Here’s the skinny: if you’re bored of your current hair color and are looking to start anew, you don’t need to bleach your hair again! You heard us right. Instead of reaching for one of the harshest chemicals for your hair to strip you of your color, you can actually reach for a color remover instead.
You may find it in the stores labeled color “extractor” or color “stripper”, but they’re all the same thing: a great alternative to hair bleach. Not only is bleach super abrasive, but it damages your hair like no other treatment does.
But does color remover damage hair? Like any hair treatment, color remover can do some damage in the long run. But with the proper precautions, knowledge, and discipline, you won’t find your hair feeling any different after using one!
We’re not saying that using color remover is in artform, or that it’s a serious enough process to warrant booking a salon appointment. In fact, using a color remover is one of the easiest procedures to do yourself!
Here, we’ll breakdown just what color remover is, the precautions you’ll need to take, and the types of color removers that are out on the market.
Why Would I Need A Color Remover?
Let’s say you’ve been wanting to dye your hair firetruck red for ages now, and you’ve finally built up the courage to take the plunge. Unfortunately, when you took the towel off your head, you realize that maybe red isn’t your color.
Instead of living with your mistake, you can reach for a color remover to strip the artificial dye from your locks and return your mane back to its natural state!
If you’re the type of person to switch up your hair color every week, you know that dyeing over old hair colors is difficult, and can compromise the final shade of your new color. Instead of bleaching over old hair dye to lighten your locks, you can instead use a color stripper.
This will remove any leftover dye remaining on your locks, and, if you have lighter hair, it will leave you with a clean base to lay your new color down.
But How Does A Color Stripper Work?
Firstly, we want to clear any rumors that you may have heard about color stripper removing your natural color. Not only is that impossible, but there’s no product on the market that can change your hair shaft to the point of removing your natural melanin. The only thing that does that, friends, is growing older.
Whether you’ve dyed your hair with semi-permanent, demi-permanent, or just plain ol’ permanent hair dye, a good quality color remover will do the same thing every single time.
When you dye your hair, the artificial pigment is held inside the hair shaft. These color molecules are thick, a lot thicker than your natural pigment, and are kept inside the follicle via molecular links.
When you apply color remover, the mixture penetrates deep into the hair shaft and will specifically find and target these large molecular bonds. It’ll break them down, making it impossible for your hair shaft to hold onto them, and easier for water to rinse them down the drain.
If you’ve dyed your hair multiple times in the past, and are just using color stripper for the first time, it won’t just target the latest dye job pigments, but any remaining pigments from previous dye jobs. That means your hair will revert back to the most natural state it can, all without the need for bleach or harsh chemicals.
But if you have dark hair and are tempted to use a color remover in lieu of bleach before dyeing your hair a brighter color, you’re out of luck. Most color stripping products do not contain bleach, therefore they won’t give you the lightening effect you’re looking for.
And if you’ve dyed your hair an array of colors in the past, and are hoping that a color stripper will revert your hair back to its virgin state, you’ll also be disappointed. Dyes, especially permanent dyes, are extremely intrusive to the hair shaft, and can compromise the natural pigments in your hair.
When you use a color stripper, you’ll unfortunately be revealing all the damage dye has done on your natural pigment.
Even though they can’t work miracles, color removers are still a lot easier on your hair than other treatments as they do not alter the structure or integrity of your hair shaft.
While ammonia and bleach based products can lighten your hair like no other product can, it can only achieve those levels of lightness and color stripping because of the amount of chemicals you’re exposing your hair shaft to.
And yes, bleach is fine when used safely and in moderation, but even a single round of bleach is more damaging than multiple rounds of color stripper.
Types of Color Stripper
There are really only two types of color removers out there on the market: those with bleach, and those without.
The color strippers that contain bleach are still a safer alternative to using straight bleach to lighten your hair, so if using bleach is truly necessary in your hair routine, we would suggest this route.
Not only will this color remover dissolve any remaining pigment in your hair, but it will also lighten it a couple of levels, leaving you with a clean slate for your next dye job!
That, of course, leaves us with the color removers without bleach. These are the most gentle color strippers on the market, but make sure you read the boxes carefully! Most color removers require a developer to be mixed with it in order to successfully remove the pigment from your hair.
The higher required volume of developer, the more damage it’s likely to do. Developer isn’t a damaging product in and of itself, but if you’re seriously scared for your locks, try looking for one with the lowest possible volume.
Color Removing Precautions and Aftercare
Our biggest warning is as follows: If your hair is seriously damaged, or if you dye it with permanent dyes on a regular basis, you may want to stray away from using a color remover (at least for now!).
While they are extremely gentle, they’ll still cause a surface level layer of damage that may just send your hair past it’s breaking point. Instead, focus on restoring your hair of its natural oils and moisture. Once it’s all healed up, then you can reach for a color stripper. Trust us on this, your hair will thank you!
One of the biggest reasons people use color stripper is because they’re prepping their hair for their next dye job! But while this is a fantastic alternative to bleaching your locks, we suggest not using too many hair treatments in the same dye.
While gentle, color stripping your hair is still a minimally invasive treatment, so your hair may not be strong enough to handle the likes of a dye (especially a permanent one!).
When you color strip your hair, you leave the hair follicle lifted, leaving your hair feeling drier and stripped, and unfortunately overly porous.
This can not only compromise the final shade of your hair dye, but also leave you with patchy, uneven color throughout your locks. And that’s definitely not worth it considering all the work you went through!
Instead, let your hair rest for at least 3 days before taking to it with dye. But if you’ve been gifted with the quality of patience, you’ll benefit from letting your locks rest for a week. This will give your hair shaft ample time to heal and again bond with the rest of your hair, making it ready to take on your next hair color!
If you do decide to dye your hair in the same dye, or if you’re really pressed for time, we recommend skipping the permanent dye for now. It’s much too harsh, and a lot less forgiving than a semi or demi permanent dye.
Keep in mind that the color you’re applying may end up looking a lot darker than you intended, this is because your hair is in a high porosity state, and will cling to color a lot more than healthy hair can. Because of this, you may want to pick a shade that’s actually a couple of levels lighter than what you want the end result to be!
And when it comes to upkeep, moisture is your friend. Look for hydrating shampoos and conditioners, and take extra care to ensure that none of your hair products secretly contain alcohol! What your locks need right now is a lot of TLC. Go as long as you can without washing your hair after using a color stripper.
Not only will this rehydrate your locks, but if you’ve dyed your strands the same day, it’ll also give your color time to set.
We recommend using a deep conditioner once a week to keep your ends happy, and keeping heat styling to a minimum. If you’ve chosen color remover to strip your hair instead of bleach, you’ve made a healthy decision- and the same energy should be given to your locks after treatment as well!
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