggest Loreal Color Remover, but only if her hair is in good condition. She will probably have to trim a little off afterwards, any dyes and harsh chemicals seem to ruin ends. I don't know how dark the red is or the condition/texture of her hair, but with my experience I only used one treatment and it was blonde again. Bleaching again afterwards is usually a bad idea, although she shouldn't need to, the remover should get rid of all the color.

Unofficial_Rose
March 17th, 2011, 02:17 PM
Overnight olive oil soaks can lift chemical dye somewhat when you've overdone it a bit. I've gone from dyed blonde to dyed brown and it's come out too dark and found that this method removes some dye. And it's actually good for your hair.

It's grim being stuck with a colour you hate.

heidi.maryke
March 18th, 2011, 01:30 AM
I have to agree with most people here and say going to a professional is the best way to do it. It took 1 lot of bleach, and multiple tonings to get the red out of my hair (naturally dark ash blonde) and it does alot of damage.

I once called up a hair colour company because the colour came out WAY too dark and they told me to do the following:
1. Soak hair in olive oil
2. Mix in a clarifying shampoo
3. Wrap in cling wrap and heat up your head with a blow dryer for a few minutes, then wash out.
This is supposed to help lift some colour (which it did). Good luck to your friend!