ColourB4

[thisshitgotreal]

Has anyone used this recently? I have dyed dark brown/black hair which is naturally dark brown but basically at least 50% grey (if not more)

I want to go lighter as I think it'll a) suit me better and b) help hide the horrible horrible greys better. Been reading some reviews of this online which range from - "its amazing" to "it stinks and didnt work" but was wondering what the MN verdict on it is?

HELP!

I used it about 5 years ago so not recently sorry but following this as I want to know if it's any good these days.

I have naturally black hair which I also dye black to make it darker. When I used it it turned my hair a brassy/orange colour which I then covered with a light brown. I want to try again as I now have grey hairs but the reviews don't seem to rate it so I was wondering if they'd changed the formula.

Unless you want dry, straw like, brassy orange hair... Don't! Use head and shoulders shampoo and itll gradually lift your colour off.. Or go to a hair dressers if budget allows x

urgh ok thank you! Sadly budget does not allow at the moment, so I will go down the h&s route as a starting point!

I've used it a couple of times and it worked very well. It didn't make my hair drier at all, there was no damage whatsoever. Because it was various red dyes I was removing the first time I used it, there was some brassiness afterwards. When I used it to remove brown dye, afterwards it really did look as if it had never been dyed at all.

Rinsing is key, you can't skimp on that and expect to get a good result. Rinse for longer than they say, and make sure to use clarifying shampoo for a few washes beforehand, it does make a difference.

I used it about 6 months ago because I died my hair and haunted the colour but I used it the same day as dying so it took the colour out withing minutes, I was really impressed. I think if your hair has been dyed for a long time you may need to do it a few times to lift the colour.

ok so those who have used it recently... you did the colourb4, then lots of rinsing and then what?

i absolutely cannot imagine what my hair would look like sans the current dye - i imagine I would want to reach for a new bottle of nice n easy pretty sharpish unless i can become a hermit for a week! Is that do-able? what did you do after using it?

Stay away from it. It’s awful, it stinks and it leaves your hair in a terrible condition

Use head and shoulders. Get some purple shampoo for blondes (yes, I know you’re not blonde). I can get away with washing my hair once/twice a week however when I coloured my hair too dark I was washing it every second day. I’d shampoo using h&s then put the purple shampoo on and leave it for ten minutes, and then shampoo again with h&s and then condition with h&s.

The purple shampoo lightens the colour which is why it’s great for lightening dyed black hair. I notice a difference after just 1 use. The H&S will help strip the colour

I used it maybe a year ago? My hair is naturally mid brown and was dyed very dark brown. It worked very well - hair was brassy brown afterwards - there's not much you can do another, as that's just your hair once all the dye has been removed.

I recommend it but just make sure you rinse rinse rinse for recommended time. The smell isn't great (perm lotion) but does fade after a few washes.

ok that is an amazing tip @candykitten - i'm gonna try this. Using H&S plus purple shampoo sounds way less scary!

Just to add - once you've used it, you need to let your hair rest from chemicals for 1 or 2 weeks (can't remember!) You can use one of those dyes that last 6-8 washes though.

I used it just before Xmas and it was rubbish. I've been dying my hair for years and years but felt it was too dark and wanted to be a lighter brown.
I ended up with grey roots an orange band and very dark ends. Did it again to no effect so ended up just using a dark brown dye again. So back to where I started but with slightly drier hair!

If you have used permanent dyes they will have ammonia in which will have lifted the colour a bit every time it's been dyed anyway, and when you remove it you will have an orangey colour to your hair. It's not the ColourB4 changing the colour of your natural hair, the hair dye does that.

I have used the colourB4 years ago. It stinks to high heaven, like rotten egg sulphur kind of smell, and if you follow the instructions absolutely to the letter it does work to remove the dye, but it is a complete pain in the arse to use. And your hair will smell funny for ages and ages after and feel like stretchy straw. It's really not worth the hassle.

You will end up with orange hair, I can guarantee you that.
It does stink and you have to follow the instructions to the letter.

I used it and my hair was the same colour as yours, years of dye in all sorts of colours.
I found the lightest Ash Blonde colour I could find an put it on a couple of weeks after colourb4. Chopped my hair off and just over a year later am embracing the grey.

Nooo don’t use it, it’s awful! (I usually lurk but reactivated my account to post this!)

It is awfully damaging and can turn your hair unusual colours (speaking from experience.) What shade do you ideally want to lighten your hair to? I know you said your budget doesn’t permit this at the moment but honestly the best way to gradually lighten is by half/full head of highlights over the course of a year in a salon with lots of olaplex! I know it’s a pain but I would possibly wait until you have a bit more £££ if poss.
If you really want to use the colour remover I would buy a good toner to use with it as like PP it is likely to turn your hair orange or brassy with dark brown hair atm I would think. Plus a very good deep conditioning treatment.

Other alternatives are a lightening spray like the John Frieda go blonder, however again this is very damaging & can make the hair break off etc if overusing it.

I know it’s a pain but if you have nice healthy hair I’d try not to mess around with it until you can afford to go to the professionals. I’ve had numerous hair disasters from damaging my hair and it has broken off a number of times, it’s currently all different lengths and I’m hiding it with v expensive extensions!

Sorry for marathon post.

Or (forgot to add) like PP suggested, a good blonde shampoo & head and shoulders will gradually lighten. Boots do a ‘build up removal shampoo) which is about £4 and although it hasn’t stripped my blonde, some of the reviews say it has stripped darker colours from their hair so this may be worth a try.

You don’t need to buy the expensive purple shampoo either. I use savers own version and it does the job!

However I do smother my hair in coconut oil once or twice a week to keep the moisture in as you don’t want to dry it out.

If you can, stay away from strippers. As I previously said I am very dark haired however I prefer to go even darker. Whenever I dye my hair (I just use a box dye) it’s always too dark for my liken so I use the purple shampoo once or twice and it’s fine

My hair isn’t damaged and I’m not blessed with naturally glossy hair intact it’s curly and naturally quite dry hence coconut oil. Stick to the purple shampoo and head & shoulders combo and it’ll do the job

I guess the results of those strippers depend on what you've done to your hair, as they literally reveal your hair with no colour. I must have got lucky as mine was a pretty even shade! I'd imagine it would be much more difficult to manage if it was uneven. But it worked well for me anyhow!

Has worked well on my hair. I think it really depends on whether its been a proper colour or boxed dye. Im going to do mine today if i can force myself out to the shops in this weather.

It worked fine on my hair. I was dying mine auburn last year and from the freak summer we had my hair started to lighten naturally. Friends/family commented how the lighter colour suited me so I thought I had better find a medium blonde dye to cover my grey roots as they came through. I've never used blonde dyes before so picked a medium blonde, plopped it on and my hair went a horrid brown (I've had brown in the past, but this was like a murky colour). I had a Colour B4 in the back of my cabinet and thought I would give it a go. Yes your hair will have a ginger tinge to it, but it stripped the colour out fine! You really do have to rinse, rinse, rinse. I've used the Head and Shoulders method before in a previous dye disaster and it didn't do much. My hair after the Colour B4 was a little dry for a week or so, but putting some treatments on did the trick.

I used this about 5 weeks ago (I've also used it years ago). I had layers of dark brown dye & wanted to get rid of it & achieve more of my natural colour, an auburn colour, which is kind of what you're left with after using colour b4.

I was pleased with the results at first, came out a light copper colour, however after about a week it darkened and by the 3rd week it was like a darker auburn brown. I followed the instructions to the letter & didn't use any dye afterwards. I rinsed it for at least 20 mins. So I used Colourless, another colour stripper. Again the results were good, but just over a week later, that too has re-oxidised & my hair is darkening again!

I'm not going to try it a 3rd time, I suspect the same thing will happen. My hair isn't in terrible condition, but it's not in great condition either. I'm going to leave it for a while & maybe see about having a bleach bath done at the hairdressers, as i don't see another way of getting my hair lighter.