[sophiebaker]

I know there's a thread about this but this is kind of different.

I've been dying my hair for about 3 years now, darker than my natural shade. I've dyed it red, purple, darker brown. My natural hair colour is light brown, as far as I remember.

I was wondering if this would take all of it out? Or what colour would you think it'd leave it?

Also is it okay to use straighteners on it afterwards and hairdryers?
Someone told me you can't?

I'm thinking of buying this product at the weekend, so if you can get back before then, thanks

[Gabe9999]

I have always heard that the colour that suits you best is always the colour you're born with... however i think if you are light brown, a few blonde highlights dont hurt, as long as they are done well

you can of course use straighteners and hairdryers.. although obviously thats all really bad for ur hair x

[sophiebaker]

im not gonna do it blonde, not wanting to dye it anymore, oh good yeah i use protection all the time i do, just was told you couldnt use them for a bit after you have used tthis product, thanks

[DaniLou17]

i always blow dry and straighten my hair after colouring it its fine

[sophiebaker]

Thanks for the reply.

Yeah me too, but doesn't this stuff change the colour by the heat or something?

[Ilora-Danon]

It depends on the types of dye you've used and how porous the hair was when you dyed it each time. Cuticle staining can occur with darker hair colourants, so you may have permanently stained hair - I've used colour b4 twice now on 'semi permanent dark brown dye' and it has only been able to lift it a couple of shades lighter and has left a very brassy red tinge to the top third of my hair.

Obviously, my case will be different to yours but proceed with caution and don't expect miracles. You may need to use a peroxide free 'toner' or 'tint' to the hair to take out any brassy-ness that might be left by the stripper.

Depending on the true condition of your hair, you may not want to use heat styling straight after using colour b4 - your hair may well feel very straw-like if you've been using colourants for a long time. Let it dry naturally and see what colour you're left with - give it 24 hours to settle and then consider heat styling/re-tinting.

[sophiebaker]

Thanks, yeah I don't really expect it to go to my natural, once that's gone it's gone. I'm not really sure how it'd dry natural I'll try tomorrow night if it drys fine ill leave it, but when as far as i know it's wavy and for school I have to straighten it, would that be a problem?

The only thing I can do is try I guess. I recently dyed it 'cool brown' so my hair is like browny purple atm.

[Popppppy]

I saw this and was thinking of getting it, the ends of my hair, like the bottom 3 or 4 inches are practically black and i want to lighten them. Problem is before i dyed my hair brown (semi permanent dye that won't wash out!) it was bleached so my mum thinks this product will just bring my hair back the the bleached colour instead of just lightening the shade of brown.
Anyone got experience with that?

[Hannah.x]

(Original post by sophiebaker)
I know there's a thread about this but this is kind of different.

I've been dying my hair for about 3 years now, darker than my natural shade. I've dyed it red, purple, darker brown. My natural hair colour is light brown, as far as I remember.

I was wondering if this would take all of it out? Or what colour would you think it'd leave it?

Also is it okay to use straighteners on it afterwards and hairdryers?
Someone told me you can't?

I'm thinking of buying this product at the weekend, so if you can get back before then, thanks

Hey
I used this stuff the other day
My hair is really really dark brown and I've my hair various browns and reds but it was really annoying me that I couldnt cover the red when I didnt want it anymore so I tried this, hoping it could get at least some of the red out.

It did work really well and got all the red and brown dyes out - but what I hadn't realised/remembered was I used a red with like lighteners/bleach or something in it to make it show up more intense, so the colour b4 stuff took my hair to like a ginger-y colour (it was definitely a dye I'd used in the past that did this, not the Colour B4 because I could see my natural roots as well which were previously covered with brown/red dye, so dont be scared that yours will end up this colour :P )

But yeah, it smells absolutely vile, kinda egg-y even? But I thought it was pretty good, I dyed my hair to something similar to my natural colour straight away (You might not have to dye it if you've only used normal dyes/no bleach or anything) and dried and straightened it straight after and it seems in alright condition

Butttttt, Im not sure how it'll work out on naturally light hair, what with staining the cuticle and stuff... Worth a try though I'd say

Sorry for the length of this post, I always get a bit carried away and go into too much detail explaining things :P

[sophiebaker]

Haha it's alright thanks, I read the info on Boots website and it said It'd work better if your natural hair colour is lighter than what you've been dying it?

And I checked I haven't used bleach hairdye. And thanks for letting my know it's ok to use straighteners!

I wouldn't mind orange hair, keep it for abit then go brown hehe, thanks I shall let you all know, I'll be doing it Monday so I'll let you all know how it goes and if I have any other theorys

[truthandtragedy]

I tried it a while back and it didn't do anything for my hair. I've had my hair every colour under the sun. I left it natural for a while recently, then dyed it dark brown but it went far too dark so I bought a lightening kit from Boots, think it was the L'Oreal Super Blonde Creme, and it lifted the colour right now. I'm now orange, which I actually like! But yeah, I strongly advise that if you want to lift the colour out of your hair then just use the lightening kit rather than ColourB4. It will dry your hair out a little, but I used a deep conditioner afterwards and my hair is in much better condition now. Think the lightening kit is cheaper, too!

[sophiebaker]

Thanks, so does it lighten the haircolour or pull the hairdye out?

If it lightens then mine would go faded purple I'd reckon?

[Hannah.x]

(Original post by sophiebaker)
Haha it's alright thanks, I read the info on Boots website and it said It'd work better if your natural hair colour is lighter than what you've been dying it?

And I checked I haven't used bleach hairdye. And thanks for letting my know it's ok to use straighteners!

I wouldn't mind orange hair, keep it for abit then go brown hehe, thanks I shall let you all know, I'll be doing it Monday so I'll let you all know how it goes and if I have any other theorys

Haha it looked horrendous on me :P I wasn't expecting it to have done much to the colour, I expecting floods of dye to wash out but there was hardly anything...and then I looked in a mirror and was like :| , was quite a shock to find I had orange hair lol

I've read on here quite a few people saying it didn't really work for them, but I thought it was really good apart from the smell so you'll just have to see how it goes for you

[sophiebaker]

Yeah they're are quite a few, but they might have had bleach in their previous hair dyes, or something that could effect it? I've checked I haven't.

My hair is medium length, It'll take months for it to grow out. I don't see anything majurely bad going to happen to it, even if it goes orange i'm sure if I dye it light brown my roots won't look dead bad.

As you say, all I can do is try
My friend tried it, and it worked she has purple streaks left in it, but I'd pressume they would wash out edventually.

[ScottCornwall]

Hi There, I had to wade into this discussion because after reading some of the posts I feel that Colour B4 is getting a bad wrap. Since I launched the product last year I get tons of e-mails from people and I have to say around 80% are really positive with people thanking me for creating a product that worked so well. However, I get a standard 20% which can actually be really abusive saying "you're product doesn't work" and even taking a ruder line than that! After some investigation I always discover one of two things:-

1) The user had applied an incredibly heavy silicone based colourant (usually on multiple occassions) and then cooked the silicone into their high with high straightening irons making it impossible to remove (or any other colour to enter).

2) They had abused their hair so much originally, bleaching, darkening, lightening, adding red, purple, pink etc that their natural hair colour has been shot away and there is nothing but bright ginger for Colour B4 to expose.

I have to also add to those people who have done the above and mailed me (you know who you are! LOL), they will never admit to doing any of these things and imply their hair was fresh as a daisy prior to using Colour B4. I'm not going to tell you how I know, but I tend to always know what the hair was 'really' like based on the things I am being told (or not told as the case may be!).

I am in the process of getting my website changed to have a Colour Correction clinic added to help with all these issues, but I do get really wound up with the e-mails "I used Colour B4 to remove black hair colour, I had it pink in December and last summer I bleached it blonde. I used your product and now my hair is bright ginger!! What are you going to do about it?!" You wouldn't believe how rude some people are! I'm also amazed their hair is just ginger and not falling out after such colouring activities!

Here are the facts about Colour B4:-

1) It works best on hair which has been recently coloured darker without tons of previous colour applications. On these occassions it can bring back the Colour you had before.

2) Most home colourants use way too high a strength of peroxide in their developers. A true semi permanent should use lower than 3% and ideally 1.9% peroxide. However most of these popular colourant brands you see on the shelves (even those which claim to last 24 washes) use strengths as high as 6% and even 9%. These peroxide strengths can lighten hair by as much as two or three levels, therefore although you may be colouring your hair black your natural colour has been lightened (in the process) to a gingery shade. When you apply Colour B4 it removes the black but exposes the ginger and people wrongly assume Colour B4 created that ginger colour.

3) As I mentioned, many products contain high amounts of silicone. Silicone creates shine in the hair but it also 'locks in' colour molecules. This is why semi permanent home colours (which should fade) never do, as the hair shaft has been stuffed with silicone. If you continue to overload the hair with these colourants you are introducing more and more silicone which is literally encasing the hair. If you then go and apply an iron over 230 degrees the silicone will reach its boiling point and melt inside the hair. It cooks your cortex (where all the hair fibres are) and when it cools hardens and has literally turned your hair synthetic. You know if you have silicone damage because after using Colour B4 you will find the areas nearest to your scalp (roots and midlengths) are showing a lighter colour, but the ends have a synthetic shiny quality but the colour has not budged. If you bleach the hair silicone damage will often go a bright dark shiny red which you just cannot shift.

4) Although it can be frustrating and costly, Colour B4 isn't always going to work 100% on the first attempt. As a general rule (silicone damage aside) it will remove the last colour application and around 50% of a one prior, however with heavy colour build up you may be required to repeat the application. Its like painting a wall, if you have overlayed coat after coat of hair colour you need to go in and try to remove on a layer by layer basis. It's still cheaper to use three boxes of Colour B4 (at around £35) than visit a salon who will charge you anywhere from £100 to £250 for a colour correction) and you could spend 6 hours in there! Also, if you are wanting to remove that much build up it's usually a good years worth of colouring you are trying to get rid of there, not the last colour application or a colour mishap (which will go in one hit).

5) Although the box says 'Re-colour the same day' in most cases I don't usually recommend using a semi or permanant colour on the same day as using B4. Mostly because if you select the wrong shade it will go to the wrong colour again! However, most hair types are porous after using B4. This is because all the colour molecules have been removed so the hair is less full. After using B4 the hair is very clean and open. It's a perfect time to apply a rich conditioner as the hair will literally eat it up and hydrate. If you apply a colourant the hair can mistakenly think it's being given a protein conditioner and absorb all the colour molecules too quickly causing the colour to look darker than you had hoped.

6) Rinsing, you have to rinse Colour B4 for ages (I mean for ages - you should do it in the shower its more comfortable). People seem to think that 2 minutes feels like 10 and will say "I rinsed it for as long as instructed" but in reality they didn't. If the colour molecules were not rinsed from the hair the oxygen (over a few days) can get to them and expand them again - causing the colour to return. If you haven't rinsed properly and then apply another peroxide based colour it expands the colour molecules immediately and you are back to square one!

Without a doubt the best approach (after using B4) is to 'rest' the hair. Remember, your hair has been cleansed of alien colour molecules and quite often people don't realise how harsh colouring can be to the hair. Permanent colourants contain ammonia which can dry the hair, they include silicones and conditioning polymers which fill your hair and make it appear healthy, however in reality the hair has been slightly damaged. When Colour B4 removes all these particles it can expose the true condition of your hair. Therefore, your first priority should be helping the condition. As I said, the good thing about using Colour B4 is it leaves your hair in a state which is perfect to accept conditioning protein. I recommend Joico Kpak, Philip Kingsley Elastizer or Naked Vitamin treatment (from Boots). Before you apply another peroxide based colour get the condition in your hair really good. Good condition (in the hair) evokes a good colour result.

If your hair is a patchy or gingery colour after using B4 then simply rest the hair but disguise this unwanted colour with a temporary shade like Wella Colour Fresh or Loving Care. If you had removed an unwanted dark brown colour, you can re-colour your hair a temporary dark brown (for example) whilst you are resting the hair. Over the next week or so you can condition and wash the hair and that temporary dark brown will fade away as it washes out. After a week to 10 days your hairs condition will be normalised and you can re-colour with your desired permanent or semi permanent shade.

Lastly, with regards to using bleach to remove colour - I wouldn't suggest it. Speaking as a hairdresser this is how we had always removed artificial colour and its a little like using a sledge hammer to crack a walnut. You do remove the unwanted dark colour, however you lighten all the natural hair to a nasty orange (which requires colouring again in itself) and more importantly you dry out and damage the condition of the hair. In my experiences with clients (who I had to bleach to remove blacks etc), it would then take 2 years for the bleached areas to grow out and I had to constantly apply green based browns to neautralise out the red which kept showing through, in addition to colouring the natural (new) hair a different shade in order to blend the mid-lengths and ends.

If the hair displays ginger (when Colour B4 has been used) you can at least let the hair calm down and then apply an ash colourant which will fill the hair and even it out. If you want to be fairer having a few bleach highlights (after this) is better than bleaching the whole head!

Remember, hair colouring is a far more serious undertaking than most people realise. You are applying chemicals to your hair and changing both its natural condition and colour level. Colour B4 is a colour removal system in a box, but it also requires you remember what you have put on your hair in the past. It isn't a magic elixor which will undo any damage caused by previous colouring products. Its a very simple formulation that shrinks the artificial colour molecules so they can be rinsed away. It's great because it can wipe the slate clean and put you back on track, but I certainly don't like it getting blamed for all the bad the other products have done to the hair.

Cheers

Scott

[sophiebaker]

Thanks Scott, I'm not expecting for a miracle once you've dyed your hair your natural colour is long gone, if it works this would be one of the best products to be bought, so I shall let you know monday how it goes.

[Popppppy]

I used Colour B4 today, it worked really well, surprisingly since I had 4 years of dying and bleaching built up.
Unfortunately though, the new colour I put on after turned out wayyy darker than the picture on the box and I'm right back where I started!
Luckily the colour is a temporary one so hopefully it will wash out soon.

I was thinking of uploading some before and after pics for everyone!

[emmalou098]

(Original post by Popppppy)
I used Colour B4 today, it worked really well, surprisingly since I had 4 years of dying and bleaching built up.
Unfortunately though, the new colour I put on after turned out wayyy darker than the picture on the box and I'm right back where I started!
Luckily the colour is a temporary one so hopefully it will wash out soon.

I was thinking of uploading some before and after pics for everyone!

oh that would be very helpful im not sure whether to get this product as ive heard so many mixed reviews!

[RACHEL W]

Hi i colour my hair prob every winter i use the swartzkopf xxl live the last colour i used was blk blue would this colour b4 work?Alot of the dye has grown out but the rest is takin ages and gettin bored of it.My natural colour is lightish brown so wana try get back to that.Any help is appreciated

[dillo204]

I have been dying my hair all shades of plum for the last 12months and have alot of build up on my ends.. i want to go a vibrant plum ,do you think i need to strip my ends with this product ? or my whole head my ends are alot darker ??? also can you colour it straight after ? please give me some advice..