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Hair colour washed out: what went wrong?

10 replies

SuperConfused · 18/12/2013 14:45

Four weeks ago, encouraged by threads and info gleaned on here, I coloured my hair myself for the first time after ten years of paying a fortune to have it done. I used clairol nice n easy, so a permanent dye, in medium auburn.

Week 1 - amazing. Loved the colour, iit covered the roots and was uniform and the condition was ok. Seemed a bit drier than usual, but not damaged.

Week 2 - still happy but in harsh lights at work, worried that I can see the old roots re-emerging. Also that parts were looking a bit blonde.

Weeks 3-4: nightmare. Colour has basically been washing out. Roots (all two inches of them) visible again, in general it looks like I didn't colour my hair at all.

I've been using john frieda colour shampoo and the clairol conditioning colour treatments every week as instructed.

What went wrong? How do I fix it before Xmas?

I did a strand test, liked the colour best after 17 minutes and applied it all over for about 19 min before I started washing it out. I thought since it was the first time using this particular colour I should put in on everywhere for the same time, though obviously the roots had never been bleached before while the rest was previously lightened to. A similar but slightly warmer red. That is the one place I think I may have messed up.

I feel like its too soon to do it again, and ill just wreck the condition, plus its likely to happen again if i dont know where i went wrong. I don't really want to go back to getting the hairdressers to do it. Any ideas of how I can fix this myself this week?

OP posts:
ThedementedPenguin · 18/12/2013 14:54

How often did you wash your hair?

I dye my hair a lot. At the start I just used a cheap colour shampoo but after a week or so the colour had basically washed out. Maybe try a different brand as the one you are using could be too harsh on the colour which is stripping the colour.

Also colour will fade/wash out if you over wash it I noticed.

ilovepowerhoop · 18/12/2013 14:55

19 minutes doesnt seem long, how long did the box say to leave it on?

Suddengeekgirl · 18/12/2013 15:05

My hair doesn't hold dye well. Even hairdressers have had problems where the colour hasn't taken at all/ well. Confused

I use SLS free shampoo as I'm allergic but even that washes out all colour with a couple of weeks.

I am now embracing my grey! Blush

LifeofPo · 18/12/2013 15:10

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SuperConfused · 18/12/2013 15:16

I wondered if it was too short, but it was in the range given on the box, which said if hair was blone it needed to stay on for at least 35 minutes.

I wash my hair every day: I've been trying to eke it out, I used to get two days out of it but its been every day since I did the colour.

I tried silicone free shampoos and after the first two weeks was mystified as it didn't seem to have made any difference and then left the shampoo and conditioner in a hotel so just replaced with the colour shampoo instead.

OP posts:
SuperConfused · 18/12/2013 15:18

Sorry to clarify: the range on the box suggested once it wasn't a blond colour, which this wasn't, less time was ok. Just realised that but didn't make much sense

OP posts:
cloudskitchen · 18/12/2013 15:40

I use nice and easy and I colour my hair every 4 weeks. The roots definitely need doing by then. You are supposed to leave it on for at least 30 mins but can leave up to 45 I think. I left mine on the roots a bit longer this time for that reason but mostly due to stubborn greys Grin Aveda do some nice expensive shampoos to help stop fading. I use black malva to tone down brassiness (there are others) beware the conditioner lays down some colour. the shampoo doesnt.

TripTrapTripTrapOverTheBridge · 18/12/2013 17:40

I use garnier intense reds dyes,intense red copper.Red fades quicker than any dye,very quick and I dye every 4 weeks due to the speed of my hair growth.

BUT my hair doesn't really fade much washing daily with Aussie Colour Mate shampoo and conditioner.The first time I used this specific dye it was fading quickly (swimming wouldn't have helped though) and had faded to a brown with a copper tinge in a week.

Try aussie.Also leave the dye on longer

Dollydowser · 18/12/2013 18:42

19 minutes isn't long enough for a permanent hair colour to fully develop. All permanent colours do fade though unfortunately, but not normally enough for the grey to uncover.

MissScatterbrain · 18/12/2013 19:11

Leave dye on longer.

Wash hair less often - use dry shampoo if a bit greasy.

Also, red based dyes fade very quickly.

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