Hair dye! Aarrghh!

[Mum233]

I recently dyed my hair and it came out a LOT more luminous Purple than the box suggested. I panic dyed over the top more near my natural colour. Problem is every time my hair gets wet, the original purple runs colour everywhere! Both dyes were permanent ones. I went to work with my hair wet this morning. Came home and noticed my shirt was purple from where my hair has been. I must have washed and rinsed my hair ten times since the purple dye. Why is purple coming out? I’m supposed to go swimming tomorrow. How can I stop the dye running?!

How many times have you washed it since dying it? I find it takes at least a week with an every 2 days wash to stop leaking.

Purple and red seem to be particularly bad for this.

A good ten times! Since Friday! X

I've used Garner Nutrisse "Ultra Lilac" and the Olia equivalent and both did take ages to stop leaking. I'm not sure there is a magic answer.

I have purple hair, although mine is done at the hairdressers. Sadly, it’s one of those colours that continues to come out. If I have slightly damp hair when I go to bed it comes off on the pillow cases. I have dark towels as well because of this. Nothing you can do really.

Head and Shoulders shampoo is pretty good for stripping/fading unwanted colour, might help in this situation? Are you happy with the colour, or is it darker than you’d like?

Cheap shampoo with a bit of baking soda or vinegar strips it pretty well

Vosene! Lather well twice, and don’t forget to use a decent conditioner to try to fix the damage.

Purple is a notoriously unstable colour, I’m afraid. I’ve had my hair a very bright purple in the past - well, violet really - and it didn’t stop running out at all until it had completely faded.

My hair is now red but it also continues to run for weeks (as I found when I used a white hotel towel!)

It won’t run when it’s dry so you’ll need to keep your hair dry next to clothes/bed linen etc. If you’re swimming I would absolutely have a swimming hat on, not least because chlorine can do funny things to dyed hair. I’d also soak my hair under the shower before putting the hat on so that any water that gets under the hat isn’t absorbed as much into your hair because the hair is already ‘full’ of clean water.

Apparently colour runs less with cold water. I don't like a cold shower though so often have purple or red feet.