Panic question.

[wissles]

Hi. Tonight I did a hair toning (not sure what it's called in english.. in Sweden we call it toning.) which is nice to your hair, it's not really dye that will damage it. It's a colour you wash out with time.
but the thing is, it became waaay to dark and tried washing it afterwards two times with conditioner and I also did an inpack. And I saw the color coming out because the water in the bathtub became brown, but it didn't make much difference when the hair dried, I find that the color is still the same.
So I'm thinking about washing it over and over again like 5 times, but only with my conditioner, NOT schampoo.
will that cause a lot of damage?

[Michele]

First: relax , this is going to be okay!

Washing it 5 times with just conditioner probably isn't that bad, but i don't know if it's going to be effective.
Oiling (heavily!) is well known for colour fading purposes, maybe give that a try first?

[Carolyn]

I'd do a heavy overnight oiling and then wash and condition in the morning. I'd consider washing daily for a while. It should fade.

[Isilme]

it should fade, oil and use deep treatments! Oh, and check out the community meets announcments! There is thread for a lhc meet:)

[wissles]

I can't do an oil treatment overnight because I don't have time to wash it out tomorrow morning.
But I'll try washing it a few times tonight before I go to bed and if it doesn't get better I guess I'll just have to give it some time. I mean, it can't get worse.. at least it can't get darker by washing it. :rolleyes:

[wissles]

OH, darn! I found out this was an intensive toning, which means it's much harder to wash out, sometimes you don't even wash it out.
but the last time I did this the color was pretty much gone in about.. 1-2 weeks. It might have been the sun, though. The sun was shining the entire time for about two weeks. So I'm really hoping it will be ligher soon..

I've washed it about 6 times since yesterday, I tried head and shoulders schampoo (BAD, I know..) that contains ammonium laureth sulfate that's supposed to "drag" color out of the hair..
I've also done a few deep treatments and everytime I've washed it I've seen color coming out IN the tub, but seriously, it doesn't make any difference at all in the hair when it's dried.
(Btw, I think I've OVERconditioned my hair.. it's so soft it's scary. I was so paranoid over using schampoo.. haha)

but if I CAN see color in the bathtub, it does mean that my hair is losing color, right? Gosh.. Someone who knows some miracle treatment to drag the dye (well, not dye.. but intensive toning) out of your hair?

[Michele]

Did you try the oiling yet?

[Unnamed]

Yep, if you can still clearly see colour coming out it's still losing colour. :)

And the only treatment I can think of to fade colour is the heavy oiling that's been mentioned. Do try it, even if you have to get up early to wash it out. It'll take less time than repeatedly washing....which back when I was trying to fade some dye (or at least take away the super inky blackness of it!) never did a thing...heavy oiling with olive oil left on for several hours did far more.

Just leave the oil on for at least 4-6+ hours (6 or more if possible). It doesn't have to be overnight, but does need left to sit for a long while. Then wash it out and keep repeating until no more dye/toner is obviously rinsing out. ETA: I kept repeating well past the obviously losing dye stage, but I was dealing with a black dye that I knew wasn't going to go past being less-inky -- with a regular/lighter dye/toner it should work quite well.

[Anje]

If you can, try oiling for a few hours... Even if you can't do overnight, you can still apply oil when you get home, sit around for a while, and wash it out before you go to bed.

What kind of conditioner are you using? I don't know what is and is not available where you are, but I imagine that something with lots of silicone is more likely to coat the hair and keep some of the color in.

I am told that washing with a baby's tear-free shampoo, and perhaps leaving it in for a little while, will also strip hair color out faster than a normal shampoo because of the more basic pH. Be sure to condition after that, though.

[wissles]

I tried to oil it last night, but only for about 30 minutes. It didn't work then, but everyone seem to agree that oiling is a good option, so I'll try it overnight or a whole day or something. :)

But I have a question though.
if I CAN'T see the color coming out with my eyes, can it still be possible that I'm getting rid of it anyway?

And about the conditioner. It does contain silicones, but I don't think it is a problem, the last time I did this toning I used the same conditioner and it obviously didn't keep the color in. (but for some reason it feels like the color is stronger this time..)

[Nocturnal]

Maybe try light oiling overnight and just braid/ updo hair in the morning without washing? Like a table spoon or less usually is not visible on hair at all.
I've had good results removing blue black dye by overnight oiling and baking soda rinses. It took more than a month though. I find baking soda to be drying.
I've also read that swimming pool water takes semi dye out, but I haven't tried it myself.