Colour stripping

[Happyinheels]

Has anyone ever colour stripped their own hair, recoloured and with success?! If so, what can you recommend please?
My hair is now really really dark from colouring it so much and I would like to change the colour and lighten it from nearly black to a nice golden brown. I haven't purposefully dyed it black, it's the colour build up.

[AtillatheHun]

The only person I know who did was trying to avoid a court ordered drugs test. It apparently works but her hair was bloody awful. I’m currently wearing a couple of shades too dark on my roots thanks to a new hairdresser and am using all the clarifying shampoo to lift it slightly but, having had a juvenile run in with black dye and the Vidal sassoon training academy, I fear that you have a long and patient journey of semi permanent tint if you don’t want to destroy your hair.

[Happyinheels]

hahahaha I'm not running from the law or anything 🤣 I realise it does come across like that!
I've had it done at the hairdressers before but it takes a long time and my usual hairdresser just can't block out that amount of time until September and I'm feeling a bit desperate now.

[Happyinheels]

Atilla does the clarifying shampoo work? I've got curly hair and if I use the shampoo that comes in the dye kits it makes my hair so dry, to the point of it snapping.

[Lellochip]

I've done it plenty of times. Hair feels a little dry after but not terrible, worst part is the smell! It lingers for days, whenever you're hair gets wet you get a whiff

It won't come out your natural colour because the dye you've used will have bleached it somewhat, so expect it to be quite yellow/orange, but if you're re-dyeing on top that will fix that.

[ParkheadParadise]

My sister stripped her hair and it was a disaster. We all have naturally dark hair she wanted to lighten it. She bought a box from Superdrug and her hair turned out orange and really patchy.
The condition was awful.
She ended up buying a box dye to get back to her natural colour.

[Beetlewing]

I've used it a few times. As above, the stink is horrible and enough to put me off. I use a mild bleach mix to lighten it now. My hair is short and textured though so I'm sure the ends are crispy but it doesn't matter

[Happyinheels]

Oh no, I feel a bit nervous now! I know when I had it done by my hairdresser it went orange first but then had a new colour on it. Maybe I shouldn't mess with it?!

[TigersandTeddybears]

I have used a stripper on black dye (on almost black hair) to go to blonde dye. I mean, it worked in the sense that my hair was eventually blonde and no longer black but it went through every shade of orange and green on the way, it felt like straw and I had to get it cut really short.

[Whaddat]

Please don't! I used one to go from copper back to my natural light brown and it turned orange, so I had to see my hairdresser to fix it, costing more and doing more damage than if I'd just gone to see her in the first place!

Could you speak to her for product recommendations (eg clarifying shampoo?) or see her for a shorter appointment just to tide you over?

[AtillatheHun]

Ah. I too am curly so this is a major additional consideration! I am using Philip Kingsley elasticizer pre wash and then head and shoulders with coconut for dry hair. H&M was recommended as clarifying shampoo in multiple articles on google - seems to be working so far (2 washes). Lots of conditioner / leave in conditioner and actually a bit of sunshine to lift it too.

[JaneJeffer]

Haven't tried it but I've read on here that people use vitamin c tablets dissolved with head & shoulders shampoo.

[RacheyCat]

I put very dark brown permanent dye on my bleached hair in February and it came out near-black. I got it down to a browner shade with bicarbonate of soda and Head and Shoulders but after walking around in the sun for all these months, it's faded to a lighter reddish-brown that's actually slightly paler than my natural roots. I'm hoping a few more weeks in the sun and I'll be able to bleach over the dye.

Just sharing this as a general lightening dark dye anecdote really.

[IDontThinkSoNo]

I’ve done it a couple of times when I was much younger. Like you op, I’d gone too dark with repeated dyeing. It went orange, and lighter at the roots, but once I’d dyed it over again (a mid brown) it was fine. Lots of conditioner required.

[Rioja81]

I've been wondering about doing this to my dyed red hair. Would like to go lighter to a dark blonde

[OrangeVelour]

I've used Colour B4 in the past, but it seemed to make my hair really porous and the next time I dyed it, it was much darker than expected. Which kind of defeated the idea of stripping it in the first place :(

[TheOriginalMrsMoss]

I think the result really depends on the type and condition of your hair.

I stripped mine as I was thinking of embracing the grey but I have fine hair. It is usually in really good condition despite colouring and heat treatment but stripping it knocked the life out of it. Beware oxidation too - mine looked almost blonde in places but oxidised to a much darker colour within 48 hours.

It just looked dead at the ends and lost all body. In the end I just cut it shorter and grew it out until the condition returned.

A gentler version id Vit C tablets crushed in conditioner. That did fade my hair to a less vibrant colour but didn't strip the colour.

[Happyinheels]

Thanks for all the advice. I've had it done at the hairdressers previously and it went orange and then a different colour was applied afterwards.
I've got quite difficult hair - it's curly, frizzy and very grey. I'm not ready to embrace the grey yet though! So I home colour it myself as I just can't afford to pay to get it coloured so frequently.
I'm torn whether to try and do it myself based on the advice here or wait till September when my own hairdresser can do it.
Maybe I'll try the 'natural' remedies 🤔

[Freshprincess]

I’ve used Colour B4 a few times. It definitely works and is no more hassle than doing a box dye.
It doesn’t take you back to your natural colour, if you’re removing permanent dye. Mine went orangey and really dry.
I washed and conditioned it and left it for a few days before putting another colour on top.
The smell though. It’s like blocked drains and lingers for days.