'At Home' Hair Colour Removal Products, Any Experiences?

[MrsBertMacklin]

I've been using semi-permanent colour (L'Oreal Casting) on my hair for the last few years, always in the red spectrum.

I've now got a lot of product build-up / banding from multiple applications. On top of which, I'm job hunting, so want to take my hair back to a more demure colour for a while.

I've seen products in Superdrug etc., that promise to take your hair back to its natural colour, if you haven't bleached your hair. I suspect that these products won't remove all my colour successfully, but I'm hoping that they will at least reduce the amount of red so I have a more neutral base to colour.

Has anyone used these products with any degree of success? Colour B4 is the sort of product I'm considering.

[SunshineOutdoors]

I've used it and it worked, but even though I'd only used semi-permanent reds before and never 'bleached' my hair, there must have been some bleach or peroxide in the dyes I used, as my hair got stripped back to a lighter, slightly more orangey colour than my natural brown. Apparently this is quite common and you can counteract it with a non permanent ash tone. It explains this in the colour b4 instructions.

Read all the instructions very carefully and don't skip any steps, the rinsing is the most important bit and you have to do it for a long time.

As with any home colouring I'd say it will probably be fine but make sure you have the money to get it corrected professionally just in case it isn't. I was happy with the results when I did it but doesn't mean it will be the same for everyone. Hth.

[MrsBertMacklin]

Thanks for the thorough answer it's reassuring to know that it has an effect on red.

My natural colour is ash brown and I have a semi-perm ash brown ready to apply afterwards, so it sounds like I'm set, once I do the patch and strand tests.

[applecrumbleandcream]

My hair was starting to look a little too dark for my colouring, not black by any means but made me look washed out. I'd heard good reviews about the Scott Cornwall De colour Stripper which appealed to me because I could colour my hair immediately afterwards with a warmer brunette colour.

Well I was amazed how quick simple and brilliant it was. There was hardly any endless rinsing like Colour B4 or bad eggy smells and it looked great afterwards when I applied the new colour, just what I wanted. My hair seemed to be in no worse condition so would definitely use again.

[SunshineOutdoors]

Check before you use a semi-permanent straight away. I'm sure on the instructions of colour b4 it says a non-permanent can be used immediately as a temporary measure but you need to wait before using a semi-permanent. Also to go a shade lighter than how you want your hair to actually look.

[RedPencils]

I've just bought a box of Colourb4. I've used blue black from colour xxxl which just won't go away so I'm hoping it will do the trick.
BUT I'm a bit confused about the instructions for dyeing once you've used it. Could someone please give me an idiots guide. When can I dye it again and what can I use? My natural colour is black/brown from what I can remember I usually go for maple/chocolate brown which lightens enough for me.

[PavingAnotherRoad]

I have used these a few times. I did alot of research the first time as I was worried about using it... some useful information I came across was advice from Scott Cornwall on his facebook page re re-dying after use (apparently this is where it is most likely to go wrong). The advice was along the lines of:

"Do not immediately use ANY dye that you have to mix together before applying - these usually contain some peroxide and will turn your hair jet black if used too soon after colour remover. If you are re-dying straight away, make sure the dye you are using comes in one bottle (no mixing required!) and states 'Level 1' on the packaging - they tend to last 6-8 washes as far a I recall."

The first time I colour-removed I had a lot of build up of very dark colour so needed two repeat treatments over one weekend to get a decent result. I was expecting this from reading reviews etc - otherwise I might have been disappointed after the first go!

I waited for two weeks before using a level two semi-permanent dye to be on the safe side as I didn't want the (seemingly) endless washing (and living with the smell!) to be undone by re-dying too soon.

Ahh yes, you might have noticed I mentioned the smell - it lingers (strong sulphuric smell) so, if possible, do the treatment when you don't have any big events in the following days .

By the final time I used 'Colour B4', I found washing my hair thoroughly later that day (or the next day) using a few repeat shampoos, then saturating my hair with a strong smelling conditioning treatment and leaving to soak for a few hours before washing out, really, really helped (although the smell still lingered it was nowhere near as offensive as the first few times I had used it!). I repeated this twice a day for a couple of days before applying the temporary dye.

[PavingAnotherRoad]

Colour XXL can be tricky to remove because of silicone, see here for info/advice (not sure if I can do links yet, so fingers crossed):

www.colourb4.com/faq/i-just-used-the-extra-strength-version-of-colourb4-on-my-hair-i

[RedPencils]

Thanks for the link.
I wont be using colour xxxl again, the colour looked great at first but it fades so fast it looked flat and I can't get rid of it now.

SO i can't dye it again straight away? I've got a fair old bit of grey which I'm not keen on. Perhaps I'll do it over Easter when I've got a few days off work and can wear hats when I'm out.

[PavingAnotherRoad]

When I had to re-dye immediately I used 'Clairol Nice and Easy Non Permanent Level One' - it states 'No Ammonia No Peroxide' on the box.

Any dye that has one single bottle in the box should be fine. Any requiring mixing are a no-no immediately after removing colour (because of the chemical reaction of the peroxide on very phorus hair, from what I can gather).

Not sure what coverage the non-permanent dyes give over grey so would be a try-it-and-hope-for-the-best thing

Good luck!

[RedPencils]

Thanks, ill try it out next week.

[applecrumbleandcream]

To be able to recolour your hair you have to use Scott Cornwall De colour Stripper. It is specially designed so you can do this. Personally I'd never use Colour B4 again..... awful stuff!!

[applecrumbleandcream]

That's too MrsBert obviously

[MrsBertMacklin]

Thanks again for the advice. I swapped the products I'd bought yesterday for a Level 1 colourant and the Scott Cornwall product. Will do the deed at the weekend.

I've not seen my natural hair colour for more than 15 years, this is going to be interesting!