AboutDana Sear Expertise I can answer questions on all types of hairstyling, cutting, designing, coloring, corrective color, perming techniques,product knowledge, and in general, anything that has anything to do with hair.
Experience I have been a designer and educator for 26 years. I have been a salon consultant for Redken, affiliate trainer for ABBA Pure and Natural and am currently a member of the design team and trainer for my company. I specialize in corrective color, perming and style support, and image updates (make overs)
Education/Credentials I have been actively licensed for 26 years. I have a college degree in another field, and actively participate in and teach cutting, perming, coloring, and business building classes. I am a certified Redken Consultant and certified to perform and teach Chi Transformation.
Question About three years ago I had my naturally blonde/golden brown hair dyed a dark brown by a stylist. I continued going to that stylist to dye my hair for about a year, then swtiched to DIY and started using Loreal Feria number 40 and have been using that once a month for about two years.
I'm starting college in the fall, and don't want to spend the time and money keeping up my hair color. I'm ready to go back to my natural color and I'm wondering a few things about it.
What steps can I take to safely fade my color quickly in the next few months without getting splotchy and uneven color? And if I go into a stylist to have it dyed back to my natural color, will I have to keep dying it to keep it that way? I just need to know the easiest way to get back to natural!
Answer Hiya Tauna,
You will not be able to get your hair back to it's natural color at home. A very good colorist will be able to get it close enough that you will be able to let it grow out but hair that has been dyed darker than the natural color would have to be lifted and the problem is, when you use a product for lifting or removing color, it does not target JUST the hair color that has been applied. Your natural color will be lifted too and then something close to your natural will have to be applied.
Getting it to fade a bit quicker may be your best bet. Shampooing in warmer water and using a moisturizing conditioner will fade your color rather quickly but you did not mention whether or not you have been overlapping the color. If the color has been layered on top of itself too often, it is not going to fade very well, nor will it lift out with a decolorizer very well.
The safest thing to do, is the hot water and moisturizing conditioner. If you are using semi permanent color, and it has not been overlapped too many times, you can wet your hair, apply and lather up some Johnson's Baby Shampoo, put on a processing cap and warm it with a dryer. It will lift the color a bit. You will probably have to do it more than once and you can leave it on for 15 to 30 minutes. You should be able to see discolored water pooling in the cap if it is working. If you try this, be sure to follow with a good deep conditioner.
