Stripping hair dye - tips?

[SearMeCarefully]

I always wanted to try my hair black and finally dyed it with a demi-permanent dye in December. Well now I know I love my red and that black is not for me (specially with my roots.. since when does my hair ever grow that fast?!?)
I tried.. colorfix? And it definitly lightened from black to a darker brown but I haven't gotten much farther..

Well I searched and got a few tips so far..
Hot oil treatments for long periods of time - a few mentioned this but how were the results?
I also recall reading about using dish soap once a week to really strip it? Anyone have experience with this?

I've tried mixing a clarifying shampoo with baking soda but I haven't noticed much change so far..
And olive oil on my hair for an hour but again didn't notice much colour coming out..

Anyone out there feel my pain? Any tips or crazy recipes?? Lol?

[Gypsy]

black is hard to remove.
search on "color oops" and see what tips people have in those threads, because some have had to leave it on for several hours and some, not quite so long.
I'll have to do it myself pretty soon since I have years of very dark (but not black) dye soaked into my dark brown hair ( I know it doesn't seem like there would be a significant color change, but the color was to cover grays and to mute the red in my hair).
Now, my hair won't take any new colors except on my roots, the length just gets darker.
I want to do a maroon-y type color but it will not take with all this saturated dark dye so out it must come.

[PearlyCurly]

The only thing i ever tried was colorfix and it removed the dye.
Colorfix will not lighten to your natural color though.
The only thing that i know for sure will lighten & take the color out is bleach! But that is one powerful chemical!

[JenniferNoel]

Black is like... the titanium of all hair colors, whether it be semi, demi, or permanent. Colorfix works for a lot of people... but like earlier posted, it will not bring you back to the natural color. I'd fade it naturally a little longer, do a few more clarifying rinses, make sure your hair feels alright and healthy, and shoot for the colorfix. If you still don't like the resulting color (which will likely be very orange-ish either way), your best quick fix would be bleach (aaaaagh!!!!), but I'd rather not risk the damage if I were you. Good luck!

[BlackfootHair]

I would try doing colorfix again. With colorfix, it usually darkens again after it oxidizes, so it may pay to do it again. IF you get it to a level you are comfortable with, you could always do a demi red over it. Probably lighter than you want, so if the color grabs it won't go too dark on you.

I knew a girl who used to mix bleach in her shampoo and put it on her head for about 10-20 minutes or so to lighten it just a bit. I think you could probably strand test with this method. I don't know the exact measurements, but they do sell small packets of bleach in Sally's for a few bucks. :)

[FrannyG]

Yes, I feel your pain. I don't know what I was thinking, but I dyed my hair dark brown after joining LHC and knowing better. Honey lightening helped somewhat. Ktani has done some amazing research in this thread (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=148).

If you have to resort to chemical lightening, I heartily endorse the information in this thread (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=10495), again thanks to ktani's research. To make a long story short, coating your hair with coconut oil before using chemical lighteners can really protect the hair from damage. It's done a world of good for me.

Honey lightening did help me get to a certain point, but I finally did had to use a chemical lightener. Unfortunately, that was before the coconut oil research was out. Since using the coconut oil when touching up my hair, I've reduced dye damage dramatically. I've been doing it for over 17 months.

Good luck with whatever you do. Since you are going to a red shade, you likely won't need to do anything as drastic as I had to. :blossom:

[Gypsy]

Is Color Fix more effective than Color Oops?
My hair is highly resistant so when I go to remove my own dark dyes, I want to get the most bang for my buck.
Bleaching out the dark dye won't work, I've tried and it barely gets past a dark orange and that is with a 40 volume developer.
My virgin hair alone requires 40 volume, so I don't know why I was hoping that would help lift the dye plus my natural color.:rolleyes:

[SearMeCarefully]

Well as I understand it colorfix is more gentle because color oops uses.. peroxide? So it generally turns your hair orange/changes your natural hair colour and then you're supposed to redye your hair over it. So it's more effective if you are redying your hair. But I don't want to permanently change my hair colour, I just want my original colour (or close) back and I don't want the damage either ha.
I've applied 3 applications of colorfix, and it does seem to strip out - the first time was the biggest difference. It stinks pretty bad though lol
Each box has enough for 1.5 applications (for my TB length)

Edit: Oh but colorfix is made for permanent dyes. And it's supposed to work much better for them rather than my demi

[loralie]

I've dyed my hair black a handful of times over the last 6 years. First time I bleached it out... horrible.

The most recently, I dyed it at the beginning of October. Around Christmas it had faded to a dark brown, the ends staying the darkest.

I just dyed it again with a permanent black between Christmas and New Years and with honey SMT's and simple washings it's already lightened enough to have noticeable brown highlights. From years and years of bleaching, dyeing, bleaching, highlighting, my advice would be to try honey lightening and go from there... anything to avoid chemicals. Because of my constant dyeing and chemical lightening I haven't had my hair past APL in a looooooong time (since 2002).

[StephanieB]

Gypsy, having had hair every color in the world, except for gray (and having natrual dark brunette hair, as you ssee in my avvy)...

I can tell you that I don't think there is anything that will both lighten the black dye out of your hair and lighten your natural color, without doing real damage. That will require stripping - which, if I'm not much mistaken, will also strip out your natural color, as well as the dye.

I have had my natural dark hair stripped of all color (then bleached then dyed again with golds and yellows)... and it is very, very damaging!

I wish you better luck than I had.

[Rhiannon7]

I understand and feel for you. i got a tip from a stylist a few years ago, i had darkened my hair by mistake, ( bought a great looking copper/bronze permanent dye, Feria. and it turned out dark brown with coppery highlights.) i asked what i could do without damaging the hair too much, and she told me to wash it every day for a week with a detergent, as in laundry detergent. she said the chemicals would strip the dark color out. i did it but never got to my natural coppery color so after 2 weeks i had to dye with a chemical color closer to my own natural one. it did strip the darker color but it still remained a bit too dark red for my liking (don't think i look very good with titian colored hair. as in very dark red. ) but it did strip it closer to my natural color.

I noticed some dryness ( i mean it is laundry detergent, and the harshest the better to strip it.) but after a week of daily deep moisture treatments my hair was back to normally soft and shiny. but it did damage a bit. not as much as bleach, but some damage.

I also read that someone here used Sun In to lighten her red hair to a more coppery color. so maybe you can try, it has peroxide but it does lighten specially if you lay in the sun for a few hours with drenched sun in hair. or 30 minutes of constant dryer heat. (don't recommend unless you do a deep moisture treatment after using sun in.)

BTW have you used 60 to 80 Peroxide to lighten the color? my cousin uses 60 peroxide to lighten her dark brown hair to dye platinum blonde. very damaging but it could be the last resource.


HTH. and please let us know the results of all the info here if you try.

[SearMeCarefully]

Gypsy, having had hair every color in the world, except for gray (and having natrual dark brunette hair, as you ssee in my avvy)...

I can tell you that I don't think there is anything that will both lighten the black dye out of your hair and lighten your natural color, without doing real damage. That will require stripping - which, if I'm not much mistaken, will also strip out your natural color, as well as the dye.

I have had my natural dark hair stripped of all color (then bleached then dyed again with golds and yellows)... and it is very, very damaging!

I wish you better luck than I had.

No you misunderstood. I don't want to change my natural hair colour at all. I was merely describing the differences in commercial hair strippers colorfix and color oops.
I want to do it with the least amount of damage and keeping my natural hair colour =]

[SearMeCarefully]

I understand and feel for you. i got a tip from a stylist a few years ago, i had darkened my hair by mistake, ( bought a great looking copper/bronze permanent dye, Feria. and it turned out dark brown with coppery highlights.) i asked what i could do without damaging the hair too much, and she told me to wash it every day for a week with a detergent, as in laundry detergent. she said the chemicals would strip the dark color out. i did it but never got to my natural coppery color so after 2 weeks i had to dye with a chemical color closer to my own natural one. it did strip the darker color but it still remained a bit too dark red for my liking (don't think i look very good with titian colored hair. as in very dark red. ) but it did strip it closer to my natural color.

I noticed some dryness ( i mean it is laundry detergent, and the harshest the better to strip it.) but after a week of daily deep moisture treatments my hair was back to normally soft and shiny. but it did damage a bit. not as much as bleach, but some damage.

I also read that someone here used Sun In to lighten her red hair to a more coppery color. so maybe you can try, it has peroxide but it does lighten specially if you lay in the sun for a few hours with drenched sun in hair. or 30 minutes of constant dryer heat. (don't recommend unless you do a deep moisture treatment after using sun in.)

BTW have you used 60 to 80 Peroxide to lighten the color? my cousin uses 60 peroxide to lighten her dark brown hair to dye platinum blonde. very damaging but it could be the last resource.


HTH. and please let us know the results of all the info here if you try.

Yeah bleach is totally out for me. I don't want that damage or drastic change to hair colour (then I'd just have to redye it again!)
I'm wondering if the sun in would be similar to honey treatments (in the sun etc)
I bought Dawn (lime scent! haha) and will try that for awhile and if no go maybe I'll try a laundry detergent to see if it works better..
I haven't done it everyday so as not to over stress the hair (and really because it's still really cold here and I hate having cooold wet hair in the winter months!)

[Gypsy]

Gypsy, having had hair every color in the world, except for gray (and having natrual dark brunette hair, as you ssee in my avvy)...

I can tell you that I don't think there is anything that will both lighten the black dye out of your hair and lighten your natural color, without doing real damage. That will require stripping - which, if I'm not much mistaken, will also strip out your natural color, as well as the dye.

I have had my natural dark hair stripped of all color (then bleached then dyed again with golds and yellows)... and it is very, very damaging!

I wish you better luck than I had.

No, sorry, I explained it wrong. That wasn't what I meant.
I wanted to remove the dark dye so then I could recolor my hair with a lighter brown dye.
My hair won't take a lighter dye like it used to be able to do before it got years of dark dye saturation so I need to remove all this dye to get my hair back to it's own color and start over.
The roots will take the new color but the rest of my hair remains very dark.
And I've had every color too- including gray (which is the main reason for coloring my hair in recent years). It is fun to switch up the colors and I actually love colors not occurring in nature; I had so many compliments when my hair was black from the roots to shoulder and purple from shoulder to the ends (about bra strap length).:D

[StephanieB]

No, sorry, I explained it wrong. That wasn't what I meant.
I wanted to remove the dark dye so then I could recolor my hair with a lighter brown dye.
Oh, okay.

I still don't think anything other than color stripper will remove dye from hair, nor do I think that you'll successfully cover black dye with lighter color.

I would like to be wrong (for your sake), but I'm pretty sure of what I'm saying.


Would you let me know whatever you end up doing?
I'm quite curious... for the sake of knowledge; I have no intention of coloring my hair ever again, unless, perhaps, to cover gray if/when I get gray.

I wish you good luck in getting your hair however it will please you.
I have spent a lifetime (just coming up soon on 49 years) hating my own hair quite badly... I know what that's like.

[Isilme]

A friend of mine mentioned that products with a hight contain of glycerin could pull out colour.
Have you tried honey?

[Gypsy]

Oh, okay.

I still don't think anything other than color stripper will remove dye from hair, nor do I think that you'll successfully cover black dye with lighter color.

I would like to be wrong (for your sake), but I'm pretty sure of what I'm saying.


Would you let me know whatever you end up doing?
I'm quite curious... for the sake of knowledge; I have no intention of coloring my hair ever again, unless, perhaps, to cover gray if/when I get gray.

I wish you good luck in getting your hair however it will please you.
I have spent a lifetime (just coming up soon on 49 years) hating my own hair quite badly... I know what that's like.

No, a lighter color won't cover dark hair, it has to lift the color out and deposit the new color, and they contain a level of developer to do just that.
If not using bleach, you can only do maybe 2 shades lighter successfully. Otherwise separate bleach and developer is required.
I've done it before many many times, my problem now is that I got into dying it dark and stuck with it for so long that the dark dye won't lift out with regular dyes and certainly not safely with a bleach application.
On my roots, lighter dyes have no problem lifting the virgin color satisfactorily, it's just the previously dyed hair that won't lift.
Maybe I'm just not conveying my dilemma correctly..:o

[kdm310911]

once you dye your hair once, color will not lift it again. Color doesn't lift color. Color will only lighten virgin hair. Otherwise, bleach is your only option.

[Gypsy]

*sigh*
color strippers remove the dye- that is what we are discussing.
I was just asking which product was better after SearMeCarefully initiated the thread.
I know color won't lift color- I've been doing this for years and understand the basics of hair coloring. It's only been in the past few years I have stuck to a specific color and it happens to be dark and so I need a color STRIPPER to remove the dye.
Bleach might remove the dye, if done aggressively, I have tried it before and it doesn't work with dye this dark, it literally melts the hair because of how much has to be used in order to get a lift and then, it only takes it orange.
I have seen my hair melt. Rubbery, spongy and doesn't dry. Bleach is not an option in this case.
Color strippers work differently than bleach, they only remove dye- not natural pigment like bleach does.
:rolleyes:
Tired. going to Aruba in less than 24 hours...

[Honey39]

I dye my hair (lots of low-lights), and LHC care pulls the dye from my hair like you would not believe! I don't mind, because it fades prettily, but deep oiling and deep conditioning lightened my hair pretty dramatically, and even my hairdresser commented on it. She asked me if I were naturally blonde (I'm not), because my dark brown hair had lightened so much.

Worth a shot, it took me about two months, but it really pulled the dye from my hair (and I wasn't trying to!!)

[Blackfay]

If you're still looking at color strippers, I've found L'Oreal's Haircolor Remover to work better than ColorOops, although it's pretty stinky and leaves your hair a little dry.

[suicides_eve]

As mention before , I did what is called a bleach cap which is bleach mixed with shampoo and worked through hair for short interviels . This gradualy lightens the color. Or like the other color removers: here is my page. I used colorfix found at sallys it has pictures and all that fun crap. take from it what you will. it worked for me

http://www.colorzap.50megs.com/

[Centelleo]

I think a combination of high alkaline cleanser/shampoo + baking soda washes, followed by hot oil treatments and even the honey SMTs would be your best bet if you can't resort to chemical usage. Avoid petrolatum/mineral oil/non-water soluable silicones products during this time as they can coat the strands, which will make it that much more difficult to pull color out.

[kwaniesiam]

Colorfix, Color Oops, all of those color removers only work well for permanent dye. I would suggest doing like suicides_eve said and try a bleach cap. You can also mix it with conditioner though shampoo is more effective in my experience. Try that once or twice to see if you can get enough color out to get back to the red you want.

[SearMeCarefully]

So I've done a few washings with Dawn, and it's amazing how much colour comes out each time. It's about the same as the stripper. I will plug the tub when I go to rinse to see if it changes the water colour and it totally does! So I think if I keep using this it will accelarate the dye coming out.
If I get sick of this I'll try some of the other things, the honey sounds good and the smt's.. I don't know about the bleach though..

[Willow]

What brand did you use to color it black? There are different kinds of dyes in haircolor. Especially demi permanent. There are direct dyes and oxidative dyes. Colorfix and Color Oops are for oxidative dyes. They will not affect direct dyes that are found in many demi permanent colors. You will need a special one for those. Sally's has one but i can't remember the name of it now and I believe you have to be a licensed stylist to purchase it. Also, if you can get ahold of some Original Malibu Gel (treatment to remove build up, impurities, etc.), it will pull some of the demi out. You will need to use heat with it though or it won't work. And it does no damage at all.