Perry Purple by lcrontic.com
Greetings, fellow hair adventurer! I’ve rounded up all the beauty questions from the past couple of weeks and picked the three most frequently-asked for this week’s Blush Response. We’re continuing last installment‘s hair color theme, as it seems the most exasperating of all.
What is your favorite blackest-black dye?
This one’s tough because Feria’s Bright Black, the prettiest, most dramatically black dye out there, fades. It fades tragically, inevitably, quickly. Unless you’re prepared to keep dying every 2 weeks, I would avoid it. Nice N’ Easy’s Natural Blue Black is the best and most fade-resistant I’ve found. However, be warned! It’s practically impossible to remove if you get sick of it. Also, most hair salons will shun you when you come to them begging for salvation from Nice N’ Easy. Learn the secret to removing it at home in the last answer!
How do you go about obtaining and maintaining pure white hair?
Bleach and toner. Really, that’s it. Depending on your natural hair color you’ll have to bleach several times to achieve desired lightness. And unless you want your hair to break off in spongy clumps, you will have to wait two weeks between each bleaching session. Hats and scarves help. As far as specific products go, when my head was crowned with platinum I swore by 40-volume developer [within reason], L’Oreal Quick Blue bleach, and Clairol’s Shimmer Lights line for killing yellow. Do not leave toner in longer than its instructions tell you, unless you want your hair to turn dishwater gray.
Populuxe by ChinaDoll
How did you recover from black hair dye so quickly without killing your hair?
Instead of bleaching, I stripped it, using a mysterious product called “One N’Only Colorfix”. It’s not that this stuff doesn’t damage your hair at all, but it’s much easier on follicles than bleach and I recommend it to anyone wanting to free themselves from a permanent color. Anyone patient enough to walk around with brassy/orange hair for a couple of weeks, that is. Click the jump to learn the method!
- Buy Colorfix. It’s also available here – everyone else charges way too much. I suggest getting two boxes.
- Open box, throw away Processing Lotion. This is very important. Let me explain: basically, Colorfix works by shrinking the dye molecules in your hair. Once you use it, the dye is still there, you just can’t see very much of it. The application of anything involving peroxide while the dye molecules are still there will bring your old color back, like some kind of crayzeh Voo Doo. That’s right, and believe me, I went through this a few times myself, so you don’t have to. You must get rid of the evil dye molecules before you can do anything else, and you must do so qquickly because your hair will darken otherwise. The Processing Lotion actually contains peroxide and will bring your old color back. I don’t know why they include it and, frankly, I don’t care. Just toss the bottle and forget about its unfounded existence.
- Colorfix. Let the the power of science do its thang. Once Colorfix is on you can cover your hair with a shower cap, or wrap sections of it with tin foil and use a blow dyer to apply heat. This will open up the hair shaft to let dye out, but will also cause further damage. Your choice!
- After the ‘Fix. Your hair will be brassy and not exactly healthy, but far less so than it would have been after bleaching. Spend the next two weeks shampooing vigorously. Use volumising shampoo to further open up the hair shaft and get the dye molecules out.
- In two weeks. Conduct a strand test. Use a small amount of either bleach or dye you’re planning on using and let it develop for 45 minutes. If your hair returns to it’s old color, it isn’t time yet. Keep shampooing! Depending on the color you wish you achieve, you may or may not need to bleach. For example, if you’re going a brown or a dark red you won’t need to bleach because it will go over the brassy post-colorfix shade just fine. If you intend to go blond, blue or any light, bright, unnatural color you’ll require bleach.
- Strand test a success! If your strand test is successful, proceed with bleach and/or color. After you’re all done your hair will not be happy after what you’ve put it through, so condition, condition, condition! Use a protein reconstructor and Jojoba oil masks, but only AFTER you’ve got your final color on. Doing it beforehand will keep you from getting your hair as light as you may need it to be.
A final note about Colorfix: it’s made to remove permanent color. If you’re trying to get rid of semi permanent/vegetable dyes, you’ll have to wash even more after the ‘Fix. Good luck!
Always,
I’m seriously considering coloring my hair all black. I had previously done most of it (apart from my purple bangs), but the black very quickly faded to my natural brown color. It’s been a long while and it makes it seem like the dye is completely gone, but it WAS a permanent dye… Would I have to strip it if I ever want to bleach it or would I be fine just putting bleach straight on it?
also to strip colour you can use lush cosmetics daddy-o. I dyed my hair too dark, used that and it stripped the colour without damaging my hair at all. Also, that shit will strip henna
Thanks for all the tips! I’ve been through so many hair-color catastrophes — my locks are still recovering from overzealous bleachings from ages ago — and these last two Blush Responses have been an incredible help!
Thank you for the answers! I can die happy now. With kickass rainbow hair.
Ooh, I’ve never tried Nice N’ Easy Black dye. I agree with you on the Feria though, I ended up with gray hair at some point because of it. In fact, I think I still have the State ID photo to prove it, yeeech.
(I generally dye with Wella Liquid Color Charm in Black 051/1N)
Sigh, I’ve always wanted some whiteblonde hair though. Stop reminding me…
Thanks for listing the products! Very informative.
I want to dye my hair a bright colour with black underneathe, but I really don’t know if I’ve got the colouring for it… my skin, and eyebrows, and eyelashes, are so pale! I’d have to constantly be wearing make-up… or dye my lashes and brows… in order to look, erm, not dead. And even then I don’t know if it would work. … *Sigh*. Must give this more thought.
Awesome tips!
I was always timid about dying and I have tried salon trips, but they are just too expensive for how long they last. I love having my hair dyed violet, but the blue just fades out and leaves the red behind! I always wanted to try the platinum blonde with black tips look though… perhaps perhaps perhaps!
IM WITH MALLORY!
IM LOOKING FORWARD TO MORE BLUSH!
Does anyone know if Color Fix will remove lightened color (reddish-blonde) to restore back to an ash brown? Would prefer not to put dye in my hair again and be done with the color.
Thanks :)
I have the same question as Kimberly. Any help appreciated.
Sorry to post the same question twice, just hoping you’ll get it!!:
In my younger years, my hair had been every color of the rainbow. I was an avid purple dyer…but they discontinued the best purple ever. It was actually(surprisingly) by Clairol, they released this wannabe punk line of colors called Xtreme FX. They only make the bleach out kit under that line now (maybe still the red and blue), but I was wondering if you were familiar with this particular brand/shade of purple, as I have tried every brand and shade of purple you can imagine (and many diffrent combos) and cannot find anything that comes even close to this beautiful color. Perhaps you could recommend something, if you know what I am talking about? I’ve been a “sultry” brunette for a good five adult years now, but if I could find a similar color, I’d go back and stay purple forever. Can you help?
I recently used Sally’s Ion Color Remover to get our semi-perm color. it worked pretty well, actually, but I wouldn’t recommend anyone use it often, because the ingredients are pretty toxic. I was going from dark orange to blue.
I’ve never used Colorfix, but Ion’s product is basically a mix of very powerful sulfate detergents. It breaks the bonds between color and hair, and you are supposed to follow it with a rinse of 10-volume. it worked for me, but it did leave my hair damaged.
Post any bleaching or stripping, I highly recommend Aphogee’s 2-step Protein Treatment. The effect it has had on my hair is AMAZING. It really does repair damage.
Ahh, I wish I had known about this 9 years ago when I had a year’s worth of Nice & Easy blue-black professionally stripped from my hair at a salon – which not only cost over $300, but also broke my elbow-length hair off up to my chin. I’ve been using henna ever since and I would never go back to chemical dyes.
I use Clairol Nice ‘N’ Easy on my hair! I used to use Schwarzkopf Live colour, but it faded after a week.
I reccoment Nice ‘n’ Easy, actually. It lasts for ages. I’ve never bleached my hair, but I’m considering doing it, and applying Directions green hair dye throughout my hair.
Can anyone give me advice about this? I’m nervous about bleaching it because it’s only shoulder length and grows very slowly, so I don’t want to ruin my hair…
After reading this again, I bet they slip that peroxide processing lotion in there to make you buy the product again.
VERY SNEAKY, COLORFIX
FOTD: Penelope’s Orchid, LOTS of blathering « spinster-in-training // Mar 4, 2010 at 9:00 PM
[...] bleached the roots. When I first went green, I used ColorFix for the first time ever, following Zoetica Ebb’s wondrous instructions on drastically switching between colors with such great ef…. I stripped previous color, shampooed zealously for two weeks with volumizing shampoo, bleached, [...]
when you shampoo after the color fix do you recommend using a harsh shampoo with sulfates or a gentle, pH balanced, sulfate-free formula? or does it even matter?
spinster-in-training // Apr 8, 2010 at 3:08 PM
[...] among other things, I read a most excellent and helpful post on haircolor questions by the marvelous Zoetica Ebb. I’ve been wanting to dye my hair green, but didn’t want [...]
Just achieved a lovely shade of strawberry blonde after following your bleaching advise. I’ll be re-bleaching in another two weeks for a new lighter mystery color. Thanks!
hello.i was havin my hair done purple./ red but its black and so im striping it. do u think it wll damage myhair. and when i have the colour on top do u think it willbe to bright so should i uy to boxes// x x please get back to littlesharni@hotmail.co.uk
I tried the colorfix and I discovered another possible mistake that you can make (that I made): Instructions on the box say that you can do the process again with damp hair right after washing it the first time, if you want more color gone. I did it again, thinking it was for good measure but it made the hair a little darker again. CURSES!
They probably put the lotion in so you know how much dye is left in your hair, I’m guessing. Otherwise your gonna put blonde dye on top of dark hair. This way you’ll know the dye’s there because the developer already brought it to the surface