Hair colour

Kya1976

Hi,

First time posting in here
I was hoping someone could give me some advice about hair colour. I dyed my hair black a while back, I had it blonde before.
My natural hair colour is dark blonde. I'm now looking to go back to blonde.

What colour can I dye it to from black? Do I need to strip the colour first? I realise I'm not gonna be able to go back to blonde straight away, I'm just looking for suggestions on how to go about it if I do it myself at home.

NomadicMe

As a black haired person, the only way I can change my colour is to bleach it first. In your case, stripping is an option too- both these options really spoil the hair though.

Can you just wait to let it grow itself out?

Kya1976

NomadicMe wrote: »

As a black haired person, the only way I can change my colour is to bleach it first. In your case, stripping is an option too- both these options really spoil the hair though.

Can you just wait to let it grow itself out?

I wouldn't want to wait as it'll take ages before it grows out, but on the other hand I don't want to ruin my hair. I have the typical Nordic style hair, which would be fairly fine.

Cupcake_Crisis

Black is typically very hard to get rid of. You could strip it, which is quite damaging, or lighten it very gradually with some highlight's.

viv2

You could try colourb4 it should remove some of the colour and you can gradually go lighter after that. It doesnt do as much damage as stripping or bleaching your hair but it might take a few attempts to get the colour out.

Magenta

viv2 wrote: »

You could try colourb4 it should remove some of the colour and you can gradually go lighter after that. It doesnt do as much damage as stripping or bleaching your hair but it might take a few attempts to get the colour out.

I used the extra strength one and it got rid of all my black colour.

gingernut125

I have mousey brown hair. I got my hair stripped from black and it was quite an ordeal. cost me 300e and did leave my hair very dry, better then the black though. I've used color b4 its really good but don't know if its strong enough for black, I didn't find that damaging at all.

shinikins

Try the ColourB4, it's only €13 in Boots and won't damage your hair at all. If you go the hairdressers they will bleach the dye from your hair, which leaves it dry brittle and in need of treatments for many many months after. Depending on the type/brand of dye you coloured your hair with, you might need two packs of ColourB4, but it will definitely work.

Kya1976

Thanks for all the replies
I've heard about ColourB4 before so I'll definitely give that a go. After you use it can you colour your hair straight after or how does it work??

shinikins

Its recommended that you use a wash out dye in an ash blonde tone to take the copper tones down(and black hair dye will leave your hair very coppery). You can colour with a permanent or semi within a week or so. I coloured mine with a permanent dye the same week and it was fine but I used a colour that was almost exactly the same as the ColourB4 left it.

You really need to follow the instructions on the pack to get a good result, it says rinse for 10 minutes-you should really double or triple that. The more you rinse your hair, the more colour is washed out, and it's less likely that you end up with a bad result.

Kya1976

shinikins wrote: »

Its recommended that you use a wash out dye in an ash blonde tone to take the copper tones down(and black hair dye will leave your hair very coppery). You can colour with a permanent or semi within a week or so. I coloured mine with a permanent dye the same week and it was fine but I used a colour that was almost exactly the same as the ColourB4 left it.

You really need to follow the instructions on the pack to get a good result, it says rinse for 10 minutes-you should really double or triple that. The more you rinse your hair, the more colour is washed out, and it's less likely that you end up with a bad result.

Thanks, I'm sorry for all the stupid questions, but I just don't want to mess my hair up too much :P
How did your hair look after you used the ColourB4? Will it bring it back to my natural colour or to whatever colour I had before I dyed it black, or will it just end up coppery(as you mentioned)?

Can you possible use the ColourB4, then go in to a hairdresser and do blonde highlights after?

shinikins

My hair was nearly black through colour build up and it took that all right out. I ended up a blonde/brown as the dark dyes I had used were bleaching the natural colour underneath. It wasn't very coppery or ginger at all. I left it a day or two and then used a dark blonde to tone it a bit, and it was fine. I highlighted it about two weeks after that again, with no problems either.

Kya1976

shinikins wrote: »

My hair was nearly black through colour build up and it took that all right out. I ended up a blonde/brown as the dark dyes I had used were bleaching the natural colour underneath. It wasn't very coppery or ginger at all. I left it a day or two and then used a dark blonde to tone it a bit, and it was fine. I highlighted it about two weeks after that again, with no problems either.

I'll try to do the same, thanks for all your help

Cupcake_Crisis

I dyed my hair black to cover up pillar box red, if I used ColourB4 would it bring me back to red? Would it be ok to use on hair that isn't in the best condition to start with?

gingernut125

how long ago did you put the red in? red is a stain and color b4 wont be able to remove it but if its been a few weeks it should be mostly faded by now so should be fine. I did the same thing to cover up a bad red dye and it was fine. you'll have to re color your hair again with a semi ashy brown most likely as someones already said.
I didn't notice any change in the condition of my hair, it was finer because it got rid of color build up but not brittle!

shinikins

It won't damage your hair at all Cupcake_Crisis. It shrinks the colour molecules enough for you to wash them out, your hair will be super soft afterwards, and very flyaway, but thats only because there is no chemical products in it at all. Use a hot oil treatment if you feel the hair is dry, or needs it, and make sure to follow the instructions. The only bad reviews I found were from people who didn't follow the advice given, and used a permanent colour immediately without letting the hair settle. Red will stain the hair shaft, but if you use an ash blonde it will tone it down to a more natural colour, so you can start again.