How to remove red hair dye
Updated on November 14, 2015
If you've dyed your hair red and don't like the color, you don't have to put up with it. Contrary to popular belief that red is the most difficult color to remove, it can actually be a relatively easy and quick process. You can remove red hair dye and return to a less fiery color with less hassle than you've been led to believe.
Choosing a new color
Before you even begin to remove red hair dye from your hair, you need to have a new hair color in mind. This is because the process is slightly different depending on which hair color you'd like to achieve. The new shade will fall into one of these three categories:
Lighter hair color
Darker hair color
Same level
In the case of a lighter hair color, you can't just dye over the color in order to remove the red hair dye and lighten your hair. The lightening needs to be performed as a separate step prior to dyeing with the new shade. To achieve a darker hair color however, requires nothing more than the application of a new dye, but the shade chosen needs to be based on correcting the red tone as it darkens to the new color.
What if you don't want to go lighter or darker though? As luck would have it, if you don't want to go lighter or darker and just want to remove the red tone from your hair, this is also achievable. Once you've decided on the color result you'd like to achieve, you can proceed to eliminating the red and transforming the look of your hair.
Achieving a lighter hair color
If you have red hair and you want to go lighter whilst also eliminating the red, you can't simply apply a new shade of hair dye over the red and hope it will work. Hair that has been dyed can't be lightened with more hair dye, and the hair dye itself won't neutralize the red tone if it's the wrong shade.
The first step towards dyeing red hair lighter is to apply hair dye remover to strip out as much as the artificial color as possible. Hair dye remover breaks the artificial color molecules down into a form that can be washed out of the hair, rinsing out permanent hair color. It can't always remove all of the hair dye, but it will save you hassle down the track by removing as much color as possible without damage and making it easier to lighten it further with other methods later on.
Bleaching your hair
Following the use of hair dye remover, you will notice that the product itself takes out a lot of the red tone and lightens your hair a little. It won't usually be enough to eliminate the red hair dye entirely; nor will it be able to lighten your hair to a much lighter shade like a light blonde though. If your hair is still too dark for your desired color, the next step is to use bleach to lighten it further.
When applying the bleach, you can leave the product for up to an hour whilst it works. A single bleach process on dyed hair will lift around 3 levels, which is enough to take dark brown to dark blonde, or light brown to light blonde. If you want to lighten your hair more than that, you will need to either bleach it twice or choose a color that requires less lightening to achieve.
You also should only bleach your hair if your hair is in good condition and hasn't been damaged by other chemicals like perms or excessive dyeing. If your hair is damaged, you shouldn't be attempting to go lighter. It's not impossible, and it won't ruin your hair in most cases, but it certainly won't do it any favors in terms of how it looks and feels.
The last step between your old red hair color and your new color is to apply a new hair dye to your hair. You absolutely must use an ash shade here. If you don't use an ash shade, the red will not be corrected and will persist in your final color because it is the green tone in the ash dye that will eliminate the red tone from your hair.
The shade you use should also be at least one level lighter than your current level to avoid over-toning as hair that has been through color removal tends to be porous and will absorb more dye than expected. You are using the dye to tone out the red and achieve a neural color, not to actually dye your hair an ash shade. If you use the exact level, your hair can end up gray to greenish instead of natural.
To apply the dye, section out your hair and apply as with any other hair dye. Working quickly is of the utmost importance here in order to achieve an even result. Following application, this process needs to be watched constantly because toning can be quick. You'll get the best results if you rinse it once the red tone is neutralized and you like how it looks.
If you're aiming for a golden or beige shade, this will mean it is washed out sooner, whilst it will have to be left in longer to achieve a natural or ash shade. You don't have to leave it in for the full development time; simply remove the dye when the red is eliminated and you have a color you're happy with.