Dying your hair red can make you stand out from the crowd, look and feel fabulous, but what happens if you have a DIY hair dye session that doesn’t quite go to plan? Whether your planned red shade has gone terribly wrong or you just fancy a change, red hair dye is not only notorious for fading quickly, it’s also really tricky to get out those last traces of colour! Never fear though, if you want to be rid of your red hair dye, here are a few tips.
Be salon bound
Experimenting with home dyes is generally easy enough, but when it comes to colour correction and removal, the sensible advice is to head straight to a salon to let the professionals take care of it. They’ll be able to properly assess the condition of your hair to remove as much unwanted colour as possible using the right method without risking unnecessary damage. It’s not a cheap option but it is worth spending the extra if you want to take care of your hair – training schools may be able to offer colour correction services at lower prices if cost is an issue.
Shampooing
If you do want to try and tackle your red hair dye woes at home, repeat shampooing can go a long way to get out the worst of your unwanted colour – clarifying or baby shampoos tend to do the best job at removing dye. No, shampooing isn’t going to be a magical fix, shampoo alone certainly isn’t going to completely remove that bright red hair dye from your blonde hair, but it’s the most gentle way to at least fade your dye considerably, leaving a more neutral base colour for you to dye or tone over.
Colour strippers
Colour strippers are formulated to specifically remove deposits of colour left by hair dyes and are meant to be kinder to your hair than bleach. They won’t leave your hair looking exactly as it did before going red and will often leave it an ‘interesting’ colour, but should take out most of the dye lingering in your hair, leaving it fresh and ready to dye over with a different colour.
Be careful to choose a colour stripper that is made to work with the type of hair dye you’ve used, and remember that your hair will be particularly porous afterward. You’re normally advised to pick a hair dye a few shades lighter than the final result you want when re-dying your hair, as it tends to come out looking darker than expected.
Getting rid of henna
If like to use natural hair dye but aren’t happy with the results of your henna dye job, it can be tricky to get rid of. Henna hair dye doesn’t work in the same way as other chemical dyes – the pigment bonds with keratin in the hair, basically staining it, and is hard to budge. Be careful if you’ve considered bleaching it out – this will often just lighten your natural base colour, making the henna look much brighter! Some claim that coating your hair with mineral oil and heating it gently helps to get rid of henna, but there are mixed reports about its effectiveness.
You can try dying over your henna with a darker shade, but be very careful to check whether you used completely natural henna. Some boxed henna dyes actually include metallic dyes that can have fierce reactions with other chemical dyes.
So if it’s time to say goodbye to your red hair dye, you can have a go at fading or stripping the colour at home, but for serious colour corrections it really is always best to leave it to the professionals.