Dyed my hair and have to fix it!

[jissy]

Long story short, I have 39 inches of dark blond hair.

Clairol was used. Clairol said to use Strawberry blond from Nice and easy. Dh went with me and we decided to use 104 which was Medium Neutral Golden blond which we saw would give a touch of red which is what I wanted. The strawberry blond looked too red.

Well I used the 104 and it turned my hair red!!!! Redder then I expected. A week later I was told by clairol that I had to use 103A to correct it , that that color would take out the red. Basically it would cover it up. THey knew I had long hair and said they would prefer me go to a salon. I said no I just wanted to strip it and fix it. THey said not to strip which I thought was odd since you can strip it without the damage that it use to cause years ago. I changed the color and it was still a bit red. I didn't mind it much I figured it was a very pretty color and I liked it. DH would have to get use to it since he has always known me as a blond. MIL would have to get use to it too. lol

I waited 6 weeks for new growth so I can do my roots and I was scared to do them but clairol said to use the same 103a that I had correctedwith on my roots so I did and it looked good. I was very happy.

Well now that it is time for me to do my roots again I saw that the new roots are dark (obviously) and that the roots I did 6 weeks ago look a bit darker than the rest of my hair that I corrected. I was NOT happy at all. I figured well it's ok right now but once my hair grows more people will see the change in shades and well I don't like being embarrassed. I told dh I was going to correct this and be done with it.

I called up another hair color place and they said use an ASH color on my hair to cover up and then that should be fine. I again said what about taking this color off and doing it the right way? They said no just cover it up.

I called a beauty supply store(Sally Beauty supply) and the woman there has been doing this for years and she seems to know what she is talking about. She said do not cover it up, she said the only way to do this is to take out the color and reapply color. So basically strip it then reapply color that I want. And that the correction that clairol said to do was wrong and that I should not put any ASH in my hair because Golden and Ash will pull out red on me and that I have to stick with Neutral colors.

So who do I believe? This woman who can see me and look at my hair and has been doing this for years or what?

I don't want to go to a salon, it's not the money...I just don't trust anyone with my hair. DH cuts my hair when I want my ends done it's been years since I went to someone and the one person I use to go to and trust moved far away many years ago.

Suggestions? This woman said to come see her on Wednesday and she'll suggest some things once she sees the color of my hair. She said it can be corrected without burning my hair.

HELP!!!

[Shermie Girl]

Red is a tough colour to remove. Chemical or henna, it hangs on to your hair and doesn't want to budge. Seriously, I would go to or call several good salons, talk with and have consults with master colourists. Tell them what you want to do, make it clear that you have a vision and goals concerning your hair and go with the person who can do the job right and respect your desire to keep and grow your long locks.

If a salon is simply out of the question, you do have a couple of options for at home correction. You can strand test corrective colours and see if you can correct the problem by just colouring. If not, you will have to remove the existing colour. ColorFix or an over the counter colour remover can do the job. You will need to clip or collect a good deal of hair, then strand test like a madwoman. Timing is everything and following the directions precisely is crucial. If your hair hasn't been bleached and if you don't have a heavy amount of colour to remove, you may just be able to remove the old colour and re colour with a neutral blonde and still come out of it with hair in decent condition. You may need to do some deep treatments, a little protein and some pampering, but it should be doable. Again, strand tests will tell you if it is, or not.

Good luck. :)

[spidermom]

I would definitely go with the advice of somebody who has seen the color and condition of your hair over somebody who is going by the "statistical norm." I'm a big fan of leaving the natural color of hair alone, but if I colored, I'd definitely see somebody who knows her stuff, i.e., what Shermie Girl said about a master colorist.

[Carolyn]

I'd get some consultations from the best colorists around. And then I'd go with the one I'd like the best. For me home hair color, Natural Instincts, was a disaster. The medium ash color turned my hair reddish blonde and I wanted to stay a very cool tones ash blonde. I'd advise going to a pro and getting it done.

[jissy]

I trust no one around here. And no one here has long hair. I'll have to do so researching into salons around here.

The woman I spoke with over the phone that said to come in and see her said that ash is a no no.

I haven't done my hair in years (10 or so) and I believe that it should stay the same but I felt like lightening it and looking a bit redder. It was just something I really wanted to do and didn't dare do it for all these years. Iuse to do my hair when it was shorter all the time as a teen.

I use to only have to use golden tones but since my hair got darker as I got older that wasn't the right thing to do but I didn't know that.

I am hoping this woman who has been in the business for many many years will be able to help me find the right color and how to take out the old.

My hair is definitely lighter than what it was and I know there was ammonia in what I used.

This woman said absolutely do not go by someones advice over the phone if they haven't seen my hair. I am hoping she can shed some light on this. She did mention what one of the poster said here about the remover so maybe she does know what she is doing. I hope she does or at least knows who to trust to help me.

THank you all

[k_hepburn]

I am a little puzzled, jissy, why you keep seeking advice from people over the phone, only to then go against it, and still blame the person you gave you the advice for the end result.

Be that as it may, there is just one observation I would like to add: your main problem with the current state of your hair appears to be that the re-growth (that is those parts only ever dyed one colour) is a shade different from the parts where you applied the new colour over the previous one. That is perfectly normal. The tone a hair dye will create on your hair always depends to some degree on the colour your hair is to begin with.. So dyeing over hair dyed 104, dyeing over hair dyed 103a and dyeing your virgin hair will always produce slightly different shades. Similarly, unless you manage to match the colour of your virgin hair exactly by using color fix, you are bound to be facing the exact same problem again, the next time you dye your re-growth.

Greetings

katharine

[Kirin]

I have to strongly -disagree- that red is the hardest color to remove from hair. henna is impossible to remove, but chemical red's usually die within two weeks. Ask around here, those that went to henna after years of faded red dye jobs so they could finally have red hair that wouldnt wash down the drain in a week or two.

Your situation is "golden", which in meaning of red, is probably "light reddish" or towards copper (the orange end of the spectrum towards red, but not red itself).

Golden reds can be cancelled out with "ash" tones, which contain green. Green cancels out orange/copper. This however is a risk. Adding ash of any kind to hair can cause a worse problem. It may fix your problem but if it goes too far? GREEN......... i'd rather have copper/orange hair than green any day of the week.

"Pros" may not know what they are talking about, clairol wants to sell more haircolor, salons? to sell services. Sally's? to sell product.

You should probably use color oops, or colorfix to take out the color remaining in your hair, and then use the appropriate color for you (likely a neutral). Then condition like crazy , just my two cents worth

[Riot Crrl]

I have to strongly -disagree- that red is the hardest color to remove from hair. henna is impossible to remove, but chemical red's usually die within two weeks. Ask around here, those that went to henna after years of faded red dye jobs so they could finally have red hair that wouldnt wash down the drain in a week or two.

I agree, and I'm definitely among this group.

However!

Anything can stain light colored hair. I stained mine with red Fanci-Full (supposed to wash out in one shampoo) which is what led me down the chemical red corridor in the first place. Loved the red, hated how it washed out in days.

I'd also agree with the dye removal products, but strand test strand test strand test, and if you do decide to use it, condition condition condition.

[iris]

I think the red is probably from your hair itself, not from the dye. You know the stages that darker hair goes through when you lighten it - red, orange, yellow? That happens because natural hair color is made up of only two pigments (or three, depending how you look at it) - the red/yellow pigment is more stable and more difficult to lighten than the ashy pigment which cancels out the red to make brown in darker hair.

So, colorfix won't take the red out, because the red is *not* something that was added by the dye - the dye didn't have a red tone, it had a yellow tone - it is the color from your hair itself. You can cancel it out by adding a little bit of green (if it's really red) or blue (if it's actually orange). You wouldn't need to go with a full-on ash dye, an ash toner should be enough.

I do agree with everyone else that you'll be better off to have someone who knows what they're doing look at your hair and fix it. How to go about telling whether someone knows what they're doing, I don't know. Trust your gut?

Iris

[sweetkandi]

I would go see that lady you talked to if I were you. She seems like she knows what shes talking about. What harm can a little advice in person do?

[ycelong]

Personally, I would go to an Aveda salon - they have good gentle products and their colorists are usually well trained. I have had good results there. Another option, if you don't have an Aveda Salon near you, would be a Redken salon - they have good products too.
typically - I don't go to hairstylists or salons either BUT I messed up my hair with color a couple years ago and tried fixing it myself through Sally's - no good. I ended up going to an Aveda Salon and they were fabulous.
This will sound strange but it works - use Whisk to shampoo your hair to remove color. WARNING - IT IS HARSH!! My hair felt like straw before I hot oil treated it but it was no longer PURPLE either :)

Good luck - bad dye jobs can be a nightmare.
Let us know what you decide and how it goes...

[fatmoogas]

Hope you find a solution to this.

[kimki]

From personal experience it is much better to go to a salon. I know you don't trust them but at least if the result is not satisfactory then they have a duty of care to try and fix it. If you attempt to correct it at home, your pretty much on your own.

[jissy]

going to try to post this again...

the system hasn't been letting me post all day.

[jissy]

Good I can post again.

Sorry for being confusing in my other posts. Clairol said I could use a couple of different colors so when dh and I saw that the red they recommended was too red we went with the basic natural golden blond which clairol said would be ok to use as well for a little red. Obviously my hair decided to go redder than that.

I was told after I did the correction that I had to do the roots with the same color as the correction so they would look the same. At first they did but you can see that they don't look like the corrected hair and this is in need of correction the right way.

All I wanted was to have a little fun with my hair and this was the end result. I know some of you are recommending the colorfix but once I use that will it take the colors that were put on my hair off completely and bring me back to my original very dark blond so I wont have to recolor it something else? Or will I have to go with another color after that?

The woman that I am seeing on Wednesday said that the color must be taken off before going back to my natural color or using a different color. So that is the same thing you are all saying, which certainly helps eases my mind about this woman.

I did read that the colorfix has been used and leaves hair a reddish orange? I have seen pictures where someone actually put this mahagony red in their hair and the results were their dark brown hair again?! My hair is already reddish so what will it do to my hair and how does it work without it being a bleach?

Again all suggestions and info are appreciated.

[Riot Crrl]

know some of you are recommending the colorfix but once I use that will it take the colors that were put on my hair off completely and bring me back to my original very dark blond so I wont have to recolor it something else? Or will I have to go with another color after that?

It depends. I thought that Nice and Easy had no ammonia or peroxide. If it really had no lightening agents whatsoever and was truly deposit only, then the dye removal products will reflect that. Most dyes (even black) have ammonia and peroxide to help them stick, so people removing those will have weird light colors underneath, since the ammonia and peroxide lightened their hair.


I did read that the colorfix has been used and leaves hair a reddish orange?

As above, that depends on the starting color and what was put in it. Even if it was dark brown and they dyed it black, they could lift the dye out and get brassy reddish. That's because the ammonia and peroxide lifted their natural pigment to reddish while adding the black. Dye removal products can only remove deposited color, they don't undo lightening. And even dying hair darker than what it was, often has lightening agents.

[iris]

It depends. I thought that Nice and Easy had no ammonia or peroxide. If it really had no lightening agents whatsoever and was truly deposit only, then the dye removal products will reflect that.
Products like Colorfix won't work on deposit-only dyes, they only work on oxidative dyes (the kind with peroxide and ammonia).

And if the Nice and Easy is an oxidative dye, the type of dye that colorfix etc can strip, then it will have lightened your hair to a brassy shade, yes. Like I said above, the red most likely comes from your own hair, not from the Nice and Easy.

Iris

[jissy]

The nice and easy definitely lightened my hair. You can smell the ammonia as well. My hair is a very dark blond. The red definitely came from my own hair, I expected the nice and easy to be blond with red in it but what I got was all red.

I'm just trying to see if the colorfix is what is best for me. Wondering if the best thing here is to go back to my dark blond and just leave it alone. Wondering the safest way to do it and if the colorfix will really do the trick.

Lets see, I used nice and easy 104 and that lightened my hair and my hair turned a very very red color.
1 week later I used 103a or 103 i dont remember now, and that put some color onto it to cover up the red but it didn't cover up all the red.

When I look in the mirror I see the bottom part of my hair darker than the top and I really like the bottom color, it's just about 2 shades lighter than my natural color and doesn't seem to have as much red as the top.

So if I use the colorfix it will take out the dyed part but since the red came from myown hair that color will stay and wont be taken out with this colorfix?

Another question: I read that after using colorfix it says to use the 3rd solution and that might make your hair go back to what it was again and you will have to start the whole process all over again. People have said that they didn't do that step and they were fine and didn't have to worry about their going back to a dark color or a red? Has anyone heard of this?

[Dark Rosaleen]

If I were you I would not play around with trying to fix the color at home anymore. Find a nice salon in your area or somewhere nearby and let a color expert try to correct your problems.

I'm simply concerned that something you might purchase to try at home won't work, and you'll end up with damage to your hair.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

[missy60]

IM sort of confused but if you try to lighten your hair more then 2 levels you will get brassy everytime. I take it you are trying to lighten your hair right? If you are going darker you should be able to dye over it and use the correct tones to cancel out the red. If you used permanent hair color it permanently alters you color so you cant go back. Color will not lift color so if your trying to go lighter you will have to remove the color first. If the ends are darker then the rest of your hair I would recommend going to a professional because you have two colors on your head now, and if you just put another color on the ends are going to take different also.

[FrannyG]

Nice N' Easy does have ammonia and peroxide--you might be thinking of Loving Care, Riot Crrl.

I think that what's happened is that you've lightened your hair more than you wanted to, and it took it to the reddish stage. So once you remove the dye, you will need to colour over it to get an acceptable colour that you can live with.

If you feel good about the colourist that you spoke with on the phone, then go and see her.

I agree that while it is possible to do a fix at home, it's not a good idea, if you're not experienced, especially in colour theory.

I wish you the best of luck. :flowers:

[missy60]

I also forgot to add that the people working at Sally's dont have to have any professional training so be very careful following their advice.

[Riot Crrl]

Products like Colorfix won't work on deposit-only dyes, they only work on oxidative dyes (the kind with peroxide and ammonia).

And if the Nice and Easy is an oxidative dye, the type of dye that colorfix etc can strip, then it will have lightened your hair to a brassy shade, yes. Like I said above, the red most likely comes from your own hair, not from the Nice and Easy.

Iris

I know that's what it says on the box but I actually would beg to differ. I got Special Effects out with it in one go. I know Special Effects says that it will wash out, but I would beg to differ with that too.

[jissy]

Been away from computer for a few days. My problem "was" was that I wasn't sure how to fix it so I just figured I'll just go back to regular color and be done with it. I really like the lightness of it but not the reddish tint it still had. After talking to dh I decided that I am going to continue to do my roots the same color and see what happens. I figure I'll have to refresh all of my hair in a few months so I can always go lighter OR stay the same if I choose.

I did my roots yesterday and had to use two bottles since I had let it grow out longer thus more hair to cover. Well the roots are about 1 shade darker than the rest of my head but the rest that I thought was "off" is fine. Don't ask me how, I have no clue how it fixed itself. My hair on top of my head was redder than the bottom and well now that is almost all gone as well. Blondish hair is there without too much of the reddish tint. Again no clue how it happened but not sure I want to try to figure out the how, just happy that I have a color that is pretty and I can really enjoy.

When I have to do my entire head they say only keep it in 5 minutes after you do your roots just to refresh, so when I do that I might change it lighter but wow the reddish color has been washed out. Next time I know for sure that I will do a Neutral and NOT a golden color. lol

Thank you for all your help and information. It really helped.

[FrannyG]

I'm so happy that you're happy with your hair without further measures. Sometimes these things have a way of working out nicely. :flowers:

[jissy]

I wanted to update everyone. AFter being in the sun and pool water over the summer it washed the rest of the red out of my hair. I used a pool shampoo on my hair to get the green out and then I went with L'oreal lightest ash blond and it did a great job.

Before I did it I did a 30minute deep conditioner in it. It does look slightly different on the bottom then on the top but again the bottom is older and no one but me would see the slight shade difference. I have been using this color since august and am happy with it. I condition it well and still use my products for my scalp as well. Its a pretty light blond. Not sure how long i'll keep it but for now i like it.