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Joules
October 8th, 2018, 12:04 PM
No, I haven't impulsively dyed my hair and now desperately want to remove it :bluebiggr I'm asking for some help to save my mom's hair.

She's been dyeing her hair red for the past two years. Recently she got tired of it, plus she thinks bright hair color looks inappropriate on women aged 50 and older (which is total bs in my opinion, but oh well). Here's a picture of what she had:

https://pp.userapi.com/c847021/v847021650/104c36/p3wZkJ_yT2U.jpg

So she decided to tone it down a bit and get more of darker reddish chestnut color, something like my hennaed hair:

https://pp.userapi.com/c847021/v847021650/104c3d/4sV86ECA3_s.jpg

Aaaaaaaaand here's what she got:

https://pp.userapi.com/c847021/v847021650/104c46/TiJiIxUgqhk.jpg

The problem is that the result is at least one level darker than she wanted, it's almost black in artificial lighting (the goal was to look chestnut-y in artificial lighting and even lighter under sunlight). It also seems cooler than mom wanted. Plus the color absorbed unevenly, more porous ends sucked up more pigment and now seem darker than roots and lengths, I went with her with the salon and it was really obvious when the hairdresser was blowdrying her hair (it became less obvious after the hair was curled, of course).

The color overall looks ok, but my mom isn't very happy with it. The hairdresser she went to has been doing her hair for the past 18 years, so she didn't want any conflicts, but we do think of maybe going to another place next time.

Right now she wants to try and wash out as much color as possible at home before going to a different salon. She's growing her hair out and not damaging it is a priority. Guys, please, throw all the DIY color removing recipes you know at me! The only method I can think of is oils, but there must be more options.

spidermom
October 8th, 2018, 12:58 PM
A warm oil treatment followed by chelating/clarifying will probably pull some color. I also hear good things about Color Oops and Color Remove. The color won't completely come out, though. She'll have to grow it out and cut it off to a certain extent.

spitfire511
October 8th, 2018, 12:59 PM
Watching this with interest - for the record I think (without being able to better see her coloring and face) that it looks really nice! (Though I can understand that it wasn't what she was looking for).

Back in the day my solution was always to just give it a few weeks and not use color-safe products (like using a clarifying shampoo every other wash), and wash it more frequently than usual to get it to fade faster and make sure I was conditioning the heck out of it. I don't think I ever did any damage that way (probably less than a blowout does anyway?)

Fingers crossed for her that it fades to something lovely very soon!!!

blesseddamozel
October 8th, 2018, 02:28 PM
You can try making a wash out of crushed up vitamin C tablets and shampoo. I know it sounds nuts but it works! If you search on youtube "vitamin C hair color removal" you'll get tons of helpful results.

LillyBlossom
October 8th, 2018, 07:03 PM
I've had a dye job go too dark, when I spoke to the salon about it they told me to use 'head and shoulders' and wash it with as hot a water as I could handle, it did work but I thought the head and shoulders was very drying on my hair. I hope your mum is happy with her hair again soon.

Longlegs
October 8th, 2018, 07:35 PM
Soak it in coconut oil overnight then put a clarifying shampoo on the hair without getting it wet first, leave it on for 30 minutes if you can then rinse out and condition well.

Jo Ann
October 8th, 2018, 10:57 PM
Dawn dishwashing soap might work (try it with crushed Vitamin C tablets or baking soda) and be sure to deep condition afterwards. Use HOT water--as hot as your Mom can stand it without getting burned!

If you try Color Oops or other dye remover, be aware that the developer might have lightened your Mom's original hair color and it might be an orange color afterwards. Also, be sure to rinse rinse rinse and rinse some more until the water runs clear!

_fred_
October 9th, 2018, 12:54 AM
Firstly, I really feel for your mom, this is an awful situation to be in. I've been there - about 10 years ago I asked for my roots to match my light auburn highighted length, I told her I wanted it all auburn, and the stylist made everything very dark burgundy with a few white streaks. Absolutely not what I wanted, and there was much crying afterwards, then a trip to another stylist. In hindsight, I think she didn't know what auburn meant.

The best method for your mom will depend on the kind of hair colour they used. If it was an oxidative dye, then fade with clarifying or anti-dandruff shampoo as far as it'll fade (with a heavy moisture treatment each wash!), and use Color Oops or another oxidative dye remover. It's best if she's familiar with exactly how these work and the potential pitfalls - if you don't rinse for long enough you risk not getting all the shrunken dye molecules out, and they can re-oxidise and go even darker. Happily, you can use Color Oops more than once, but it's best to have a gap and moisturising treatments in between because it really dries out your hair. I've used a similar brand last year to remove some permanent purple so I could go pastel, and it was really good (I used Colour-B 4). Chances are it won't get absolutely everything, but it's a good start and her new stylist should be able to colour correct fine from there.

If it was a non-oxidative dye, Color-Oops won't work, but she might get good results using the anti-dandruff shampoo with either vitamin C or bicarbonate of soda method. She might also get results on oxidative dye for this. I used this on direct (non-oxidative) dyes at the weekend and it pulled a lot of colour that wasn't coming out just with shampoo (or at least not fast enough for me!). For this method, I mixed up bicarb and anti-dandruff shampoo into a paste, slathered it on my hair, put a shower cap on and sat somewhere warm for 30 mins. Then I rinsed it out with hot water. There are loads of Youtube videos showing this process, but beware of the ones that say 'no bleach!' but actually they get fed up and bleach it.

As for how I fixed the burgundy disaster, sadly that wasn't a DIY method. I went to a different stylist and she bleached it all out and dyed it bright auburn for me. She'd never have got it blonde in one sitting, there was too much red there, but as I wanted it to be ginger the lingering base brassiness wasn't a problem. As your mom wants a deep colour in the red-brown family a stylist should be able to colour correct from what she has now using a similar method, provided you're clear on letting them know the exact shade your mom wants. It may well cause some damage, but depending on how much bleach damage she already has and how strong her hair is, this could be the fastest way for her to get the hair colour that'll make her happy.

Best of luck!

Joules
October 9th, 2018, 04:01 AM
spidermom, spitfire511, blesseddamozel, LillyBlossom, Longlegs, Jo Ann, _fred_, thank you for your replies!

We have some Vitamin C in tablets and powder, so we'll try that. One of her friends also advised her to use kefir (it's like a fermented milk drink) on her hair to fade the color, it's super liquid though, so we'll probably mix it with a thick mask. I'm saying "we" because I'm the main hair care enthusiast in out house and I'll be the one preparing all the treatments and pocking out shampoos for her :bluebiggr I can finally go to town with oil treatments on her hair, yay! Maybe coconut milk would also work, I have some of it in my stash. I'm not sure about the hot water, mom has blood pressure issues, I just told her the warmer the better.

Unfortunately we don't have ColorOops here in Russia. We both also understand perfectly well that she will most likely need chemical color removing treatments done in a salon, we just want to strip as much of it as possible naturally to minimize damage. It's really sad that she had her hair colored soooo dark, she's mildly allergic to chemical hair dyes so she's considering going natural. We were discussing lifting her color and maybe doing some sort of blonde balayage to help her transition to her silver locks just the day before the disaster struck. She doesn't plan to go blonde right now, she did want a darker color for winter, but that's toooo much.

Mom's hairdresser did use an oxidative dye, Igora Royal with I believe 20 volume developer. Mom's hair is coarse and quite strong, so that's great, I believe it would withstand a little more processing :)

Astrid Carlisle
October 9th, 2018, 05:00 AM
You can try making a wash out of crushed up vitamin C tablets and shampoo. I know it sounds nuts but it works! If you search on youtube "vitamin C hair color removal" you'll get tons of helpful results.

haha i second this! i did this a few years ago and it worked, lifted it a few tones!

illicitlizard
October 9th, 2018, 05:16 AM
Vitamin C with clarifying shampoo is a good idea, one of my friends used it to successfully remove pink from her hair earlier this year. Also bicarb soda in shampoo does similar, but it really dries the hair out so it's not ideal. I don't really know of any non-damaging ways to fade colour tbh. But definitely just do all the things you're not supposed to with dyed hair; hot showers, clarifying, use a colour remover if possible.
P.S. You're never too old to have fabulously bright hair :P

browneyedsusan
October 9th, 2018, 06:43 AM
I don't have anything new to add, but hope you and your mom get that color lifted. :)

FWIW: I really like that original color! I'm 52, and would rock the dickens out of that strawberry blonde!

lapushka
October 9th, 2018, 07:12 AM
Hold on a minute, and don't panic... yet.

Hair color freshly done from the salon will always fade with the next hair wash; just tell her to use H&S or another dandruff shampoo and then see what it does. It might then just be her perfect color.

Joules
October 9th, 2018, 11:25 AM
Vitamin C with clarifying shampoo is a good idea, one of my friends used it to successfully remove pink from her hair earlier this year. Also bicarb soda in shampoo does similar, but it really dries the hair out so it's not ideal. I don't really know of any non-damaging ways to fade colour tbh. But definitely just do all the things you're not supposed to with dyed hair; hot showers, clarifying, use a colour remover if possible.
P.S. You're never too old to have fabulously bright hair :P

That's what I keep telling my mom :) that bright hair is great, and naturally hair is great, everything is great except for the people who are trying to limit what you can do with your appearance. She's slowly becoming more and more open-minded, so maybe she'll rock bright hair when she's in her 60s :bluebiggr


I don't have anything new to add, but hope you and your mom get that color lifted. :)

FWIW: I really like that original color! I'm 52, and would rock the dickens out of that strawberry blonde!

Mom's 52 too! The original color was brighter than strawberry blonde (maybe your monitor doesn't display the color correctly...or maybe the photo isn't very good). It was bright ginger hair. It was bright, but it wasn't obnoxious or too unnatural, if that makes sense. My best friend's natural hair color used to be exactly the same when she was a bit younger (it faded a bit after she turned 20), so such colors do exist in nature. I wish I had it...:crush:


Hold on a minute, and don't panic... yet.

Hair color freshly done from the salon will always fade with the next hair wash; just tell her to use H&S or another dandruff shampoo and then see what it does. It might then just be her perfect color.

She agreed to start things slowly :D she wants to get her money's worth and rock this color for a couple of weeks.Maybe it'ss be perfect after the first wash.

Funny enough, the hairdresser told her to touch up the roots with even darker shades. I guess she really did not get what mom wanted at all.

lapushka
October 9th, 2018, 11:31 AM
That's what I keep telling my mom :) that bright hair is great, and naturally hair is great, everything is great except for the people who are trying to limit what you can do with your appearance. She's slowly becoming more and more open-minded, so maybe she'll rock bright hair when she's in her 60s :bluebiggr



Mom's 52 too! The original color was brighter than strawberry blonde (maybe your monitor doesn't display the color correctly...or maybe the photo isn't very good). It was bright ginger hair. It was bright, but it wasn't obnoxious or too unnatural, if that makes sense. My best friend's natural hair color used to be exactly the same when she was a bit younger (it faded a bit after she turned 20), so such colors do exist in nature. I wish I had it...:crush:



She agreed to start things slowly :D she wants to get her money's worth and rock this color for a couple of weeks.Maybe it'ss be perfect after the first wash.

Funny enough, the hairdresser told her to touch up the roots with even darker shades. I guess she really did not get what mom wanted at all.

If she's gray, that's an odd thing to say, but if her natural hair is darker than the red, I think I get it. Because she probably thinks your mom wants to go darker than her own color? Or, have I got it wrong? :)

Joules
October 9th, 2018, 12:32 PM
If she's gray, that's an odd thing to say, but if her natural hair is darker than the red, I think I get it. Because she probably thinks your mom wants to go darker than her own color? Or, have I got it wrong? :)

She's maybe 50% gray right now. I've never seen her with full on natural hair color (not even on pictures, all photos she has from her young dye-free years are black and white), so I can't really assess the situation here. She says it was just like mine, so probably level 7 or even 8. I have pics of my natural color in my albums. It's not even nearly as dark as she's now. Her hair was dyed with level 6, as we were told by the stylist, and we were offered level 5 tones for root touch-ups.

Now that I'm analyzing it it seems weird. We were dyeing her hair with level 7 red, and we sometimes used level 6 red on her roots to get dimension (I touched up her roots all the time). We did want to go a shade darker, so going with level 6 tones was totally logical for the hairdresser. Maybe my mom's hair reacted weirdly? I mean, her hair looks black. I'm getting seriously confused here. Maybe it's not the stylist's fault at all.

Obsidian
October 9th, 2018, 02:37 PM
When I tried coloring my henned hair a light brown, it went really dark, nearly black. I think I should have tried a medium/dark ashy blond instead and done strand testing. I really like your moms color but I agree, it should fade with a few washes.

zmirina
April 14th, 2019, 10:27 PM
Be careful with vit C, it almost always makes hair redder, based on my research and experience

Beckstar
April 15th, 2019, 12:15 AM
Tbh, both colors look great.

Begemot
April 15th, 2019, 12:24 AM
My understanding is that vitamin C doesn't make hair color red, red color is just the last one to go when you start lifting a darker dye out :hmm: So vitamin C just lifts darker dye out pretty effectively and shows the red tone that's left from previous dyes. I couldn't get rid of the red with DIY stuff though. Years ago I tried vitamin C and also honey and cinnamon mix. I wonder how your mother's hair turned out Joules :)