How long after color oops can i bleach my hair

I’m about to use Colour Remover for the first time and I wanted to know what should I expect my Hair to be like afterwards? Honestly, I have a lot of questions and I was wondering if you could answer them. Here’s the list.

Is doing it once enough?
Does Colour Remover smell?
If I leave it on longer, will it remove more?
Will it lighten my Natural Colour?
How long after can I Colour?
Is it true that my Hair will go orange?
And, if my Hair is orange, should I Tone then Colour? Can I Tone straight away?

Thanks in advance,

Millie

I'm going to put it out there, we are Colour Remover fanatics. We’re obsessed with watching the Hair transition right in front of our eyes and get excited at the prospect of our next CR session. It's always fun to have a first timer amongst us, seeing the panic before and the relief once it's done. So let’s answer your questions to turn you too into a believer.

It differs from person to person how many times you will need to Colour Remove. Your Hair may be cleared out the first time, or after 2 or 3 goes. It depends on key factors: how long you have been Colouring your Hair, the type of Colour you're Removing (eg: Black / darker Hair Colours will take longer to remove) and your amount of Colour Build Up. It's really important for your Hair’s health and future Colour’s vibrancy to get that Colour Build Up out, so keep Colour Removing until it's all out. (Have a look at our Colour Build Up page for all your questions)

Colour Remover definitely has a distinct smell. The key ingredient that gets the work done and removes the Colour is the smelliest (typical). It will go after a few good shampoos.

If you leave Colour Remover on for longer than instructed, it will not remove more Colour.

Colour Remover is bleach free, so it does not have the ability to lift/Lighten your Hair. There is no point wasting that liquid gold on your Natural Hair, keep it on the areas that need to remove the Hair Colour.

We like to wait at least 48 hours before Colouring and longer when you are lightening the Hair. After Colour Removing your Hair shaft is completely open, so it absorbs anything you put on your Hair. This can make your Colour a lot darker. So when reColouring, choose a Colour 2 shades Lighter than your desired Colour outcome.

Your Colour Removed Hair will be warmer than your Natural Colour. This brassiness is from the Developers / peroxides you used in your previous Colours. It’s a part of the process.

Once you have Colour Removed, only Tone your Hair if you are happy with the Colour level/Lightness and just want to eliminate the Warmth. We advise to wait 48 hours to let the Hair settle. If you can’t wait, remember your Hair shaft is open and extremely absorbent, so keep a close eye on your Hair during the process as it may not need to be left on your Hair for as long as normal.

Alternatively, if you want to Colour your Hair and remove the orange/Warmth, wait 48 hours and choose a Natural or Colour with a Cool Tone (a Colour with Ash or Beige) to Tone down the Warmth.

Good luck Millie, make sure to send us some before and after pics!

  • So my hair has been Special Effects Atomic Pink for about three months or so. I've decided to strip it out and start fresh with something new. I'm not sure what I want yet, but since I'm going to need my hair to rest after the processing I'm doing, I'll have time to think about it.

    Okay, so what I've done today is use Color Oops Extra Strength over my hair. It didn't do much, but removed some color that was there previously, as I had some drugstore black that had turned purple all throughout it. That is completely gone now. Orange. I've just applied bleach to my hair, I'm not worried about it frying, I've dyed my hair and processed it and used heat on it for ten years now, and I've never had to do anything more than trim some split ends.

    My big question here is this: After using the Color Oops, I used AphoGee Instensive 2-Minute Keratin Reconstructor. This is a protein treatment, which I used to help with my so that way when I dye it again, it doesn't just turn black. I've got bleach on my head now. I'm leaving it in until my hair is all brassy or as pale as I can get it. I have Wella Color Charm #T18, previously White Lady, it's the Lightest Ash Blonde color. I want to know if using this toner after doing the Color Oops will turn my hair purple. I know that your hair sucks up anything you put in it, unless you use the protein treatment, which I did, but I'm still skeptical. I'd like to be able to do this today as well, the toner, but I'm willing to wait if there's a chance it will turn purple. I don't need that nonsense.

    Anyways, I do know what I'm doing, I just haven't ever used toner after Color Oops, and want to be sure the protein treatment will have done what it's supposed to do. If you have any experience with that or with getting Atomic Pink back to blonde, then let me know! Thanks!

  • Honestly, I would have waited a lot longer (maybe at least a day or two) to make sure you correctly processed and rinsed the molecules from your hair with the Color Oops; considering if too many molecules weren't rinsed out enough, they would re oxidize and your hair would darken. Considering so far, I assume the bleaching process is/has gone okay, your hair will probably react almost solely based on the fact that it was bleached, and not necessarily on the fact you used color oops. Unless you can still smell the awful sulphur from Color Oops which would make it evident that there is still traces in your hair, I wouldn't significantly worry. Toner itself can be tricky, and I've used Wella's T18 before and it looks extremely purple once mixed. Some people advise to take it off as soon as it turns this color; I left it on for a whole half an hour considering I hadn't toned my hair at all yet and it was the first time. It came out a white/silver color, and the parts that weren't bleached as light were toned down. I would strand check it every 5 minutes and see how your hair is reacting, but this toner faded very fast for me and I took care of my hair so it wouldn't necessarily fade, as well as shampooing with purple shampoo. The worst that can happen is that it's tinted purple and you go from there

  • It is recommended that you wait a week (and several shampoos) between a colour remover and any process with peroxide (bleach oe the toner) to prevent re-oxidation of the colour molecules. I would also be concerned about bleaching freshly washed hair, it is better to let your hair get dirty/greasy before bleaching so the natural oils protect your scalp. Protein treatments can leave your hair very dry, always follow with a deep conditioning/hydrating treatment. Since you opted to bleach, this will be even more necessary. Colour remover, wait a week with several clarifying shampoos, bleach, then protein treatment, then intense hydrator, then finally the toner is the order I would have used these products. If you aren't looking for further lift, a toner that doesn't use peroxide will be far gentler at this point, a permanent toner is unnecessary if you are going to be covering it with another semi. How did it turn out? Atomic Pink is notoriously difficult to remove.

    I did then what I knew then, & when I knew better, I did better.
    — Maya Angelou

  • http://smg.photobucket.com/user/xgrayxrainbowsx/media/hairswatches_zpsef15021f.jpg.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v57/xgrayxrainbowsx/hairswatches_zpsef15021f.jpg

    Here's the swatches (I don't know if this will work, I haven't been on a forum in probably eight years). The top left is how my hair started, the top right is after using the Color Oops, the bottom left is after bleaching, and the bottom right is after a second bleach and using the toner.

    So my hair is white all over, and the pink has all gone except a very light, pastel splotchyness in places. What I've decided to do, since I'm madly in love with the white, is take my Atomic Pink, dilute it with conditioner a LOT, and then put it in streaks all over from crown to tips to make a light pastel pink all over, with the white peeking through. I'm aiming for it to turn out like this:

    http://smg.photobucket.com/user/xgrayxrainbowsx/media/pastel3_zpsc2bb9637.jpg.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v57/xgrayxrainbowsx/pastel3_zpsc2bb9637.jpg

    Also, it didn't dry my hair out or wreck it at all. I've done some pretty heavy bleachings in my day, and the batch of hair on my head currently has only been bleached once, although it's been dyed a lot. I take ridiculously good care of my hair, with the exception of when I do a heavy processing day. There was a little bit of my fringe that got a teensy bit fried, maybe a centimeter or so? And I just trimmed that off. But checking the rest, it was fine.

  • I'll take a photograph of the final results this afternoon, in the sunlight, and post it. :)

  • How long should you wait to bleach your hair after color remover?

    Therefore, for best results, we recommend waiting at least 48 hours before re-dyeing. However, if you don't want to wait, choose two shades lighter color than you would like.

    Can you put bleach on your hair after using Color Oops?

    The bleach wash can work miracles: on me it gets rid of the ugly ashy, yellow, AND orange tones left over from both old dye molecules and the Oops. It also spares you from reactivating the color left in your hair all the time with a developer, and having to use remover over and over and over.

    Can you bleach over color remover?

    You should always go with the remover first, to get rid of any unwanted pigmentation in your hair. If there's still some color left over after that step, then by all means use a bleach product next.

    Can you go blonde after using Color Oops?

    You can, but if you are looking to recolor we recommend using a Color Remover again. Keep in mind that a remover will only take you to the lightest oxidative level at which your color processed, that often ends up being somewhere in the orange/dark orange range depending on the color you had.