Lifting the dye from my hair

[Liz_H]

My hair is dyed, starting about 8 inches down. I've heard of color lifting, but I'm not sure what's involved. Does it use harsh chemicals similar to commercial hair dyes? I'd like to see how I like an overall muddy gray look. :eek:

[Cate36]

Not exactly sure what you are referring to... but will chime in and you can let me know if I'm speaking the obvious.

If you want to "lift" the colour you have to a lighter colour, you cannot do it by applying another colour (or lighter colour such as blonde), If you want to lighten the colour on the length... ultimately, you need to strip/remove the existing colour with shop purchased hair colour removers. There are two types, ones that will alter your original colour by stripping the hair and contain a mild form of bleach (these are specifically for people that want to recolour), and others that do not use bleach, but are harsh enough to remove any chemical based existing colour. Colour Oops is the most famous, but they all work essentially the same. Scott Cornwall hair colour remover is a good one that is not too harsh.. One application should do it.. but if your hair is not in great condition to start with, they can cause breakage and damage.. you need to condition very well after.. or olaplex.

There are so called "natural " ways you can lighten colour.. vitamin C tablets mashed up etc.. but it's still highly acidic on the hair.. so IMO makes little difference..

Maybe I am missing something, but I have not heard of any other way to "lift" colour..

[meteor]

Color "lifting" typically refers to "lifting" to a higher level, involving bleach/developer.

You may not necessarily need to use actual bleach/developer, depending on the situation you are in, since bleaching is obviously damaging.

What exactly was used to dye your hair, Liz H? This is important, because true semi-permanents (think Adore, Manic Panic) should wash out and fade on their own over time. The more you clarify, swim in pools, expose your hair to sunlight, the faster the process will go. But some pigments obviously fade faster (some blues, colors deeper into the color spectrum) than others, and a lot depends your your hair, for example, its porosity and density of coverage, etc...

But even permanent dyes fade over time, depending on some environmental factors as well as the product, coverage, etc... You may want to consider color removal products like "Color Oops/Color B4", but they aren't damage-free either. Here's one of the threads on this: https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=92096 But please avoid "color strippers" that do involve bleach.

Don't forget to baby your hair with penetrating oils, hydrolyzed protein treatments, treatments like Olaplex in the meantime, if needed.

Consider the fact that as permanent dyes fade, they tend to reveal that lifted base, which tends to have orange/brassy/yellow tones (depending on your starting color and the level of lifting). No need to lift any further (since it's already lifted to a higher level than your natural hair color), so no need for bleach (!), just tone it to match hair color to your natural color to to the color you want.

I'd recommend finding a professional colorist you trust for this last step - the toning job, if you aren't experienced, because this toning step will really drive that final look and it takes some artistry and skill (sometimes for a nice, natural look you need to blend multiple colors and products and apply in highlights/lowlights fashion), and sometimes people are unhappy and do something drastic when simple toner would have done the job practically damage-free. :flower:

When you prepare for your visit, bring tons of pictures of the exact color you want to achieve from different angles and in different lights and do check out your colorist's work ahead of time (Instagram, etc) - preferably on photos of hair that hasn't been curled/heavily styled - because curling can hide mistakes/bad dye jobs a bit.

[lapushka]

I have seen your picture in another thread, and honestly? It's already grown out quite a bit. I would join the grow-out thread on this site and grow it out - it's fun there and you will get lots of support.

Lifting the color also means applying this "mixture" to your roots, and you won't know what it will do there.

Are you prepared to see what it does on your new growth as well? Normally it "shouldn't" touch it, but I've seen and heard other experiences with Color oops and the like.

[meteor]

Yeah, there is a good active thread on growing out dye/bleach: https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=51155
I agree that if you can hold off from dying or even color correction, you may be pleasantly surprised at how much better hair can fare later. Not to mention that old dye fades over time on its own. You may want to tone to get the effect you want, but you don't have to necessarily use any developer, so you can avoid damage.


Lifting the color also means applying this "mixture" to your roots, and you won't know what it will do there.
Lifting just means going up a level or multiple levels of hair color (a couple good charts with underlying pigments here (https://i.pinimg.com/474x/9b/72/cf/9b72cfd50f1731cb3fd32abd565512df--home-hair-coloring-hair-chart.jpg)and here (https://i.pinimg.com/474x/f4/98/fc/f498fc7942564bdef6047a0ff6d0c157--hair-formulas-aveda-color-formulas.jpg?b=t)), and it doesn't have to involve roots application. Actually, a lot of colorists avoid on-scalp application, especially if the desired color is close to the original and the degree of lifting is small (it's more natural to have darker roots going into lighter lengths and ends anyway). Not to mention all the cases of color correction or balayage/ombre/colormelts/highlights that focus on specific areas of application instead of all over and where application is wherever you may want it to be. Some may prefer to "break the base" (roots application), as it's sometimes called informally, but many don't.

[milosmomma]

I personally lightened dark/black permanent hair dye in the past with vitamin c tablets and sun-in and I found it very damaging. I think I would agree that growing it out would be a kinder less damaging option depending on how unhappy it is making you. You've got a great start already 8 inches you said is quite an achievement!

[lapushka]

Lifting just means going up a level or multiple levels of hair color (a couple good charts with underlying pigments here (https://i.pinimg.com/474x/9b/72/cf/9b72cfd50f1731cb3fd32abd565512df--home-hair-coloring-hair-chart.jpg)and here (https://i.pinimg.com/474x/f4/98/fc/f498fc7942564bdef6047a0ff6d0c157--hair-formulas-aveda-color-formulas.jpg?b=t)), and it doesn't have to involve roots application. Actually, a lot of colorists avoid on-scalp application, especially if the desired color is close to the original and the degree of lifting is small (it's more natural to have darker roots going into lighter lengths and ends anyway). Not to mention all the cases of color correction or balayage/ombre/colormelts/highlights that focus on specific areas of application instead of all over and where application is wherever you may want it to be. Some may prefer to "break the base" (roots application), as it's sometimes called informally, but many don't.

Seems that if you want to avoid the roots, it's not going to be that easy to do yourself, after all, hair lays on hair, and root outgrowth makes it lay on the head uneven, so overlap will probably occur if you can't foil it. And honestly, I don't see that for home use, at all. :flower:

[2gaits]

I have a friend that is bleaching out her dark brown colored hair. Two bleach jobs in and it is a reddish color. Her hair was probably pretty healthy to begin with and I can see quite a bit of damage from the bleach. She is gray and wants to quit dying her hair. I would call some salons and see if you can get a consultation with someone that knows what they are doing with color and can help with transitioning.

[meteor]

I have a friend that is bleaching out her dark brown colored hair. Two bleach jobs in and it is a reddish color. Her hair was probably pretty healthy to begin with and I can see quite a bit of damage from the bleach. She is gray and wants to quit dying her hair. I would call some salons and see if you can get a consultation with someone that knows what they are doing with color and can help with transitioning.

Yes, absolutely. :agree: I'd stop the bleaching (she might have already done too much) and turn to gentle toning (without developer) to cancel out the reddish or brassy tones.

[Liz_H]

It turns out that color removal is what I have in mind. The colored part is a 2 year old permanent dye. I don't want to bleach at all. My goal is to return to the natural color. Should I have a professional do the color removal, or can I do just as well at home?

I'd like to see how I look gray before starting to henna. I do like the tonal variation in my gray hair.

Thinking of henna, I see pros & cons.I know that my fine hair would benefit from the henna. It could use the body and conditioner. I would love the color. The con for henna is that I would have to do regular root touchups. My hair grows pretty fast. Also that it is permanent. If I decide to go gray in 5 or 10 years, I'd be back to the two tone look.

Among other things I'll consider growing it out two toned. Thanks for the link to the thread I love silver gray hair but mine still is mostly mousy gray/brown.

Ideally I'd just remove the dye, and not affect the top 6 inches or so which is my natural color. After one use, I'm allergic to commercial dyes.

I didn't quote because it would be almost the whole thread. Thank you all.
@Cate36 Meteor lapushka milosmomma 2gaits

[lapushka]

If you are going to be using henna anyway, and looking at your hair (pictures are in another thread), I see no reason for first having the color removed. Henna is pretty forgiving, it will just color "a tad" differently on the dyed bits, but that should not be that different if you are going over it with a good BAQ henna.

Before attempting the color removal, I would collect a month's worth of sheds and try the henna on it, see how it does - if you don't like that outcome, you could still attempt the color removal.

[meteor]

It turns out that color removal is what I have in mind. The colored part is a 2 year old permanent dye. I don't want to bleach at all. My goal is to return to the natural color. Should I have a professional do the color removal, or can I do just as well at home?

Just make sure the product is not a "color stripper" - i.e. it should not contain bleach. If bleach is used, it will remove both the dye and some of your own pigment, which is unnecessary and damaging. Many colorists like to use bleach for color correction and dye removal, because that's what they teach in schools and many claim that they get more reliable results this way, so you'll really need to discuss it with the colorist, if you aren't doing it yourself. Some products like Color Oops/Color B4 use sodium hydrosulfite and "reduction" method rather than oxidation method, like in color strippers. I'd go with the reduction method, but it does require very, very thorough and careful washing afterwards to remove the pigments from the dye - it can take a long while, depending on the thickness and the length and the type of dye (the darker the dye and the more layers of dye have accumulated, the longer it takes, for example).

Why not wait for the dye to fade for a while? It's much safer. Frequent clarifying (including in foil), Vit C, swimming in chlorinated pools, sun exposure can all help a bit.

Once the dye is removed (and please do make sure that all of it is removed if you use Color Oops, otherwise it could reoxidize later), you'll probably want to tone and at that stage I'd go to a colorist and preferably use direct dyes (without developer), to avoid additional damage that happens with permanents and demis.

[Obsidian]

One big thing to remember is dye removers like color oops will not return your hair to virgin color.

The permanent color you used contained bleaching agents so your hair under the dye will be lighter then your natural color. Often after using a color remover, you need to re dye to get the shade you want.

If your dyed bits are really dark, you might need two rounds of color oops. Also, the stuff stinks to high heaven but it does work well.

You can do it yourself at home. Most salons will use bleach to remove dyes.
Might be worth it to try a vitamin c treatment first. Sometimes it works really well, other times not so much.

[Jo Ann]

I agree with Obsidian--products like Color Oops will remove the dye, but the underlying hair will not be your virgin color because of the developer or other bleaching agents used to allow the toner to get into the hair shaft. The reviews you read about how Color Oops et al "made my hair orange!" are from people who are not aware of this.

Crushed Vitamin C tablets or baking soda, mixed with shampoo (Prell, Head & Shoulders, baby shampoo, clarifying shampoo and the like) can help fade the hair dye already there without damaging your natural hair color. Mix it up (there's tons of videos on YouTube to describe the process--avoid the ones that use bleach!) and let it sit on your hair for 30-60 minutes and don't forget to DT (deep conditioning treatment) afterwards to get moisture back into your hair! For the most part, these treatments are not damaging, but getting moisture back into your hair afterward is essential for your hair's overall health.

[meteor]

^ Yes, and to be clear, all fading strategies will also show the underlying natural color that was lifted (since developer was used with permanent dye originally), so it will be lighter (higher level) but at the same time more bright orange/yellow/brassy, depending on the underlying pigment that was left behind.
Therefore, toning is a good idea, if the color isn't what you want after all the fading and/or color removal is done... Just try to use direct-only dyes for toning or toning shampoos/conditioners, to avoid additional damage. Good luck! :flower: