The Expert Guide to Using Hair Colour Removers
New hair colour not quite what you were hoping for? Before you reach for the hair dye remover, read these expert tips to make sure you colour correct like a pro.
1. Hair Colour Removers and Hair Colour Strippers Are Very Different
A colour remover contains a reduction agent, which works only on destroying the artificial colour molecule so that it can be flushed from the hair; it cannot affect the natural pigments in the hair.
A colour stripper contains an oxidation agent and is designed to gently remove both natural and artificial pigments, so you can re-colour immediately to a different or lighter permanent shade.
2. Wash Your Hair Repeatedly to Fade Dark Shades
If you have applied a colourant and the result is too dark, wash the hair in baby or clarifying shampoo immediately, several times. Most home hair colours contain an after-colour conditioner, which is designed to help the colour molecules settle inside the hair. If you’re not sure you are happy with the colour, washing it will remove any barriers from the conditioner and unsettle the new permanent colour.
3. Act Fast to Remove Dark Colours
If a colour is too dark, try to remove it immediately or within 48 hours. The fresher an artificial colour is, the easier it will be to remove it from the hair, especially if you have already washed it several times with baby or clarifying shampoo. Newly applied darker hair colourants that you want to correct will only require a hair colour remover – they shouldn’t need a hair colour stripper.
4. Be Patient With Colour That’s Too Light
If a colour has come out too light for your liking, try to do the opposite and wait at least 48 hours before attempting to re-colour; ideally, wait one week before you make any changes. Lightened hair can look brighter when first coloured, and will often calm down over the following days, so give it time and reserve your judgement before attempting to go darker.
5. a Warm Shade Isn’t Necessarily the Wrong Shade
If a shade has come out too warm, golden, coppery or gingery, there are two possible causes – and you need to identify the source to fix it. You need to work out whether you have applied a colourant which contains gold, copper or red as one of its tones, or whether your hair has lightened in the colouring process and ‘kicked up’ your natural warmth.
If you have applied a neutral or ash-based colourant and are seeing warmth, it’s because your natural shade was too dark for the colourant applied, and possibly needed pre-lightening or stripping first.
6. Use Colour Remover to Remove Unwanted Tones
If you have established that it was the shade that has caused your hair to go warm, golden, copper or red due to the secondary tones featured in the product, applying a hair colour remover should rectify this issue.
7. Strip or Switch to Balance Natural Warmth
If you have established that your hair has gone too warm, golden, copper or red due to the lightening of your natural shade, you have a choice as to how you fix it. You can either strip the hair and apply the desired shade again (onto a lighter base), or you can switch to a slightly darker shade which would cover the unwanted warmth.
8. Hold Back on Using Peroxides After Colour Removal
Do not apply a peroxide-based colourant immediately after using a hair colour remover. The chemistry of colour removal and peroxide contradicts, so you need to leave the hair to normalise before attempting to apply a peroxide-based colourant; ideally, wait for one week. However, you can use peroxide-free semi-permanent colourants and toners, such as Colour Restore, immediately after using a hair colour remover.
9. Stripper Creates a Blank Canvas for Recolouring
Hair that has been stripped has had both natural and artificial colour pigments removed, therefore you should always have your chosen hair colour/shade at hand to achieve your desired result after the stripping process.
10. Retain a Good Base Shade for Great Colour
The key to successful hair colour is achieving a good base shade. If you are looking to go blonde, obtaining a dark blonde base shade can prove a good canvas for highlights. If you prefer darker or brunette hair, always ensure you only apply colourants to your regrowth and do not apply throughout the hair – this will prevent colour build-up. Using toners and colour-enhancing shampoos will also retain your shade.
Timing is also key; do not attempt to conduct several permanent colour processes on your hair within a one-month period. Frequent exposure to peroxides, ammonia and PPDs can cause the hair to become very porous and damaged. Once hair becomes damaged, it is then difficult to achieve a good colourant result, as the shade could grab initially and appear too dark or patchy, and then fade fast over subsequent washes.
11. Fashion Colours Can Be Difficult to Remove
Be aware that fashion colours such as pink, blue and purple, and often bright red, do not work on oxidation (peroxide) technology to evoke a long-term result; instead, they are a ‘direct dye’ which creates a temporary stain on the hair. If the hair is bleached, these direct dye molecules can deeply stain the hair and make the shade impossible to remove.
A hair colour remover is not designed to remove direct dyes. A stripper colour cleanse treatment can remove direct dye, but always strand test first to make sure the hair is healthy enough to withstand the treatment.
12. Clarify Your Hair to Improve Colour Results
Prior to any hair colour removal, stripping or correction, be sure to clarify the hair fully. Even if you have just conditioned the hair, there may be a barrier on the surface which will prevent removal, stripping or correction from working effectively.
If you see absolutely no hair colour change from a removal or a stripping treatment, it’s possible that your hair has silicone damage; this means the hair has been encased in a silicone which quite often has been moulded to the hair by heat.
Leann Sanders
Hello, I would really appreciate your advice on changing my color. I decided it was a good time to let my roots grow out and recolor. I am a light copper red naturally and have been using dark red brown violet. I bought color oops and 7rc medium copper blonde. Should I buy purple shampoo to use after the remover or after the color in case its too orange. I don’t want orange hair, and don’t know what to do. Thank You
Scott Cornwall
Hi Leann, It is certainly worth you having a purple shampoo to hand. However, you might find the exposed underlying colour isn’t that bad. If you are naturally a copper 7 and you have been colouring your hair with a red-brown, I would predict the peroxide in the developer of the colourants applied, will have lightened your natural shade a little. Therefore, someone who is naturally a 7/Copper would find their hair is like a warm sandy blonde. Therefore, using the purple shampoo (as you considered) is a good idea, as it will kick out any lingering orange tone and get you to a good shade.
Remember, the more you use purple shampoos, the cooler your hair will become. So you might need to build the neutralisation up. Best Scott
Hannah Austin
Hi, I’ve used a hair colour remover on my hair which has taken most of the colour off as it was a red/mahogany colour and is now a light brown and the ends are gingery. I would like to go back blonde without paying salon prices, so can I use a hair stripper on my hair even though I’ve already put a colour remover on? Thank you
Scott Cornwall
Hi Hannah. Yes you can use Decolour Stripper to get the hair blonde after you have used a hair colour remover. However, always wait 7 days and 3 washes before you put any peroxide based products on the hair after using a hair colour remover. The reason being, is hair colour removers use reduction agent technology (known for that egg smell) and bleaches and permanent colourants are oxidizers. So you have two opposing technologies. There are ways you can use an oxidation product immediately after a reduction agent product but I feel this is best left to professionals. Therefore, I always tell people to wait 7 days and 3 washes before lightening after colour removal. This way, all the residues of the reduction agent will have left the hair and the bleach will work effectively.
Bridie Kelly-Doyle
Hello Scott,
Someone recommended your colour remover to me today,
My hair is coloured a dark Brown, which was my colour year’s ago. Due to the pandemic my hair is growing out White/Grey 🙈, I am 57 and I’m now seriously thinking of letting my natural White/Grey shine through.
If I use the colour remover will my hair go orange? My long term plan would be to try lighten it and to help the process of growing it out to Grey, is there anything I can do to make the transition easier with a metallic colour or something, I’m not in favor of bleach if I can avoid it at all costs, as I had a frizz ball a few years ago and I think it may have broken my hair .
I hope you can advise me, as I don’t want to buy product s that are not right for me.
Scott Cornwall
Hi Bridie. Since lockdown, I am now asked this question a lot, so I will write a full article on the subject of growing colour out to grey.
In answer to your specific question, if you used Decolour Remover on your hair, you would see warmth, and I here’s why. Grey hair is formed from a mixture of white hair and naturally dark hair. Permanent colourants contain hydrogen peroxide in varying strengths, but often in a strong enough volume to lighten hair by a couple of shades. When the artificial colour molecules are deposited in the hair, you tend not to see this lightening. However, once you remove the artificial colour, that lightning can be seen, and it often looks warm. The hair looks warm because the hair’s underlying natural red and gold pigments were exposed by the lightening action of those previous permanent colourants applied. Also, when natural white hair is treated with hydrogen peroxide (as found in colourants), it decolourises this white hair to yellow.
Therefore, when people with grey or white hair use a hair colour remover, they do not expose the grey, but instead, tend to get a blonde or warm blonde result.
If you are not a fan of bleach and want to get the artificial colour out and transition to grey, I would recommend you use Decolour Remover.
Do not worry about initially exposing warmth from a removal. The exposed warmth is a secondary matter on which I will advise. In the first instance, get a good amount of the brown colour removed from the hair. When exposing natural white hair, you will generally need two Decolour Remover applications one week apart. You tend to need two applications because (over time) artificial colour pigments in darker hair colourants can build up on the hair. Therefore, you will likely require two Decolour Remover treatments to get the pigment build-up out of the hair. You do the two removal treatments seven days apart because this will allow the hair chance to normalise after the first treatment making the second treatment able to work at the correct level within the hair.
Now, onto the exposed warmth. Firstly, switch to using only a blue shampoo as your regular cleanser. You will need to use such a shampoo once you are grey/white anyway. Next, I would recommend you apply Colour Restore Lilac Grey to the hair. As you have said, using a Metallic colour will help transition you. Colour Restore Lilac Grey can only display as ‘Lilac Grey’ on white hair; if someone with warm hair uses it, the hair will take on a cool-muted tone. Therefore, it’s a perfect product for using after Decolour Remover. In addition, applying the Colour Restore Ash Spray ‘Instant Toner Spray’ as your regular leave-in conditioner Ash Spray Instant Toner Spray will add further cool tone to the hair.
When trying to expose natural white/grey you need to be mindful that you may not be completely white or silver throughout.
Many people are very grey around the front and believe they are this silver colour throughout. However, when they remove they discover they are not as grey as they thought they were. The key to this is how coppery your hair looks when it removes. Generally, very grey hair will tend to look a faded nicotine yellow when you remove, whereas less grey hair will look a rusty or coppery brown. Both ways can be toned, but the removal aspect has to be the indicator to what level of grey/white you have. Often, when people remove they find the hair looks as though it has been highlighted, which can be a positive to work with.
Please let me know if you have anymore questions. Best Scott
Jill M Harrison
Hi Scott & Birdie,
Thanks for your question and answer , it’s helpful as I’m contemplating the very same thing – also prompted by lockdown !
However, I may have the opposite problem. I have dark blonde/light brown with approx 25-30% grey that’s just past my shoulders. I’ve been lightening to a light ash for 40 years, every 4-6 wks – so not seen my natural colour in decades ! In recent years, this has meant a high-lift tint ( shade 1.11 Ultra Light Very Ash Blonde or similar ) lifting 3-4 levels and giving pale beige & gold shades with the grey showing as platinum highlights.
I decided lockdown would give me the opportunity to find out what it looked like au naturelle and maybe go for grey but there’s not as grey hairs much as I hoped for ( though the extra at the front looks pretty good IMHO !)
I may still do it and have tried a Silver Grey Semi-Pernament in an attempt to colour or at least tone in the blonde to make the transition easier but it had little effect. I did use your clarifying shampoo beforehand.
Should I try a darker grey semi or will it need a permanent ? I’m loathe to do the latter as I’ve had breakage in the past and now am careful to only do the roots each with a tiny “overlap” to avoid over-processing so the idea of using permanent all over is a bit scary !
I should add: I have Hypothyroidism which has meant I’ve lost about 30% of my hair in the last 5 years – twice ! It’s been growing back for a bout a year now and those sections are 6-8 inches long now. Because of this, I’m very diligent in my care and conditioning so it’s actually in better nick than it was years ago when I used to bleach with abandonment ! However, it does make me a tad “over protective” of my hard-won inches.
Thank You x
Scott Cornwall
Hi Jill, No don’t use a permanent just yet.
The issue you have found is very common. Media and Fashion depict going grey as this sudden transition to pure white. However, not everyone gets pure white hair. Many of us go grey in patches and the remaining dark areas can cause problems when you try to lighten it up, as it kicks up so much warmth.
What I would suggest in your situation is you initially do as you (yourself) suggested and apply a semi-permanent (no peroxide or ammonia) grey shade. What you will find is all the time you have lightened areas (as you do from your previous high lift tint) you can apply a blue based semi permanent grey and achieve a very naturalistic grey/silver shade. Strangely, even a very light pastel blue overlaid onto ‘growing out’ blonde hair with darker roots can create a realistic grey. Just keep using blue shampoos on it and keeping the tone in the previously lightened hair as metallic grey/silver as possible. For the forseeable future you will be able to create a good grey shade without the need for any kind of permanent colour intervention. As I said, the contrast between your toned (grey) previously blonde hair and the dark roots will create a very realstic grey/silver. Afterall, natural grey hair is created due to the combination of pure white and dark hairs.
However, at some point (in months to come) you are going to start see a lot more darker hair appearing nearer the top sections. What it might be worth you trying is to use a tone on tone method. I am mindful of your medical condition and know how this effects hair quality. Therefore, if you started to apply a 9.17 based colourant with 10 volume peroxide your natural white hair will colourise to a silver ash. However, your non grey (darker hair) won’t be lightened, but will take on a cool tone. A permanent colourant with a 10 volume developer is pretty gentle and whilst it cannot lighten it will cover natural white. The 9 base is a light blonde, the 17 pigment is the ash violet. With this approach you are colourizing your white hair to a ivory silver and when this intermixes with the dark hair it will create a more silver medium grey effect.
Also, natural white hair is quite stubborn to tone (with semi products). However, when you colourize it with a tone on tone colourant (using 10 volume developer) it softens the hair. Therefore, what you can also do is continue to use the grey (semi-permanent) toners on top of this colourized hair. This will enhance and intensify the permanent silver foundation and give your hair a ‘greyed’ edge. Again, opting to apply a light pastel blue semi to this base (your natural white hair coloured with a permanent silver tone on tone) will also produce a more sharp ‘grey’ look.
Generally, I would have also suggested fine foil bleach highlights through your hair type, covered by the above 9.17 tone on tone. However, I am mindful of your condition. Therefore, work with what you have. Start for now and for the next few months with a no peroxide semi grey, then when you see the hair looking darker, cover over with a 9.17 tone on tone permanent and keep using the semi greys and pastel blues to boost the grey look. Best Scott
Mali
Hi Scott, Ive just finished my first treatment of the hair colour remover, I am also wanting to grow my natural grey, my hair was red and now its a lightly ginger brown.
I am wondering should i do another treatment of the remover in a week or should i use the stripper instead? And after the 2nd treatment should i wait for another 7 days before i can put grey in?
Thanks a lot, reading all the Q&A really helped me understand and this remover is AMAZING!
Scott Cornwall
Hi, if you hair is quite grey you shouldn’t need to use Decolour Stripper. Use Decolour Remover again, and you should see the grey exposed as a kind of nicotine yellow (this is normal). Then all you need to do is use only purple shampoos and Colour Restore Iced Platinum to tone this hair white. From this point you’ll see the hair starting to look grey. If you did use Decolour Stripper, only apply it in fine balayage sections and then follow the same above toning principle. If you apply it throughout the whole head it will lighten all the non grey hair and so you won’t get as easier transition into your natural colour as it grows. I hope that helps. Best Scott
Natalie
Hi Scott, I am trying the exact same thing. I’m 41, and have light brown hair I have been dyeing black for about 8 years now. I’m going very grey now, and want to embrace my grey roots (my mum has been white grey for years, my younger sister is completely grey with beautiful tones). I have used the decolour twice, one week apart. My jet black Bobbed hair is now cherry cola colour half way down to the ends, is a reddish brown to ash towards the roots with 1″grey roots. I actually love the red ombre effect, but it doesn’t look great with grey roots. My intention had been to decolour then dye the hair grey (which I don’t think will work with the red tones left). I’m wondering if I should now have a break, then use the stripper? Will I then be left with orange hair? Or should I persevere with the decolour in a month or so? My hair is still in great condition after using the decolour twice. Or is there anything else you would suggest I do meantime as I aim for grey.
Scott Cornwall
Hi, I’d persevere with the Decolour Remover, as it sounds like you are heading in the right direction. Also, I have a new Colour Restore Super Cool Ash. If you applied this to your hair now, it would intensify the grey roots, but also counteract the red ombre ends. As you applied more Decolour Remover treatments, you could use the Super Cool Ash immediately afterwards to begin to create a greyed base. Best Scott
Emma
Hello,
Desperately needing your advice. My strawberry blonde/red headed daughter decided to put a supermarket permanent brown dye in her stunning hair. We are urgently trying to lighten it as it is very very dark. Normally she has a beautiful light red. I’ve bought your hair stripper but now am unsure if I need the stripper or remover.
Thsnk you
Scott Cornwall
Hi there. You need Decolour Remover, not Decolour Stripper. However keep hold of Decolour Stripper as it could come in useful later on. Firstly, get your daughter to do a bicarb rinse on her hair. I have written an article about this, but it will destabilise the dark colour molecules and make them more prone to fading and removal.
Next, apply Decolour Remover onto your daughter’s hair and it should get all the dark out. However, redheads tend to suffer the most from re-oxidation (due to the sulphur content in their hair), therefore it is possible she could see some shadowing of the darker colour re-appearing. At this point you can either do a second Decolour Remover or apply Decolour Stripper. But firstly apply Decolour Remover and wait a few days to see if any re-oxidation does occur. If it does reoxidise, come back to me and I will tell you what to do next. But generally, on a lighter natural base you obtain get a full return of the original colour using Decolour Remover. Best Scott
Maria
Hi, I just did a strand test with the Decolour hair colour remover super strength remover. I bought two boxes as the strand colours on the box should that first it would go a ginger shade, so the second box should remove all of it. I used a natural black die about 6 months ago and I want to go back to my natural. I have 2 inches of my natural colour showing. I left the product on the strand test for 1 hour then rinsed. Nothing had happened at all, the strand was still they exact same colour as the surrounding hair.
Scott Cornwall
Hi, it’s good you did a strand test because it sounds to me as though your hair could have a build-up of silicone or product residue that is making a barrier on the hair and preventing Decolour Remover entering and evoking change. Therefore, I would recommend you try a Bicarbonate of Soda Deep Cleanse as I describe in my article. This should remove any build-up from the hair. Next repeat your strand test and you should see removal. If you do not see any removal on the second strand test, come back to me and I will advise further. Best Scott
Sarah
Hi, I have long hair that I’ve been dying black/dark brown for years. I’ve only used semi-permanent in recent years but no doubt have lots of build up, especially the lower half. I’m about 95% grey now and want to switch to lighter shade to blend with grey roots better. I used remover first as advised, followed instructions and left on 1 hour. No colour came out at all. I’m reluctant to use the stripper as it’s taken days to try and get the smell out. Does the stripper smell the same?? What’s your advise on getting my hair to light enough colour to dye ash blonde shade?
Scott Cornwall
Hi, sorry I did not see your message before. When you say you have used a semi-permanent, did you use a non peroxide based semi-permanent because this could be why you did not see any removal. Decolour Remover can only work on oxidation permanent colourant.
Decolour Stripper is not a reduction agent remover, so it does not have the same smell. But I think in the first instance, it would be good to know what colourant you have used on your hair, as it sounds to me like it could have stained the hair as opposed to permanently coloured it. Best Scott
Monica
Hi, I have medium length hair and have been dying it dark brown/ black for a year now, I’m wanting to go back to my natural colour which is a grey tone brown, what product would best suit for this to happen! Thankyou :))
Scott Cornwall
I would recommend you use Decolour Remover. However black hair colour can be the most arduous to get out. So start with an initial application which will generally get the majority of it removed. Then follow up a few weeks later with a second Decolour Remover application. From this point you will start seeing the underlying grey hair appear as a nicotine yellow. I would also recommend you use a violet tone on this hair after you remove. So if your hair is brown and you are removing to expose grey, the hair will initially look quite rusty or warm. You can use something like Colour Restore Black Cherry (which on light brown hair would look a violet mid brown) or even a pastel lilac semi permanent colour. Whilst this sounds a strange suggestion, adding a violet tone to this rusty removed brown hair will combine with the unwanted red tone and give the hair a richness. Once you can see enough of your natural grey is exposed (overtime) you can stop using it and just allow the hair to look grey. I hope that helps. Best Scott
Janey
H Scott. I have dark blonde hair colour (7?) naturally. I have my hair highlighted. This hasn’t been done since Jan. So I had quite a bit of root re-growth and tried to lighten the roots with Nice and Easy root touch up (blonde) and it went gingery. So left for a while. Then applied a semi-semi-permenant (Wella- true semi) all over hair and wasn’t happy with that, too dark, still gingery. The latest attempt was with an ash blonde semi-permenant (mix 2 bottles though- so has some peroxide in it). Still too dark and ginger. So I used a colour remover (Colourless by Revolution) within about 3-4 days of the latest attempts at colouring. So my hair colour now is more even but has still got gingery tones. I am waiting to let it settle, i’ve put on your ash toner for now. What I would like to do next is go lighter. Can I put on a permanent hair colour next, I was thinking of something like L’oreal Excellence Light Ash blond 9.1 or lighter to achieve a lighter cool blonde look. Many thanks.
Scott Cornwall
Hi Janey, right you are heading down a rabbit hole with this one, so you want to hit this correctly with the next process. With previously highlighted hair, you tend to find that once a box colour is applied throughout and ginger is kicked up, it can start to become a real pain to get it evened out and cool if you don’t approach it right. You then keep getting that warmth showing up for months to come.
Firstly, get yourself a Denman Magicap. These are available on Amazon Prime (see heresee heresee here) for about £9. There are other highlighting caps available, but the genuine Denman Magicap is the incredibly good and will not only give you excellent results, but the cap lasts for years if you remember (after each use) to firstly wash it in shampoo, hang it up to dry for 24 hours and then coat it in talc before storing it.
Next, I recommend getting a box of my Decolour Stripper. I am recommending this for the process I am about to suggest, because I know Decolour Stripper is kinder on hair that has been multi-processed and will enable you do a second process afterwards.
So (firstly) what you want to do is clarify your hair, don’t condition but do dry it 100%. Brush it into the correct parting (so it’s sitting as it does when you wear it usually) and pull on the cap. Pull through as much hair as you can from around the hairline and parting. It’s better if you have someone at hand who can pull the hair through the cap. Good tip, is to pluck the crochet hook in very quickly and pull straight out with the hook at positioned at an almost horizontal angle. So kind of like a quick ‘jabbing’ motion. This will pull through finner weaves of hair. Digging the hook in deeper (with a vertical plunge) and literally pulling hair through tends to bring out larger sections. Another good tip is using an eyeliner pencil and drawing 4 inch lines starting at the parting on the hairline and going back to the crown. Leaving an inch between each line. Then do a few similar 4 inch lines at the side of the head. You then pull through the hair using the 4 inch lines as a guide. Pulling maybe 5 weaves through per line, going along the line. This re-creates the pattern salon foils are weaved out in. Once you’ve pulled through sufficient hair comb it from the root area at the cap to the ends, so as to remove any knots.
Next, mix up and apply Decolour Stripper to all the hair pulled through the cap. Ideally using a tint brush to apply. Using a tint brush helps you can get the mixed product down to the roots and along to the ends. Once you have applied the stripper, wrap the cap up in cling film. Covering the hair in cling film will trap the heat from the scalp between the cap and the cling film, making sure the lifting action of the stripper is boosted. If you are a natural 7, I’d give it a 40 minute development. Next, (with the cap still on), rinse the stripper off the hair and use the conclude balm as instructed in the pack. It is important to understand, you must not pull the cap off. Again, with the cap still on, towel dry the hair, detangle it and dry it off on a low air flow and heat setting. You will likely notice the hair looks yellow, but this is ok. Just make sure you keep the cap on. You want those newly lightened sections segregated from the rest of the hair.
Next, mix up your L’Oreal Light Ash Blonde as instructed, and apply it to all the hair pulled through the cap that has just been stripped and dried. Because this hair has been pre-lightened, it will lift further and then tone to a very good lightest ash shade. Let this colour develop, then remove the cap and rinse and wash the hair thoroughly.
With this cap highlighting method of firstly stripping, then re-colouring, you should achieve a really light, cool highlight throughout the hair and it should blend out a lot of the warmth in the surrounding depth.
If you try and pour another box colour over your whole head, you run the risk of going brassier and creating a more artificial looking blonde shade, plus you will keep getting dark root straps appearing. If you’ve always had highlights, you need to swap back to highlights and use a Magicap.
After the above treatment, you can add further highlights if you want (to go lighter still). Generally, adding a some highlights every few weeks will break up a root strap and keep the hair blonde and multi-tonal. I hope that helps. Best Scott
Janey
Many thanks Scott. 🙂
Rebecca cooper
Hi scott over the years I have dyed my hair alot at the moment my hair is naturally dark blonde/light brown but I put bright red on it then I got bored of that and put blue on it now I have a blue/purple/blonde ombre look not purposely done like that so I bought your hair colour remover now I’m not sure if I needed the decolour stripper what’s your advice x
Scott Cornwall
Hi Rebecca, you cannot use Reduction agent hair colours on vibrant colours,unless they were oxidation shades. Meaning, you mixed a developer up with a tube or bottle of colour and then applied.
A direct dye blue can be very difficult to get out of the hair. Can you remember what brands of colour you had used?
Natalie
Hi Scott I have the same problem I died mine artic fox Transylvania diluted blue and it’s come out from baking soda and shampoo mainly but iv got a a light green tinge I can’t get rid of I tried the colour De colour remover and it’s not worked do you have any ideas please
Scott Cornwall
Hi Natalie, that light green tinge is a really weird thing that seems to happen when you get blue out of the hair. It’s a mixture of a reminance of the blue and the yellow of the hair/keratin.
It’s very easy to get rid of. You just need to use a very mild pastel pink on it. I’d suggest buying a strawberry milkshake coloured pastel pink and firstly coating the hair in some white conditioner, then applying the light pastel pink. Leave it for 20 minutes and rinse. This should counteract the mint green.
Best
Scott
Rebecca cooper
It was live metallic blue and I had to mix with developer and not direct dye
Scott Cornwall
Live Colour is an oxidizing colour, so in theory Decolour Remover would have got it out. But it sounds like something is blocking it. From your description (blue,purple,ombre) it sounds like the colour is kind of removing, but you have patches of colour. This is indicating parts are trapped and parts are able to flush out.
Check out my article on the bicarb rinse and give your hair a few treatments with this. As it should break off any deposits of silicone that may be sitting on the hair. If you notice the hair is fading off, you can jump to using Decolour Stripper to get the lot out. But when you use Decolour Stripper, make sure the hair is quite damp so you can work the stripper throughout evenly. Best Scott
Kelly
Hi, is there anyway to be able to dye hair again the same day after using decolour and it not re-oxidising? Can you wash/dry several times etc before dying rather than waiting a week?
Scott Cornwall
Hi Kelly, some hair types are prone to reoxidizing if you recolour immediately after removal. For this reason I have a standard response that you need to wait 7 days and 3 washes before you use a peroxide based colourant after using Decolour Remover. It is not always possible to tell if someone has a hair type that could reoxidize. However, there is a way around this but it requires you to do two Decolour applications. You would firstly apply Decolour Remover and get the colour out. Then take a cream developer from an unmixed colourant. Do not mix the colourant element in with the Developer, instead pour the Developer throughout the hair and use the fingers to massage it through. If the hair is prone to reoxidation you will see (at this stage) the dark colour return due to the peroxide in the developer applied. However, it won’t be as dark as the original colour, as much of the colour molecules will have been flushed out with the first removal. Therefore, wait 20 minutes and use a clarifying shampoo to wash out the cream developer. Here you will see the darker re-oxidized colour. You then go back in with Decolour Remover and remove all those colour molecules that have shown up. This would likely put you in a situation whereby a subsequent re-colour would not oxidize.
However, I add a big caveat to this. I believe that people should wait 7 days and 3 washes before using a peroxide based colourant after removal. I only recommend evoking re-oxidation to people who have suffered reoxidation in the past. Generally attempting to permanently colour the hair after using a hair colour remover is not a great idea, as the hair has undergone a chemical process and will not be as normalised as if the hair were generally being coloured. I give the above information for knowledge purposes, but I will state to anyone reading this that unless I have specifically told you your hair might need to be oxidized and removed again, I do not recommend this approach for the purposes of immediately recolouring with a permanent shade. You will always get 100% safe results immediately after removal if you use a non peroxide based colourant.
Jay
Hi Scott,
I have the dreaded blue black coloured hair (permanent) and want a lighter canvas to go a light brown all over, potentially getting bronde highlights in the near future. I previously was chocolate brown with light brown & honey highlift highlights. My natural colour is dark brown with grey around the edges. I have tried the Colour Remover today & the results are a dark red/wine colour & my hair is still as healthy & shiny – it’s a great product. Wondering what I can do to safety lighten it more? I have thinner hair & have managed to keep my hair really healthy by avoiding heavy beaching. Would really love some advice to get a lighter canvas, I know it has a Lot of build up of colour over the years. Thank you in advance! Jay
Scott Cornwall
Hi There, well it might be worth giving your hair another application of Decolour Remover if you think there was a lot of build up. I would suggest the next application at maybe the 7 day point from the first application of Decolour.
If you are thinking about getting highlights in the future, I wouldn’t worry too much about trying to get your overall base lightened. Because your natural colour is dark brown, you are going to see more and more red, the more your natural colour is exposed. Therefore, I’d get the dark removed and expose that red-brown, then switch to using cool toners and blue/purple shampoos to keep the warmth at neutralised. This will not compromise your condition. Then, when you get highlights in the future these can be toned a high ash, and the overall hair colour will become that bronde shade you mentioned.
In the first instance, remove more of the built up depth. Next, I would consider playing up the exposed warmth by enchancing it. This might sound strange, but using an interim temporary colour could give you a nice healthy shade, until you can get the highlights. If you use my product Colour Restore Black Cherry See here, the hair would take on more of a violet-red. Black Cherry isn’t that dark in reality, but it does have a nice healthy plum tone that works well with exposed warmth. It will also give your hair a healthy colour without any compromising of condition. It lasts a few washes and if you stop using it, it will just fade out. Then you could get the highlights I suggest above and create your overall bronde shade. Best Scott
Jay
Thank you so much Scott! Extremely helpful advice. I love the idea of black cherry, I think it would really enhance the tones I’ve already got through my hair with the Decolour Remover – my hair feels like it’s in great condition & it’s actually a lovely colour with what looks like cherry highlights
One question – when you say a cool toner – what colour would you suggest at this stage with the cherry/wine colour? I am considering having this colour for awhile before going the bronde highlight look.
Thank you once again
Lynnda
Hi Scott, I have had grey/white hair for quite a few years and have been dyeing it a permanent pinky purple brown for a long time. I want to lighten it so that the white regrowth isn’t as obvious. I would then like to put a pastel pink in it. I have bought some of your Hair Colour Remover but I’m wondering if I should have got the Hair Colour Stripper. Can you please advise?
Scott Cornwall
Hi Lynnda, sorry for the delay in response. If your hair is naturally a white/silver grey then you shouldn’t need to use Decolour Stripper. You should be able to use Decolour Remover on it. When you apply a peroxide-based colourant to natural white/silver hair the peroxide tends to lighten the pure white (of the grey) to a light yellow. What happens here is the natural keratin colour (which is yellow) is exposed. Therefore, when anyone with natural white hair tries to remove an artificial colour, they find the hair looks more of a light brassy blonde than grey/white once removed.
However, this is a really easy issue to fix. So use Decolour Remover on the hair and get all the unwanted darker colour out. Then immediately after removal use Colour Restore Iced Platinum and tone the exposed yellow hair back to white. This will give you a light pale base. From here, you could apply a very light pastel pink and achieve the shade you desire. But initially just remove the unwanted dark and then work with the exposed base to tone to pale. Best Scott
PS As a final tip. If you applied a non-peroxide pastel pink on the un-toned yellow hair, it would go rose gold.
Diane
Hi Scott,
I’m in need of some advice before I create a disaster…
For nearly 2 decades I have used Sun-In to lighten my naturally brown hair to blonde (I have been told in the past I have natural golden tones in my hair – Is this warmth? – Also, I know people hate Sun-In, but it always worked beautifully on my hair – it gave me the results I wanted).
Anyway, during 1st lockdown I decided to go back to a brown shade, which was fine. I liked it… I’ve probably used about 3 brown box dyes (semi permanent) and the last one I used back in February was the Live Hair Dye in Bitter Chocolate (permanent), this made my hair look almost black, especially towards the mid-lengths to ends where it had been previously blonde from the Sun-In. Since having darker hair, I’ve noticed the odd white hair appearing and I’m also missing my blonde look, which feels more natural to me after so many years…
So, I have been researching how to remove the hair dye build up, and am confused. Do I use a clarifying shampoo, then a remover, or a stripper, and then a light ash blonde hair dye? My fear is that if the dye is removed, or my hair colour is stripped, I may end up with an uneven ginger colour, at which point I wouldn’t have a clue what to do…
Any help and advice welcome
Scott Cornwall
Hi Diane, firstly yes natural golden tones are warmth, but here is the thing. People tend to hate Sun-In because it can only lift by about two shades and generally exposes the warmth in the hair. It seems that you actually quite like the effect this has on your hair, so it leads to my next suggestion.
When you apply a permanent colourant, the peroxide in the colourant will lighten the hair a level or two, pretty much exactly as Sun-in works. However, you cannot see this underlying lightening because the artificial colour molecules sit on the top. When you use a hair colour remover it takes out the artificial molecules and exposes the lightened hair underneath. This is where many people discover the previous colourant lightened their hair to a coppery colour. However, if you have long found your hair lifts to a nice colour with Sun-In, it’s very possible that if you used Decolour Remover, you would discover the hair was a shade you liked underneath, as that peroxide in the colourants developer would have been lifting up your natural brown hair, just as Sun-In does.
Therefore, I would suggest you use Decolour Remover (red box) on the hair and get that dark colour out. I would then follow this with Colour Restore Cool Ash, not so much to cool the hair down but give you a more solid even, blonde shade. If the current colour is very dark, you might need two applications of Decolour Remover (a week or so apart), but you can keep using Colour Restore Cool Ash to tone. If you want a very cold, darker toner try my new Colour Restore Super Cool Ash.
To be honest, if you have always been happy with Sun-In, once you have removed the current permanent colour, you could go back to using Sun-In on your hair. As explained, the suggested Colour Restores are really meant to cool any excess warmth that might appear and also give you a more solid, even blonde colour. I hope that helps.
Millie
Just used the decolour product after a dark brown nightmare: note check husband got the right dye next time!!!
Anyway, 15 minutes and it had gone ORANGE!!!!
Help can I put on my normal brown shade straight away? Back to work on Monday!
Scott Cornwall
Hi Millie. It’s common to see an orange when you remove a permanent hair colour, as some brands of permanent colour use quite strong peroxide developers (the white applicator bottle). Therefore, your natural colour gets lightened (and kicks up warmth), even though the artificial colour may deposit as very dark or even black.
With orange you want to neutralise it. But if you have a usual brand of colourant you can use it but if you use it too soon after removal, the unwanted dark colour can pop back as you need to leave it a good few days before you reapply another peroxide based colourant. I can’t judge fully unless I see the colour you are at now, but if you use Instagram you could PM me with a photo of the shade now and also the brand of the colourant you want to apply and I can tell you what would be the best approach.
Generally, I recommend a quick fix for that rusty orange you see sometimes (when you remove) as being my Lilac Grey Colour Restore. But let me know what shade you are now and as said, I will try to advise best route. Regards Scott
ปั้มไลค์
Like!! Really appreciate you sharing this blog post.Really thank you! Keep writing.
Scott Cornwall
Hi, thanks very much for your kind words and encouragement! Best Scott 🙂
Dawn
Hi! I recently coloured my growing out highlighted hair (natural roots a dark blonde) after advice from an online colourist. It was a light brown with copper and gold to add warmth before o could then go a more ashy light brown. This just was super copper and they formulated a light brown pearl to counteract the copper. That faded quickly and I ended up with a copper again. I’ve just used your colour remover (after a strand test which showed a nice Goldy blonde) … but I’m orange! What can I do as it looks hideous and I’m back to work … Help!!!!!
Scott Cornwall
Hi Dawn, yes I would expect your hair to have gone very orange based on what you described in relation to the initial colour. The hair had been lightened a lot and the hair already had copper and gold tones. The pearl tone (which would be a pigment 7) faded off quick, so when you removed you took out all the depth and revealed the lightened base – which would have been quite orange. It sounds like the strand test had been unknowingly done on a previously highlighted area.
You need to apply a 7.71 shade to the hair. This would be a medium golden blonde violet ash. This is the formula to the light pearl brown you already applied. If you look on Amazon you should find brands who are selling the 7.71 shade. But moving forward, this will be the perfect permanent colourant shade for you to use on your hair, as it seems your hair kicks out warmth that needs to be neutralised by a double cool pigment. Best Scott
Cassie
Desperately wanting to remove red permanent dye out so I can go blond again
Scott Cornwall
Hi Cassie, if it’s a permanent red you should be fine getting this out with Decolour Remover. Best Scott
Noosha
Hi Scott,
Hope you can help. I have naturally darkest brown hair & have got black dyed hair, with lots of build up over the years (including caramel high lift highlights). I’ve used 2 x boxes of Colour Remover over 3 weeks, which gave me a very dark red colour with a slightly lighter deep red at the roots. I then but a cherry semi permanent, no ammonia dye & it went even darker (the opposite of what I wanted). Then last night I used your Colour Stripper and I went back to a beautiful dark red. This has all been over one month, my hair has shown no sign of damage or weakness which has been wonderful! I want to use another Colour Stripper – can you let me know when would be safe to do so? How many of these can I use safely to get a lighter red base to work with? Thanks a lot!
Scott Cornwall
Hi There. It sounds like your hair re-oxidized. This happens when a peroxide is applied immediately after you use a remover. The peroxide is found in the developer of permanent colourants and whilst some brands say they are ‘semi-permanent’ in truth, they are what is known as a quasi or demi colour, that does feature peroxide to evoke a result.
Generally, if your hair feels strong it would take several treatments. If you apply Decolour Stripper (blue box) to wet hair and work it through, it should go lighter and redder. To get a good base to create a red shade, you want to get the hair stripped to an orange-red level. Then apply a permanent red shade to the hair immediately afterwards. Whilst you cannot recolour with a peroxide based shade immediately after Decolour Remover (red box), Decolour Stripper is designed for the purpose of immediately re-colouring.
I would say your hair will be fine to have at least one other stripping and the application of the permanent red shade. If you are worried about the condition, you could apply Decolour Stripper then try using my Colour Restore Deep red to obtain a true semi-permanent red shade. You can also mix this 50/50 with my Colour Restore Black Cherry to obtain a deeper burgundy red.
Francesca
Hi Scott
I’m so confused! I’ve read and reread every word from every product on your website.
Ok, I have naturally medium brown hair with a few greys. For years I have had foils put in which lighten it significantly to be a light blonde but not to the extent of platinum. I always use purple shampoo so I didn’t have warmth.
I went to the hairdresser and as it was winter she suggested a gloss, which I didn’t understand to be a semi permanent brownish colour, nonetheless it turned out a lot darker than I would’ve thought as oppose to a gloss which I perceived as maybe a very subtle darker shade with an abundance of shine. It has shine but is too dark.
I want to go lighter again without warmth.
From what I can decipher based on the comprehensiveness of your site.
I clarify my hair, then I strip it (as I do have brown roots with some greys), I then colour to lighten.
Now, the colour to lighten is what’s confusing me. The foils which I assume are still underneath and because of the bleach or whatever was used to lighten it and keep it that way over the years is essentially going to turn out a different tone/result from my natural colour in amongst it including my roots. I need you to tell me which colour restore to put in my hair.
Do I go with the Cool Ash or Iced Platinum?
From what I can gather, Cool Ash is what you recommend however, I can’t help but think that I would essentially be going through the process to end up with still brown hair a couple of tones lighter than I am now with the “gloss” and it’s only an assumption that it is really a semi permanent colour or rinse as we call it in Australia.
I know I can’t miraculously have exactly what I want/had within a day, unless I cut it ten inches shorter because I’ve shrivelled it up and wrecked it from overusing products.
I’m not unrealistic, I know it’s a constant work in progress. Even then, let’s face it, I’m sure I will get it to the desired result I want right now but as the progression happens so does my desired result being, in two weeks time I will undoubtedly desire a result a lot lighter than I am wanting today.
It’s always the way 🤷♀️
Scott Cornwall
Hi Francesca, OK, so let’s deal with this issue a bit at a time.
Firstly, you need to get the brown artificial colour from the hair. If you use my Decolour Remover product (which is the red box) you will get the brown out, but you are going to see warmth. This happens, because peroxide has been applied to your natural brown hair and it will have lightened it. When you apply a colour remover, it takes out the artificial darker pigment but exposes that underlying warmth. This warmth then needs to be counteracted by a cool tone.
You have also said you have darker roots with some grey. So this is indicating to me your hair needs the lightening method it used to have. So the below would be my suggestion to you:-
If you are willing to have foil highlights put back into it, go to a salon and get them to apply foil highlights throughout. Ask them to lift the hair (in the foils) as pale as they can get it, then after they have rinsed the lightener out, they should cover the whole hair in a permanent silver ash toner. This will do two things, a) it will neutralise the warmth in the non highlighted hair but b) it will create a very cool ash in the highlighted hair. When this cool highlighted hair mixes with the rest of the base shade, it will create a nice neutral cool medium blonde.
If you cannot get to a salon (due to the world issues), then go down the Decolour Remover method and get the brown out. But remember the hair is going to look very warm when you first remove it. Do not panic but just appreciate you might have to suffer this warmth for a week, because you cannot apply a permanent colourant immediately after using Decolour Remover.
So remove the brown, and you will likely find your hair appears to be a warm shade with golden/copper tones in the previous blonde areas towards the ends. It sounds an odd suggestion, but I would actually recommend you apply a pastel lavender shade to this hair (after removal). I don’t mean a purple, but a very light pastel lilac/lavender. In the UK I have a shade called Colour Restore Lilac Grey for this purpose, but I don’t believe that is on sale in Australia. But my experience was, that after removal the hair took on an uneven copper tone that was balanced out to a cool neutral tone via a Lilac/Lavender tone.
From here, if you then use the Lilac toner and only wash in blue shampoos, you should find the hair takes on a lighter/cooler appearance without you needing to applying any bleaches. Best Scott
nat
Hey Scott,
I have dyed my level 6 hair with an 8.1 dye which came out brown so i tried removing this colour with a vit c and shampoo. The resulting colour is now a brassy red orange natural pigment. Am I safe to now dye my hair with a high lift? – it was been a week since stripping the original dye.
Scott Cornwall
Hi There, if you believe the colour you are now seeing is your natural colour (as it would be) then it is fine to use a high lift tint. Just make sure you use 40 volume developer and choose a highlift tint that has a double cool tone. So you need a ‘1’ tone in there (for age) as this will neutralise the red and then you need either a ‘2’ tone which is blue based (that will neutralise the orange) or a violet tone. Best Scott
Jordyn
Hi Scott,
I dyed my hair with the colourista denim blue shade during lockdown (7-8 weeks ago) I have used the brands fader and it worked but it won’t fade anymore now. it has now stained a minty (swimming with blonde hair Green) how can I get this out? I need it out by July 20th!! please help
Scott Cornwall
Hi Jordyn,
That’s a common and easy issue to fix. Usually with blue shades, the blue comes out but it kind of warps the natural yellow in the hair with a mild blue tinge, this causes a mint green colour – as you say, like you get from a swimming pool.
To neutralise this, buy a very light pastel pink. It MUST be light pink (not a hot or vibrant pink). It should be the colour of a McDonalds Strawberry Milkshake. Coat your hair in a standard white conditioner, comb it fully then apply the light pastel pink shade to the hair and work it through. Leave it for about 20 minutes then rinse out. Applying the white conditioner to the hair (before the pink), dilutes the pink a little.
The pink contains a small amount of red molecule, which is enough to neutralise a small amount of green (aka mint). What you should find, is the hair turns to a silver or pearl blonde. If you find the hair looks a tad pink, it’s fine just clarify it once and this should balance it out. If you feel the hair still has a green tinge (after the pink), just repeat the pink application again.
After this correction treatment and moving forward, you should start using violet shampoos and toning the hair as you would any standard bleached blonde base. The reason you were seeing green is because the underlying yellow was showing through and mixing with the last of the blue tone in the hair. Therefore, that yellow tone will start to come back if you don’t remember to neutralise it.
But generally, I find the initial pink treatment balances out that mint green and sets you back to a blonde principle, whereby you can maintain with standard blonde toning treatments.
Best
Scott
Andrea
Hi Scott – I am after some advice please? I have been dyeing my hair using a permanent dark brown, and then switched to using a non-permanent dark brown a few years ago, but only using on my roots.
My goal is to get back to my natural colour which is a reddish brown (with some grey now) and to then just use a semi permanent on the roots to cover the grey.
I used your colour remover about two weeks ago, it worked really well and pretty much took me back to my natural colour, but this gradually darkened again after a few days. I followed the instructions properly.
I then bought a second one and used again last week. I checked your articles and FAQs for further advice. I started with a bicarbonate cleanse then used the colour remover. When I got to the rinsing stage, I rinsed for 5 mins, and as per one of your other responses to hair re-darkening, I wrapped in a towel for half an hour and then rinsed again.
This time it has not really worked at all, in fact, I think it looks a bit darker than after the first time I tried it. When I was rinsing it looked lighter but once I had finished and it had dried, it was darker. I didn’t use any other products except the finisher in the box.
Can I use the colour remover again? If so, do you have any further advice please?
Scott Cornwall
Hi Andrea, the hair is re-oxidizing and there are several reasons why this happens. I will at some point write an article on re-oxidation and what causes it, as it’s a very strange phenomena and can sometimes be hard to pin down.
In your situation you will need to keep trying to use the colour remover until you can get the dark out and stop it from bouncing back. A quick tip I can give you is to keep a mug of salt water by you as you rinse and midway run this through the hair. Salt water tends to keep the cuticle open. Another tip is to use as hot (as you can stand) steaming water to rinse. Please don’t scold yourself, but when the water is steaming the cuticle remains open and it allows the shrunken colour molecules to be flushed from the hair. If the water is too much on the cool side, this can cause the cuticle to start to close and it traps the colour molecules inside the hair. These colour molecules then start to enlarge again and this causes the re-oxidation.
Best
Scott
Kate
Hi, I dyed my hair a dark brown (naturally a lighter brown) and it went very dark, I used your hair colour remover to try take it back to its original colour, although it’s gone very ‘warmth’/ red, is it okay if I now re dye it a lighter cool brown colour (closer to my natural colour) or will that not work?
Scott Cornwall
Hi Kate. You will be fine to re-colour your hair if you have waited 7 days and 3 washes since using the remover. Generally, recolouring after this time will give good results. Best Scott
Elizabeth
Hi Scott,
Around Christmas I dyed my hair with a metallic purple dye, not knowing the problems it would cause me! I dyed it the same shade once more, and now am unable to dye it again as I don’t want to damage my hair further. I’ve been trying to find a product that will strip the colour without damaging my hair – will the Decolour Remover be safe to use? Thank you!
Scott Cornwall
Hi Elizabeth, if you intermixed a tube of colourant with a developer to achieve the metallic purple colour, then you can use Decolour Remover (pink box) and you will get this shade out without any problems.
However, if you only used one tube (and did not have to intermix) and the shade is a more vibrant purple, you might have more issues with removing the colour. This would indicate the semi-permanent colour has stained and is going to prove more problematic to take out. In this situation, you are better off trying to get the purple to fade off with clarifying and coconut oil treatments.
But as stated initially, if you used a permanent purple, Decolour Remover will take this out without damage. Best Scott
Jessie Guyomar
Just wondering if you use the colour stripper (blue box) do you have to dye your hair or can you just leave it if you like the colour it comes out with. The box just saids you can apply colour straight after.
Scott Cornwall
Hi Jessie. You can leave it and a lot of people do. But be mindful that the hade will be (what I call) ‘raw’. This means it will be a stripped lightened colour that will likely be quite warm. Some people like this and want to keep it, so you don’t have to colour it. Indeed a lot of people use Decolour Stripper to lighten out their roots to blonde. I hope that helps, best Scott.
Louise
Hi, can I use purple shampoo to reduce the brassy/orange tones after using colour stripper? Thanks
Scott Cornwall
Hi, if you mean the Colour Restore Iced Platinum yes you can use it immediately after using Decolour Stripper. But remember Decolour Stripper is designed to create a canvas so you can apply a new permanent colourant. Therefore, if you strip your hair and get it to yellow Iced Platinum will tone the hair to a light blonde. But if your strip the hair and it’s quite orange, Iced Platinum won’t be strong enough. You need to get hair to a pale yellow to get it to tone to a white/light blonde. Best Scott
Emma
Hi Scott,
You’ve given some great detailed answers to others so I thought you could help. Sadly I had a nightmare salon experience with my hair ending up dark brown instead of the warm auburn I requested, I managed to fade it into a chestnut colour and then thought I’d be able to apply a nice Red copper to it, it’s now only taken to parts of my roots and some of the top of my hair but my mid lengths and ends are still a washed out chestnut.
How would I strip my hair so it was even and not as two toned (or 4 toned)… so I then have an even base to apply the copper red to? Do I need to apply it at different times to different areas? Feeling very confused.
Scott Cornwall
Hi Emma. This is a complicated one, because your hair is patchy so (generally) the colour will take differently on different parts of the head, unless you kind of break it up.
I think the best approach would be to undertake a stripping but via a balayage application. So here, you want to apply the stripper in panels from root to tip throughout the hair. What this will do, is create lightened vertical threads throughout the hair and break up these patchy areas. I would next suggest you look for a true semi-permanent copper-red, as opposed to a permanent one. There are some good wash in shampoo brands on Amazon who offer copper-red. I used to do Colour Restore Warm Honey (which was a Copper) but I discontinued it, so I cannot recommend one of mine. But generally, if you apply a semi-permanent in the shade you want to the hair (after stripping with balayage panels) you should get a really nice vibrant copper-red. Yes, this will fade with washes, but don’t worry initially. Just keep it topped up. Then after about 6 weeks to 2 months opt for a permanent shade throughout.
Do not do a whole head stripping, as because your hair is now patchy it won’t strip evenly. You need to apply those balayage panels (via stripping) as you want to break up all those uneven areas. Next, the reason why I don’t want you to use a permanent copper-red is your hair has porous areas. Therefore, if you apply another permanent colourant (at the moment) it is only going to grab and fade again. By stripping in panels, then spending 6 to 8 weeks allowing the hair to rest and only using a semi-permanent colourant, your hair will normalise and in a couple of months take a permanent colourant well.
I hope this helps.
Best
Scott
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Wow, that’s great.
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Leana
Hi there, I need advice please. My hair was a fading bleach blonde and then I put a silver grey semi permanent color through it. Its now a patchy gingery/lilac almost, I need to know, if I use a colour remover and then a wella t18 toner will this work to bring me back to blonde? I’m guessing toning over the silver grey wont do much? Or is bleach & tone my only option?
Thank you
Scott Cornwall
Hi, no toning over silver-grey wouldn’t work because that colour is basically over deposited tone. I’d use Decolour Remover on the hair, but be cautious about using the T18 toner as it might over deposit again. Instead, I’d get all the tone out and then start by just using purple shampoos and perhaps something like Colour Restore Iced Platinum. Best Scott
Crystal Anne
Hello just came across your colour remover in the supermarket so googled for reviews and come across this post… I have naturally blonde hair but have used box dyes (brown to now black) for a fair few years now would the colour remover work or would it be better to strip it?
Would appreciate any advice. Thankyou in advance 🙂
Scott Cornwall
Hi there, if your hair is naturally blonde and you have used darker box dyes then Decolour Remover is perfect for you. You won’t need to use Decolour Stripper as your underlying base is already light. Therefore, just use Decolour Remover and see how much of your original colour comes back with the first application. If you have a lot of built up dark, you might need two applications a week apart. But start with the first and see how you get on, it could be the case that is all you need. Best Scott
Jodi
Hi Scott, thankyou so much for this thread.
My hair is a natural brown and ive been dying it golden huges and light browns for a while trying to achieve a strawberry blonde using semi permenents. During lockdown i let my hair completely grow out and vowed not to dye it again!! However I did cave in and put a semi permenent golden on it in november and its gone a brassy, yellow colour and i want to ‘strip’ but i dont see much on going from light back to dark. Any suggestions would be much appreciate thankyou!!!
Scott Cornwall
Hi Jodi, when you say ‘strip’ do you mean remove? As I wouldn’t put any peroxide based product on this hair at the moment. If the hair is brassy yellow and you like strawberry blonde, have you ever considered putting a very faint pastel pink on the hair? This sounds like a strange suggestion, but if you apply a delicate pink to a brassy base you get a rose gold or strawberry blonde shade. You could add a small amount of pastel pink into a thick white conditioner and just run this through the hair for a few minutes after washing. It could go a nice shade? Best Scott
heather
hi scott. just wondering which product be best for removing a colour freedom product off bleached blonde hair? hair was bright pink/purple. (balayage). Ive done several vitamin c and anti dandruff shampoo home treatments which has lifted a good bit. but most has gone orange/ginger with pink bits still left.
Scott Cornwall
Hi Heather, I would actually start using something like Colour Restore Iced Platinum on it now. If you are getting orange and ginger it means the pink is going and needs neutralising as the bleached hair under the pink will be brassy. If you use Iced Platinum on the hair you will likely find it starts turning to a lavender/beige blonde. Keep clarifying the hair and then applying the Iced Platinum afterwards like a conditioner. But I think you are heading in the right direction. Best Scott
rhiannon lorigan
Hello! i am not sure which to your the stripper or the remover .. i have natural dark blonde outgrown roots and the rest of my hair is a light blonde balayage/highlights that have been dyed over many years (last time being over a year ago) and i have recently used a semi permanent purple dye in my hair and really want it out as i am not happy with it !! i was about to purchase the blue box but then discovered the pink box and now am totally unsure which to use !! i just want to return to the blonde or lighter than that if possible ? what would your best advice be ? thankyou !
Scott Cornwall
Hair Colour Removers like Decolour Remover (red box) cannot technically work on semi-permanent fashion colours. However, whilst Decolour Stripper will get the unwanted purple shade out of the hair, it will also lighten the underlying base, so you would lose your balayage which is sitting under your purple colour. I know Decolour Remover can generally get semi-permanent reds out of the hair (due to the red colour molecule). However, what tends to happen is the red will flush out of the purple shade and leave a blue behind. If the blue (left behind) is a fairly standard blue, applying a pastel pink throughout this hair will create a lavender result. However, if the blue appears more like a mint green, the pastel pink turns this mint green colour to a beige blonde.
My brand also has a product (sold on Amazon) called Cuticleanse. This is a Vitamin C Clarifying shampoo. Whilst I only created the product as a clarifier, I know it will pull out semi-permanent colours from the hair, this is why I tell people with semi shades not to use it. Cuticleanse
You could try just continually washing the hair in Cuticleanse and budging the colour molecules this way. As I said, Cuticleanse is a Vitamin C clarifier and not designed for fashion colours, but it could help you in pulling the purple out.
Janet Russell
Hi Scott,
I used your decolour remover today as I originally had blonde highlights in my greying hair but then I went to a hairdressers and she suggested a colour for me which turned out really brassy which was horrid.
After some time I put a sandy blonde colour through and it turned it a coppery colour.
I waited some two weeks and used your decolour but now I have come out a honeycomb colour.
At my age of 60 I am now a mousy colour with natural grey highlights.
How long should I wait to use the decolour again or should I use the stripper
Scott Cornwall
Hi Janet, I really do not think you will get the result you want from Decolour based on your history. You see, whilst your hair is naturally mousy and grey there would have been natural warm tones in the non-grey hair. Therefore, the moment permanent shades are applied to the hair that mousy shade can start turning buttery if the peroxide developer was too strong. It sounds like you have managed to get the secondary sandy colour out (which went coppery). Therefore, based on everything you are saying, it seems you really don’t like too much warmth in your hair. Before you try anything else, I recommend you apply either my Colour Restore Iced Platinum or Cool Ash to your hair. I believe you currently have a yellowish blonde base that will tone very well. I’d also recommend you only wash your hair in a purple shampoo (from now on) as this will also help. If you want a more light neutral blonde, I’d suggest using the Colour Restore Iced Platinum for 20 minutes, then only washing in a purple shampoo after that. However, if you’d like a more beige blonde use Colour Restore Cool Ash. Still wash the hair in only purple shampoo. Colour Restore shades fade off over washes, but they are conditioning and do not damage the hair. Therefore, you can re-apply whenever you want to replenish the colour fade. If you can, try to keep this regime up for about 6 weeks, it will give your hair a rest and create a good interim colour.
Next, I will give you overall advice. When people with mousy hair start going grey, applying just highlights can make the hair appear more mousy and cold. I think this is why your hair colourist has suggested another colour in the first place. However, all your hairdresser needs to do is this: Continue applying bleach (foil) highlights to the hair, but when the hair has been foiled and is processing, ask the hairdresser to paint an 8.3 (light golden blonde) permanent colour with only 3% developer throughout the non-foiled hair. This will create a natural medium golden blonde base shade in the hair. However, if you carry on using Iced Platinum, your highlights will tone to an icy white and combine with the 8.3 (light golden blonde) base shade, to create a really rich, natural neutral blonde shade. I would then recommend you only have your regrowth coloured with the 8.3 (light golden blonde) permanent colourant and the 3% developer every 6 weeks (only the roots), and every few months apply the highlights too. The key here is, 3% (10 volume) developer is quite weak and it will not lighten your natural hair colour so much and cause any natural warmth to be over exposed. Therefore, it will only deposit a natural golden blonde shade into the natural mousy/grey hair. This alone will give you a nice hair colour, but the addition of the icy highlights will produce a very rich, multi-tonal blonde.
Lisa
Hi Scott,
This might sound like a dumb question but I had put in a temporary purple through my hair and loved how bright it was. I then bought a permanent purple but it looks more black/ very dark brown rather than purple. I have bought the colour stripper but am worried about using it and losing my natural brown. If I use it will I permanently lose my natural colour or will it grown out again like normal?
Scott Cornwall
Hi Lisa, Decolour Stripper (Blue Box) would not be right for you, because that product is designed for people who want to strip both their natural and artificial colour. The Decolour shade you need is Decolour Remover (Red box). Decolour Remover will not lighten your natural underlying hair colour. However, you need to understand that permanent colour will likely have lightened your natural colour somewhat, simply because permanent colourants contain peroxide. So even when the shade is dark, the peroxide still lightens the natural (underlying) colour as it deposits the new permanent shade.
Also, a permanent would not have been right for the result you wanted, simply because permanent purple shades also contain brown colour molecules to give depth (hence why your hair now looks dark). I’d recommend you use Decolour Remover (red box) and get that permanent shade out. Then if you apply a vibrant temporary purple immediately after removal, you should achieve a very nice purple colour (as you did before). Also true semi-permanent (temporary) colours can be used as often as you want, so as the shade fades off (over washes) just reapply to maintain the colour.
Christie Browne
Hi Scott, I am 45 and have naturally very dark brown hair, which is starting to get some greys, but still predominantly dark brown. I’ve been dying it for many years to cover the slight grey, usually browns with reddish tones, as these are the only colours that will show up on my hair.
I recently decided, as I am getting older, to try to go an ashy blonde, as it will be easier to blend the greys. I have used colour stripper twice, in the hope that it would take me to a very light orange that I could dye over with a permanent medium ash blonde. Unfortunately, my hair is still quite reddish/orange after using the colour stripper twice.
I am unsure what to do from here, as I think my hair is too dark a red to put in a level 6 hair dye?
If I use the colour stripper for a 3rd time will it go lighter? Or would I need a bleach to get me to the ash blonde?
Thanks in advance,
Christie.
Scott Cornwall
Hi Christie, depending on how dark your hair was (originally) Decolour Stripper should get you to a workable light colour that would take a blonde colourant shade. In your situation, it sounds like a lot of the red molecules from the previous darker permanent colourant are still in the hair. My recommendation here would be to use Super Cool Ash, which has anti-red molecules in it and should evoke a soft, cooler brown colour. Then wait a few weeks and give your hair a rest and apply another Decolour stripper application. It might be best to do this in the balayage method which is outlined on the site (here). But this should create some lighter panels in the hair, so when you recolour you will get that natural looking dark ash blonde. Best Scott
Laura richards
Hi there Scott,
I’d really appreciate your advice. I have naturally dark blonde hair that has likely gone more grey these days I imagine (as my roots appear more grey these days). For years I’ve gone lighter blonde with highlights and part bleach. In March I used permanent hair dye
(LIVE Intense Colour Real Red) which looked great however I now want to go back to blonde. From reading your article it sounds like I should use a stripper, and then not bleach my gaie again for a few months, is that right? Perhaps I can highlight it?
Any help would be hugely appreciated.
Thank you in advance,
Laura
Scott Cornwall
Hi Laura, if your hair is blonde and if it was previously lightened, all you should need to do is use Decolour Remover and get that red out. What you should then see is a toneless, brassy blonde base. From this point, just apply Colour Restore Cool Ash and leave it for 20 minutes and you should find you have a really nice, medium ash blonde shade. Best Scott
Celia Elphick
Hi Scott, HELP! I have natural white/grey hair and have always used permanent dyes from the Hairdresser and the supermarket Light Brown. A month ago I tried a Henna dye and had to mix a Honey Brown and Black to get a warm dark brown (according to the company). I have ended up with black hair with a reddish undertone. It is much too dark. I am using clarifying shampoo, oil colour removal methods with no change in colour. I don’t want to use Henna again but fear I will have to dye my roots dark until the Henna grows out. Can I use either your Colour Remover or Colour Stripper to take my hair back to the dyed Light Brown or my grey colour???
Thanks in advance 🙂
Scott Cornwall
Hi Celia. Henna is a real problem to remove from the hair. It does not work like a colourant but rather a deep stain. So it permanent stains the hair cuticle and hair fibre making it almost impossible to remove. Your best approach is to keep using those oil and clarifying methods. Never try to bleach out new Henna as it seems to dig deeper into the hair. Instead, work with semi-permanent colours to cover regrowth and the henna for a month or so. As the Henna ages, I always recommend trying to get highlights put through the hair with a non ammonia lighter or highlight tint. Whilst this does not get all the Henna out, it does fade it off and causes the strap line to be broken up. But let me know how you are getting on with this and I will try to help you more. Best Scott
Elley
Hi Scott I’ve always been blonde but during lockdown decided to try a deep red/purple so I’ve had 5.62 for the past 6 months all over and more recently 5.66 with a couple of large lightened sections with a cherry red direct dye on the lightened sections
I’d like to go back to some sort of blonde just wanting to confirm whether decolour remover or stripper will be right product for me and can I use bleach after either product
Scott Cornwall
hi Elley, Decolour Remover (red box) should get that colour out easily and put you back to a blonde shade. Best Scott
Claire Parsons
Hello
I’m hoping you can help. I’ve had my hair bleached/highlighted from brown to blonde, and until recently coloured it pink using a Wella colour mask. I then decided to go purple using another conditioning mask but it was far too dark. I didn’t do my research before hand and I used the colour remover on my hair thinking it would either fade the colour to a lighter purple/lilac or lift it completely. Instead it has turned my hair a rather intense blue colour. What should I do next? I would like to get as close to the blonde that I previously had but my hair is quite porous so am not sure whether the colour stripper will help? Please advise!
Scott Cornwall
hi Claire, yes unfortunately this happens with purple and colour removers. A reduction agent colour remover will take out a direct dye red, however it cannot remove blue. Purple is of course made from blue. Therefore, when you use a colour remover on purple hair, it takes away the red and leaves blue behind. As a short solution you can apply a direct dye red to the hair and it will return the hair to purple. However, in order to get that blue out you really need to use Decolour Stripper if the shade is not budging. If the blue has faded to more of a duck egg blue or mint colour, this can be neutralised with a very light pastel pink or soft rose shampoo. I hope that helps. Best Scott
Carolin Sturmer
Hi Scott,
Not sure which one of your products to purchase, either the colour remover or stripper or both?
My natural hair is ash blonde about a 7c with natural highlights. About two months ago I had my hairdresser put a mahogany and dark violet mix through to achieve a rich dark purple (4MV) which I loved. However, now 2 months on, my roots are standing out like a sore thumb and although I have been using colour protective shampoo and conditioner the colour has washed out to a light plum colour. About a year ago I did have blonde highlights put in (full head of foils) which is likely the reason why the purple colour is not sticking the way it should.
Anyways, I am looking to go for a more natural shade next. I will purchase a light or medium brown box dye lasting up to 28 washes before my next hair salon visit.
In order for that to go on evenly I will need to get as much of the purple out as possible. My idea was to use a clarifying shampoo for a couple of washes, then the colour remover (pink box) followed by the colour stripper (blue box) a week later. Then use the brown hair dye directly over the end result.
Do you think this would work? Is there any other product you would recommend either before during or after this process?
My hair is currently just past shoulder length and although it is quite fine, it is healthy (I only ever let it air dry and wash twice a week with conditioner).
Thanks in advance for your help 🙂
Scott Cornwall
Hi Carolin, your approach is actually correct. If the colour is fading off anyway, using a clarifying shampoo would really help. You could do a colour cleanse with Decolour Flash Remover, this would really get everything out. I don’t think you need to use Decolour stripper as your hair is actually quite light under that plum colour. If you use Decolour Remover this will get all the artificial darker colour out and expose your underlying lighter base. If you want to then go back to your own colour, I would initially recommend using a Wella Colour Fresh 7.0 over the hair. This is a true semi and it will give your hair a nice dark blonde shade, without you needing to use a permanent colour. I’d use this for a few weeks and then maybe visit the salon and ask they apply a tone on tone permanent colourant to match your natural root colour. Best Scott
Danielle
Hi, please can you help? My hair journey…
1. I have naturally medium blonde hair
2. I put a rose gold (8rg) semi perm on it, which looked awful
3. I then used colour remover and it was quite orange
4. I used a blonde 8 with ice blonde toner, it went dark and more like an auburn colour. It was nice but started to fade and go more orange
5. I used colour remover again, I used the cool ash toner and now it’s still orange! I use Keraste purple shampoo and it’s not doing anything..
What do I do please? My thoughts were use and colour remover then use a ice blonde gloss to rid of orange tones, OR should I get a ash semi perm?
Thank you I’m advance
Scott Cornwall
Hi Danielle, the orange is the enigma factor here. With your natural base colour you should not be getting such issues with orange undertone. I am wondering if the Rose Gold you used featured a direct dye. This cannot be removed by a reduction agent remover. What would you find is if the hair colour is removed, you could see like a tangerine result, where the oxidation colour left and the copper direct dye remained behind.
The best approach in this situation is to try and use Decolour Stripper on it, as you need to lift that orange tone out of the hair. If you apply Decolour stripper it will likely go a yellow tone, but you can immediately follow this with an 8.1 medium ash blonde colourant. From here you should get your natural colour back. Best Scott
lucy linnett
Hiya Scott. I’ve just done a second application of the remover and it doesn’t seem to be removing anything. I tried the bicarbonate of soda rinse before i applied the second one but still no difference. I’m trying to get rid of my dark brown dye, I’m naturally dark blonde but have been dying it for many years, mostly light ash blonde then the last 3 years dark brown. Am i a lost cause?!
Scott Cornwall
Hi Lucy, it sounds to me that your colour is encased in the hair. When the colour is trapped inside the hair (even with clarifying) it can be really difficult to break through and get the colour molecules out. My advice is to keep clarifying and try my Decolour Flash Remover. Here you get three sets of sachets, so you can remove more than once. If after the first application nothing happens, get back to me and let me know, as I will give you a bleach strand test method so you can identify how bad the build up is. Generally bleach will cut through anything, but if bleach has trouble cutting through dark colour it means the hair is very heavily encased and I might have to suggest another approach. Best Scott
Gina
Hi Scott, Wow, what a great resource I have found in your website! Your responses are exceptionally detailed and helpful. Need a little advice…I am (I think) totally grey (age 63). I have been dying my hair with a two step process (Colour Expert – all over color and highlights) for years and years. My dye is a medium golden brown. I’m considering going grey, but as a transition, may want to go dark blonde with highlights so the roots aren’t as apparent. I was planning to use your Decolour Remover. Any recommendations after that for a nice dark blonde?
Gina
Also, where can I purchase your products from the United States?
Scott Cornwall
We supply direct to the US. So you can purchase from my shop on this site. Best Scott
Scott Cornwall
Hi Gina, yes I really set this up to give people help and advice on their hair, although I’ve been slow at responding recently so sorry about that. If you can use Decolour Remover first, get a lot of the built up colour out. I’d then recommend you get lots of fine bleach highlights put through the hair and ask the salon to just tone it with a purple shampoo. Then use only a purple shampoo as your regular cleanser and Colour Restore Cool Ash as your two minute conditioner. What you will find happens is the highlights turn a grey/ash tone and it will break up your own natural grey strap line. If you would like to be a nice dark blonde (as your ongoing colour) you could also try using my Colour Restore Caramel on your hair. It might be a little too golden for your preference, but it is a kind of digestive biscuit/cheesecake base colour. Best Scott
Avital
Hi Scott, i was wondering, i have naturally medium brown hair that has been dyed many years now.. i have gone lighter and darker using permanent hair colours..these last two times of colouring my hair have been a nighmare..i went from dark blonde or maybe it was the lightest of browns to a dark brown…i really want to go back to a dark blonde or even a lighter blonde..am i supposed to use a remover or stripper? And after, can i just colour over it? Is it damaging at all? Thank you in advance!
Scott Cornwall
Hi Avital, if you have gone lighter quite recently, you can use Decolour Remover (red box) and get all that darker colour out and reveal your underlying lighter base. Based on what you are saying you should be able to use Colour Restore Cool Ash on the hair to create a natural blonde. The hair won’t damage from using Decolour Remover, but be mindful if you re-colour using a strong permanent colourant you could weaken the hair. I think you should be able to get to a dark blonde from just using Decolour Remover followed by Colour Restore Cool Ash. Best Scott
Lizz
Hi Scott,
So I had dark brown/ red short hair which was quite healthy as had just been cut short into a Bob, with regular trims and died twice with box dyes in the last year. I have just used your colour stripper as I didn’t like the Reddy brown colour anymore. It stripped the hair back to orange and I panicked and put a packet mix blonde which had peroxide in it through it. It is now bright orange/ yellow blonde. I realise now I probably should have just repeated the stripping process as it was a dark colour base. What should I do?? And is there anything I can do to it kind of soon? It looks pretty wild and I have an event this weekend (I know that sounds silly but I haven’t been out in months due to covid, really wanted to look my best) I did this to my hair one day ago. Thank you!
Scott Cornwall
Sorry Liz, I did not respond to this sooner. Yellow Blonde/Orange is workable. If you have an event and just need it covered up quickly, I would recommend you find a Level 1 no peroxide brown colour (something like Wella Colour Fresh or Harmony). Put this all over it and you should get a kind of mahogany brown. It’s not ideal but it’s a quick fix and will wash out safely over a few shampoos. If you are really desperate, here is a super quick tip that (again) isn’t ideal but stops the hair looking so bad. Buy some Batiste dry shampoo for brunettes (you can find it in most retailers) and spray this through your hair quite liberally and brush. You will notice the hair will darken to a more mousy mahogany. Then spray it with hairspray to trap the colour on the hair. This is a very quick fix if you have to go out.
Moving forward, you were right the hair needed to be lightened more. I would recommend using Decolour Stripper on it again and then applying a medium ash blonde colourant. This will get you to a natural dark blonde.
Shirley
I’m putting your decolor remover in my hair today . Can I put color charm 050 with toner to cool it down as I’m dark brown and black at the moment . Mainly gray underall this .
Scott Cornwall
Ideally not as Decolour Remover is a reduction agent and Color Charm needs peroxide. So it could reoxidize. If you are removing colour to expose grey, use Decolour Remover and then follow it with Colour Restore Cool Ash to get the cool tone. Wait 7 days and then you can use the Color Charm. PS You can use Wella Color Charm immediately after Decolour Stripper.
Eimear
Hi Scott, I was just wondering if I use the colour remover on black dye, will I be able to put another lighter colour on immediately afterwards?
Scott Cornwall
Not a permanent colourant. You need to wait 7 days and 3 washes between when you apply a reduction agent remover (recognised by that egg smell) and applying a second permanent colourant. However, you can use No peroxide semi permanent colourants immediately after using a hair colour remover.
Melissa
Hi Scott,
I have dyed my hair with permanent dark blue Swarzkopf Live Intense colour. I’ve had this on for a couple of months now and I’d like to strip the colour and put on red (Garnier Olia Bold, intense red). My natural hair colour is very dark brown – I did bleach prior colouring. I’m unsure whether I should be using a hair colour Remover or hair colour Stripper for the purpose of lifting the dye on my hair. It’s turned a mixture of green and blue over the months and I read about the pastel pink solution you told someone else but I’m not sure if that could still be applied to my situation. I’ve only dyed the ends of my hair, so not the whole head. Would it be okay to dye my hair after using the hair colour remover/ stripper or would it damage my hair too much? And so, what colour should I put on as I don’t want to be left with bleached/ orangey ends?
Thanks,
Melissa
Scott Cornwall
Hi Melissa, if you have put a Live Permanent blue on your hair and you had previously bleached, my recommendation would be to use Decolour Remover. I predict this would get the dark blue out of your hair (as it’s a permanent). Whilst there is a chance you could be left with a kind of sludgy green, this is not an issue when you are recolouring with a red, because red counteracts green. Therefore, if you then applied a vibrant red colourant to your hair, you would get a good result as your base is already lightened. My recommendation would be for you to start by applying a semi-permanent (no peroxide) vibrant red. I recommend my Colour Restore Deep Red for this. Leave this shade on your hair a few weeks for it to settle after the removal. Then buy a lightening permanent red colourant. Apply this to your natural dark regrowth and let it develop, then work through to the midlengths and ends. Here you should find your natural brown lightens to a deep red and the previously coloured areas take to the red well, creating an even shade. Best Scott
Anna
Hi Scott,
I’ve just used your decolour, hair colour remover and I am wanting to use the olaplex number 1 stand alone treatment followed by the number 2. What I am wondering is will this treatment reactivate the colour molecules? I’ve looked everywhere and I’m not able to find the answer 🤦♀️
Thanks anna
Scott Cornwall
Hi Anna. It would be fine to use Olaplex after using Decolour Remover. Both Olaplex and Decolour Remover work on reduction agent technology. Therefore, you should get a good synergy. Remember though, the Conclude Balm features amino acids so you will get a good conditioning treatment after using Decolour Remover. But by all means use Olaplex too if you feel the hair needs it.
Lily
Hi scott, I have naturally blonde hair and I have been dir a few months been dying it blacking brown tones semi permanent but not fashion I don’t think and today I used the max recolour remover and I am now a dark orange and I’m just wondering will your recolour remover help me get back to my natural blonde and get rid of the red/orange
Scott Cornwall
Hi Lily, The orange colour you are seeing is very common when you remove a hair colour. Permanent hair colourants contain hydrogen peroxide to oxidize the PPD colour molecules. Some brands use very strong levels of hydrogen peroxide which can lighten the underlying natural hair colour. You do not see this until you attempt to remove the colour and you will then see the orange. In your case you are saying your natural hair colour is blonde, so if you are currently seeing a dark orange, it does mean you have more of that old colourant in the hair that needs removing. Give it an application of Decolour Remover and then follow it immediately with Colour Restore Cool Ash. This should neutralise out all the warmth in the hair and creating a good base shade.
stacie
hello, im thinking of bleaching my hair and dyeing it with a vibrant pink and turquoise brite semi-permanent colour. i know that since they’re not oxidation shades can i mix it with developer so if it stains i can use remover or stripper (not sure what one to use) it will come out? or will it still not work. i hope that made sense, thank you
Scott Cornwall
Hi Stacie, No that wouldn’t work at all as they are totally different technologies. A direct dye (a colourant that requires no developer) is like a paint in the way that the colour you see in the tube or bottle, is the colour that will deposit on the hair. An oxidation colour (a colour that requires a peroxide developer) uses a totally different way to display colour. Oxidation colours look nothing like the colour they display on the hair when you squeeze them from the tube or even when you oxidize them. They work by entering the hair and attaching to the peroxide (oxygen) molecule and expanding. They are affixed deep inside the hair’s cortex and display through the cuticle layer in a prism way to produce the shade you see. Hair colour removers like Decolour work by reversing this oxidation process. You can mix peroxide with a direct dye but it won’t have the effect of making the direct dye permanent. Some brands used to mix a little direct dye inside an oxidation colour to make the shade more vibrant. However, this practice tended to stop years ago as the shade would fade quickly over washes. Today, a lot of permanent brands have access to really good oxidation ingredients that produce good permanent shades that last throughout washes.
Crystal Ross
hi Scott, I need some advice before I use your products for the first time! I have previously dyed my hair blonde for the past 3 years and added many semi permanent colours etc (purple, pink and green) My hair needed a to be relived so the last 9-12months I have applied dark brown permanent colours recently I wanted to add colour back so tried to go a red and got brown ends and red roots, I have brought both stripper and colour remover and realised the remover said not to do with peroxides for 7 days so my question is am I able to use the stripper and then instantly apply the colour remover followed by a wash out full colour? thanks look forward to your advice
Scott Cornwall
I would actually recommend you use the Remover, as you are going to be more likely to reveal the previous base quite cleanly. That said, if you want to go red and you got lift at the roots, you can use Decolour Stripper on damp hair and only on the mid-lengths and end. This would lift up the brown to a reddy shade. Then you can apply a new permanent red throughout. Best Scott
Jan Millar
Hi there. My natural colour is now a silvery white – with warm bits in places where I haven’t gone fully grey yet! Anyway, I’ve been using Bleach London Rose shampoo for a couple of years which gave me a pastel pink effect. Then the last 6mths I’ve been using Swarzkopf Live Semi fashion colours (fuscia, purple and blue). I want to go back to my silvery grey blonde – so I used your Decolour Stripper (blue box) yesterday on my Electric Blue Live Swarzkopf semi hair. It’s removed my roots (about an inch long) to a lovely silery white – the rest of my hair (shoulder lenght) is now a dull mauve/lilac instead of the vibrant blue. Can I use another box of Decolour Stripper today to remove the mauve?? Or what else can I do to get to my silvery grey/platinum colour.
Scott Cornwall
Hi Jan. The answer is, yes you can use Decolour Stripper again. However, I would recommend you apply it in balayage panels throughout (so vertical strips) as opposed to trying to apply to the whole head. Generally, you will get a better effect in that base you have if you can lift out balayage panels. Also, it is unusual you are seeing a mauve/lilac. Usually, a vibrant blue would strip to a mint green, because the underlying ‘bleached’ hair is a brassy yellow tone and the remaining blue pigment combined to create a pale green. However, in your case I think because your natural colour is pure white the remaining blue must have an accompanying red molecule in there. This is good, because if this reduces down to a light violet the hair will begin to look silver.
Try the stripper with the balayage panels and if you feel it needs more you can go back in. However, I’d recommend you wait a couple of weeks. To do this a third balayage strip. Best Scott
Jan Millar
Thank you so much Scott for the advice. I will re-do today with your Stripper and let you know how it goes! Before I used the Swarzkopf Electric Blue, I’d been using their Live Intense Red semi – and before that their purple and also fuscia pink.
Jan Millar
Hi Scott. Just for info – I put another box of Decolour Stripper on my hair yesterday and it’s lifted the dull mauve to a light pink now. Will any of your products tone the pink to a silver?
Scott Cornwall
Hi Jan. Ok, this is good news. If you have a pale pink you can tone this. For your knowledge pale pink would be neutralised to a silver-white with an ultra-light mint green. Think of the tinted moisturizers for red skin tones that use a small amount of green to balance. The problem you have is your roots are white, so it’s not going to be practical to use this pastel mint tone in your situation as your roots will look slightly green.
I would recommend you start with my Colour Restore Chrome as I think this will even up the white roots to a silver and then balance the pink ends. If you wanted to be a deeper silver you could use my Colour Restore Cool Ash. I would then recommend you use a silver shampoo as your cleanser and then Colour Restore as your Conditioner. Just until you balance out the hair colour. With Colour Restore you need to initially do a 20-minute development (apply like a conditioner to towel dried hair), then after this, just use a little as a conditioner after each wash for 2 minutes.
I also predict that over washes the rest of the pink tone will begin to vanish from the hair. Best Scott
Jan Millar
You’re fabulous- thank you so much!!
Tara
Hi Scott,
I used to be platinum blonde, but 2 and a half years ago I decided to go back red as I’ve always alternated between the two.
I have always used a direct dye when going red previously so it was very easy to remove it and go back to platinum, however, this time I decided to use a permanent Matrix dye in RR with 20 vol developer on my roots and a semi perm red all over for a refresh (I’ve also used the Matrix as an all over colour occasionally during this time, again with 20 vol).
I’m wanting to go back to some level of blonde as I’m wanting balayage. I’m so scared of using a colour stripper/remover in case it goes bright orange and then I won’t know what to do.
I’ve looked at various blonde tints to mix with developer but I don’t want it to turn muddy/green/brown if I need to use it!
Do you have any advice at all?
I’ve been doing my own hair for 12 years and I’ve always done my research beforehand, I’ve just never used a permanent red dye in the past so unsure what to expect.
TIA!!
Scott Cornwall
Hi Tara, removing either a semi-permanent or permanent red is usually a quite simply undertaking. Generally, a permanent red will come out easily with Decolour Remover. I would also agree, don’t use a permanent blonde tint on it yet as it would go muddy. Get the permanent red removed first and then undertake the balayage.
I would recommend you use my new Decolour Flash Remover sachets for this, as you will get a few applications if needed. Firstly, clarify the hair a good two or three times and don’t condition afterwards. Clariying hair a few times directly before will open the cuticle up. Then apply the first Decolour Flash Remover sachet mix onto the damp towel dried hair and work it through. You should find the red begins to leave the hair over about 15 to 20 minutes. I would go up to a 30 minute development.
Rinse off the Decolour Flash Remover and dry the hair to check. Now, the hair should look a warm colour, as you said you have used 20 volume developer previously. However, you will be able to tell if the hair still has red tones in it and will need a second Decolour Flash Remover mix. From experience, I predict the red will come out and leave you with a kind of rusty, toneless base. If you can see the red is out, I would then use my Colour Restore Cool Ash on the hair for 20 minutes. This will neutralise out any warm tones and give you workable base shade. If you think there is still red in the hair, you can use another sachet mix from the box and repeat removal.
You cannot use any peroxide based products on the hair for at least 3 washes or a week after use of a hair colour remover. However, a week or so later you can go in and create the balayage base. If you are confident to do the balayage, you can just proceed this with this. I’d recommend you keep using Colour Restore Cool Ash if you want the balayage to have an cream-ash tone. Or use Colour Restore Iced Platinum if you want the blonde to be more platinum toned.
Best
Scott