How to reverse a terrible at-home dye job

by Emily

Fifteen years ago, as a sophomore in college (a really STUPID sophomore in college, I should add), I dyed my hair with a permanent at-home hair dye kit labeled Dark Brown and ended up with hair the same color (roughly) as a Halloween witch wig. (Mine was probably darker.) I AM NOT KIDDING. Now, fifteen years ago, the only options were to pay out the nose for a stylist to fix it (which I was not going to do, what with the fact that I was a totally broke college student, along with the OTHER fact that I was living in a relatively rural part of Alabama, where I wasn't sure I'd come out looking any better than I went in) OR I could bleach it out myself and re-dye it. Oh, don't worry, first I tried washing it out with dishwashing detergent and TideB but when it was still goth chick black, I bit the bullet and bleached my hair. I BLEACHED IT. At HOME, you guys. It turned orange, and then I used another box of dye to color it back to a regular old brown, and then for the next two years, I used two bottles of conditioner to every one bottle of shampoo I consumed. I basically had hair made of straw. And I didn't touch another bottle of hair dye until.... well, until last Sunday night.

Brief backstory: I have a wonderful hairdresser, but this week is busy and I had dark-ish roots and am performing onstage every night in this Easter production (long story) so instead of waiting ONE MEASLY WEEK for my appointment, I decided to take matters into my own hands. And I screwed up again, WITH PERMANENT HAIR COLOR. I am such an idiot. This time a box labeled "medium brown" turned me just as dark as I was back in 1997. But you know what, you guys? Since then, a product has been invented that makes reversing a bad dye job simple and something you can do within the privacy of your own home. I mean, nothing is worse than walking into a salon with jet black hair and begging for someone to HELP ME, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.

Enter Developlus Color Oops, around $12 - 15 at your local drugstore (I found mine at CVS, and I bought it wearing a hat, WHICH WAS SO OBVIOUS TO THE CASHIER.) This product strips color out of your hair without any harsh peroxide or bleach, and returns your hair to its natural, pre-dye color. Oh, sure, it smells like a garbage truck filled with feces is sitting atop your head, but the process was simple, it took 20 minutes, and I was left with hair exactly the same color as it was last Saturday, before I cracked open a big impulsive box of Clairol. Yes, the texture of my hair is now a smidge drier, but nothing a bit of extra conditioning won't fix, honestly.

The key here is that this product will really only work if you've colored your hair DARKER. If you've lightened your hair, you've taken natural pigment OUT, and nothing about this product is going to bring that natural pigment back. If you've gone DARKER, this product will remove the excess pigment that was added during the coloring process. I would suggest that if you have long or thick hair that you go ahead and purchase two boxes - my hair is pretty thick, and as a result, I have some lingering patchy dark spots in the under layers, which I am having my stylist fix at my regular appointment next week. (Uh, DUH, I'm OBVIOUSLY going back to the stylist.)

The other key thing with this product is that you can recolor your hair the very same day - there are some additional instructions to follow, and your hair will absorb color much faster and will require a much shorter process time, but if you take color out and still hate your natural color, you can do something about it, no problem.

There, does that help? You won't hear from me again on this issue for roughly fifteen years, so check back in 2027. Does anyone have any terrible hair dye stories they want to share in the comments? HUMOR ME, you guys. I DID THIS TWICE.

[photo credit: walgreens.com]

Comments

[Courtney]

How does this post not have pictures? We need to see how bad it really was!

I'll give you my bad dye job story: I was 16, in the school play. We were doing The King and I, and I was supposed to look Siamese (or Thai, you know). And I am the whitest girl ever, with strawberry blonde hair. Regardless, I (and a bunch of my castmates) decided to dye our hair black. Using temporary hair color (because that was better?). It worked, kind of. My hair looked kind of like a faded black, like if you had black jeans and washed them too many times. BUT THEN. As it washed out (since it was just the temporary dye), it turned me hair GREEN. Yes, green. Just like Anne of Green Gables.

[Courtney]

Uh, it turned MY hair green. Not ME hair. Just because I had green hair doesn't mean I'm a leprechaun.

[Sarah]

My college roommate (approximately 17 years ago :) dyed her brown hair black (on purpose) with a semi-permanent dye. Which was SO NOT semi-permanent. It took her years to grow out. I don't remember ever seeing a product like the one you mentioned, otherwise I'm sure she would have used it!

[auntie]

A couple of years ago I was getting ready to go to my 20-year high school reunion and I was low on funds so I decided I could do an at-home dye job (I usually went to a professional but like I said...funds were low!). It wasn't so much that it turned out a bad color in general, it was just a bad color ON ME. A very, very bad color on me.

The next day I called my salon and told them I needed HELP and they got me right in. I think the girl put on chemicals and washed my hair a total of about 10 times! It was crazy.

And I vowed never to use home hair color again. EVER. The end.

[Ginger]

In college, dying our hair was how my roommate and I fought our boredom. She went with the wild colors (as a blonde, it was easier for her to go blue or green or pink or whatever). I went with "normal" reds and browns. Whatever, it was fine.

Until.

One fateful saturday night when we had a friend "help", and I ended up with, I KID YOU NOT, spots. I don't even know how it happened, but I ended up with these circles of red all over my head. I looked like the most deranged cheetah ever.

It took 3 salon visits featuring 2 haircuts and 3 different dye jobs to fix it. And that was the last time I used color in a box.

(we won't talk about the time 2 weeks before my wedding that some horrible stylist bleached my hair to the point of breakage instead of doing the "natural" light brown highlights I asked for.)

[K]

My sophomore year of college I dyed my hair for the first time with a box labeled medium brown. It turned out the same as yours! Luckily i was scared enough of dying my hair that I got semi permanent color. I washed my hair so many times! I ended up wearing it black for a while because there was no way I was bleaching my hair!! I use box dye now but steer clear of anything with the word medium in it.

[Lisa]

I rocked the black to orange color in college. Same as you, dark brown on a dye box does NOT mean dark brown - it was black as coal. I called the Clairol 800 number and was given the bleaching instructions. Which turned it orange for a few weeks while I let the hair rest. Lets just say I clashed with my formal dress that season.

After that, I only used semi-permanent color while my natural hair color grew back in. I ended up cutting it all off right before graduation into a horrible cut - and met the greatest guy ever. Luckily, he stuck by me even with that cut and we've been married 9 years.

My hair is 100% natural still - but when the grays start I will be going to a professional (I'll just have to cut something else out of the family budget).

[Gina]

Sadly, I have have had MANY bad hair experiences. I learned early on that whatever color the box says it is (especially with permanent color), it will be a few (thousand) shades darker.

Then, there was the time back in the 80s when I used a hair-painting kit for highlights and it came out neon orange. And I was a majorette and had a parade that day - we had to wear our hair in a bun, so I looked insane, since the orange was only on the top layer of hair and I ended up with orange bangs, dark brown sides and an orange bun.

And don't get me started on the home perms...