I've HAD it! What are my options?

[MandaMom2Three]

I've tried and tried to at least TOLERATE this old black hair dye even if I knew I'd never like it, but I just HATE it! :( I LOVE my henna, I HATE that this stupid old dye keeps covering it up! It is SO PRETTY on all my virgin hair! I am so tired of looking in the mirror and feeling :-(. I want to get as much of this stuff out as I can! Now it was done about 8 or 9 months ago (I should have done something as soon as it was done but I just kept telling myself I'd get used to it :rolleyes:) and I have hennaed on top of it. I'm not worried about the henna, if it ends up being lightened, big deal I can do it again, I'm just afraid of the colour being in there so long nothing will budge it. What options are there to remove this colour and how damaging would each option be roughly?

[Lamb]

I hope Nightshade will soon be over here. :flower: I think she has a good article about dye-damage, have you checked it out?

[eaglefeather71]

I used "Coloroops" to remove Black dye. It didn't all come out, but some did and I think you can do multiple applications. I have stopped trying for now, but I may try again after the holidays. Someone also recommended another product on the thread where I asked a similar question, Here's the link (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=15130).

[NebraskaChick84]

that's how I felt after a couple of years of blond dye. I ended up growing it out and cutting it. :grouphug:

[Unofficial_Rose]

Jheri Redding Colorfix is very good - but don't bother with Step 3 (it has peroxide in it). Removing permanent dye is what it's designed for.

It doesn't damage hair either. It smells of rotten eggs, but only for a short while. If you hate the black dye, it could be worth it.

You can then henna over it to your heart's content :D

[Katze]

Not sure but hope you find something. I am still dealing with 3+ year old bleached ends, so I feel your pain.

[wolf girl]

I hope Nightshade will soon be over here. :flower: I think she has a good article about dye-damage, have you checked it out?


She recommened to me to use and mixture of Baby shampoo and hunny. Some people have had luck with a color remover (I can't for the life of me remember the name of it but I got it at Sally's). Both did lighten the old dye but it didn't get rid of it completely. I think it will depend of how much old dye is in your hair.


Paging Nightshade!!!! Paging Nightshade!!!!

[CestMadeleine]

I bleached my hair recently and I had black on the ends. It came out, but it is quite damaging. After some heavy oilings and deep conditioning I finally managed to get it back to it's almost soft state but I still don't recommend it. Especially since this will also lighten your hair to an ugly orange and I don't think that's what you're going for.

I think your best option is just letting it grow out. I've done that before too.

[MandaMom2Three]

Bleaching would be an absolute last resort, I know it's uber damaging but my hatred of this dye runs deep :steam: . I've heard of this colour-oops but hard as I try I can't find it anywhere! I'll order some online I think. I tried a a few things to lighten my henna a while back (baby shampoo was one of them!) and it worked great to lighten the henna, but not this old chemical dye. I've got a honey lightening soloution sitting right now, it will be ready to apply in half an hour. I'm thinking of doing one of those a day for now until I can get ahold of this coloroops stuff. Concidering my hair is BSL and the virgin roots are only maybe 4 or 5 inches long, growing out is too long to look at hair I hate. If I can lift ANY of this colour safely I'll try it, I'll see what I get with the honey treatments and colouroops when I get it.

Thanks for the suggestions! :flower:

[lapushka]

I think you'd have to use bleach everywhere, otherwise how are you going to apply it? To the ends only, where the dye is? You can't do that yourself at the back of your head. Even if you find someone to do it, if it's a non-professional then the risk is that you might end up with two different colors even then, and even after henna application. So, I think it's either bleach the whole head or... grow it out and gently trim.

[MandaMom2Three]

It isn't just the ends, the majority of the length is black dye.

[lora410]

I did coloropps as well a few months after I did my black dye. Most of it came out them I did a mix of honey and baby shampoo on head for 30 mins and rinsed. Take not baby shampoo is dryign to hair.I was able to take it from back to middark brown So no matter what you choose deeply oil your hair afterwards.

[Oskimosa]

I think it largely depends on your hair type. I did that to myself once, ended up with blue roots (because I'm naturally blonde) and dull, cheap witch-wig black. I tried the shampoo train and that did nothing at all. I had a colorist strip my hair but only to a medium-light brown. In fact, years ago, I had the same length stripped three times before it all grew out, and besides being more pourous I really didn't feel like my hair was trashed. Hot oil treatments and 3MM had something to do with that, I think.

No matter what you do, you're going to incurr SOME damage if you remove that dye. You just have to decide how much damage you're willing to trade for losing that dye.

And think of it this way: You're waiting to grow out the dye and hate how it looks. If you remove the dye with chemicals, you'll be waiting to grow out damaged length. Either way, you're waiting to get rid of something, which one do you believe is easier to live with?

[Lindsay]

I might be wrong, but I'm always hearing 'avoid protein in your shampoo and conditioner to keep your color longer', so wouldn't be the opposite to get rid of it? A protein treatment, perhaps? I also hear honey and chamomile/lemon juice works great to lighten hair. A friend of mine also said she used baking soda thinking it was "safe" for her dark brown chemically dyed hair, but it actually lightened it a few shades after a few weeks of use.

[spidermom]

Grow it out and cut it off. That is the safest option for protecting your natural hair. Put it up quickly every morning and don't even look at it.

[MandaMom2Three]

Well I have it up in a honey treatment right now and all I can think of is rice LOL. (I have a recipe for rice that uses cardamom :p ) I'll rinse out in an hour and deep condition.

[Anje]

You may be able to get ColorOops or ColorFix online, but if your hair color wasn't deposit-only (which black really ought to be, but haircolor manufacturers probably wouldn't make life that easy), the hair under all that dye might not be its virgin color. Furthermore, these might be damaging, too -- no personal experience, but I've heard that they're quite harsh.

Bleaching would probably be terrible. It's going to damage the hair, and then you'll hate the bleached hair, because it still won't feel like virgin hair.

Of course, the only other alternative is to cut the black off, all at once or little-by-little.

I feel for you. None of the options sounds like much fun...

[Nightshade]

I hope Nightshade will soon be over here. :flower: I think she has a good article about dye-damage, have you checked it out?


She recommened to me to use and mixture of Baby shampoo and hunny. Some people have had luck with a color remover (I can't for the life of me remember the name of it but I got it at Sally's). Both did lighten the old dye but it didn't get rid of it completely. I think it will depend of how much old dye is in your hair.


Paging Nightshade!!!! Paging Nightshade!!!!

:lol: Good gods, a girl goes to lunch for an hour! :p

MandaMom2Three- I had good luck using ColorFix, which is very similar to ColorOops. It doesn't hurt your hair, and I think I did three or four applications.

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=1695&pictureid=20632

The second picture there is my hair in college, really deep burgundy red with PPD black dyed streaks (damn I miss those).

You can see in the third picture what the color was like after I pulled out the black and hennaed over everything. I went a bit nuts with the henna, not realizing it darkened with each application, but that much henna probably saved it considering how damaged it was :o

Here's a more complete color evolution:
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=1695&pictureid=20633


And here's two of the strands I did ColorFix on:
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=1695&pictureid=20661

The top strand is my burgundy/back hair after colorfix. The hair underneath was bleached golden from the permanent dye. To this day where the dye was still has more of a ruby-red cast to it, but it's a lot more bearable :)

So my advice:

Get some ColorFix. Do a strand test for time. I routinely left mine on for 45 minutes or so with the only result being unplesant smelling hair for a few days and a bit of dryness. Let the strand test sit for a few days to determine if/how much it will redarken. Treat the strand test EXACTLY how you are planning on treating your hair (in regards to time, washout methods, etc)
When you wash out the ColorFix use baby shampoo. It's alkaline so it opens up the hair cuticle, and it's reccomended for pulling out dyes like Manic Panic.
As a treatment in between ColorFix treatments you can mix equal parts honey and baby shampoo. Apply it to your hair, put it in a plastic cap and let it sit for awhile. Rinse and condition.Just take it slow and don't make any rash decisions. If it's STILL darker than you want, I would henna over it all and then consider highlights to blend the top virgin grown into the old darker growth rather than bleaching the whole lot.

I hope that helps a bit!

[Katze]

I might be wrong, but I'm always hearing 'avoid protein in your shampoo and conditioner to keep your color longer', so wouldn't be the opposite to get rid of it? A protein treatment, perhaps? I also hear honey and chamomile/lemon juice works great to lighten hair. A friend of mine also said she used baking soda thinking it was "safe" for her dark brown chemically dyed hair, but it actually lightened it a few shades after a few weeks of use.

Lemon juice and baking soda both dry hair out; they do not lighten it.

Most normal shampoos will fade hair color but they will not get rid of black dye. Period.

Honey, in all my years of using it, has not lightened my hair one bit. It does make it shiny and soft and helps soothe an itchy scalp, but whether or not it lightens hair at all is debatable. It has not lightened my hair or my BF's hair.

As far as I know, besides ColorOops (which didn't exist when I was dyeing black) there are two options: bleach, which will further damage the OP's hair and leave her with orange on the parts that were black, and cutting her hair off. But it has been a long time since I had dyed black hair.

[morguebabe]

I always found washing my hait with head and shoulders or pert plus got dye out really fast.

[wintersun99]

..............

[Darkhorse1]

I know some of my students have had dying mishaps, and I think you can use a neutralizer to remove the initial color. However, I'm not sure what you used to color it in the first place. Good luck though and try not to be discouraged! :)

[MandaMom2Three]

I'm feeling very ENcouraged since reading this thread :) I feel like I have multiple options now and that is comforting :flower:

[MandaMom2Three]

We don't have Walgreens or Rite Aid in Canada (at least not that I've ever seen) but I've checked at every Walmart, pharmacy and everywhere I can think of :p . Looks like it's added to the huge list to "order online when possible" list (right at the top though LOL)

[MandaMom2Three]

Honey, in all my years of using it, has not lightened my hair one bit. It does make it shiny and soft and helps soothe an itchy scalp, but whether or not it lightens hair at all is debatable. It has not lightened my hair or my BF's hair.

I've had the opposite experience LOL. Honey dries my hair and frizzes it out but the time I added it to my SMT (I normally use oil instead) it significantly lightened a spot on my hair (I don't know why just one spot, but whatever) so I'm hoping a few of those will help somewhat until I can get the coloroops/fix

[Lindsay]

Lemon juice and baking soda both dry hair out; they do not lighten it.

Really? I've heard tons of people that claim lemon juice lightens their hair! I guess they just assume it works when really they're not sure.
As for the baking soda, her hair really did lighten -- maybe the dye just faded on its own?

[burns_erin]

And if all else fails, the sun or tanning beds will lighten hair, even black hair dye. Although I bet it would be pretty weird to sit on the floor in front of a tanning bed with your hair on the bed lol.

[Nightshade]

Really? I've heard tons of people that claim lemon juice lightens their hair! I guess they just assume it works when really they're not sure.
As for the baking soda, her hair really did lighten -- maybe the dye just faded on its own?

Lemon juice works, but works best in conjunction with sunlight. It can be really drying, though.

I snipped this from the article in my sig on herbal hair coloring:

Lemon Rinse- Lemon is also a time-honored hair lightener. Will lighten hair, but may be very drying as the lightening agent is an acid.
2 lemons
1 quart boiling water
Lemon is also a time-honored hair lightener. The juice of two of the citrus fruits, strained into a quart of water, makes an excellent rinse that can be used in the same way as the chamomile preparation. Try to dry your hair in the sun after using a lemon rinse, in order to get the most from the treatment's lightening effect.

The science: Roger Clemens, professor of molecular pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Southern California, said the acid in lemons, combined with oxygen and the sun’s UV rays, causes acid oxidation, which highlights or lightens hair. “It’s not an old wives’ tale or myth. It’s scientific fact,” he said. Of course, going out in the sun without lemon juice can lighten your hair, too. But the acid in the lemon juice serves as an accelerant, he said. The active ingredient is the limonene in lemons, which is most concentrated in the rind, said Dr. Francesca J. Fusco of Mount Sinai Medical Center. “It acts as a weak bleaching agent when exposed to sunlight,” the dermatologist said. - New York Times Source (http://web.archive.org/web/20070125073021/http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:0xKJxk7H9YsJ:airwolf.lmtonline.com/living/archive/060406/living2.pdf)

[Lindsay]

Lemon juice works, but works best in conjunction with sunlight. It can be really drying, though.

I snipped this from the article in my sig on herbal hair coloring:

Lemon Rinse- Lemon is also a time-honored hair lightener. Will lighten hair, but may be very drying as the lightening agent is an acid.
2 lemons
1 quart boiling water
Lemon is also a time-honored hair lightener. The juice of two of the citrus fruits, strained into a quart of water, makes an excellent rinse that can be used in the same way as the chamomile preparation. Try to dry your hair in the sun after using a lemon rinse, in order to get the most from the treatment's lightening effect.

The science: Roger Clemens, professor of molecular pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Southern California, said the acid in lemons, combined with oxygen and the sun’s UV rays, causes acid oxidation, which highlights or lightens hair. “It’s not an old wives’ tale or myth. It’s scientific fact,” he said. Of course, going out in the sun without lemon juice can lighten your hair, too. But the acid in the lemon juice serves as an accelerant, he said. The active ingredient is the limonene in lemons, which is most concentrated in the rind, said Dr. Francesca J. Fusco of Mount Sinai Medical Center. “It acts as a weak bleaching agent when exposed to sunlight,” the dermatologist said. - New York Times Source (http://web.archive.org/web/20070125073021/http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:0xKJxk7H9YsJ:airwolf.lmtonline.com/living/archive/060406/living2.pdf)

That's interesting! But yeah, it does sound very drying.

[morguebabe]

I WISH I couldn't get black dye OUT.
Look in my album. The pictures of me with my bangs is 7 months after using BLACK dye it just fades out on me, I want to keep it.

[MandaMom2Three]

WOAH! Ok, this is weird! Honey always made my hair all dry and yucky, the air is just as dry as normal yet after the honey treatment my hair is AMAZINGLY soft!!! Almost TOO soft! I can't keep it in any updos LOL! Whatever!!! It didn't lighten at all either LOL, why does my hair love to do the exact opposite of what I say it does?! Hmmmmmmm wait a second.... *clears throat* "My hair grows extremely slow and is unruly and awful!" *waits expectantly* :D

[plainjanegirl]

You know like someone else mentioned earlier I have been using Head and Shoulders recently and I think my hair looks lighter. But I couldn't figure out why it was lighter since I haven't used any honey for a while so maybe it was the Head and Shoulders.

[Demetrue]

I had good success with Color Oops - I got it at Rite-Aid, but Sally's also sells it. I was removing light brown in order to start allowing my grays to come in and stop coloring them. The parts of my hair that were gray, went back to being silvery gray and the parts that had been actually darker went to kind of a lemon yellow color, which I then used an ashe blonde toner over to blend in with the grays. In your case, you would use the Color Oops the first time, see what color it turned, if it was not light enough, I would spend a couple of days deep conditioning your hair first and then do a second application of Color Oops. After that, do some more deep conditioning and then henna.

[beehives]

I'm in the same boat. Darker dye at the bottom, virgin hair on top. Ugh!

I'll be trying out that Color Oops product sometime this week if I can't get a reasonable amount of color to lift with cinnamon and chamomile treatments.

I wish I had some advice for you. Good luck!

[MandaMom2Three]

Head and shoulders was the first thing I tried when I tried to get the black dye out a couple months ago. I read that if you leave it on for half an hour it will help. MAN that made my hair try and brittle!!! (I did lighten it to a brown though, but it caused so much damage I didn't want to try it again!)

[eaglefeather71]

For me, my virgin hair is still such a dark brown that the Henna still only shows in direct sunlight so I'm not sure investing in too many products to remove the black will be worth the expense, effort or possible damage. Man! I wish some of the henna would show! I'm considering some highlights but concerned about damage. I have probably 3-4" of virgin growth, here is a pic (http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc104/ckatto71/003-2.jpg) under flourescent bathroom lighting (3 layers of henna), I can't even see the line between virgin and black dye unless I look close.

[Addy]

I agree with spidermom. Grow it out and cut it off.

[rapunzhell13]

I agree with growing it out and cutting it off. You don't want this to turn into a vicious cycle.

[BlackfootHair]

hhhmmmm...observe, shall we?

Before:
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m195/blackfoot_hair/black%20hair/Picture035.jpg

After:

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m195/blackfoot_hair/hair%20woes/hairwoes018.jpg

WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT RESORT TO BLEACH.
DO NOT BLEACH.
DO NOT BLEACH.
DO NOT BLEACH.

If you're tempted, save yourself the time and pain and just cut.

When I was using demi permanent color I successfully lifted it with colorfix, just the first step.

DO NOT BLEACH.

I could have been a long hair by now. :)

Oh, and here's a pic when I tryed to dye it brown to cover the awful clown color.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m195/blackfoot_hair/hair%20woes/hairwoes094-1.jpg

[MandaMom2Three]

Ok maybe I'm weird, but WOW blackfoothair, I love the colour your hair turned!! Maybe it's just the lighting but it looks great to me LOL. Not that I'm going to go out and bleach :p .

Right now I have my hair up in an SMT. I used honey in an SMT only once (I started replacing it with oil because it frizzed my hair out) and even though I heated it and only had it on for 3 hours, it lightened my hair slightly. Today I discovered that my hair LIKES honey now, so right now I have it up in an SMT with honey AND olive oil in it and I DIDN'T heat it and I'm leaving it on overnight. Even if it doesn't lighten anymore it should be really really soft LOL. I'm going to order some colorfix (or oops) as soon as I can (I'll also look for it in a few more pharmacies. Would it be with the hair dyes? That's where I've always looked before)

[morguebabe]

Head and shoulders was the first thing I tried when I tried to get the black dye out a couple months ago. I read that if you leave it on for half an hour it will help. MAN that made my hair try and brittle!!! (I did lighten it to a brown though, but it caused so much damage I didn't want to try it again!)

YOu don't have to leave it on that long.
I use diluted H&S and leave it on barely a minute and with two times a week I noticed my black was faded still. Just do CO and SMT

[eaglefeather71]

I'm going to order some colorfix (or oops) as soon as I can (I'll also look for it in a few more pharmacies. Would it be with the hair dyes? That's where I've always looked before)

I found it with the Hairdyes. Good Luck. I'm still considering using it again or maybe trying colorfix this time.

[MandaMom2Three]

Well this is funny, SMT's work better than honey lightening for me :p . Here's some pics.

Before I did anything...

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e57/muchforgiven_2008/beforedry005.jpg

After a honey lightening treatment (new dilution with EVOO and cardamom added)...

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e57/muchforgiven_2008/afterhoneydrybig.jpg

After an UNHEATED SMT with honey and EVOO added (normally I just use EVOO because until recently my hair didn't like honey LOL)...

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e57/muchforgiven_2008/aftersmtbig.jpg

Is it just me or did the SMT lighten it a little? (I wore the same shirt just in case that would somehow effect the picture :rolleyes:

[pookatrina]

I pulled black dye out, but it was somewhat damaging & I stank for about 10 days. I mixed equal parts Prell & Dish soap, plus 1/2 a jar of honey, then added 1 small can tomato paste & 1/2 an onion that I just about blended in the food processor. I added some onion powder & I think that's what made it super stink, so I suggest skipping that. Left it on for 2-3 hours then I washed it out with baby shampoo. All the stuff in the gloop was the all stuff people suggested I try mixed together, if it hadn't worked I would have used ColorFix as my next step.

I have darkish brown hair so if you're a blond this might not work for you. Over time it's gotten lighter still. The 1st pic is w/black dye, 2nd is after the gloop, the 3rd pic is just as it kept lighting, my sig is w/henna.

Good luck on this, black dye removal is a pain!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v626/Queen-Slug/100_1497x.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v626/Queen-Slug/100_1656.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v626/Queen-Slug/100_2160-1.jpg

[pookatrina]

Oops, I was posting as you were posting! I do think it looks a bit lighter.

[eaglefeather71]

Well this is funny, SMT's work better than honey lightening for me :p . Here's some pics.

Before I did anything...

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e57/muchforgiven_2008/beforedry005.jpg

After a honey lightening treatment (new dilution with EVOO and cardamom added)...

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e57/muchforgiven_2008/afterhoneydrybig.jpg

After an UNHEATED SMT with honey and EVOO added (normally I just use EVOO because until recently my hair didn't like honey LOL)...

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e57/muchforgiven_2008/aftersmtbig.jpg

Is it just me or did the SMT lighten it a little? (I wore the same shirt just in case that would somehow effect the picture :rolleyes:
It definetly looks lighter, but it also looks like you are a bit closer to the camera so it may possibly be a flash illusion.

[MandaMom2Three]

It definetly looks lighter, but it also looks like you are a bit closer to the camera so it may possibly be a flash illusion.

I think it's just that I cropped the pic at a higher place, my hair flipped over my shoulder so there wasn't much down the back to warrant showing it farther down :)

[eaglefeather71]

I think it's just that I cropped the pic at a higher place, my hair flipped over my shoulder so there wasn't much down the back to warrant showing it farther down :)
In that case, AWESOME! I cant believe the lift you got. I just picked up some ColorFix today and I'm about to use it. We'll see. Are you going to be lightening any more?

[MandaMom2Three]

It was a real pain in the neck having that thing on overnight, so I think I'll just wait and try the colorfix stuff :p

[beehives]

In that case, AWESOME! I cant believe the lift you got. I just picked up some ColorFix today and I'm about to use it. We'll see. Are you going to be lightening any more?

I also bought ColorFix tonight. I'm going to read up on the stuff and perform a strand test tonight.

Good luck with your lightening!

[tourbillion]

My friend managed to have the black dye stripped out of her hair recently. It took 3 visits to the salon, but she is now blond, though lighter than her natural blond. I thought this was impossible. She did cut off 4" of damaged ends.

I wouldn't try it myself though.

[beehives]

Hallelujah! Wow, ColorFix really did the job for me. I've been using chemical dyes for years, so I thought the idea of getting an even tone (of any color) was a bit out of my league. However, my hair is now a fairly even shade of light orange.

Maybe some would be horrified to have orange-y hair, but I'm completely over the moon! This product really worked for me. The absolute best part is my hair doesn't feel damaged at all, despite the fact I rinsed the ColorFix with Palmolive dish detergent (THE HORROR).

I'm really glad I did my research on this stuff before I just slapped it on my head. I'm no chemist, but I guess the way this works is by shrinking the molecules of the color dye so they exit easily out of the hair shaft. Many people who have had successful trial-and-error results with this product said to make sure you use an aggressive shampoo or dish soap to rinse out as many tiny molecules as you can, then condition well. Luckily, I've been babying my hair lately and it's in good condition, otherwise it might not have loved me for that Palmolive stunt. Anyway, after I get my locks back to their ashy dark blonde color, I plan to never treat it with chemical dyes again. Back to babying.

Oh, and another recommendation for those trying ColorFix in the future: Don't use the third bottle, the processing lotion. It's essentially just hyrdrogen peroxide that will dry your hair out and very possibly make it turn dark again. The purpose of this component is to oxidize, inflating the molecules to their regular size so you can see how much color you've successfully eliminated and to tone down possible brassiness. However, your hair will oxidize itself over time, like 2-3 days, so this step will really just harm your hair. Skip it. Throw the bottle away.

In short, I'm very happy with the results. Just rinse with something aggressive and skip the lotion, your results should be just as nice.


Here's a picture of my hair color before and one I took a few moments ago when my hair was still wet:


http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a46/parkthatcar/Photo3.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a46/parkthatcar/Photo19.jpg


The tips of my bangs aren't blonder, by the way, they just curl out and the light caught 'em.
I can post more photos in about a week, after I see if I need to repeat the process and add the additional dye.


Ta-da! Good luck!

[Toadstool]

I found head and shoulders worked well. Washed it about six times in quick succession. Didnt leave it on.
if you can afford it I would suggest going to see a profession al hairdresser who is skilled with colour.

[MandaMom2Three]

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a46/parkthatcar/Photo3.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a46/parkthatcar/Photo19.jpg


:jawdrop: Oh MAN I wish I could find this stuff locally so I didn't have to wait to order it!!!!!!

[BlackfootHair]

MandaMom2Three, my pics aren't exactly color accurate. I upload to photobucket, and I've noticed it tones down orange. My henna pics on photobucket never look the same as they do directly from my pic folder on the computer. Same monitor, so I know that can't be it. My hair wasn't even a nice shade of vivid henna. It looked very orange, and my roots that didn't have anything on them were white, faded to yellow then to orange...really it was really bad. I had anime hair...and it didn't look good on me either. The damage was so fierce I had no other option but to cut. It was a very sad day. OH, and I had missed a spot in the back, so amongst this orange hair I had a black blob on the back of my head. Bleach is evil.

[Elphie]

Beehives, it looks like it worked really well for you, but I have to say, those are just the cutest pics!

[mellie]

Honey lightening worked for me. I went from this:

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=423&pictureid=9743

To this:

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=423&pictureid=9753


Also, I've tried Clairol Uncolor, it works pretty well. And Palmolive, although nasty, works OK too!

[beehives]

Beehives, it looks like it worked really well for you, but I have to say, those are just the cutest pics!

Ha, you're too kind! I'm really just a bit nerdy.
I'm done hijacking now, I promise! I'll take the rest of my story to the ColorFix thread.



MandaMom2Three, sorry it's such a pain for you to get the stuff, but I think you'll be really happy with the results of this product if you're just trying to get that black out, but still stay a dark color. I've heard it doesn't remove henna, but I have no experience with that.
Like others said, perform a strand test and best wishes!

[MandaMom2Three]

If it removes some of the henna it's no big deal, I'll just henna again (my henna has faded much more than the black has during all these experiments :p )

[eaglefeather71]

Hallelujah! Wow, ColorFix really did the job for me. I've been using chemical dyes for years, so I thought the idea of getting an even tone (of any color) was a bit out of my league. However, my hair is now a fairly even shade of light orange.

Maybe some would be horrified to have orange-y hair, but I'm completely over the moon! This product really worked for me. The absolute best part is my hair doesn't feel damaged at all, despite the fact I rinsed the ColorFix with Palmolive dish detergent (THE HORROR).

I'm really glad I did my research on this stuff before I just slapped it on my head. I'm no chemist, but I guess the way this works is by shrinking the molecules of the color dye so they exit easily out of the hair shaft. Many people who have had successful trial-and-error results with this product said to make sure you use an aggressive shampoo or dish soap to rinse out as many tiny molecules as you can, then condition well. Luckily, I've been babying my hair lately and it's in good condition, otherwise it might not have loved me for that Palmolive stunt. Anyway, after I get my locks back to their ashy dark blonde color, I plan to never treat it with chemical dyes again. Back to babying.

Oh, and another recommendation for those trying ColorFix in the future: Don't use the third bottle, the processing lotion. It's essentially just hyrdrogen peroxide that will dry your hair out and very possibly make it turn dark again. The purpose of this component is to oxidize, inflating the molecules to their regular size so you can see how much color you've successfully eliminated and to tone down possible brassiness. However, your hair will oxidize itself over time, like 2-3 days, so this step will really just harm your hair. Skip it. Throw the bottle away.

In short, I'm very happy with the results. Just rinse with something aggressive and skip the lotion, your results should be just as nice.


Here's a picture of my hair color before and one I took a few moments ago when my hair was still wet:


http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a46/parkthatcar/Photo3.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a46/parkthatcar/Photo19.jpg


The tips of my bangs aren't blonder, by the way, they just curl out and the light caught 'em.
I can post more photos in about a week, after I see if I need to repeat the process and add the additional dye.


Ta-da! Good luck!
I still haven't used it yet because I realized I didn't have any gloves left last night. I'll buy some when I'm out today and do the treatment tonight. unfortunatly my virgin hair is very dark brown so the best I'm hoping for are some areas where the dye has lightened my hair a bit so my henna will show up somewhere Here's my before pic with about 3-4" of virgin hair and 3 layers of henna (which I don't want to life).

Direct Sunlight:http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc104/ckatto71/Henna006.jpgIndirect Sunlight:http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc104/ckatto71/Henna011.jpg This is more of what I would hope for in direct sunlight. Red highlights on chocolate cherry hair.
After ColorFix Indoors (it's dark outside):
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc104/ckatto71/Henna003.jpghttp://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc104/ckatto71/Henna008-1.jpg
So, what do you think? Hopefully I rinsed and washed enough and it wont oxidize dark again. I ended up blowfrying it because I was being impatient and wanted the results faster :smile: I'll try to get outdoor direct sunlight shots for a better comparrison tomorrow.

[MandaMom2Three]

YAY!!!! The ColorFix just came!!!! I'm doing a strand test right now!!!!!

[Gothic Lolita]

My boyfriend has naturally light to medium blonde hair and dyed it black for two or three years. He's also a longhair, so cutting it all off wasn't an option when he decided he didn't want it anymore.
I didn't want to strip his hair, because he has hairloss and I couldn't foresee the reaction to the stripping product.
Was has helped a bit were dandruff shampoos. Things like Head'n'Shoulders. Don't work fast, but the colors fades more and more. His hair is now brown and mostly dark red. A red similiar to a long henna coloring.

The grocery here also sells things like dandruff masks, which also would help.

I hope your strand test works well, since ColorOops is probably the fastest option to go. Good luck!

[PHOENIX MOON]

Hey,
I am a natural blonde, I made the biggest mistake of my life dying my hair black and then cosmic blue (-luckily it was a semi but I had such porous hair to begin with it didnt really make a difference and purple shampoo bubbles spring to mind!)
I looked like I was so ill!

What I did was gradually dye all my hair a lighter colour in semi permenant dye. I was working through nearly all the shades of that dye colour. My hair really liked it! But LUUUUURVES henna now.
My hair went from
cosmic blue
dark dark brown
dark brown
dark mid brown
mid brown
mid light brown
Light blonde
<2 months wait, found LHC, found henna thread, 2 to 3 weeks wait>
HENNA

In just under 8 months... I have uber thick hair and I needed about 2 packets of dye for a full head application.

I used semi permenant dye, they recommend that you redo the colour every 4-6 weeks. I would have to agree with them. There is no peroxide in the dye, and provided me with some more conditioner than a standard permenant dye, but the temporary hair dye wouldnt even touch my hair! Semi permenant is a good compromise. In my mind you are adding colour to hair rather than stripping colour from hair that makes me shudder!

[MandaMom2Three]

Well the strand test looks good :) . I did 2 half hour applications and washed with full strength degunkify. I've got my whole head in the first app now when I'm all done both apps I'll do a DEEP conditioning then post pics :D

[MandaMom2Three]

:happydance: YAY!!!!!!! My hair is almost back to it's natural colour!!!!! The undyed parts are actually a little LIGHTER than natural and the dyed parts are a little darker than natural but it looks MUCH closer to the origional colour, and there's just enough henna left to match my natural red highlights!!! I'm just hoping and praying I washed all the dye out, I'll know in a few days (I didn't use the bottle of peroxide stuff, so I wont know the final state of my hair for a few days while it oxidizes naturally. OH I hope I got it all!!! If not I'll probably go ahead and orer another box, now that I see my natural colour again, I want it BACK!!!! Henna will look so much nicer over THAT than the black stuff :p . I'll give it a few days and if it stays like this I'll henna again with 50/50 henna/cassia, as the last henna is almost all faded away!! NO MORE CHEMICAL COLOUR FOR ME!!!!!!

[MandaMom2Three]

Oops, forgot pics LOL. Here's my hair before ColorFix http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e57/muchforgiven_2008/shineandwave.jpg and here it now http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e57/muchforgiven_2008/hair001.jpg and from the side http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e57/muchforgiven_2008/hair002.jpg and from the front http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e57/muchforgiven_2008/hair003.jpg :happydance:

[~GypsyCurls~]

The multiple products to remove dye would be the best option IMO...just spread out the applications and do deep conditioning treats in between them. I've had to remove black dye several times, with bleach and color removers (bleach didn't work). The color removers were less damaging to my hair, anyway.

ETA: Your hair looks so nice! Came out more even than mine ever did when I used the stuff, lol!

[Oskimosa]

Awesome! Does the hair feel damaged at all? And I'm so so glad you've gotten the dye out. I hope it doesn't oxidize too dark. You're going to love henna over that, I know.

Also: your eyes are the loveliest blue!

[skay]

You look happy in the hair color close to your natural color.

Congrats on getting closer to a more natural hair color for you. :)

[twilight_faerie]

Wow, congrats. Looks like you got most of the dye out with the Colorfix. I wish it had worked that well for me...

[ladyluck]

That is a fantastic result, I'm glad your happy it looks great. :)

[WindowDressing]

WOW!!! That is an amazing result!! Lovely color. Plus you look pretty happy, but mostly very pretty!;)

Hugs,
WD :)

[MandaMom2Three]

Awesome! Does the hair feel damaged at all? And I'm so so glad you've gotten the dye out. I hope it doesn't oxidize too dark. You're going to love henna over that, I know.

Also: your eyes are the loveliest blue!

:o Thank you. Whatever they have in there as conditioning agents are awesome!! My hair feels SO incredibly soft! And that's amazing because I scrubbed pretty hard with undiluted degunkify to try and get as much dye out as possible! It doesn't feel damaged right now but I'm going to seriously baby my hair for a while (not like I don't ANYWAY, but you know). I can hardly WAIT to see some henna over this, I'll actually SEE it this time :D

[Kelsey]

I have heard that some people go to a salon, and have the color stripped. I think that this can definitely be very damaging. You could ask a stylist about the henna. I was leery of it, when I wanted to try a product that is supposed to prevent split ends. I was told by a stylist that henna is really hard to get out, and that I should use caution.

[vindo]

I've tried and tried to at least TOLERATE this old black hair dye even if I knew I'd never like it, but I just HATE it! :( I LOVE my henna, I HATE that this stupid old dye keeps covering it up! It is SO PRETTY on all my virgin hair! I am so tired of looking in the mirror and feeling :-(. I want to get as much of this stuff out as I can! Now it was done about 8 or 9 months ago (I should have done something as soon as it was done but I just kept telling myself I'd get used to it :rolleyes:) and I have hennaed on top of it. I'm not worried about the henna, if it ends up being lightened, big deal I can do it again, I'm just afraid of the colour being in there so long nothing will budge it. What options are there to remove this colour and how damaging would each option be roughly?

Lightening your ahir once does usally not damage too much but it also depends on how much lighter you will have to go.

What is your natural color? It it is a brown you could lighten it to a red- brown and then dye over it in a natural brown after 2 weeks...

In the future you could just henna over the whole thing.

I would test this on a strand of hair first though to see wheather your hair can really deal with it.
After lightening only once the cuticles will usually close up again.

I am growing out black dye, it has emmensly faded over the past years..to more of a blackbrown..my natural color is a tad lighter and the difference is not visible in normal light..just sunlight or flashlight bring out the color difference. Especially since the old dyed part does not want to take much of the henna red.