Fading out semi perm dye.. is this working? too damaging? suggestions?

[xoxophelia]

I put in semi permanent hair color a few months ago, a bit over 2, that was a dark brown. It has faded to about a medium brown but my roots are light brown and I get blonde highlights slightly naturally but once the sun hits my hair I get gold streaks. So, I am trying to get my color to fade a reasonable amount in a healthy way before summer so that the color looks reasonably even.

Last night I tried this: mixed 1:1 honey and conditioner and then added about 1 TBSP of olive oil and about half a tsp of hydrogen peroxide. I applied this to wet hair and left it in for one hour without heat. Then, I let my shampoo sit in my hair for about ten minutes to help the color fade out and then put in an oil treatment to leave in over night.

I may have gotten slight results but nothing overly noticable. Should I try this again once or twice (once a week) or am I doing something wrong?

My mom's hairdresser said I should put Tide in my hair and apply heat over a cap. This sounds too damaging to me though?

[bumblebums]

I'm no hairdresser, but that Tide thing sounds kinda insane to me :)

There are special products like Color Oops that are supposed to be able to get color out without permanently damaging it. I have tried tar anti-dandruff shampoo to lift semi-permanent color before, and it didn't do much to lighten the color. (mine was black dye on brown hair.) Things like hot oil treatments work to some extent, too, and are unlikely to damage your hair further.

Another thing I'd suggest is taking it easy with the color lifting. If you try too many things in a row, you are likely to over-dry your hair, especially as it's already chemically altered.

[xoxophelia]

I'm no hairdresser, but that Tide thing sounds kinda insane to me :)

There are special products like Color Oops that are supposed to be able to get color out without permanently damaging it. I have tried tar anti-dandruff shampoo to lift semi-permanent color before, and it didn't do much to lighten the color. (mine was black dye on brown hair.) Things like hot oil treatments work to some extent, too, and are unlikely to damage your hair further.

Another thing I'd suggest is taking it easy with the color lifting. If you try too many things in a row, you are likely to over-dry your hair, especially as it's already chemically altered.

Yeah I don't want to do anything to my hair that results in my needing to chop it off ><

I got decent enough of results for now that it isn't glaringly noticable (as long as I don't part my hair on the other side of my head). Hot oil treatments would be a good idea.. how are you supposed to do that anyways?

Maybe also if I start washing my hair 3x a week instead of 2, the color will fade faster.

I just noticed that my hair is starting to look "long" again :D

Heeeey my hair grew 1.5 inches since joining!!

[melikai]

I think Color Oops and the like are very stripping and may be more harsh than you need. I would try lemon juice and honey as a "mask", or even lemon juice with a warm (not hot) hairdryer blowing on it for a few minutes. Mixing baking soda with an SLS shampoo and doing a clarifying wash also can lighten hair a shade or two. Just be sure to moisturise a lot after any of these, as they can be quite drying.

[xoxophelia]

I think Color Oops and the like are very stripping and may be more harsh than you need. I would try lemon juice and honey as a "mask", or even lemon juice with a warm (not hot) hairdryer blowing on it for a few minutes. Mixing baking soda with an SLS shampoo and doing a clarifying wash also can lighten hair a shade or two. Just be sure to moisturise a lot after any of these, as they can be quite drying.

What is an SLS shampoo? That might be a good idea. I really only want enough of a difference that the gradient between the roots and the rest is less noticable.. so it can grow out gracefully.

I will give it a little bit of a rest though, continue like normal, and then probably do a minor "treatment" later. In a month or something.

[Ursula]

Well, it has gone from dark to medium brown in two months, and you've got at least another two months before there is enough sun for the gold streaks to become an issue. So why not just wait and see what happens?

It will probably fade at least a little more on its own, and when you get to the point where it matters more, you can decide whether it has faded enough or whether then to do something with the (less) fading that may still be needed.

[xoxophelia]

That is the general plan. And absolutely what I did last time I did this.. But, my hair grew really fast recently for some reason and that paired with not washing it very frequently, made the demarcation line well fairly obvious. I think it is good enough at this point to wait it out as I am trying to actively grow my hair
:)

I might just be measuring wrong, I really tried to be accurate both times, but my hair may have grown uhh.. 1.5 inches in about 20 days. Never measured it before coming to LHC so I have no idea what my growth rate tends to be. O.O

I knew it was fairly fast.. but.. ?!?!

[pinchbeck]

I thought semi-permanent hair colour is supposed to wash out after 6-8 weeks? I was thinking of changing my light golden brown hair to auburn (using the same colour level) for fun, but am now reconsisering after reading semi-permanent hair colour can sometimes permanently stain hair. I don't know if it can be removed because I have only read a few threads about semi-permanent hair colour and I had to dig to find them.

[pepperminttea]

What is an SLS shampoo?

SLS = sodium lauryl sulphate (also: SLES = sodium laureth sulphate). They're common detergents (check the ingredients lists for your shampoo, toothpaste, handsoap, washing-up liquid... most things you can think of that lather, there's normally one in there). They're quite harsh if used too often, but they remove non-water-soluble silicones and are generally good for clarifying. :)

[Roscata]

If you want to try Color Oops or something like that you might want to consider Coconut Oil for protection (as an overnight oil treatment, you can then apply the chemical color remover over the still oiled hair the next day). More information here: Possible way to protect hair from conventional peroxide damage (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=10495&highlight=coconut+peroxide)
Good Luck! :D

[UltraBella]

I have been fading out my Demi-color with a clarifying shampoo meant for swimmers. I figured if it can strip the chlorine out, why not color ? It is working VERY nicely, I have washed four times with it in the last 3 weeks. I have not noticed any dryness or issues, and it says it is safe for every day use. I am using a Paul Mitchell one that my daughter had, she is a swimmer.
What type of Semi-color did you use ? That's a long time for it to take to fade.

[xoxophelia]

I have been fading out my Demi-color with a clarifying shampoo meant for swimmers. I figured if it can strip the chlorine out, why not color ? It is working VERY nicely, I have washed four times with it in the last 3 weeks. I have not noticed any dryness or issues, and it says it is safe for every day use. I am using a Paul Mitchell one that my daughter had, she is a swimmer.
What type of Semi-color did you use ? That's a long time for it to take to fade.

Ultrabella: I used Natural Instincts but it was many shades darker than my hair which had blonde highlights (was basically blonde) from the sun and years.The color still hasn't faded totally and I have come to the conclusion that it never will. This thread is from last January so it has been another year so at this point I have just accepted the color difference. I am happy though that the color faded at all so that now at least the difference isn't as noticable. I should look into Paul Mitchell though if it might help to blend things a bit better.

pinchbeck: You shouldn't count on the color fading out as quickly as the box says and from what I can tell, the red is what sticks around because the dark brown/blacks faded to a brown that shines reddish. If you aren't OK with some color sticking around, I wouldn't try it to be honest. The only benefit I had of using semipermanent is perhaps less damage but mainly that it faded so it is less dark. It is just as much of a pain to grow out as if I had colored my hair a medium brown with a permanent dye though.

[pinchbeck]

pinchbeck: You shouldn't count on the color fading out as quickly as the box says and from what I can tell, the red is what sticks around because the dark brown/blacks faded to a brown that shines reddish.
Thanks. I will use one of those wash out colours (they wash out in one wash), but the stain in my hair will probably bleed onto my pillow case.:mad: