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Ugliest Hair Colors (Color Gone Wrong)

by Gabbi

This year, it seems like there’s been a particular call to attention on haircare. Influencers and celebrities alike are all about ensuring that there’s not a strand out of place on their heads, and honestly, we love it!

That being said, we can’t help but look at our own heads of hair and seeing what needs some adjustment! Though none of us have ugly hair colors naturally, there are some instances out of our control that leave us with locks that need just a little more help and tweaking to be up to our preferences.

The ugliest har colors, or hair accidents, can be when blonde hair goes green, when a dye job leaves you with a splotchy color finish, when dealing with the growing out stages of a dye job, or when poor hair maintenance leaves you with lifeless locks.

Thankfully, these stages aren’t forever, and can easily be remedied (or prevented). In this article, we’ll break all of these hair faux-pas’ down so your mane can start looking it’s best- and fast!

Blonde Hair Going Green

Why It Happens

Simply put, the chemicals in water can wreak havoc on blonde hair.

There’s a ton of ways to describe the reactions happening when water hits your locks, but simply put, your hair is just undergoing an oxidized mineral buildup, which is just a fancy term to say that your mane is being exposed to chemicals that it’s absorbing at too quickly a rate.

You may have heard that this color change occurs when you expose your hair to high levels of chlorine, and though that is true, other chemicals can also be the culprit for suddenly feeling a little green! Copper and magnesium are also to blame (the former actually leading to the greenest reactions).

While hitting the pool is most likely to give you a head of minty hair, so can going to the ocean (saltwater), or going for a day at the lake (fresh water). The truth is that all water contains chemicals and minerals that can change the color of your hair – it just depends on the potency of the substances as to how bad of a reaction you’ll undergo.

Yes, even shower water can leave you with green hair. Though uncommon, poorly filtered water can contain concentrated enough levels of copper and the like that’ll leave your hair turning greener and greener after every wash.

How To Avoid It

Thankfully, you don’t have to suffer through green locks every time you want to cool down with a beach day. 

If you haven’t been swimming, but notice your locks turning green, it’s likely your shower water that’s the culprit. Should that be the case, go ahead and purchase a water filter for your showerhead.

We really like this 15 Stage Filter, which should clear out all of the chemicals that are turning your hair green (and making your skin dry, drying your eyes out, etc.)

For those who frequent the pool (or the lake, or the beach), the biggest way to avoid your hair going green is by never getting in the water with a completely wet head of hair. Doing this means your hair will absorb all of the chemicals that turn it green until it’s completely quenched. 

Instead, saturate your locks with some leave-in conditioner or a hair mask. This forms a barrier that protects your hair, which keeps it from absorbing too many green-weaning substances.

How To Treat It

To get rid of a severe green tint, mix together baking soda and water until you get a paste. Using clean hands, work this paste throughout your locks, making sure to saturate it entirely. Let this set for 5 minutes before thoroughly rinsing. It may take a couple of repeats, but the green should notably fade. 

Blondes are probably familiar with toning, but it’s usually with a purple shade. To counter the green hues, though, we’re going to tone with something red.

It may sound strange, but tomato ketchup is handy for neutralizing green hues. Simply work the condiment through your locks, let it sit for 15 minutes, and rinse out to reveal beautifully bright, blonde hair!

Or, if you’re feeling like your haircare skills are questionable, there’s no one more suited to correct hair mistakes than a professional hairstylist! Book an appointment at the salon, and you’re sure to leave with a head of hair you’re proud of.

Splotchy Hair Dye

Why It Happens

An uneven, patchy, or splotchy dye job can be caused by a number of things. This includes using a low-quality dye, putting pigment over a poor bleaching job, or dyeing over hair that already has existing color!

A low-quality dye, though less costly, probably won’t go on or process in the same capacity as a higher, or professional grade dye. This is the reason so many professional stylists warn us against using box dye on a regular basis!

For brunettes looking to go lighter, you likely had to go under a bleach treatment or two to lift your natural shade enough for color to show. Bleach definitely isn’t a product you want to mess with, and a poor application of it can leave you with lasting damage, an uneven lift, or uneven color overall.

Dyeing processed hair isn’t just damaging to your locks, but it’s a surefire way to leave you with an uneven color, since it’s difficult for new pigment to push the existing dye out of your colored hair. 

How To Avoid It

If you can, try not to repetitively use box dye after box dye. Though accessible and easy to use, box dyes are chockfull of chemicals that your hair shouldn’t be consistently exposed to.

Instead, save up for a professional coloring job at a salon – though more costly, they’ll save the integrity of your hair, making them the better choice in the long run!

Properly prepping your hair before you dye it is also a necessity! If you need to use bleach, ask a friend to help you apply the treatment- they can ensure each section is evenly saturated. 

Proper preparation includes stripping your hair of any existing color (even if it’s light coloring like highlights, etc.). A color stripper will push all the leftover pigment from your locks, so that each strand is able to absorb any new color with maximum efficiency.

How To Treat It

For those who are already dealing with a patchy dye job, and need a seriously quick fix, go ahead and book a salon appointment.

Chances are, your hair has already been worked through a ton- so exposing it to harsh ingredients won’t lead to anything but more damage. Your hair salon and stylist will be able to assess the damage and help you out best!

If a hair appointment is out of the question, the next best thing to do is just leave your hair alone until it’s healthy enough for another home-dye-session (with a better, more deeply pigmented dye this time around!). We think waiting a month would be safe, but if you can, 6 weeks is usually the prime time for a touch-up!

Growing Out A Dye Job

Why It Happens

Some hair dye treatments grow out better than others. Lowlights, balayage, and dyeing hair a similar color to your natural shade will leave you with a more subtle growing out process than say, dying blonde hair hot pink.

Basically, part of opting for a deeply contrasting dye job (dyeing hair an unnatural color, going from blonde to black, black to blonde, etc.) is that the growing out process is going to be fairly striking – this is why so many people end up going back to their natural shade soon after their roots grow in!

Growing out a dye job is also a natural, though painstaking, part of trying to regrow your virgin locks.

How To Avoid It

If you want a change in mane, but don’t want to deal with too harsh of a growing out process, you can always dye your hair a richer shade of your natural hair color! Go for a deeper shade of blonde, go from light brown to chestnut, or go for a blue-black tone instead of a natural black (which has red undertones).

Asking your hair stylist for their input on colors that will fade well is also a great option. They’ll probably point you in the direction of a semi-permanent dye rather than a permanent one, so that it fades to your natural shade with each wash.

How To Treat It

If you’re in love with your new hair and want to make sure that it lasts as long as possible, a good way to avoid the growing out process being too harsh is by going in for regular touch-ups at the salon. Here, your stylist will blend your roots into the dye that’s grown out, making for an even head of hair.

Or, instead of a full on touch-up (which involves hair dye), you can touch-up your hair by asking for a hair gloss treatment.

Different than a pigmented dye job, a hair gloss treatment is a semi-permanent coloring that stains the hair rather than completely saturating it with pigment. These treatments are far gentler, and fade in a less harsh way.

Hair Looking Lifeless

Why It Happens

It happens to the best of us. We try so hard to keep our hair looking its best that we may end up working it too much. We can do this by over-washing it, exposing it to too much keratin or protein, or even by depriving it of some much-needed hydration.

Product overload is a definite reality, and we’re seeing a lot more of it nowadays with the number of products that are being pushed towards us every day. You may have fallen victim to protein or keratin overload, which can strip hair of shine and leave it looking dull.

Over-washing, or not using conditioner effectively, can also leave hair stringy, straw-like, and dull. Doing this can also increase breakage and hairfall!

How To Avoid It

The first, and likely most important step, is to find and stick to a washing routine. No hair type should need to be washed every single day, even super oily hair types.

In fact, going a couple of days in between washes can actually regulate your scalp’s oil production. Try going for a wash every two days (one wash a week being the main goal).

Find hair products that are complimentary to your hair type. This involves really dissecting what it is your mane needs. Find out if your hair is highly absorbent, curly, porous, etc. Then, do your research on products that will keep it looking its best.

Once you have your products set, shift your focus onto finding hair treatments. These can be done on a weekly to monthly basis, but consider them to be the products that turn back the clock on damage. These can be hair-masks, leave-in treatments, etc.

How To Treat It

For manes that are suffering from product buildup, there’s nothing that brings life back to your locks quite as well as a clarifying shampoo.

Clarifying formulas strip your hair of any and all product buildup, leaving your strands ready to be nursed back to health with potent deep conditioning treatment! We love this Clarifying Shampoo by Kristin Ess

Healing some serious damage? Make the switch to some reparative hair care treatments. Don’t go overboard with these, the last thing you want to do is overexpose your locks to more product, but when it comes time for a wash or deep condition, opt for higher quality, more potent formulas rather than drugstore brands like Suave. 

While your hair is in this stage for reparation, try to go as heat-free as possible! Heat can steal shine from hair like its gold, so shielding your mane with a thermal protectant, and using as minimum of a temperature as possible can work wonders!

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