Need to get rid of the red (dye, that is)!

[NinaBedena]

Help, professionals! I dyed my hair using what was supposed to be semi-permanent (out in 28 washes) in auburn in October. Despite at least 30 washes using a clarifying shampoo plus several rounds of vitamin C/shampoo masques, the red was still very much there. My natural color is a VERY ashy light brown, but with some red highlights (and my hair LOVES to go red). I tried to reduce the red using a permanent color (box) in ash brown—didn’t touch the red. Did it again using a different formulation from the same company, ended up darker brown and still red. Finally tried to lighten using an ash blond (same company), ended up slightly lighter, still red, and now with “hot spots” at the roots. Last ditch went to a local beauty supply and bought professional grade stuff, which, while lighter, still came out quite red and not anything near ashy.

Is there any way to get that red out from the “semi-permanent” now that there’s permanent in the mix? Or is that red just because box color tends toward red? Or do I need to get it all stripped out and try to match my natural color? Problem is that I did something similar years ago and the salon couldn’t match my natural color—too ashy. Thanks for any thoughts!

[AJNinami]

Help, professionals! I dyed my hair using what was supposed to be semi-permanent (out in 28 washes) in auburn in October. Despite at least 30 washes using a clarifying shampoo plus several rounds of vitamin C/shampoo masques, the red was still very much there. My natural color is a VERY ashy light brown, but with some red highlights (and my hair LOVES to go red). I tried to reduce the red using a permanent color (box) in ash brown—didn’t touch the red. Did it again using a different formulation from the same company, ended up darker brown and still red. Finally tried to lighten using an ash blond (same company), ended up slightly lighter, still red, and now with “hot spots” at the roots. Last ditch went to a local beauty supply and bought professional grade stuff, which, while lighter, still came out quite red and not anything near ashy.

Is there any way to get that red out from the “semi-permanent” now that there’s permanent in the mix? Or is that red just because box color tends toward red? Or do I need to get it all stripped out and try to match my natural color? Problem is that I did something similar years ago and the salon couldn’t match my natural color—too ashy. Thanks for any thoughts!

The only way you're going to get all that color out is by using color remover and bleach, and dying back to your original color.. I would only do this with a very experienced stylist so as to not damage your hair too much. It will probably be very expensive. Or you could join all of us over at this thread (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=51155). :)

[SparkleToes]

You should try a bleach bath. What you do is you take your scoop of bleach your developer (I would go with a 20 maybe 30 vol) mix that. then you thin it with a generous amount of shampoo. You put the mix on and let it sit checking it often I would start at about 20mins. don't do this for a long period of time ie 60mins, the best part is in a couple of days if it didn't lift the color properly you can do it again. At beauty supply stores they should have these color correcting packets that say something like "red remover" or "gold corrected" you can add those to your bleach mix .Once the red is lifted dye over it if you like with a ASH or COOL tone. do not pick a color with R (red) G (golden) or W (warm) your hair will suck the red out of these colors. Look for things like 7N (neutral) 7A (ash) the 7 is just an example of a color level number. be careful if something says C because if it looks like this 8RC that's red copper. Remember too that all the little color swatches you see below the colors were done on basically white hair , so yours may be different.A toner might also work well if you bleached it light enough.The sallys or your beauty supply store should be very helpful as well. Also if your worried about damage coat your hair in coconut oil before bleaching oh and sallys has some great deep conditioners. Hope that helps

Also struggled with red removal

[Verdandi]

Colorb4 and/or Color Oops have been life savers for me when trying to get red dye out if my hair. Actually, it wasn't even much trying because it got it out on the first try. Even got some of the henna, but that part was probably just a lucky moment.

It isn't necessarily left over color that is the problem in your case however. Hair dyes often contain developers like peroxide, which can leave the hair with a brassy red-ish tone when the rest of the dye is gone. If that's the case, then your best bet is probably an ashy toner.

[khryz]

I second the colour remover. I used ColourB4 and it got rid of most of the red (my album shows the red hair). My hair was back to its bleach, brassy colour, but on some parts it was still salmon-pink. But I think that would still make it easier to dye it back to your ashy.. or at least close to it. If after 3 rounds of ColourB4 and you're still unable to get rid of the colour... then you'll have to use bleach... or grow it out :)

[NinaBedena]

Thanks all of you! Life is crazy so it took me a long time to get back here. I ended up trying an ash enhancer, which was great, though I ended up with my hair still much darker than my natural color. Then I started using a cheap new shampoo... and have been watching all of my color going down the drain, so even after over 10 washes it's still coming out! It's been pretty weird, even some of the red's coming out. It's still not to my natural color, and I have blond spots at the roots, but I'm going to see how this goes and will look into the ColourB4 (or equivalent available here).
The biggest thing is that I'm getting married in June, so I may have to put something on there shortly before to get it all one color--hopefully close to natural this time!

[pastina]

Oddly enough, while red permanent dyes are notorious for fading at break-neck speed, red semi-permanents are incredibly tenacious.

Color-oops is a great suggestion, but I need you to realize something-- you won't be back to your natural color when this rinses out. You're going to be significantly lighter/brassier because of all the permanent dyes you used. Permanent dyes contain peroxide-- they lift your base color a bit before depositing the new color.

...It also sounds like you quadruple processed your hair doing all this. You should really pick up some protein conditioner and let your hair recover for a significant amount of time. Especially before your wedding I'd bet you don't want your hair snapping from chemical damage. :(

[SaraJayne]

Just wanted to add my sympathy as I've been here! Used a semi permanent medium brown which went really dark brown and when it eventually faded it went ginger. Tried the harshest shampoos and ash toned semis but the only thing that got rid of it was time, I'm afraid. I went progressively lighter with ash toned box colours which got me to golden blonde, which I was fine with as it looked natural. Took me well over a year to go from dark brown to golden blonde, though! Have you tried the blue/violet toned shampoos? I know they won't change your colour drastically, but they are quite gentle and will encourage it in the right direction. Lots of luck.