Can I get this color out?!

[MoonLightFairy]

I hate to tell you this but it won't wash out completely, it never will! And red is the hardest colour to remove, so you really need to bleach it! Things like Color Oops mostly work on freshly dyed hair, but your hair has been dyed so long ago that it won't work anymore! I don't think honey lightning treatments would work..

Anyway, all I can think of is that it's going to be very damaging to get that hair to a nice shade of light blonde.. or blonde at all :S (and I speak from experience!)

The colour isn't bad though, do you really want blonde hair? I think red would look nice as well, you could use henna and it would be so pretty!

My natural color is a blonde, I just want a lighter shade of it. It's what I have been doing for years except highlights, its looks best. And how do you know how good red would look you can't see my face!

[MoonLightFairy]

My hair is pretty close to this

[UltraBella]

Well, I can't give you an easy solution for getting rid of the color, but I can solve your mystery as to why you are retaining so much color. You DID NOT use a semi-color. Clairol Natural Instincts is a Demi-color. It does not contain ammonia, but it has a peroxide developer. So your cuticle was opened to allow the dye to penetrate. A semi-color contains no ammonia and no peroxide, it does not open the cuticle, it just coats the hair strands and washes out between 6-12 shampoos. Your 28 day wash out is what tipped me off, so I looked up the ingredients online and sure enough, peroxide. And the website says that for your natural color you should never put such a dark color on, it is not one of the color options when you select your natural color because it is too dark.
I am not sure how you are going to remove it without bleach but hopefully this helps you understand what happened atleast.

And I do have to respectfully disagree with Shermie Girl, the peroxide did NOT lift out your natural color. This is a deposit only color with a weak peroxide developer. It opens the cuticle letting the new color bond but it did not strip your natural color. Demi colors do not lift, they only deposit.

[MoonLightFairy]

So what could a professional hairdresser do?

[oktobergoud]

A professional would bleach it, really. In my opinion that would be the only option. It doesn't matter that your own hair is really light, the thing is, the colour around your hair is still dark and red! And bleach will have to break off all that colouring before it will get a bit lighter. Sure, it does help your hair has been coloured only once, since it will have less layers that needs to be stripped, but it still needs to be bleached to get light. And since your hair is now a dark red, that's going to be quiet difficult! I'm not sure if you are familiar with bleaching, but it goes from orange to dark yellow to lighter yellow, pale yellow and then white/platinum. But since you have so much red in your hair it will turn out orange and it will be really, really hard to get the orange out. Once you have done that, it will be uneven and needs to be toned etc. Long story short: it would be a pain in the ass, and damaging.

But that's what I THINK, I'm not a professional of course. I think the best thing you can do is go to a professional hairdresser and just ask what they would do Then you know for sure!

(And now I have no idea what your face looks like, sorry! I just meant that the colour overall would look pretty, since you already have a nice red base. Sorry for not being clear!)

I have tons of experience of bleaching my hair from red to platinum, I've done that many times and it is possible.. but only because I have a pixie haircut

[oktobergoud]

Oh and maybe the hairdresser can make it lighter gradually by using highlights.. but that's going to take a while though, but it would be the less damaging way I guess!

[UltraBella]

A hairdresser would lift the color out with bleach. It's the only way to strip the darker color. Then you can use a permanent color, a light blonde for example, to redeposit color. I disagree that it is going to be orange, it's pretty easy to lift past the brassy stage and any experienced professional will have no problem doing so.
Highlights are just bleach as well, so your process is still the same, you would just be doing it gradually and it will cost you more in the long run.

[Coan-Teen]

Also since you're hair has grown out a good bit it will be easier for a hair dresser to match to your original color. I agree with UltraBella that a professional is your best bet for a good result. I'm not saying you couldn't manage it on your own but it would probably require a bit of trial and error. Since you are on a budget, like all of us, I think the cheapest option is to go in and get the entire color-treated area fixed in one go.

I hope that helps, and remember, for those of us with light colored hair, there is almost no such thing as wash out color. I have used many semi-permanent dyes and all of them have left color in my hair that I had to grow out because I was unwilling to bleach. As UltraBella pointed out you did use a demi-permanent, but this is just a fair warning from a fellow blonde. Wash out color is a dicey business. Good luck.

[MoonLightFairy]

waaaah its getting me angry
Want this color out now! Ugh! And I don't want to bleach or strip my hair

[UltraBella]

Your other option is to keep growing and trimming, someday all the Demi-color will be trimmed off without the damage of bleach. However, bleach isn't horrible on everyone's hair. I bleached my copper red out last spring and only ended up with a two inch trim for it to feel fantastic again. Then I went and put the copper red back six months later ! I cant make up my mind. Once again, I am sick of it but this time I am just going to tone my whole head with a neutral color in a Demi, no bleach. Because you went so far from your natural color level you just don't have many options for lifting it.
It really will be okay, whatever you decide