Bright ORANGE hair! What can I do?

[londonbrick]

Used cassia obovata on my hair last night - as I do every few months - this was a new packet and I usually leave it on overnight as usual.

That was mistake no 1.

I'm next due into work on Wed. Is there any kind of quick fix or do I just have to pretend I was going for a jaffa orange look?

If you look really weird you could say you did it to encourage people to keep their distance... which they probably will in any case.

It's the same colour as the Milla Jovovich in The Fifth Element.

I'm actually waiting for bright orange dye to turn up! It's very fashionable

I've just googled it, has it lightened your hair to that colour?

I once attempted to bleach black dye out of my hair and ended up with blotchy orange hair, it did take a medium shade of brown dye well.

Box of Dark brown hair dye?

It's definitely the same colour - I have olive skin so it's not a good look at all.

Hi OP, I use purple shampoo on my hair (blonde) to remove orangey/gold tones. Could be worth a shot to tone it down! I just use a Provoke or L'Oreal one, no need to break the bank on this. Good luck!

Will it work to use dark brown hair dye jacob. I'm not very good (obviously) at sophisticated hair dye. Only ever used the cassia and Sun In.

I'm trying not to look at too much but keep getting drawn to the mirror to see if it really is that orange.

It is.

An ash blonde dye on top? Blue toner? Mine went orange and the Demi permanent dark ash blonde has righted it enough for now but luminous orange I don't know....

Assuminh lockdown and no easy, ad hoc access to a professional: 1st things 1st:

5 rounds of shampooing with an anti dandruff product (e.g. head & shoulders) should tone the worst of it down.

Then shampooing with a silver shampoo - the stuff that artificial blondes use to get brassy tones out. It can be left for quite some time.

If that still doesn't tone it down enough, I'd recommend a blueish/grey toner. Now, this gets tricky as a DIY job as you can literally make things worse. I'd recommend a semi-permanent one just in case.

And then: get thyself to a professional if and when you can!

Source: I used to compete in the DIY haircare disasters olympics.

Hope this helps!

Thank you brexpat - I'll have a try of head & shoulders as a first step.

Sounds like you have advice from more experienced people but thought I'd add - I lightened my hair first week of lockdown (mousy brown to medium blonde) and was really unhappy with how orange it was. I ordered this: John Frieda Sheer Blonde Violet Crush Tone Correcting Purple Shampoo for Blonde Hair

Possibly with combination of lots of sunshine, but it has worked and I'm really happy with the blonde colour now.

I should add I was happy after about 6 washes/2 weeks, but it was gradual.

Is the product you used a henna ? I’m sure I read somewhere once that you have to be careful when mixing henna and normal hair dyes/toners . I know the hairdressers are shut but maybe talk to a professional before you do anything else.

If it was pure powder and not a pre mixed henna style box dye you should be fine with dye (the boxes contain metallic salt that can react with the lighter in hair dyes and cause the hair to melt). Could you link what you used or upload a picture of the packaging?

You could potentially get a temporary dye in a brown shade to darken it a bit. Just make sure it’s nothing that needs mixed with a developer.

If you mix your dyes yourself using only herbs (henna/cassia/indigo) and liquid then you would be fine to use normal dyes. Henna and the like gets a bad rep due to the box dye versions that contain metallic salts. If you just use herbs it’s fine. Your mix probably had more henna than cassia or the small amount of henna in your mix was very fresh and had a good strong dye release.

You could fade the orange using washing up liquid washes, anti dandruff shampoo washes etc. Colour remover products (like colorB4) should also work to fade it. You will most likely be left with an orange tone still but it won’t be as bright. It would also give you a better base to work on to cover it with another dye.

Remember henna (and henna mixes with cassia or indigo) always look more orange the first few days. It takes a while for the colour to set and fade down. My hair always looks way more orange the first 3 days before it darkens down to a nice auburn.

Thank you for your advice ThanksForAllTheFish. I've started the head & shoulders & will do a couple of washing up liquids too.

Here's the frightening cassia packet. I have used it a number of times before and it generally made my gray/Sun In lightened hair a dirty blonde. I'm trying to embrace the orange. (& not think about it when my roots grow through.)

I hennaed my hair when I was at school and it went brick red. I did manage to get away with it as the school had a very strict no artificial hair colour rule. Perhaps it's not as bad as you think. Get a second opinion on it if you can. Or brazen it out.

I'm sure I've read about tomato ketchup toning down orange.

We need a photo!

Sun in is the devil. Do NOT put any box dyes on without doing a test first. Cut a snip of your hair off apply the dye and test for a metallic salt reaction - fizzing and smoking.

Do this for anything you plan to use with colourants in. A blue shampoo should be fine. Brown box dye will work but test first. Trust me, you do kit want a metallic salt reaction while your hair is still attached to your head and sun in DOES contain metallic salts.

Do not and i reapt do not use a box colour or bleach over henna ever!

You need to do a strand using ammonia and peroxide to test for a reaction. Also strand testing one area may not give you enough information.

If you came into salon I would suggest using a deep clarifying shampoo ( checkout Paul mitchell shampoo 3) every shampoo plus intensive moisture treatments. Use this for 4 to 6 weeks to help pull out any salt build up in the hair. Then test again.

I'm not familiar enough with henna but can you reapply to get your desired result?

Not sure I'd risk ever trying it again extremity1. It's not a normal henna henna but a cassia henna which doesn't usually offer a huge change but does cover gray hair.

I guess if I do a box dye I'll also have to keep on using it or my roots will show. I did stop using Sun In for a while but the gray in my hair covers a weird amount and looked awful.

Was it better than this orange? Here you go minmooch

Fuck me that’s bright!
I really like it though!
I used to have my hair all sorts of bright colours, don’t really have the time now.

I’d try and embrace it until you can get to a hairdressers, I don’t think it’s a good idea to try and change it yourself as it’s henna, I’m sure you aren’t supposed to put box dye over henna

Fuck me that’s bright!

Fair description of the situation!

And, yes: given THIS colour, embracing it is your best bet. You won't get this toned down at home.

You can consider covering it up with a dye job close to your natural colour - and then maybe phasing this out by having your roots done in more of a painting style. But that's a long-term mitigation plan there.

On the upside, I actually like it. This was my colour for years and I loved it for myself, too (now a boring blonde - but more fitting to my image as corporate ice queen).

Whoa that is orange 😂 but it's so orange I think I like it! Embrace it!