Help my poor hair!

August 4, 2009 6:42 AM

I have had a home hair dye disaster, and now it's too dark in some places and gingery in others. What can I do?

I dyed my hair with a sample from work - Schwarzkopf Live in a dark red colour, about a month ago, when my base hair colour was a paler red. Unfortunately, unlike other dyes, it didn't spread over my hair evenly and I was left with some parts looking gingery and others almost black. This cannot remain so! What can I do - at home, not in a salon, I REALLY can't afford this just now- to sort it out?

I was considering the following:
- using my brand of choice, L'oreal Feria, to use a dark colour all over it (not too keen though - anything darker than rouge noir does not suit me)
- use a pre-lightener to strip out the colour - I did this years ago when a semi-permanent went wrong, though at that time I used a vegetable dye over that and I'm not keen on using a vegetable dye either because they are v.messy. Can I put a chemical dye over that?

Also, I have some Live in a blonde shade on my desk - will this work as a pre-lightener to get some of the patchy colour out?

posted by mippy to clothing, beauty, & fashion (21 comments total)

Googling seems to imply that Schwarzkopt Live is a permanent color. If that's the case, a blonde permanent color is almost guaranteed to come out patchy and brassy over a permanent red.

If I were in your situation, and genuinely didn't have money to go to a salon, I'd go darker with a vegetable dye or (if you're really worried about cleaning) permanent dye, but I would not do multiple bleaching/striping processes over already uneven hair as your hair is likely to come out very fried.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 7:05 AM on August 4

I live in London - colour at a salon near me will cost upwards of £50. Perhaps more if it's classed as 'colour correction'. It'll have to be a home job at the moment.
posted by mippy at 7:20 AM on August 4

Yeah, seconding a vegetable or semipermanent dye, at least as dark as the darker parts of your hair. It'll damage the hair way less than anything permanent (and a million times less than if you tried to lighten it first) while still covering up the splotchy parts well enough for at least a month. Not sure about the UK, but these sorts of dyes go for $5-$9 a pop at US pharmacies. Natural Instincts is usually pretty reliable.
posted by oinopaponton at 7:28 AM on August 4

I know this is not what you want to hear, but you REALLY should consider getting a stylist to fix this. I have seen lots of dye jobs go from bad to worse (burned scalps, hair falling out, and the least of all - weird colour distribution) because somebody thought they could fix their mistakes by going at it again. And box dyes from the drugstore are not even close to the quality of colour a stylist will be using.

If you must fix it yourself, do not put blonde in your hair and leave the stripping to the pros. Dying it all a darker colour seems like your only sensible non-salon option.
posted by futureisunwritten at 8:24 AM on August 4

I had a similar disaster happen some years ago. I found some sort of dye stripper at the beauty supply store, used that, and then dyed my natural color over that (dark brown). It worked fine, but left my hair in pretty bad condition, so I ended up going short. So, it can be done at home - I was in the same situation as you, couldn't afford a salon - but it's not ideal.
posted by chez shoes at 8:40 AM on August 4

Colorfix is what you need. It's my understanding that they ship to the UK.
posted by houseofdanie at 9:14 AM on August 4

First, contact Schwarzkopf to see what they suggest. Do not try to use the blonde on top of your current color; blonde dye on top of a dark color just doesn't have the power to correctly "lift" the color to anything darker.

You might try washing your hair with dishwashing liquid, to pull out some of the color. You can also mix some baking soda into dandruff shampoo to fade the color. (I think a couple of tablespoons into a handful of shampoo is the right ratio, but I'm not sure I'm remembering correctly. Maybe someone else here knows.) Fading the color might be enough to make it more bearable. Otherwise, try dyeing over it. Using a chemical dye again will most certainly make your hair dry, so the vegetable dye, though you say it's a pain to deal with, might be good. Just make sure it won't react with the chemical dye.

In the future, before you dye your hair, deep-condition a few days beforehand. It can really help with some of the uneven dye distribution problem. I use warm olive oil, then cover it with a towel for about 30 minutes. It will take a couple of shampoos to wash out the oil, but it leaves your hair shiny and soft and feeling far less fried.
posted by runningwithscissors at 9:16 AM on August 4 [1 favorite]

Color will not lift color. use the reducing remover, then choose a color to correct the result. good luck.
posted by hortense at 9:36 AM on August 4

I've been dying my hair for eleven years, and only once had it done at a salon - that faded virtually instantly. Usually reds fade quickly but this colour hasn't shifted much.

I stripped my hair myself when dying it pillarbox red with Directions dye, but as I said above, I'm not keen on the mess involved, and I'm always nervous about using pre-lightener (I previously used Garnier Nutrisse).
posted by mippy at 9:46 AM on August 4

Holy crap, it's $50 to ship Colorfix to the UK. If anyone knows of a similar product here...
posted by mippy at 9:47 AM on August 4

I had similar results with a strangely vibrant shade of red that was obviously so not meant for me. It was like fire engine red streaks on top of (colored) light auburn hair. Terrible! Tragic!

I went to the beauty supply store and, after consulting with the licensed cosmotologist there, went home with a color remover kit. It worked so well. My husband helped me and in about an hour my hair was pretty much its natural color, something it hadn't seen in like 10 years.

After a couple of days, I colored again with my normal light auburn color, and all was well.

Color does not lift color out, so you either need the color removal process OR you need to go to a salon for a consult. I wouldn't try bleaching on my own as you can really damage your hair. (Color removers actually un-bind the color from your hair, instead of using bleach.)
posted by FergieBelle at 9:49 AM on August 4 [1 favorite]

OP, if you have a beauty supply/cosmologist/beautician store in your area, you can most likely pick up Colorfix or a comparable product there.
posted by FergieBelle at 9:50 AM on August 4

Since you are in London, it might be worth it to try calling the hair academies (Toni & Guy, Vidal Sassoon) to see if they would take someone for a colour correction. If they don't, I would even be tempted to just book in anyway - they would likely still sort it out for you. I have always had great experiences at Toni & Guy academies (although just with cuts, no experience with colour).
posted by peanut butter milkshake at 10:18 AM on August 4

This is not on the list of stuff you were considering but have you thought about shaving it off?

I've done this myself in the past after unexpected hair dye results (admittedly I had pretty short hair to start with so it wasn't a radical image makeover) and it looked surprisingly good and didn't take long to grow back at all.

Advantages:
- Free if you have a friend with hair clippers (clippers themselves are also pretty cheap);
- People stroke your head while it's growing back (good if they're nice people!);
- Results in immensely low maintenance hair

Disadvantages:
- Shallow people "sympathise" with you like you've had a bereavement ("Oh no, your beautiful hair..." etc etc);
- People stroke your head while it's growing back (bad if they're creepy people!)
posted by Dali Atomicus at 10:20 AM on August 4

Have you tried a color stripper? I had great success completely stripping off a permanent brown dye out of my medium blonde hair with only one application but I also did it within 48 hours of coloring so you may need more than one try. It is not bleach or dye and does not cause damage to the hair which allows for repeat applications until you get the desired result. Here's specifically what I used: color corrector.

You just apply it and let it sit for a few minutes and shampoo it out like 5 times with your most stripping shampoo, then repeat if you want further results. I suggest trying this first and only if you can't get good results go with something more extreme like more dye or bleach.
posted by tinamonster at 11:27 AM on August 4

Also, Sally Beauty in the US caries ColorFix as suggested above which looks to be similar to the color corrector I used. Perhaps they do in the UK also?
posted by tinamonster at 11:34 AM on August 4

i've had success getting botched hairdye out by using hot oil treatments, alternated with a strong shampoo (or washing-up liquid in a pinch). several cycles of this immediately after dying will strip much of colour out straightaway.
posted by wayward vagabond at 12:19 PM on August 4

Color will not lift color.

Using the term "dye" to refer to bleaching and coloring always rubs me wrong, but it is not necessarily true that blonde "dye" from the store does not remove pigment. Because they are a dumbed down (for lack of a better phrase, maybe "user friendly"?) process, permanent home hair dye kits often do lift color; Swarzkopf Live has a developer that contains hydrogen peroxide. So the blonde dye will lift, but also contains pigments. However it is still a poor choice for removing bad haircolor.

Like many people said upthread:

call Schwarzkopf, use a proper dye remover, and/or call a beautly school and see if they will correct and color your hair at a discount.
posted by oneirodynia at 12:21 PM on August 4

Schwarzkopf makes a remover called vanish.
Clarification: Hair color can lift the underlying natural pigment of the hair
but is not useful for lifting artificial dye out of the hair, "color will not lift color"
is a safe rule of thumb for the professional and amateur colorist. To complicate matters, some hair color come with pure pigment mixed in with the dye intermediates, that form complete dye molecules when mixed with an oxidizer lotion. The color remover will remove the dye but not the pigment. again good luck. Schwarzkopt is a solid professional only line here in the U.S.
posted by hortense at 7:59 PM on August 4

Dali - not an option either - I have a fat face and due to a skull injury as a child my scalp probably isn't much prettier.

If it doesn't fade much in the meantime, I may have a look in my local Sally once I work out where that is. Sadly the Vanish remover isn't on sale over here.
posted by mippy at 2:18 AM on August 6

lightening powder,use shampoo instead of developer,test strand 10 minutes on darkest part, If still dark next step one part shampoo one part developer h2o2 lightening powder, apply off the root area, mid strand first so as not to lift the roots.
posted by hortense at 9:24 AM on August 6