Dye help needed

[edicius]

This is my hair. I am SO bored of it. I really want to change the top colour of red to something else, was debating going a lighter blondey brown.. now I'm thinking of a crazy colour, I heard about this colour stripper called B4 and I might try it but was wondering has anyone tried it?

[ScarletLady]

I get bored of my hair ALL THE TIME! Mine's currently bleached and hot pink but it was recently permanent dark purple. I've never used Colour B4 but I've heard it works at stripping out dye. What is your top hair at the moment? Permanent dye? Bleach and semi-perm?

I just tend to use bleach to be honest. I have it on good authority from a lady on here, that it's no more damaging than using Colour B4.

You could always stick a permanent red on top, what sort of condition is it in?

[edicius]

Eh, its Schwartzkopf's Live XXL Red Passion, L'oreal Feria reds, just basically a mix of these over time. Apart from needing a really good trim I dont think my hairs in too bad a condition its pretty soft to the touch and not too damaged. (In my opinion). I wanted to avoid bleaching however as much as possible, purely to keep the condition. I was reading up last night and found out about the Vit C method and I figured, what the hey! It might be worth a go to try it out and see what results I can get. I've bleached my hair and been green, red, purple, pink, fishbowl and all sorts so I'm good with doing the bleaching thing myself I just don't want to f*k my hair up lol.

As for the actual end result I'm looking forward I'm completely undecided on what I want to go for in terms of end colour, I guess that will require research. It basically depends on if I can get this red out, how much of it and what my options are at the end.

[ScarletLady]

The colour I had before I bleached recently was Live XXL as well...a mix of reds and purples as I'd been doing it a few months. It took about an hour and 10 minutes to get the majority of it light yellow, although the red clung on to the mid lengths a bit and stayed quite orange. But that's just after one bleach so I wasn't expecting miracles

As I said, there is a user on here who is a hairdresser and I asked her about colour b4, she said it's no better than bleaching really, it will still damage your hair. If you want to get the colour out, there's not much you can do that won't damage it a bit. I'm guessing a good cut will help get rid of the worst damage though

That's what I had to do...I ended up going quite short but I love it, I've posted some pics in the show off section.

[Izzybeau]

When I went from black to blonde I used B4 before I bleached it to try and strip as much of the colour off as I could. It got rid off all the black and left my hair darker than my natural brown. It didn't feel as straw like afterwards as bleach makes ur hair feel. But the feel of my hair definately changed. The only problem is if you have used hair dye with silicone in and then used high intense heat on your hair then B4 won't work.

Overall I was very impressed and it did what it said would.

[LittlePinkFaery]

Hate colourb4 it turned my hair orange. With one bleach it went to platinum( my fringe) but thought it kinder to use colourb4 when I decided to go blonde all over... I wish I hadn't. I had to use several more bleaches to get the orange out. It is especially bad, so it seems, if you are trying to strip out red. Don't use it if you are getting rid of red. I have had to use so much bleach because of it!

[edicius]

Yeah it sounds a bit dodgy!

I really want to avoid evasive measures as much as possible because my hair is the longest its ever been and I kinda don't want to loose that! A friend recommended using the L'oreal Efassor to removed the colour but judging by the reviews online I would need to go to a hairdresser to be sure and not mess it up.
I probably will try the Vit C thing and see where that gets me, at the very least it will mean some of the colour is removed and wouldn't be so dark. Then its just a case of deciding on a colour! lol.

What about aftercare, I remember reading ages ago about some placenta product or protein product, also coconut oil anyone?

[MrsEss]

A placenta product?? That cannot be right, surely??

I've just used a version of CB4 to remove black from my hair & it was A LOT better than bleach. Bleaching out black tends to make my hair go bright orange whereas CB4 turned it a reddish brown & over the course of 3 days, I now have a pretty nice shade of pale blonde.

I've never had an issue with red, but red tends to "fall" out of my hair & I've only ever once gone from red to blue, every other time it's been red to darker.

I'd personally try CB4 first. There is no bleach or ammonia in it, so as long as you follow the instructions to the letter I don't see how it could go wrong, and it doesn't alter the condition of you hair. Bleach, upon bleach, upon bleach however will destroy your hair.

Because you've used a permanent colour I don't see how "alternative methods" could work, baby shampoo for example as the molecules of dye will be firmly in your hair. IDK how the vit C one works, but I read somewhere that it can dry your hair out.

Also, be aware that due to the length of your hair whatever method you decide to use you will need A LOT of it.

[LittlePinkFaery]

Vit c can dry but lot less than bleach- but obviously it is not that strong! I don't know I had issues with cb4 because I am a natural red head too ( as well as bleaching out ruby red). Though never had issues with bleaching. I would never use it again- I ended up using wy more bleach than I would ave had to... But we at all different and our hair won't react the same- I know us gingers can have all sorts of issues!

[MrsEss]

Mmmm, indeed. What works for one may not work for another. I used the "Jo Baz" version of colour remover:

It was only a fiver, whereas CB4 is £12.

I did notice earlier when I was looking for dye that there is NEVER a colour indication on the box for previously red/ginger hair. Which is not helpful, especially when you wanna know how it's gonna look on hair that is/was red.

[[Phexxie]]

I use coconut oil on my hair and it does definitely help with the condition

You might not notice a difference straight away, but after a few good soaks (over night if possible) you should start to see it
It's not a crazy miricle cure, but it does work wonders if your hair is dry and generally a bit upset from being battered around

Basically, drench your hair in it (dry hair) and leave on for as long as you can stand then shampoo out and condition again with whatever you normally use (Aussie 3 Minute etc.)
It penetrates the hair shaft to condition from the inside out rather than just coating the hair

You want the pure, virgin oil, I got a massive jar from Holland and Barrett
It's solid in the jar but melts very easily in the hands

[iddylove]

Placenta hair treatments are an actual thing. lol. just thought i would leave this here.
http://www.ehow.com/about_5110196_hask- ... tment.html

[Nixivix]

just to clarify, colour b4 is alot less damaging than bleach as it will not structurally damage your hair as bleach will, its just really drying. and it does tend to leave your hair ginger if youve used perm dyes as it returns your hair to its previously lightened state (all perm box dyes lighten hair before colouring) if i were you id try colour b4 up to 3 times (at least a week apart with deep conditioning in between) to remove most of the colour, and if its not light enough then id do weekly bleach baths

[Gracey]

Yeah, placenta products are real and pretty popular. Moreso for hair damaged by perm/relaxer treatments but they do apparently work well. It's generally derived from animal placenta, mainly horses. Not for everyone though, eh.