Hair - Adventures into changing your image

So a few weeks ago now I went Chilli Red - as in hair-wise. Great idea for winter thinks me. I have even made a new capsule wardrobe to compliment my new look - well a few things are left to sew up but the idea is there.

Then as time goes by I have got a bit bored and STILL do not recognise Me in the mirror. Though that is not really the problem. I am out of work and I really think my chilli red hair which is argueably more "normal" than my usual rose blonde colour, is putting off possible employers.

I just feel like interviews have not been going well at all so I decided the red colour has to go. Its also time I make a decision because my roots need a touch up. If I add more dye tho it will probably be harder to remove because right now I have only the one layer of red on my original pale blonde hair.



Now throughout my life I have pretty regularly changed hair colour. I started to dye my hair at age 13 and never stopped. I have often gone from dark to blonde and to do this I always use peroxide. But it seriously damages your hair. Last year I had a big chunk break off and had a bit of hair that was far shorter than the rest for several months till it grew out and I had difficulty tieing it back to hide my short bit. So ideally I would like not to wreck my otherwise reasonable condition hair.  I came accross an internet article about colour remover ( I still am amazed at the internet!) and that this does not damage your hair. Well what an idea!

I have no idea how long this product has been available but when I was a twenty something I was told by a hair dresser that the only way was bleach ( peroxide) so since then I have stuck with that. Thus dye remover, for me, is a new idea.

So I did some research and ended up with this product bought from Superdrug but its available all over the place. I just like to collect points from Superdrug and it gets deliverd so I do not have to physically go to the store and then find out that actually no they do not stock it locally whereas if I just buy online it turns up and I get the job done hassle free and with less time and fuel wasteage.

So I bought two packs of this stuff:


It stinks like eggs - contains sulphur I think which apparently shrinks the dye particles so they simply wash out and just look at my test strip:

My hair was still only half dry when I took the selfies but you can still see the difference.


Now obviously you should cut off a bit of hair for this but I generally do not even bother with any prior tests. In this case the product is unknown so instead of a skin test + test strip I just tried it on a small bit of (attached) hair. Please everyone do not go off and do this yourself because its bad practice and I am not suggesting anyone anywhere should do what I have done. Its very silly. Luckilly I had no adverse reactions and what a dramatic result.

45 minutes later I have removed all the red dye and am a kind of orangey blonde. Possibly closest commercial dye is light honey blonde or golden blonde. You are advised to use an ash coloured toner but I actually like my new colour so have left it alone and intend to try to use a close colour to this next time I need to do my roots. 

So a couple of days later I did the rest of my hair. I only used one pack but found afterwards I had missed a few bits. I was intending to leave the missed ( still red) bits a few more days because its always better to leave things a while after dying. Also I quite liked the low lighted look. Anyway then I got an interview so had to do some touch ups to remove the rest of the red. This worked fine. I have yet to find out if I got the job.

Definitely feels like Me again tho!

So, should you, like me decide to do something a bit stupid and dye your hair a colour you decide is just not you thats a much better way to remove the dye than using peroxide.

I am so impressed by this stuff I just have to tell the world.

Hope this will help someone

Bracken