Removing Red Dye

[Golden Mermaid]

I dyed my hair purple. Not "Purple" as in "Violet" but "Purple" as in "Black Cherry."

It's started to fade, so now it's a reddish color. I've been dying my hair various shades of red since January.

I know all the rules, I know that hair dye is damaging. My hair is still remarkably soft, and it's in good health - no splits.

I get paid Thursday and the first thing I'm planning on doing is dying my hair a regular brown - "Medium Brown," because I don't want to go too dark.

I LOVE red hair, but I'm tired of having red hair. And roots. :rolleyes:

The question is this - I'm dying my hair Medium Brown because that's what color it is, and I expect it to cover the red pretty well. Is there anything I can do beforehand to safely and gently remove some of the red dye? I can take pictures if that would help.

I've been doing EVOO treatments, and it seems to have helped at least a little. But is there anything else? Lemon juice? Anything? I'm not expecting for it to look natural, or remove completely, but I want it to at least be a little less different and noticeable.

[heatherdazy]

Is your current shade of red at least a touch lighter than the brown you're shooting for?
Have you chosen a brown with plenty of green in the base to cancel out the red?


Those would be my major concerns. Color from a box doesn't cover up old color the way a can of paint will cover whatever you've got on a wall. The two work together.

[snowbear]

Have you tried ColorFix or ColorOops? They're supposed to remove dye, IIRC.

[redcelticcurls]

I'm not sure how effective it will be on a cherry red, but things that are heavy in glycerin and honey really knock the crap out of my hair dye.

[redneckprincess]

what was the brand you used?

[Golden Mermaid]

Thank you all!

Heatherdazy - Yes, the red is lighter than I'm shooting for. It's pretty light. How does one go about finding out how much "green" is in a dye?

snowbear - Are those color "strippers?" Aren't they supposed to be, like, horribly damaging?

redcelticcurls - It's not really a cherry red, it's more like an "auburn" color. A light "auburn." How does one go about finding things heavy in glycerin? Honey I have. Glycerin? Not so much.

redneckprincess - I actually don't know. It was in a green box, and it was a higher-end brand, because it was almost double the price of the cheap stuff, but it was on sale for the same price as the cheep stuff. I can like, see the box in my mind, but I don't know what brand. I can go to the store and look if you want.

[amaiaisabella]

Golden Mermaid, was it Garnier hair dye? They usually come in a green box.

IIRC from my days in the salon, red dye fades the fastest. Still, if you want to fade it faster, maybe the Color Fix/Oops would be something you can use- you don't want any red showing through the brown? I think if you dyed straight over the remaining red, you'd still get some reddish glints in the sun. Those types of color remover aren't stripping, though they do smell horribly unpleasant. I used two boxes in a row on my mom's old dye and it left it in same condition it was before the process- not better, not worse.

[redcelticcurls]

Golden Mermaid, I just remember some conditioner I had a few years ago that had both honey and glycerin. Not only did it strip the red, but it lightened my natural color tool. Ugh.

Red is a fader on its own though usually, so it may just fade with time.

[heatherdazy]

Heatherdazy - Yes, the red is lighter than I'm shooting for. It's pretty light. How does one go about finding out how much "green" is in a dye?
This is one of the things I don't like about boxed haircolor... unlike my pro color, which is broken down and you know exactly what's in them, the boxes really don't tell you.

You may have better luck at a Sally's... just make sure you read everything thoroughly... you'll probably want some green with some neutral, not just green... different color lines are all different. I'd start with equal parts ash green and neutral brown with 10v on a small chunk and see how it goes before committing.

[plainjanegirl]

Golden Mermaid, I just remember some conditioner I had a few years ago that had both honey and glycerin. Not only did it strip the red, but it lightened my natural color tool. Ugh.

Red is a fader on its own though usually, so it may just fade with time.


wish you knew what that conditioner was cause I wouldn't mind my natural color to lighten.

[Loviatar]

I made sure I chose a medium ash brown rather than warm or golden brown and it seems to have knocked out a lot of my old red. I used Clairol nice and easy in medium brown to begin with but it faded really fast; I was oiling every night and using shampoo. I did another full head app using Clairol nice and easy in medium ash brown this time. Since switching to light oilings instead of heavy, and CO rather than s/c, the second application hasnt faded.

Leaving coconut oil on overnight pulled a lot of red for me too. EVOO might do the trick as well.

[Maddy25]

I have removed red dye several times after just getting bored of it. All times I used a colour stripper which I know is damaging but honestly, hairdressers tell me my hair is healthy and in good condition (although this was last year). So even though it is not good for your hair to strip it, if you have rther strong hair and you have no other option, it isnt the end of the world.

[teela1978]

My hair always goes reddish after dying. I think that's just the natural pigment that stays in my hair :) I'd go for an ash brown of some sort, but realize that it'll likely go reddish after a month or two no matter what you do.

[heatherdazy]

Because you're trying to go darker, color stripping isn't necessary. It will only give you a lighter shade of red/orange, which you will still have to cancel out with an ashy color anyway.

[Golden Mermaid]

Golden Mermaid, was it Garnier hair dye? They usually come in a green box.


YES. It was. I meant to go look after work and forgot.

Lovi - It's good to know that Medium Ash Brown will cover well, because my natural color is ash, and not golden. EVOO overnight is a good idea, I will do it on my next day off. (I don't like going to work with wet hair.)

teela - I am crossing my fingers it doesn't go back to red. It's not that I don't like the red, because I do, it's just that I wish it wasn't SO red, you know?

[snowbear]

snowbear - Are those color "strippers?" Aren't they supposed to be, like, horribly damaging
Um...I don't know? :lol: I do know that quite a few LHCers have had success with it, so it may be worth searching the forums. :shrug:

Best of luck with whatever you decide!

[twilight_faerie]

Are those color "strippers?" Aren't they supposed to be, like, horribly damaging?

I've used Colorfix once before. I was trying to remove indigo from my hair. It didn't work (I think it works better on chemical dye), but I know it has worked for many LHC people, with little to no damage. The key is that you can't use the third step (peroxide), because that WILL damage your hair.

[Kirin]

You can actually fade out red base dyes relatively fast using baby shampoo or Prell shampoo. Mix in 1/2 tablespoon of baking soda to the shampoo before applying and you should see an increased fade out. It will take a few days of washing to see the best results.

[Autumnberry]

wish you knew what that conditioner was cause I wouldn't mind my natural color to lighten.

plainjanegirl, your color is so rich-- I love it! my natural color is a little lighter, but it doesn't have that richness.

Golden Mermaid, sorry that I can't give you any advice about the stripping, but, in future, if you want just a little red, perhaps a henna gloss might do the trick. Best of luck to you in this endeavor!

[may1em]

I dyed my tawny hair red years ago - dark, purpley red.

It fades relatively quickly, but that last bit will want to hang on and not budge.

If you're going to go the brown route, make sure you're not using shampoo very often - try to CO as much as possible, because I had a salon corrective color job on the red to try to turn it light brown. After I ran out of the samples of salon products for colored hair, it reverted back to red really quickly.

I feel your pain, I really do. Good luck.

[klcqtee]

I had (have) a similar issue. My red has washed out considerably by washing my entire length with Head and Shoulders (I don't know it this is relevant, but I'm just giving you my routine) and coconut oil. Lots and lots of coconut oil. It pulls the dye right out of my hair. My hair went from dark red-maroon (with some horrid pink streaks) to a light copper. Although it is no where near my natural colour, it is almost back to the colour it was before I dyed it (it was copper, about a year ago I died it brown (natural colour) then 3 months ago I dyed it red, now it's copper again). Good luck. I was suggest by someone here to try baby shampoo with a tiny bit of honey diluted, so maybe you could try that too.