Dying over a semi permanent colour

[Tiggytico]

Looking for some help! My daughter dyed her hair blue at the start of the school holidays, using manic panic. Unfortunately, it has not washed out, and although no longer bright blue, it has a strong green tinge to it. We’ve tried head and shoulders (daily for the last two weeks), bicarbonate of soda and a couple of colour strippers, but without success. I’ve contacted the school to explain the dilemma (she goes back tomorrow) and they’ve confirmed that she will go into isolation for the breach of hair colour. Fair enough; we understand these are the rules. They’ve also suggested dying over the top of her hair with a brown or dark blonde (she’s mid blonde).

I’m not keen on taking advice from teachers, who I guess aren’t qualified or experienced hairdressers! Has anyone done this successfully? She’s 14; lovely long hair and I’m not keen on causing further damage to it!

if we do dye it - should we use a semi permanent or a permanent? Any chance of her hair turning a worse colour?

Thanks for any advice.

I have blue hair, dyed with a “semi-permanent” blue from crazy color. Blues and greens are never semi-permanent on light hair. They fade to green but are, unfortunately, almost impossible to remove completely. Colour b4 can strip some of it out but it also contains a lightener and leaves hair quite damaged. It works best if you heat the hair while it’s on, so put on, put a shower cap on and use a hair dryer on a low heat setting while it develops. In my experience, there are three options for removing these type of colours: grow it out and cut it off, use colour b4 (or bleach) to within an inch of its life and use olaplex to try and put some moisture back in to repair the damage, or dye over it in a permanent dark colour.
In future, if she wants bright colours, go for pinks, reds and oranges as these fade better and fade to more natural looking colours that school would find acceptable.
Everything is crossed that you manage to find a suitable solution in time 🤞🤞🤞

I would use a blond, or light brown colour spray for now, they cover really well. Then seek advice from a hairdresser.

As some have said my I’d use ‘root touch up’
spray until you can find a more permanent solution.
A tight bun with cut up tights over the bun to disguise the bun section and then spray the rest.

Having done this myself as a teenager, I am a very mean mum and won’t let my DDs dye their hair anything blue or green toned as I know it fades horribly but doesn’t actually disappear. We live and learn!

As PPs said - I’d go with a light/mid red toned brown to correct. Make sure you get enough dye; if it’s mid length you’ll need at least two packs if not three depending on how thick her hair is. You may also benefit from having a good trim carried out - in my experience the dry ends of hair hang on to the dye more than the roots do.

Had exactly same issue except hair was pink. I had it re dyed by hairdresser it took 3 colours because it wasnt covering we were trying to get it similar to her natural colour which is ashy blonde. Anyway £130 and 4 hours later it was sorted. I was NOT doung it myself as age had bum length hair, she also had a good amount cut off. It looks lovely. And she loved the pink for the summer.

In all honesty you need to take your daughter to a hairdresser and see what they can do. You can't just start dyeing her hair, especially as it's got green tinges, because you don't know what the outcome will be. You may end up making it much worse. I'm sure it's sortable.

I’d pop a brown dye over it, that’s what we did to cover up my son’s dyed red hair.

You could always do a strand test first to check how the colour will develop.

Every time you put chemicals on the hair youre damaging it. I would therefore gp to the hairdressers to fix this, telling them what it was exactly that you have tried.

Spray on colour, hair in a bun would be my go to for any bits that retain the colour you don’t want.

You could try using a pink toner or pink toned shampoo. Bleach London do a rose toner and rose shampoo and conditioner. This would help to neutralise the green tones without adding more layers of colour on top.

Would recommend clairol nice n easy tone and gloss. Pick something similar to her hair but with a warm tint to it, slightly red.

Schools with such restricted dress codes need to re-evaluate their priorities. Isolating a pupil who meets every other part of the dress code except for having slightly non-standard hair colour is disgusting. (Same with those that punish shoes that are essentially black.)
The argument that they are preparing young people for the world of work no longer stands. More workplaces are tolerant of individual expression than ever before.

I work in a school in what's considered an area of high deprivation. Changing to a more relaxed dress code and having more accepted options has seen more uniformity across year groups and higher compliance. And we don't punish hair colour - we just ask it is tied back for lessons where long hair would be a health and safety issue.

I also agree with previous posters that a hair dresser specialising in colour is needed for advice to save her hair - not that I think she should have to dye her hair to meet a dress code.

If u use brown over the colour u have said greenish blue it will go muddy green !
to counteract green u need red use a semi colour red !!
Also go on google find colour wheel and see where her hair sits and use opposite colour this will work !! Then u might b able to go over it with a brown (I’m a hairdresser ) This is based on your description x

Orange counteracts blue.
red- green
yellow-purple….

there’s a bit of science behind our work.

seeing as you’ve already put a lot of pressure on the hair it will more than likely be in a more fragile state

a hairdresser could try a bleach wash, this is bleach, water, shampoo and a bit of peroxide.

good luck.

Try some ketchup! If it’s green. The red will counteract. A lot of hairdressers recommend this.

I understand you signed up to the school and knew the rules at the time, but times need to change now. Hardly anyone wears suits to work, most people work at home in joggers! The world is not the same.

DD went to a school so obsessed with uniform that they send photos of allowed shoes, uniform coats a fortune as everything had logo and she was in isolation for two days as her shoes broke.

DS went to a school that had two logo items, if your trainers were black they didn't care, and there was just the occasional "please don't wear hoodies".

Both schools turned out similar results but the difference in happiness and cynicism was stark. More people have stayed in education from DSs school as well.

I thought you were being a bit dramatic until I realised you meant dyeing.

Bleach will push the colour into the cuticle it’s never a good idea bleach bathing a semi out !
And u have not control

Ahh ok, are you a hairdresser?

Yes I am 😊 xx

I'm intrigued to wonder if you work in my kids high school now as they're not fussed over hair colour either my son had his bright pink just before they broke up for the summer holidays. My daughter has just started high school and she has hers dark blue

Not remembering any bright pink boys from last term 🤔. Let's hope this means there's more than one school that has seen the light on hair colour.

Well I say bright pink it looked brighter than any of the results on the box the dye came in lol. I remember the primary school going mad over my daughter's purple hair and they told her well your high school won't allow it when you move up-she told them yes they will as my brother dyes his hair blue pink red and everything and he's never been in trouble for it 🤣