Black Hair Dye - How To get It Out

[MAC_addiction<3]

Ok So Ive Been Dying My Hair For Years Now, Not Very Often But Iv Had It All Sorts Of Colours. Ever Since I Was Blonde The Bleach In My hair Has Stopped Dyes Lasting Long And They Seemed To Of Faded After Around 2 Weeks.

Thinking That It Would Also Fade After A While I Dyed It Black As It Seemed To Be A Popular Colour This Season Plus My Hair Was All Dif Shades Of brown So I thought Lets Make It All Even And Go Black Which i Did. Little Did I Know That The Black Dye Would Not Fade At All & Is Really Hard To Get Out.

I Do Like the Black But Now My Roots Are Coming In Im Starting To WIsh Id Never Touched My Hair & Left It At Its Med/Dark Chocolatey Brown COlour That It Is Naturally. Ive Heard So Many Different Opinions On How To get Black Dye Out & Now Im Completly Confused! I Always Thought To get Your Hair Lighter Than It Is You Have To Bleach It/Strip It..But On Forums Ive Been Reading About Getting Black Dye Out People Have Been Saying To Just Put A dark Brown Dye Over It? Cant Imagine That Working Myself So Ive Got A Few Questions To Ask for All The Hairdressers Out There So I Can Decide What To Do

P.s - Sorry For The Realllly Long Post! x

1.) Head & Shoulders Is Known To Fade Black Dye - But If I Used This Would My Black Hair Fade to Dark Brown Or A Funny Off Black/Grey Colour?
( I Only Need The Black To Fade Slightly As My Natural Colour Is Fairly Dark Brown Anyway)

2.) Ive Heard People From The US Talking About ColourZap, But If I Don't Want To Turn My Hair Orange Or Bleach It What Other Milder Solutions Are There? If Any?

3.) Also Ive Heard About Using Baking Soda And A Claifying Shampoo To Make The Black Dye Fade - Same Question Again Would This Fade To dark Brown Or A Dodgy Colour?

4.) And Last Question - Is It True That Using Blonde Hair Dyes (Not Bleach) Will Strip the Black?


Pheww! Sorry For All The Questions & Thanksss
x

 

[reverieinbflat]

I dyed my hair black for a few years when I was younger, and I had to cut it off. My hair is a few ticks lighter than black, so the grow-out wasn't that noticeable.

Generally, going and having the color professionally stripped out is the safest and best way to get the black out. It can fry your poor hair. I tried everything home wise to get the black out. Then it was blond and when I put brown over it, all the color eventually faded to orange.

If you want you natural color to come back, you might have to bite the bullet and let it grow and rock a short hair style for a few months. Roots are annoying, but the result is totally worth it.

 

[s0xjuicy]

My sister actually tried the head & shoulders thing, and it didnt seem to do anything, what she did was she washed her hair with H&S, and she didn't wash it out, she tied her hair in a plastic bag for a couple of hours, and then washed it out, but I didn't notice anything, maybe it's something you have to do continually?

 

[prettybaby]

I would think taht the only thing you can really do safely is a decolorizer, or hair stripper. Color will never lift color. Bleach will, but its harder on your hair than decolorizer, or stripper. I have never heard of hs or the baking soda thing causing immediate color fading, and even when your color does finally fade out, its hard to say what color it will fade to. If your hair is really dark naturally, then I would say wait it out... after a time the black will fade, just hard to say how much it will fade. im sorry if none of that was what you were hoping to hear, but i really hth!

 

[vocaltest]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do NOT bleach it or use ANY kind of light colour. Blonde hair colour will still have peroxide in it, even if it is a small amount.

As you've been blonde your hair is more porous, therefore your hair grabs colour more, but also lets go of it quicker (i.e fades). Theres no real way to get rid of the black. Yes you can go to a salon and have the colour stripped but your hair will be RUINED. Your hair will more than likely go an orangey/orange brown colour, so then you will have to cover it with another colour, and as your hair is so damaged, it will be more porous, therefore colour will fade, and you'll be back to square one.

How long ago did you dye it? If you did it less than a week ago you should be able to strip it out with washing out liquid. Well, not strip entirely, but it will fade the black. Really really scrub at your hair and it will bring the colour out a bit. Its hard to say what colour it will go to, but more than likely it'll fade out to a dark brown colour. Anymore than a week then its more than likely your hair has taken the colour and it'll fade out like any other colour.

In all honesty... I hate to make it sound rubbish, but theres not a lot you can really do. I work in a hairdressers & we have so many people come in asking for us to strip out the black or asking what to do with it to get it lighter and there isn't a whole lot.

I've made the mistake of dying my hair black and it looked horrific. I just waited for it to come out. You either get it stripped out and ruin your hair and cause your hair much more long term hassle/problems by your hair being EXTREMELY damaged, or you wait it out and scrub it with washing up liquid. Also stripping it out can be very expensive as its usually more than one application. We charge at my work on average £50 (just over $100) per application.

But yeah... sorry for the long post, my overall suggestion is use washing up liquid. Hope that helps

 

[Kuuipo]

Bleaching will not remove it.
You need to buy two kits of colour remover kits-L'Oreal makes a great one.
Follow the directions. Then after all that, you will need to have your hair filled to make it ready to accept the new colour you will put on.
This is all best handled by a professional colourist.
I have gone from dyed blue black to platinum in the past for modeling assignments and have done it myself (I had a cosmetology lisence) but I preferred to have it done professionally because they have they can see the whole head better than I can and can add natural looking highlights.
Anything worth doing is worth doing correctly.

 

[MAC_addiction<3]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vocaltest PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do NOT bleach it or use ANY kind of light colour. Blonde hair colour will still have peroxide in it, even if it is a small amount. As you've been blonde your hair is more porous, therefore your hair grabs colour more, but also lets go of it quicker (i.e fades). Theres no real way to get rid of the black. Yes you can go to a salon and have the colour stripped but your hair will be RUINED. Your hair will more than likely go an orangey/orange brown colour, so then you will have to cover it with another colour, and as your hair is so damaged, it will be more porous, therefore colour will fade, and you'll be back to square one. How long ago did you dye it? If you did it less than a week ago you should be able to strip it out with washing out liquid. Well, not strip entirely, but it will fade the black. Really really scrub at your hair and it will bring the colour out a bit. Its hard to say what colour it will go to, but more than likely it'll fade out to a dark brown colour. Anymore than a week then its more than likely your hair has taken the colour and it'll fade out like any other colour. In all honesty... I hate to make it sound rubbish, but theres not a lot you can really do. I work in a hairdressers & we have so many people come in asking for us to strip out the black or asking what to do with it to get it lighter and there isn't a whole lot. I've made the mistake of dying my hair black and it looked horrific. I just waited for it to come out. You either get it stripped out and ruin your hair and cause your hair much more long term hassle/problems by your hair being EXTREMELY damaged, or you wait it out and scrub it with washing up liquid. Also stripping it out can be very expensive as its usually more than one application. We charge at my work on average £50 (just over $100) per application. But yeah... sorry for the long post, my overall suggestion is use washing up liquid. Hope that helps

Thanks For Your Helpp

Yea Youre Right The Colour Did Fade Really Fast Once Id Bleached It And Kept Going Back To That Horrible Orangey COlour. I think Im Just Going To Use Washing Up Liquid & Head & Shoulders And Try to Fade It..And If That Fails Then i Will Just Wait It Out..Even Though My Roots Will Probably Look Awful Lol. Its Been About A Month & A Half Ago I Dyed It Now.I Def Wont Bleach It, Ive Made That Mistake Before & 2 Years Down The Line My Hairs Only Just Starting To recover!
Thanks V.Muchh
xox

 

[MAC_addiction<3]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kuuipo Bleaching will not remove it. You need to buy two kits of colour remover kits-L'Oreal makes a great one. Follow the directions. Then after all that, you will need to have your hair filled to make it ready to accept the new colour you will put on. This is all best handled by a professional colourist. I have gone from dyed blue black to platinum in the past for modeling assignments and have done it myself (I had a cosmetology lisence) but I preferred to have it done professionally because they have they can see the whole head better than I can and can add natural looking highlights. Anything worth doing is worth doing correctly.

Yes I Agreee

Ive Never Heard Of Having Your Hair Filled Before..Sounds Like A Good Idea Though As Once Your Hairs Bleached It Doesnt Take Dye Very Easily After..Maybe For A Week & then It fades. Do They Do That At A Lot Of Salons?
Thanks x

 

[MAC_addiction<3]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kuuipo Bleaching will not remove it. You need to buy two kits of colour remover kits-L'Oreal makes a great one. Follow the directions. Then after all that, you will need to have your hair filled to make it ready to accept the new colour you will put on. This is all best handled by a professional colourist. I have gone from dyed blue black to platinum in the past for modeling assignments and have done it myself (I had a cosmetology lisence) but I preferred to have it done professionally because they have they can see the whole head better than I can and can add natural looking highlights. Anything worth doing is worth doing correctly.

Yes I Agreee

Ive Never Heard Of Having Your Hair Filled Before..Sounds Like A Good Idea Though As Once Your Hairs Bleached It Doesnt Take Dye Very Easily After..Maybe For A Week & then It fades. Do They Do That At A Lot Of Salons?
Thanks x

 

[Korms]

I'm in the process of going from red (which is equally as hard to get rid of) to a dark blonde.

I'll post what I have done so far, maybe it can be of some help to you.

First of all, I let the dye fade as much as it could just by washing. I bought a clarifying shampoo and used that at every wash. This may seem like common sense, but aviod colour care type shampoos and conditioners.

Fading the dye with shampoo took about a month. I then began the colour removal process. I tried two different colour removers that are available in the UK. The first was Goldwell System Colour Remover, which worked adequately enough but there wasn't much product in the kit. I used this three times over the course of two months. The next colour removing product I tried is by a company called Affinage and their product is called Eraser. It is a little more expensive but you get twice as much product and I found it worked better than the Goldwell version. A tip about colour removers; you need to SCRUB your hair when rinsing as they work by reducing the size of the colour molecules so they can be washed from the hair. I would shampoo my hair about 10 times immediately after using a colour remover just to be sure the molecules were out. How effectively the remover works will depend on how much colour your previous dye job deposited. I had quite a lot of colour in my hair and found that five removals lightened the majority of my hair to a golden brown colour, with some red still remaining in the front portions of hair. If you do use a colour remover, follow the instructions exactly. These colour removers are very gentle on hair and mine was not damaged at all during the stripping.

Before dying my hair I used a product by Goldwell called Pre-colour as I have found it very diffucult to obtain fillers such as Colorful's Protein Filler (an American product) here in the UK. The dye I chose to put over my stripped hair was an ash blonde tone with a blue-violet base which helped to counter-act any red or golden tones. I also used a drabber for additional help in counteracting red and gold. Using the ash blonde colour took my hair to a neutral medium brown. When you re-dye your hair I would suggest using a lighter colour than what you actually want as your hair will be porous and using a brown dye may make it black again. Try to avoid hair dyes that you can buy in Boots and Superdrug, they are no good for your hair in the long run. If you can get to a beauty supply store (we do have Sally's in the UK) then get a professional colour.

After a few days I added some highlights using the Jerome Russell B Blonde kit. This helped to give the illusion of blonde hair but without too much damage as I was only bleaching small strands. It also ensured any brassiness was less noticable as it blended with the ash tones already in my hair. Home highlighting kits are a bit crap in all honesty but I can't afford to get to a hairdressers right now, foil highlights would have been better for a more natural look.

Anyway, this was kind of a long winded post and I don't know if it will be of any help to you. I have no professional knowledge of hairdressing so what I am suggesting may not be right for you, but it worked for me.

Also, be patient! Going from black to brown will not happen overnight. Do it gradually to avoid as much damage as possible.

 

[MAC_addiction<3]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Korms I'm in the process of going from red (which is equally as hard to get rid of) to a dark blonde. I'll post what I have done so far, maybe it can be of some help to you. First of all, I let the dye fade as much as it could just by washing. I bought a clarifying shampoo and used that at every wash. This may seem like common sense, but aviod colour care type shampoos and conditioners. Fading the dye with shampoo took about a month. I then began the colour removal process. I tried two different colour removers that are available in the UK. The first was Goldwell System Colour Remover, which worked adequately enough but there wasn't much product in the kit. I used this three times over the course of two months. The next colour removing product I tried is by a company called Affinage and their product is called Eraser. It is a little more expensive but you get twice as much product and I found it worked better than the Goldwell version. A tip about colour removers; you need to SCRUB your hair when rinsing as they work by reducing the size of the colour molecules so they can be washed from the hair. I would shampoo my hair about 10 times immediately after using a colour remover just to be sure the molecules were out. How effectively the remover works will depend on how much colour your previous dye job deposited. I had quite a lot of colour in my hair and found that five removals lightened the majority of my hair to a golden brown colour, with some red still remaining in the front portions of hair. If you do use a colour remover, follow the instructions exactly. These colour removers are very gentle on hair and mine was not damaged at all during the stripping. Before dying my hair I used a product by Goldwell called Pre-colour as I have found it very diffucult to obtain fillers such as Colorful's Protein Filler (an American product) here in the UK. The dye I chose to put over my stripped hair was an ash blonde tone with a blue-violet base which helped to counter-act any red or golden tones. I also used a drabber for additional help in counteracting red and gold. Using the ash blonde colour took my hair to a neutral medium brown. When you re-dye your hair I would suggest using a lighter colour than what you actually want as your hair will be porous and using a brown dye may make it black again. Try to avoid hair dyes that you can buy in Boots and Superdrug, they are no good for your hair in the long run. If you can get to a beauty supply store (we do have Sally's in the UK) then get a professional colour. After a few days I added some highlights using the Jerome Russell B Blonde kit. This helped to give the illusion of blonde hair but without too much damage as I was only bleaching small strands. It also ensured any brassiness was less noticable as it blended with the ash tones already in my hair. Home highlighting kits are a bit crap in all honesty but I can't afford to get to a hairdressers right now, foil highlights would have been better for a more natural look. Anyway, this was kind of a long winded post and I don't know if it will be of any help to you. I have no professional knowledge of hairdressing so what I am suggesting may not be right for you, but it worked for me. Also, be patient! Going from black to brown will not happen overnight. Do it gradually to avoid as much damage as possible.

thanks for your help. I always thought colour removers seriously damaged hair? almost as much as bleach? my hairs already pretty weak recovering from bleach a few years ago n im worried about weakening it any more.

 

[Korms]

The Affinage hair colour remover I used was not damaging at all, but everyone's hair is different and reacts in different ways so I could no predict how your hair would cope with it. It does require peroxide for the post eraser treatment, but I did not do this as it isn't really necessary. I have heard bad things about the American brands such as Color Oops and Color Zap (I'm not sure how the ingredients compare to the Affinage or Goldwell), but as I have not used them myself I cannot comment.

The Affinage one is used in salons, but can be bought on E-bay or from hairdressing supply stores online. It works differently to bleach because it shrinks the colour molecules, where as bleach strips the hair entirely of any pigment.

While we're still on the subject of colour removers, if you ever come across a product by L'oreal called Efassol, STAY AWAY from it. It's practically like bleaching your hair and will destroy it.

I did a lot of research before I took the plunge into colour removal, Google is your friend

I found this LJ post from a hair group, the girl posting used the Affinage Eraser on her dyed black hair and put pictures up madradhair: after much debate about my hair colour

 

[MAC_addiction<3]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Korms The Affinage hair colour remover I used was not damaging at all, but everyone's hair is different and reacts in different ways so I could no predict how your hair would cope with it. It does require peroxide for the post eraser treatment, but I did not do this as it isn't really necessary. I have heard bad things about the American brands such as Color Oops and Color Zap (I'm not sure how the ingredients compare to the Affinage or Goldwell), but as I have not used them myself I cannot comment. The Affinage one is used in salons, but can be bought on E-bay or from hairdressing supply stores online. It works differently to bleach because it shrinks the colour molecules, where as bleach strips the hair entirely of any pigment. While we're still on the subject of colour removers, if you ever come across a product by L'oreal called Efassol, STAY AWAY from it. It's practically like bleaching your hair and will destroy it. I did a lot of research before I took the plunge into colour removal, Google is your friend I found this LJ post from a hair group, the girl posting used the Affinage Eraser on her dyed black hair and put pictures up madradhair: after much debate about my hair colour

thanks so much this was really useful! i was going to stay well away from colour removers but im considering Doing this now after both of you have said your hair was not damaged and the reuslts were good. My only concern is after youve used the colour remover..would it be like dying over bleach? whent he hairs porous and the dye fades after about a week?
xx

 

[MAC_addiction<3]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Korms The Affinage hair colour remover I used was not damaging at all, but everyone's hair is different and reacts in different ways so I could no predict how your hair would cope with it. It does require peroxide for the post eraser treatment, but I did not do this as it isn't really necessary. I have heard bad things about the American brands such as Color Oops and Color Zap (I'm not sure how the ingredients compare to the Affinage or Goldwell), but as I have not used them myself I cannot comment. The Affinage one is used in salons, but can be bought on E-bay or from hairdressing supply stores online. It works differently to bleach because it shrinks the colour molecules, where as bleach strips the hair entirely of any pigment. While we're still on the subject of colour removers, if you ever come across a product by L'oreal called Efassol, STAY AWAY from it. It's practically like bleaching your hair and will destroy it. I did a lot of research before I took the plunge into colour removal, Google is your friend I found this LJ post from a hair group, the girl posting used the Affinage Eraser on her dyed black hair and put pictures up madradhair: after much debate about my hair colour

also whats the post eraser treatment? is this like the second step to it?
Thankss !
x

 

[Korms]

Remember that colour removers work by shrinking oxidised colour molecules (or something to that effect), the post eraser basically re oxidises the hair, and thus enlarges the colour molecules that have not been removed to show you immediately if you have removed any colour before you re-dye. I didn't do this step because I wasn't planning to re-dye immediately afterwards so my hair would re oxidise over the few days after using the remover anyway. As it happened, I was not able to get every last scrap of red out and just the front part of my hair re oxidised to a pale red colour, the rest was golden brown.

If you scrub your hair really well when washing the Eraser out of your hair you should get the maximum amount of colour out (you seriously have to shampoo and rinse about 10 times). Just remember the results are not guaranteed, it really does depend on what you've already got on your hair.

My hair was porous from previous colouring, it did not become porous as a result of using the colour remover. To even things out I used Goldwell pre-colour and it worked pretty well. I got mine from an E-bay seller. I would also suggest getting a reconstructing conditioner like Joico K-pak to restore the hair.

There's so much information out there on colour theory, I don't understand all of it but I've got a pretty good idea about how hair colour works. I really do recommend you do plenty of research before you actually undertake any kind of chemical process on your hair.

Some really good resources are

Killer Strands read every single post here, this blog has everything you will ever need to know about dying hair, removing hair dye and caring for your hair.

Hair Care, 22000+ Hairstyles, Hair Articles, Long Hair, Short Hair a good resource for hair tips, also has a forum for asking advice and the like.

Ultimately, going to a hairdressers for colour correction is easier, but expensive. The Eraser isn't exactly cheap (about £18) but is way less than having the exact same treatment done at a salon. The benefit of having a professional do it is that they know what's happening to your hair.

It really is a gamble doing it yourself!

 

[MAC_addiction<3]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Korms Remember that colour removers work by shrinking oxidised colour molecules (or something to that effect), the post eraser basically re oxidises the hair, and thus enlarges the colour molecules that have not been removed to show you immediately if you have removed any colour before you re-dye. I didn't do this step because I wasn't planning to re-dye immediately afterwards so my hair would re oxidise over the few days after using the remover anyway. As it happened, I was not able to get every last scrap of red out and just the front part of my hair re oxidised to a pale red colour, the rest was golden brown. If you scrub your hair really well when washing the Eraser out of your hair you should get the maximum amount of colour out (you seriously have to shampoo and rinse about 10 times). Just remember the results are not guaranteed, it really does depend on what you've already got on your hair. My hair was porous from previous colouring, it did not become porous as a result of using the colour remover. To even things out I used Goldwell pre-colour and it worked pretty well. I got mine from an E-bay seller. I would also suggest getting a reconstructing conditioner like Joico K-pak to restore the hair. There's so much information out there on colour theory, I don't understand all of it but I've got a pretty good idea about how hair colour works. I really do recommend you do plenty of research before you actually undertake any kind of chemical process on your hair. Some really good resources are Killer Strands read every single post here, this blog has everything you will ever need to know about dying hair, removing hair dye and caring for your hair. Hair Care, 22000+ Hairstyles, Hair Articles, Long Hair, Short Hair a good resource for hair tips, also has a forum for asking advice and the like. Ultimately, going to a hairdressers for colour correction is easier, but expensive. The Eraser isn't exactly cheap (about £18) but is way less than having the exact same treatment done at a salon. The benefit of having a professional do it is that they know what's happening to your hair. It really is a gamble doing it yourself!

Thanks, ok so you dont have to use the post eraser (if this is the part with the bleach in it) if you don't want to? & ive heard about fillers that you caa use once your hairs been dyed & is porous to help it dye better. Do you know anything about whether these work?
thanks again
x

 

[Korms]

No, you don't have to use the post eraser if you are going to wait a few days before re-dying as the hair should re-oxidise over time. The post eraser is just to immediately re-oxidise the remaining colour molecules so you can see if there needs to be a further colour removal.

Also, I may be wrong here, peroxide isn't technically bleach unless it is mixed with bleaching powder. Peroxide is just a developer, you get it in normal hair dyes to activate the colour. So unless it is used with a strong lifting powder or creme, it won't be too damaging.

As for fillers, as I previously mentioned I used the Goldwell pre-colour which claims to even out the hairs porosity. As I did not dye my hair a dark colour I cannot comment on the longevity of a tint after using the pre-colour. However it is a salon brand so I assume it is of good quality.

 

[MAC_addiction<3]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Korms No, you don't have to use the post eraser if you are going to wait a few days before re-dying as the hair should re-oxidise over time. The post eraser is just to immediately re-oxidise the remaining colour molecules so you can see if there needs to be a further colour removal. Also, I may be wrong here, peroxide isn't technically bleach unless it is mixed with bleaching powder. Peroxide is just a developer, you get it in normal hair dyes to activate the colour. So unless it is used with a strong lifting powder or creme, it won't be too damaging. As for fillers, as I previously mentioned I used the Goldwell pre-colour which claims to even out the hairs porosity. As I did not dye my hair a dark colour I cannot comment on the longevity of a tint after using the pre-colour. However it is a salon brand so I assume it is of good quality.

thanks v much for all your help..its all a lot clearer now, ill let you know if i do decide to go ahead with it. Although i did do a search and couldnt find it on ebay?
x

 

[User49]

I had black put into my very blonde hair in Feburary to funk it up before I started at Mac. Little did I know it would look like CRAP lol. It went a horrible colour and I hated it. I went to a different salon who used a strong product to get it out. Lucky for me this worked and the black streak went white (as I'm a blonde it looked quite cool in the end) it cost quite a bit and took from 9 in the morning till like 3 in the afternoon...

 

[Korms]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MAC_addiction<3 i did do a search and couldnt find it on ebay? x

Professional Hair Colour (dye) Remover (stripper) on eBay, also, Medicated Treatments, Hair Care, Health Beauty (end time 18-Sep-08 19:17:47 BST)