removing hair dye . .

[gardenmom5]

anyone done this?

 

I was salon dyeing - then only foiling for years to cover my gray. my natural color was an ash blonde - the foils have been three different colors of blonde.  'underneath' is still pretty much my natural dark blonde, I haven't put a foil on it.

 

I'm tired of the silver and gold effect as it grows in (and that I can see my roots within a week), and just want to let it go gray.   I've seen various methhods of removing color - mine shouldn't have been bleached first, so it shouldn't do weird things.

 

any one done this?  preferred methods?

[kahlanne]

Have you ever considered just coloring it grey? It is becoming more popular now. I had red, colored, hair but my natural is black with more and more grey peppered in as I age. Ever since I started shaving the side and underneath, it has been too much upkeep with color. The shaved part would cut off the dyed area and within a week you could see the original. Seemed within a week it had to be colored again. I had my stylist strip all the color out, taking me to really blond, and then color over it with grey. I kept the blond for a few weeks just to have that color once. LOL. Now as my roots grow out it will either be lots of grey or salt and pepper which will fade right into the grey color. I love it. Anyway, just a thought.

[TranquilMind]

There is a color remover at Beauty Supply stores.  Go find one.  I can't remember the name but I have used it before on a kid who HAD to have black hair one time.  It worked decently. 

[Rebel Yell]

anyone done this?

 

I was salon dyeing - then only foiling for years to cover my gray. my natural color was an ash blonde - the foils have been three different colors of blonde. 'underneath' is still pretty much my natural dark blonde, I haven't put a foil on it.

 

I'm tired of the silver and gold effect as it grows in (and that I can see my roots within a week), and just want to let it go gray. I've seen various methhods of removing color - mine shouldn't have been bleached first, so it shouldn't do weird things.

 

any one done this? preferred methods?

How or even if it is possible to remove the color will depend on what was used to color your hair. It doesn't matter if the color was placed in foils to only color selected hair, or applied all over... The actual product itself will determine what can be done.

 

If your colored hair is at all lighter than your natural hair color (let's ignore the grey for now) then your hair has been permanently lightened. That can be done with hair color as well as bleach. Bleach only removes pigments. "Color" can lighten OR darken hair, and also deposits pigments if it is lightening the hair. So the color used could be simultaneously cover or darken your grey hair, and lighten your natural hair while also adding color, perhaps a golden tone to warm it up.

 

If a permanent color has been used, a color remover can take some of those deposited pigments away, but it will not be able to restore the natural color that has been chemically altered. Permanent color will typically fade on its own, but will never go back to natural hair.

 

If semi-permanent color was used, it will wash out in about a month, but sometimes the dye is embedded if the hair is particularly porous. No chemical change would have occurred, it would be more like 'painting' pigments on the outside surface of each hair, rather than chemically changing the haircolor by permanently dissolving the natural pigments.

Edited August 7, 2016 by Rebel Yell

[ErinE]

Personally, I would ask the salon to lift the old color then treat with a neutral to ash blonde semi-permanent color. A relative had this done on her ash-blonde graying hair and the color difference between her roots and the colored hair is seamless.

 

Have you considered doing balayage rather than foiling? The color is painted on free-form so the roots don't make a hard line as the hair grows.

[zimom]

Personally, I would ask the salon to lift the old color then treat with a neutral to ash blonde semi-permanent color. A relative had this done on her ash-blonde graying hair and the color difference between her roots and the colored hair is seamless.

 

 

 

This is basically what my stylist did for me.  I was a medium brown up until my mid twenties, have had to use permanent color (still medium brown) since then.  About six years ago I did the painful method of just growing out all my gray.   After finally accomplishing that, for some reason I then colored it again  :huh:

 

A year ago I decided to go back to gray again.  My stylist lifted my old color as light as possible, and then treated it with an ash blonde toner.   Every couple of three months I just use Wella ash blonde toner myself on the ends.  At this point I am about roots to half way silver/white and then to the ends the toner but it looks pretty seamless.    It has been so much easier this time.  

[Katy]

If you just want to wash out the dye, you can saturate it with dawn dish soap, leave it on for at least 20 minutes, wash, and condition.  It strips the color.

 

The reality is that any hair color does change the base color of your hair a bit, it opens up the hair and removes some of the color, so it will not be exactly the same, but it is probably similar.

 

If you want it to look gray, you can do so subtly by getting any medium or dark ash hair color and using it.  The parts that have been lightened significantly will soak up more color and look more ashy.  You can also go to Sally Beauty and get either purple shampoo, which washes the ash back in, OR I think Wella makes a gray toner.  You mix it with twice the amount of 20 volume peroxide, put it on hair, and leave about 20 minutes.