My parody of Brittney Spear's song would be, "Oops I dyed it again. I played with my hair!"
I am pretty sure that could be a number one hit as anyone who has ever attempted to dye their hair probably can relate to the lyrics. If you are reading this, you are most likely one of those people.
I, myself, often mess up my hair the most when I try to dye it red. It seems it always ends up too dark, too purple or pink, a little orange, maybe burgundy or black. It just does strange things. I have read that a lot of my current hair dying issues are caused by highlights and low-lights having been put into my hair, so if you are someone that has also had these put into your hair then use drugstore permanent dyes with caution.
***Now would probably be a good time to throw in my disclaimer, I am not a beautician or professional stylist. My only experience and expertise in what I am about to discuss is my personal experience with my own hair. I am not paid to endorse any of the products that I am about to discuss and I am not affiliated with any of the companies. My hair color is naturally dark brown and I dye my hair often (usually every six weeks). I either pay my beautician of ten years or dye it myself at home. Take or leave my advice.***
O.k. so here is the scenario, you've just dyed your hair, the beautiful model on the box is smiling back at you in a mocking way while her shiny gorgeous hair laughs in your face, you look up in horror to see, bright red roots, red, purple, oh hell, is that green? It is awful. It is unbearable! What are you going to do?
At this moment, you have two choices. 1) Wear a ball cap for the next few days until you can get an appointment with a trusted professional and then you must duck your botched head in shame and walk into that beautician and let them fix your disgraced mess of a self. Afterward, you will pay a hefty sum for your dishonorable mistakes. or 2) You can take matters into your own hands. This is not for the faint of heart. You must be brave. You must be willing to put on that same ball cap and do the walk of shame into your nearest Walgreens, Ulta, CVS, or if you must, Wal-Mart and you must be prepared for the war you are about to embark upon, because it is a now or never, take it or leave it type of moment. You must commit. You must look into that mirror and say, "Purple, pink, green hair, you are going down! I will persevere!" ***fist thrust into air, finger pointing toward the heavens.***
Still reading?
O.k. here is what you need to get: a box of Color Oops (if you have long hair or thick hair you may want two or three because this is not a product that you can run out and buy mid-process when you realize you do not have enough), a box or two of hair dye, and a safety color. Here is the problem in my advice when it comes to color, depending on your natural color, is what determines what shade of hair dye you need! I will give you examples of what I do, but you will need to make adjustments based on your natural hair color and hair undertones. Like I previously stated, my hair is naturally medium/dark brown, I have red undertones, so when I buy a color to fix my mess up, I choose an ash color, typically, L'Oreal Excellence in "Light Ash Brown." My "safety color" (the color I know will always work because I have used it numerous times) is L'Oreal Excellence cream in "Medium Brown." I also sometimes use "Dark Brown."
Other things you may want to purchase while you are making a trip to town: a clarifying shampoo, a deep conditioner, a protein mask, and a prayer.
First, you are going to begin with the Color Oops. It should look like this:
You want the extra strength. This stuff smells bad and is runny so prepare yourself. Be in a well ventilated area, turn on exhaust fan, open a window. Wear clothes you don't care to get messy, use gloves, and work quickly, saturate all of your hair and try to avoid your scalp getting soaked. This is hard to do, but I recommend applying mixture about an inch to two inches away from scalp and then working it toward the roots with your fingers to avoid your scalp getting too much mixture on it and causing any irritation. Then, use plastic bag enclosed with product to cover your hair. You may use a hair dryer to heat product, keep the dryer about a foot away from head and move in circular motion off and on throughout the 25 minute wait. Don't worry I thought my hair might explode into a blame of flames as well, but it doesn't.
Check periodically and DO NOT leave on for any more than 25 minutes.
If your hair is light and processes quickly you may want to remove the product sooner.
When the time is up, take off plastic bag and hop in the shower and prepare for a lot of washing and rinsing. You MUST use COLD water so if you have a good sink, you may opt to rinse there. This is when you should use the clarifying shampoo. Wash your hair two to three times and stay in the shower rinsing your hair for at least 15 to 20 minutes. Yeah, cold water for twenty minutes is torture so take breaks and pace yourself for this step.
After this, your hair will most likely look like this:
DO NOT PANIC. It was suppose to remove the color. If you have never bleached your hair, then it will be darker, if you have had your hair lightened, it will look like this! Deep Breathe!
When you have completed this step, apply a deep conditioner and let it set for 30 minutes. I recommend a protein mask from Sally's Beauty Supply, but if you do not have that readily available, an Organix hair mask would work.
So, if you don't have this:
Then use something like this:
If you can, I would recommend waiting 24 to 48 hours before coloring your hair again, but if you do not have time for that, then feel free to let your hair dry and then apply your desired hair color.
Once again, I usually pick a color that has "ash" undertones or is a "cooler" color such as this:
When dying your hair, begin with the roots. I always start with the roots when using a darker color than my hair and let them set fifteen minutes, then I work color into my ends from my roots down and let color set another 10 minutes and then rinse and condition. Watch your hair very closely, because your hair will absorb color much more quickly than normal after using Color Oops. You do not want it to turn too dark or black which is why I recommend a light ash brown or dark ash blond for this step.
After all is said and done, this is what my hair looked like:
Not too bad.
If you are still not happy with the color though, use your "safety color." You want to add color back gradually to avoid having to use Color Oops or other ligthening dyes. It is easier to go darker than to go lighter again.
And last but not least, do not wash your hair for a couple of days, buy some hair pampering moisturizers. I like to use Beyond the Zone Protein Cocktail to tell my hair how sorry I am after using Color Oops.
Finally, it says you can use Color Oops two to three times. I have used it three times in a 2 month period before (gosh, that was a bad two months for hair). It is VERY drying and I would not recommend getting yourself in that situation. My hair did not break or fall out by any means, but it was dry and had to have lots of tender loving care for quite some time afterward so please, please use with caution. I have healthy, thick and curly hair that can stand a lot (obviously), so keep that in mind. I would honestly not recommend using this product more than once.
If you have any questions, please comment below. I will be posting as much as possible, but for sure, there will be a new review or tutorial every Friday night.
Thanks and best of luck in your hair dying endeavors.
