Post by mkatsi on Aug 2, 2014 17:53:42 GMT -6
Many of us like to change our hair colour often, and know that too much bleach can be harmful to our hair. I thought it would be useful to outline how to safely remove vegetable dyes with minimal damage.
Vegetable dyes are usually bright coloured hair dyes that do not require a peroxide or similar developer to deposit colour into the hair. They claim to last for 6-8 washes, but on bleached hair last much longer and can even cause staining. Popular brands include directions, manic panic and Special Effects.
I will outline here how to remove as much colour as we possibly can without using harsh chemicals. Before using this tutorial, you should take into consideration the current condition and colour build up of your hair.
Most methods rely on strong alkali solutions dragging colour from the hair, just as you can use acid (apple cider) to lock the colour in.
Method 00:-
Method One:- Baking powder and vitamin c mixture
Method Two:- Soap cap/washing up liquid
Method Three:- Bleach Bath
Extra tips:- Fading dye slowly
Method 00:-
Try this before any other method, since its the most cost effective, easy and gentle. It can be done over a number of weeks three times a week to slowly fade colour.
Clarifying shampoos (those meant for dandruff or taking product build up out of the hair) such as Vosene are fantastic for dragging colour from the hair since they are strongly alkali in PH. (Please note head and shoulders have in recent years made their solution more gentle on coloured hair, so try the £1 shop version or vosene as its more potent).
Simply lather the shampoo into your hair and leave for 10-20 minutes before rinsing and conditioning well.
You could also use shampoo's formulated for use before dying your hair such as B4U clarifying treatment. These are created to 'ready' the hair to receive colour by stripping build up and opening the cuticles, as a result they're also fantastic and fading dye.
If you would prefer natural methods, tea tree and mint based shampoos are naturally clarifying and will strip the hair also.
Method One:- Baking powder and vitamin c mixture
To remove vegetable dyes from your hair quickly and safely you will need the following:-
Baking Powder
Vitamin c powder or crushed up tablets
Vosene shampoo (or similar clarifying shampoo)
A plastic bag or disposable shower cap
A towel or toweling turban
Optional hair dryer
A mixing bowl
Something to mix/stir with
Rubber/plastic/latex Gloves
Mix baking powder, vitamin c powder (or crushed tablets) and your shampoo together. Be ready to apply the mixture as the baking powder will cause the shampoo to foam up very quickly.
With gloved hands, apply the mixture to damp hair (not wet as you'll drip everywhere and we want to leave the mixture on for a long time) and lather in thoroughly. Cover with a plastic bag or showercap and secure. You don't have to, but if you can, blast your hair with a hair dryer for a few minutes on low heat. Don't scold yourself or risk melting the plastic, heat gently all over.
If you have one, put a towel turban over the plastic, if not a normal towel to help keep the heat in.
Heat makes any hair product 'develop' more quickly as it opens the hair cuticles and encourages chemical reactions to take place (kinetic energy and all that)
Leave the mixture to sit for twenty minutes.
ITS LIKELY THE MIXTURE WILL ITCH! Baking powder is a strange substance and rather drying, its likely to make you itchy as it foams around your hair doing its bubbly magic. Don't be put off by this unless you feel you're having a bad reaction (in which case wash straight away).
After sitting for twenty minutes, wash the mixture out really, very well. Shampoo and condition as normal. Its likely in your first sitting you'll see a great deal of colour release, it will look like you've just dyed your hair again and its letting go of all the dye!
Make sure you condition very well, and if you've time, leave that for twenty minutes also as this process is quite drying.
You can do this method up to three times a week with deep conditioning between treatments. This will fade your colour very quickly indeed, but is likely to leave staining.
Method Two:- Soap cap/washing up liquid
Soap caps are very easy to do, but make your hair very dry. The dryness is temporary and can be easily solved rather than causing lasting damage similar to chemical use (bleach).
Soap cap's require only two things- washing up liquid and a showercap. Washing up liquid should be lathered into the hair, left for twenty minutes then washed out very well. Wash with your normal shampoo following this method and deep condition.
Method Three:- Bleach Bath
Bleach baths are your last resort for fading and pulling out colour before you do a full bleach.
Bleach bathing is a less damaging bleach formula using half the amount of developer. The method IS still bleaching and CAN still be damaging.
You will need.
20 vol peroxide
Good quality bleach powder
Shampoo
showercap or plastic bag
Tinitng brush
Mixing Bowl
Gloves
Follow the manufacturers instructions on your bleach but use half the amount of developer/peroxide and half shampoo for the liquid part of the mixture. Usually this is one part bleach powder, one part peroxide and one part shampoo. Mix well and apply to the hair, spot bleach if only some sections need lifting.
Leave the mixture for no more than twenty minutes and check the condition and colour often, so that as soon as it begins to a) feel stretchy or b) have lifted the dye, you can wash it out straight away.
You will find with a good enough bleach powder that a bleach bath and a low volume peroxide will still work wonders at a fraction of the damage cost to your hair.
Extra tips:- Fading dye slowly
Factors that Fade dyes
:- heat treating. Straightening your hair every day for a week is not great, but its better than bleaching. Use a high heat protectant before straightening. Heat fades colour quickly. The same can be said for blow drying.
:- Sunshine. We all know that the UV rays in the sun fade colour and your hair is no different.
:- Salt water & Chlorine. If you're a swimmer, its time to invest in a swimming cap, as both salt water and pool water strip colour quickly. Chlorine can also have a bad reaction with dyes and make them go strange colours.
:-Washing. Obviously the more you wash your hair, the less colour you can hang onto.
Vegetable dyes are usually bright coloured hair dyes that do not require a peroxide or similar developer to deposit colour into the hair. They claim to last for 6-8 washes, but on bleached hair last much longer and can even cause staining. Popular brands include directions, manic panic and Special Effects.
I will outline here how to remove as much colour as we possibly can without using harsh chemicals. Before using this tutorial, you should take into consideration the current condition and colour build up of your hair.
Most methods rely on strong alkali solutions dragging colour from the hair, just as you can use acid (apple cider) to lock the colour in.
Method 00:-
Method One:- Baking powder and vitamin c mixture
Method Two:- Soap cap/washing up liquid
Method Three:- Bleach Bath
Extra tips:- Fading dye slowly
Method 00:-
Try this before any other method, since its the most cost effective, easy and gentle. It can be done over a number of weeks three times a week to slowly fade colour.
Clarifying shampoos (those meant for dandruff or taking product build up out of the hair) such as Vosene are fantastic for dragging colour from the hair since they are strongly alkali in PH. (Please note head and shoulders have in recent years made their solution more gentle on coloured hair, so try the £1 shop version or vosene as its more potent).
Simply lather the shampoo into your hair and leave for 10-20 minutes before rinsing and conditioning well.
You could also use shampoo's formulated for use before dying your hair such as B4U clarifying treatment. These are created to 'ready' the hair to receive colour by stripping build up and opening the cuticles, as a result they're also fantastic and fading dye.
If you would prefer natural methods, tea tree and mint based shampoos are naturally clarifying and will strip the hair also.
Method One:- Baking powder and vitamin c mixture
To remove vegetable dyes from your hair quickly and safely you will need the following:-
Baking Powder
Vitamin c powder or crushed up tablets
Vosene shampoo (or similar clarifying shampoo)
A plastic bag or disposable shower cap
A towel or toweling turban
Optional hair dryer
A mixing bowl
Something to mix/stir with
Rubber/plastic/latex Gloves
Mix baking powder, vitamin c powder (or crushed tablets) and your shampoo together. Be ready to apply the mixture as the baking powder will cause the shampoo to foam up very quickly.
With gloved hands, apply the mixture to damp hair (not wet as you'll drip everywhere and we want to leave the mixture on for a long time) and lather in thoroughly. Cover with a plastic bag or showercap and secure. You don't have to, but if you can, blast your hair with a hair dryer for a few minutes on low heat. Don't scold yourself or risk melting the plastic, heat gently all over.
If you have one, put a towel turban over the plastic, if not a normal towel to help keep the heat in.
Heat makes any hair product 'develop' more quickly as it opens the hair cuticles and encourages chemical reactions to take place (kinetic energy and all that)
Leave the mixture to sit for twenty minutes.
ITS LIKELY THE MIXTURE WILL ITCH! Baking powder is a strange substance and rather drying, its likely to make you itchy as it foams around your hair doing its bubbly magic. Don't be put off by this unless you feel you're having a bad reaction (in which case wash straight away).
After sitting for twenty minutes, wash the mixture out really, very well. Shampoo and condition as normal. Its likely in your first sitting you'll see a great deal of colour release, it will look like you've just dyed your hair again and its letting go of all the dye!
Make sure you condition very well, and if you've time, leave that for twenty minutes also as this process is quite drying.
You can do this method up to three times a week with deep conditioning between treatments. This will fade your colour very quickly indeed, but is likely to leave staining.
Method Two:- Soap cap/washing up liquid
Soap caps are very easy to do, but make your hair very dry. The dryness is temporary and can be easily solved rather than causing lasting damage similar to chemical use (bleach).
Soap cap's require only two things- washing up liquid and a showercap. Washing up liquid should be lathered into the hair, left for twenty minutes then washed out very well. Wash with your normal shampoo following this method and deep condition.
Method Three:- Bleach Bath
Bleach baths are your last resort for fading and pulling out colour before you do a full bleach.
Bleach bathing is a less damaging bleach formula using half the amount of developer. The method IS still bleaching and CAN still be damaging.
You will need.
20 vol peroxide
Good quality bleach powder
Shampoo
showercap or plastic bag
Tinitng brush
Mixing Bowl
Gloves
Follow the manufacturers instructions on your bleach but use half the amount of developer/peroxide and half shampoo for the liquid part of the mixture. Usually this is one part bleach powder, one part peroxide and one part shampoo. Mix well and apply to the hair, spot bleach if only some sections need lifting.
Leave the mixture for no more than twenty minutes and check the condition and colour often, so that as soon as it begins to a) feel stretchy or b) have lifted the dye, you can wash it out straight away.
You will find with a good enough bleach powder that a bleach bath and a low volume peroxide will still work wonders at a fraction of the damage cost to your hair.
Extra tips:- Fading dye slowly
Factors that Fade dyes
:- heat treating. Straightening your hair every day for a week is not great, but its better than bleaching. Use a high heat protectant before straightening. Heat fades colour quickly. The same can be said for blow drying.
:- Sunshine. We all know that the UV rays in the sun fade colour and your hair is no different.
:- Salt water & Chlorine. If you're a swimmer, its time to invest in a swimming cap, as both salt water and pool water strip colour quickly. Chlorine can also have a bad reaction with dyes and make them go strange colours.
:-Washing. Obviously the more you wash your hair, the less colour you can hang onto.