Tips How to Fix Hair Color Mistakes

While we all want our hair colorings to turn out perfectly, sometimes mistakes happen. And when a major hair color gaffe happens, you have two choices: 
1) Walk around with a totally messed-up dye job, or... 
2) Do something to fix the problem.

Assuming you care about your appearance, the second choice is most likely going to be what you pick. This being said, here is a look at some different things you should keep in mind when fixing a hair coloring gone wrong.

Fix the Problem Quickly

The biggest thing you need to keep in mind when hair color doesn’t turn out the way you expected is that the quicker you get to the problem, the more chance you have of fixing it. In the best case scenario, you will fix a bad dye job within 24 hours of the coloring; in the worst case scenario, you’ll attempt to correct things within 72 hours.

Letting the dye sit in your hair any longer than this will let the unwanted color penetrate your cuticles. Now this isn’t to say that it’s impossible to remove or reduce the color after 72 hours, but you’ll need to invest a lot more time and money into the matter if you don’t handle it quickly.

Hair Color Correction Kit


Assuming you’re going to fix a hair color mishap yourself, the best way to do this is by purchasing a hair correction kit. When buying the color corrector, make sure that you get the whole deal, including gloves, a shower cap, conditioner, color reducer, a color brush and processing lotion. In addition to all of this, you should get a set of instructions to follow with the kit, but we’ll also cover what to do below.

Most corrector packages call for you to mix the conditioner and color reducer together; once the mixture is created, you put the mix on your head with the color brush. As you apply the mixture, make sure to move the brush from your roots to the tips. The next step involves gently massaging the color reducer into your hair.

When you’ve finished with the reducer, you need to cover your head with a shower cap, and wait for the allotted amount of time (according to directions). While you’re waiting, you should be doing strand tests to see if the product is actually reducing the color (hopefully it is). If you’re unfamiliar with strand tests, you just need to take a small part of your hair, and wipe away the product to see what color your hair is.

After removing the shower cap, you can apply the processing lotion and let it sit in your hair. Once the processing lotion has run its course, you can jump in the shower to rinse the product out.

Visiting the Hair Salon

If your hair was colored at a salon, chances are that you’ll be able to re-visit the salon and get the color removed/corrected free of charge. These chances improve greatly when you contact the salon within the first 48 hours after the coloring.

Now sometimes you may lose confidence in the original salon that colored your hair. In this instance, you can always visit another salon to have the problem taken care of. Better yet, you can go to a color correction specialist and get really good results! In any case, just don’t try to redo a professionally-done job by yourself.

Re-Dyeing your Hair

Instead of trying to remove or reduce color, many people opt for re-dyeing their hair. This is an especially popular choice for those who have used a permanent product, and can’t use conventional means to take the dye out. But keep in mind that you’ll most likely have to visit a professional if your hair was colored a darker color.

When it comes time to re-dye your hair, the longer you wait to perform the dyeing, the better off you’ll be. In fact, you should try using a conditioner for color-treated hair before running out and buying more dye. After all, your hair is in a very sensitive state, and re-dyeing it too quickly can cause the hair to become even more dry and brittle. In addition to this, re-dyeing right after the initial dye job can lead to your hair either absorbing too much or too little of the color.

So when you take all of this into account, it’s very important to look at the health of your hair before deciding to re-dye it. Assuming your hair is dry and brittle, it’d be a good idea to wait at least a month (preferably two months) before dyeing all over again. If the health of your hair is good, you are safe to re-dye it within 2-3 weeks.

Letting Hair Color Fade Naturally

In some cases, removing the hair color isn’t an option. Maybe you waited too long and a stylist won’t fix the bad dye job, or you tried several at-home solutions and the product still won’t come out. Whatever your situation is, you may be in the unfortunate position of having to wait until your hair color fades naturally.

If you’re wondering how long this will take, it all depends on the hair color you chose and the product that was used. For example, if you dyed your hair blonde with a cheaper product, you would probably be waiting 2-3 months before the color is completely gone. Of course, it will fade before that, but this is a general estimate.

Assuming you used a permanent hair color product, your color is not meant to wash out or fade, so your best bet is to get it cut short and wait for the roots to grow in. Once this happens and your hair has grown out more, you can visit the salon and get your hair cut again. But hopefully you won’t have to go through this, and you’re able to use a solution that doesn’t require waiting on the hair color to fade.