Black Dye

[Kitten87]

I go through horrible phases with my hair. I have since the 6th grade when my hair was tailbone length and I chopped it to chin length. Right now my the front half of my hair is about shoulder length and black, while the back half is very short and a mix of black and bleach.

I recently discovered this community and decided I want my beautiful long hair back after 9 years of crazy cuts and so many dye jobs I've been almost every color imaginable.

I've been looking up ways to get the black out without completely frying it and am at a loss. The honey method seems like it wouldn't lighten it as much as I want, but I don't want to bleach my entire head. I'm terrified of going to a salon because the last time I let one dye my hair blonde (8 years ago) I specifically said no bleach. After the stylist applied the dye, she told me, "By the way, I added a little amount of bleach, but you won't be able to notice." Boy did I ever notice. My hair was completely fried and so frizzy I wanted to cry. I was only in middle school, and everyone knows how harsh kids can be.

What tips do you guys have for the quickest method of getting the black out without frying it? I'm also open to suggestions on assisting hair growth. Right now I'm thinking pre-natal vitamins.

Thanks in advance!

BTW: I have no idea how to post pictures, so here's links:

Approximately 3 month old picture for the front: http://img387.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pict0020vv2.jpg

Approcimately 1 or 2 month old picture of the back: http://img387.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pict0098dl1.jpg

[angelthadiva]

Hi! Welcome :waving:

I had bottle fed black hair back in the day and every "natural" hair color imaginable.

I had the black stripped off at a salon. I would not recommend this method. This was like 15+ years ago, so I'm sure they have made some advancements in this area.

You are such a gorgeous girl! What I would do if I were you, would be no dye or bleach...Let your natural hair color grow out to an acceptable length and cut the black off...From the back it looks quite short, so this shouldn't take too long.

Another option, and I'm not really an expert in this area would be to try some temporary colors rinse to disguise the color as you are transitioning from black to a lighter shade.

[gallows_gallery]

Read my one and only blog entry my dear!

If your hair is in a bad state WITH the black I'd suggest you try honey (although I don't know how well it would work on salon black) and don't go near bleach.

If your hair is in a very good state with the black (as mine was) I'd go to a reputable hairdresser, and explain VERY clearly that you would like a bit of stripper (NOT bleach) on it for 20 minutes or so (depending on how many layers of black you've got on there - I had 5 years worth and 20 minutes took me to dark dark dark cherry brown).

Also - realise that you probably can't go lighter than dark brown...without pulp hair.

Good luck! And feel free to PM me ^_^ I have loooots of black-removal experience!

[gallows_gallery]

I just got youur photos to work:

From what I can see your hair is really shiny and nice! I personally think doing a little stripping wouldn't do all that much damage at all - especially given how short it is.

I hardly noticed any change (quality wise) im my hair - even the tailbone length bits - after stripping it, only a teeny bit less shine. On the lengths of my hair that are the same as yours (above shoulder) the black stripped off the best, and was still glossy and lovely.

Best of luck! I personally think your black would strip out quite easily and with minor damage. You could comfrtably do a glossy dark brown or burgundy!

[Katze]

What about just growing it out? from what I can see you have dark (ish) hair anyway...would the roots really be so terrible?

I had dyed black hair in my 20s. It looked good with my complexion but bad with my (blonde) eyebrows and when I had it bleached out professionally, I had to hack all my hair off.

After two decades of having my hair every color imaginable, and doing various things to change its color, I recommend simply quitting dyeing. If you want long, healthy hair, and are sick of dyeing it (and want to avoid the especial health risks of dark coal tar dyes) then simply quitting is, IMO, your best bet. Eventually your roots will look less noticeable, as the dyed hair sheds and is replaced with virgin hair.

[OhioLisa]

I can't speak from experience, but some members here have had success with Colorfix (http://www.sallybeauty.com/color-remover/SBS-342350,default,pd.html).

[MandaMom2Three]

I just used ColorFix on my old black hair dye and I LOVE the results! :flower:

[rymorg2]

I'm a stylist.....

The only way you're going to get that black color out is by using colorfix or something similar, or bleaching. All those methods though will result in SOME damage. Your best bet, since your hair is fairly short will be to just grow it out. You could always cover the bleach with something brown to blend it in so it's not so conspicuous. You could also try honey, but I don't know how well that will work since I have no experience with honey lightening. But that's more gradual.

There are some methods that can help lighten just enough to cover with a brown....some people have had success with a chelating shampoo (stronger than a clarifying one) but it results in dry hair as well. Same thing with dawn dishwashing detergent....VERY dry hair.

Anyway, sorry I can't encourage you more, there's really no non-damaging method out there, other than just growing it out.

[rymorg2]

Btw, colorfix or other strippers do cause some damage. It's less than bleaching would be, but you can't chemically alter your hair without getting some damage. You can do what you can to minimize it, and some people get less than others, but it's still probable.

[Addy]

I say:

Grow it out girl! Your hair seems to be on the short side so look at it as a BONUS! You won't have that long til it's gone and you can work on one length faster!

I'd say give it a year and you'll be color free with virtually no damage! :cool:

And you are a cutie! :)

[eaglefeather71]

Colorfix was the only thing that was able to remove Black Dye from my hair. Just know that the base color under all that dye is probably a brassy color, even under the black. There are lots of threads here about Colorfix, you can do a search to find them. Some of them have some pretty good before and after pics.

[Kitten87]

Thank you all so much for the help and complements! As for my roots, I'm am actually a dirty blonde so the roots look horrible with the black hair. I am going to look into the colorfix some of you mentioned.

Yes, I am lucky that it's so short right now, which will make most of this process easier. My goal is long hair with no dye! I hope I'm stong enough to hold out! It's hard after dying my hair about every 3 months since the 6th grade!

[Kitten87]

I tried to find your blog post and pm you but when I click to go to your profile (and to access it from the members list), it says I'm not allowed in that area or something along those lines. My account is activated so I don't understand why it won't let me.

[spidermom]

I tried to find your blog post and pm you but when I click to go to your profile (and to access it from the members list), it says I'm not allowed in that area or something along those lines. My account is activated so I don't understand why it won't let me.

You will get more privileges when you get to 25 quality posts.

I think you should just grow and trim. You've already got more than two colors going on there; one more won't make a lot of difference. You can't break the cycle of dyeing by dyeing.

[KC83]

it doesnt let me browse either. can someone please post the honey method or give us a link?

[wintersun99]

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[ratgirldjh]

i had good luck with olive oil to strip color. now it won't take it all out - but if you put olive oil on and let it sit and then wash it out with conditioner - let the conditioner sit for a while too - conditioner also seems to help wash out dye (i've done that when my hair took too much color) and then wash it out - it should help. i've heard people say that using baking soda and vinegar makes their hair color last a shorter time - so maybe this would help too. but really with black dye - you have to grow it out. i know - i used to dye my hair black all the time too.

[ladyluck]

I also have black dye in my hair too. I coloured it at the begininng of December and have now decided to grow it out. Olive Oil lifted a lot of colour out but it is quite fresh.

I don't have any experience of color fix but an alternative could be to have a few natural looking highlights to blend the natural in.

Personally, I have decided that I wont be dying/colorfixing/bleaching my hair. The condition is bad enough as it is and I don't want to risk it.

Good Luck. :)

[Oskimosa]

I dumped black dye on my already chemically dyed and damaged hair, ... and blonde natural roots. I got blue roots and faded cheap doll hair on the length. I washed with dishsoap once but it felt awful so I didn't do it again. I had a stylist strip it, I really don't know what she used, but after the toner she used I ended up with medium brown hair. The roots stayed blue-toned for a few months, but eventually it faded away.

I have pretty tough hair so I really didn't think it felt bad. But at that time I kept my hair between shoulder and BSL, and at that time it was BSL. :shrug:

[Kitten87]

I have a small amount of natural root, 1/4 inch of blue, then the black. The black is streaking where I had pink chunks before putting black over it. I didn't realize the ColorFix was found in beauty supply stores only. So I will be trying the olive oil since that's something I already have in my cupboard.

[jastark84]

I tried my hand at black hair 2 years ago....shudder: Nothing I tried would even get it to fade. I even tried putting a light brown dye over it... nadda. I finally tried colorfix, and it got all the black out. Then since it took all the black out and my hair has natural red in it, my hair turned penny copper. I finally got a nice brwon color and made it close to normal. My hair is tough as nails so it came through that process ok, but still be careful not to leave it on to long.

[Unnamed]

If the black dye was a direct dye (Feria is, not sure about the others), it could pretty much just be well...there. It's bleachable, as long as you've not repeatedly dyed over it (I had, and the lightest I could get some older sections were a dark burgundy), and bleaching would probably be okay as long as you baby it after, and take care when doing it.

If your colour is close to the black, though, I'd suggest dying the bleached bits darker, and just growing the black out (with perhaps trying to fade it a bit).

Oh, wait, I see it's probably about what mine is? (Dark ash blonde) Then grow it out if you can, dyign the bleached bits closer to your natural colour. Once you get about 4"+ of growth, it's much easier. I do understand about the nastiness of blondish roots and dyed black, though! If the difference really gets to bother you but don't want to bleach it all, you could put some highlights (that match your natural colour) in the front section.

I'd also recommend Colorfix! It might budge it some (or a lot depending on what's under the dye, and how well your hair is holding onto it). Colorfix is the last thing I've tried on mine (3 goes of an hour each, no last step, hair was at mid-thigh, and no noticeable damage from it), about a year ago. It can leave things rather...orange, though! The ends of my hair ended up fire-red/orange before it re-oxidised/darkened (as the dye on my hair is direct dye, and really does not want to leave). The colour seemed to fade more after that, though, Colorfix doesn't remove Feria, unfortunately.

Definitely try the olive oil, though! If the dye is fresh, it might tone it down a bit. Olive oil was my first thing, and it pulled a lot of the newest dye out (but I'd been dying my hair black for 3.5 years by then, so....). The newer the dye, the better it works. And honey would be next, if you want to step it up a bit (then colorfix, then bleach).

FWIW, it wasn't until 3+ years after that mine finally started fading good (and after the Colorfix, so it might have sped up the fading). Right now I'm a bit more than 4 years and 2 months out from last dyeing my hair black.

[Kitten87]

Well shoot! Feria is the only brand I use ( with the exception of the bleach). It's a good thing I didn't go searching for the Colorfix last night and waste my money on it. Looks like I'll be trying the olive oil for sure! :eek:

[Unnamed]

It's not to say colorfix won't work or help (last time my hair was dyed was in Oct 2004, so the dye could be different), but, yeah, even after 3 years of fading it oxidized mostly back about a week later (not completely, but almost). Fresher dye might be different, though! The sections that hadn't gotten re-dyed over as much didn't darken quite as much post-colorfix. FWIW I had used 23 (er, a neutral black), and then 20 (just...black black) for probably the last year, not the blue or red blacks.

And I will say one thing about the colorfix: The bit that I bleached out back a long while ago (3 goes of an hour with a lower volume peroxide (just 20, I think)...which resulted in orangy at the top, deep burgundy in the most dyed parts, and red at the ends, but fairly decent condition)...the colorfix got that hair bright yellow all the way through. No black/burgundy/red left in that hair at all. Nothing. And it never oxidised back, either.

So colorfix after bleaching could very well get the black out, or even just tone it down considerably (if going with say one mild bleaching then the colorfix) with fairly minimal damage. Colorfix has a scent that lingers (and I have not tested bleach after colorfix--and I don't know if anyone has tried 'em both here), so I'd test a small section first if you consider doing that and find out how much bleaching you'd want to do.

And, again, it seems like it's fading better since having used the colorfix, and I didn't notice any damage from the colorfix, so I wouldn't rule it completely out. But, yes, do start with the oil, as regardless of what you end up doing, that'll help get some of the extra dye out, even if it doesn't noticeably change the colour (it may or may not--olive oil mostly just took the edge off for me, but again, I'd been dyeing my hair black for a while at that point).

And definitely good luck and good growing. :D

[wintersun99]

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[Aeasa]

I am actually in the same boat as you. After I cut my hair super short to get the bleached parts out, I had dyed it black. I've just decided to grow the black out. It's been a couple months now, and I too have darker blonde hair...it doesn't look too bad if I part it properly...but messy it looks like I have little bald spots :laugh:

I wouldn't worry about it too much...the black fades after time and since it's so short, cutting it off later on will be no problem.

[Hairtada]

My hair was dark chestnut brown when I started dying it several years ago. Now I suspect it is about 50% gray. I want to get the dye out but nothing seems to remove it. My hair looks black because for some reason no matter what color of dye I used my hair took the black color onto it.It has a yucky matte look to it that I hate. I used Wella demi-permanent color. Is this always hard to get out?I tried the Color Oops and it did nothing at all. Any ideas?

Black dye is the worst!! Even though I never actually used black dye. :)

[Kitten87]

So I tried the olive oil. It lightened it in some spots, but overall it stayed almost black. So I went with ColorOops.

I LOVE the outcome. My hair is a strawberry/brassy blonde that doesn't make my roots look TOO obvious. I used it about 4 hours ago and the sulfur smell is already dissipating. it doesn't feel like it damaged my hair at all.

It did such a fantastic job considering the dye on my hair was done 2 or 3 months ago. I highly recommend it.

[wintersun99]

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[eaglefeather71]

So I tried the olive oil. It lightened it in some spots, but overall it stayed almost black. So I went with ColorOops.

I LOVE the outcome. My hair is a strawberry/brassy blonde that doesn't make my roots look TOO obvious. I used it about 4 hours ago and the sulfur smell is already dissipating. it doesn't feel like it damaged my hair at all.

It did such a fantastic job considering the dye on my hair was done 2 or 3 months ago. I highly recommend it.
Now lets keep our fingers crossed you got all the dye molecules out! Some of us darkened up the next day or a few days later. Even if that happens, just do another, and repeat until you got it all out.