Removing Red Hair Dye using ColourB4

As you guys will have noticed from various pictures posted on my blog, I have been a long-term red-head imposter! I felt that the vibrant red hair had done it’s time and it was time for a change back to something more simple; something that perhaps didn’t require me to be constantly topping up my colour every 2-3 weeks to keep it looking the way I wanted.

I wasn’t sure what colour I wanted to go to, all I knew is I wanted a change and I wanted to avoid a disaster!

After speaking to several hairdressers and other people, I began getting a little concerned when people were constantly telling me that red was the most difficult colour to remove and I would probably have to spend some time being an odd colour as it would be so tricky to get an even, decent colour, especially after frequently dying my hair bright red for a year.

I decided to bite the bullet on Monday and went out on my lunch break to grab the bits and bobs I needed for my transformation.

I opted for ColourB4 in extra strength, although this took some deciding. I was torn between this one and the ColourB4 made for frequent use. Although looking back, both would have probably done what I needed, I opted for extra strength, having heard all the comments about red being tough to remove.

I then decided to look for a colour to use afterwards. I was fully aware, and you should be too if you are planning to use ColourB4 to remove hair colourant, that although it is safe to dye your hair soon after, your hair will be more pourous, meaning it will absorb colour quickly and essentially it will go darker than the box describes.

I opted for a dark blonde, I was wary of going too light, as I didn’t want it to end up orange depending on how well (or not) the ColourB4 worked. I also didn’t want to go too dark, as I didn’t want it to end up too dark, considering the colour would absorb quickly.

I chose to use Garnier Nutrisse Creme hair colour, shade 73, dark blonde.

Decisions made, I headed home and started the whole process at 6.30pm. After mixing the ‘Extra Remover’ and ‘Extra Activator’ (pots A & B) from the ColourB4 set, I sectioned my hair and applied the mixture to every part of my hair. I was pushing it a bit using only one box on my length of hair, and did panic at the end that maybe I didn’t have enough product and it was all going to be disastrous!

The instructions said to leave the ColourB4 on for one hour to develop. It was already almost 7.30pm by this point and I had work the next day so needed my hair to be sorted by then. In hindsight, I wish I had done it on a day off, but I don’t have a free one for a while and I was beginning to get annoyed with my faded, growing out red.

The key for development is to keep the hair warm. Don’t sit in a cold room, cover in cling film to trap heat, and every so often, give it a quick blast with the hair dryer.

So I had reached 8.30pm which was time to see what the damage was! I had to stand in the shower and rinse the hair for 10 minutes, followed by applying the buffer (pot C), allowing it to absorb for a couple of minutes and then was to make sure it was completely removed.

I put my hair in a towel immediately. I refused to look at it until I had fully dried it with the blowdryer. Once my hair was dry I stepped in front of the mirror, and was pleasantly surprised!

Okay, so probably wouldn’t have left the house like this, but my hair was not as bad as I thought. The roots were a platinum blonde, and there was gradually more and more hints of ginger/orange getting slightly darker as it went down the hair.

Considering I used a red dye with a peroxide element, being naturally blonde, and having years of peroxide blonde, brown and various other hair dye colours underneath the red, this is exactly what I was hoping for, and the colour looked even enough to dye over.

I waited around half an hour before applying the Garnier Nutrisse Creme dark blonde dye and then the panic set in again. I was really concerned at how this colour would turn out.

After developing, then washing the dye out and blowdrying again (with a ridiculous amount of heat protection spray on my hair as I felt sorry for it!) it was about 11pm, which was a relief as I thought I was going to be up all night!

Ready to see the results?

Not bad if I do say so myself! I’m going to see how it fades, and then potentially may get a few highlights put through it.

I do think my hair needs a little TLC after all this work, but it doesn’t look or feel overly damaged. I will spend some time giving it a little treat with some hair oil or hair mask, just to give it some extra protection – can you recommend a good one?

Also, I am going to *try* and avoid intense heat for a while, until I feel like my hair may have recovered a little more.

So there you have it, not only a ColourB4 success story, but also a red hair dye removal success!

If you want to pick up Colour B4 for yourself, I bought mine from Superdrug for £6.66! Grab yours by clicking the mini picture below:

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