QuestionI have dyed my hair just about every color green blue red pink blonde etc currently my hair is purple and surprisingly after about two months it is now fading. Now its three different shades of purple Bluish-purple, Plum-purple and towards the ends it is becoming a metallic lavender. when i first dyed my hair purple my roots were bleached blonde and the rest of my hair was blue, now my previous roots are pink and my current roots have grown out, brown. as crazy as its sounds my hair does not look bad at all with different shades of purple and pink. But now that it is fading i would like to change my hair and get the color ive always wanted Silver/Grey. I hear everyone talk about how to get silver from black and blonde but not from purple, i think it might be easier from purple but im not sure what to do. i know people when they have there hair white and stuff they use purple shampoo and roux fanci full true steel which is a temporary stain but im not sure how to get my hair to a lighter color. Can i bleed the color out with shampoo, someone said dye my hair brown and bleach it blonde but, i know to get to white or silver damage is something that will happen but i would like to avoid as much damage as i can. do you recommend anything i can do and maybe some products for after care, i have limited funds and i do my hair at home, because salons in my neighborhood only specialize in weaves and blow outs pretty much. Can you help me please.
AnswerHi Brittany,
Sorry for the delayed response. I was on a business trip and missed the notification.
The bright colors are direct dyes and they are a bear to remove. Most color removers just drive them deeper into the hair shaft. Depending on how much they've faded already, you may be able to use mineral oil to push out the pigments. Do not, under any circumstances, dye your hair brown and then bleach it. That won't work and it will blow out the hair shaft for extra fun.
The only way you're going to be able to achieve a true silver, you have to get it light and eliminate all signs of visible warmth, then apply a silver. You cannot do that with purple direct dye on your hair. Honestly, going from dark to light is tricky even on virgin hair. I would start with mineral oil or coconut oil to see how much you can remove. Your best bet, and if you want healthy hair, is to wait it out until it's nearly gone anyway.
I had a client a while back who dipped her hair in the color she was using to tyedye some shirts. After trying a ton of things at home to get it out, she came to me. I could barely get a comb through her hair. Ended up toning it to a more natural color. No more LIghtener for her. Moisturizer is an enemy to color too so UBER moisturizing treatments and oil treatments are the safest way to remove direct dyes even if it takes a while. If you can get it to a pale lavendar, you won't be far off from silver but if you try bleaching it or dying it brown and then blond it's going to be a very expensive fix with a corrective color specialist.
Unless your hair is very short, I'm not sure it's worth the risk, especially with your hair color history.
Good luck
