Ever since I was about 15, I've been dyeing my hair using box dyes maybe twice a year. Not to an extreme or anything--just going from ashy light brown to a dark auburn shade. I would dye it, it would fade, and then about five-six months later, I would repeat the process. Yesterday, however, I decided to try something slightly darker as I've noticed not as much change the past year in my usual go-to dye. I am/was under the impression they changed the formulas and colours around a little.
Anyway, I ended up with black hair. Not even just "wow, this was darker than anticipated" brown. Black. As in, so black that it glistens blue in the sunlight. Does anyone remember Veronica Lodge from the Archie comics? That. Only I couldn't pull it off. Absolutely dreadful.
I did not look this good, but this was my hair colour. Unfortunately.
I'm convinced someone switched dyes and put pitch-black in the "dark brown" box thinking it would be funny. I mean, there's just no way a dark brown could come out completely the wrong colour. I'm just unlucky, I suppose. Anyway, I tried everything to lighten it and to try and make it work for me. I did the old baking-soda-mixed-with-shampoo trick and it did actually take out some of the blue shine/tinge from my hair, but that was about all it did.
I decided it was time to get rid of it all together when I was too ashamed of my own head to even want to be seen in public. I ran to the drugstore and bought a box of Color Oops, and two boxes of my USUAL medium auburn hair dye, in case the colour removal didn't leave my hair a colour I wanted (even though at that point I would have basically been happy with anything but black).
I followed all of the instructions as best as I could, and they were pretty straight-forward. Mix the two bottle contents, shake it up, apply to dry hair, cover with shower cap, sit in dry/humid space for up to 20 minutes, rinse out. Before going through with this process, I had read a fair share of reviews and while all of them were good/great, a lot of people had advice to follow on top of the basic instructions so it did get a little overwhelming. Almost every review I had read told me to RINSE RINSE RINSE until my arms fell off, so I tried my best. I rinsed and rinsed, but I honestly wasn't terribly worried about it because I knew I wasn't going for a drastic change. I just wanted the black to be gone.
After applying the formula (which doesn't smell nearly as bad as reviews would have you think--smells kind of like gasoline/flatulence after an hour though...and lasts a little while. If you have a window in your bathroom, open it!), I sat for about 20 minutes with my cap on. Before even taking the cap off, I could see the black disappearing. My hair looked normal again. I let it air dry after towel-blotting it for a while, and it was perfect. Back to my normal shade, only slightly more auburn and slightly darker, which, honestly, was what I was going for from the very beginning... so I left it at that.
The next day, it was quite a lot darker. Not black, not even close, but quite a dark brown auburn colour. When the box says rinse, definitely rinse as long as you can stand to. A lot of the reviews for the product said the same thing, and it's true. Dyeing your hair, and removing the dye, leaves your hair rather porous and it easily absorbs dark for the next while. If you haven't completely rinsed out ALL of the dye residue, it will come back at least to an extent. I can't speak for people who've gone lighter rather than darker, but I can say that my hair has gone back to dark since using the Color Oops. As I write this, a little over a full 24 hours after using it, it is dark brown. Honestly, this is the colour I was trying to achieve originally, so I'm content.
One thing I will say, though, it that if you plan on dyeing your hair after using the Color Oops, buy a dye that is at least 2-3 shades lighter than the colour you are going for!! Like I said, when your hair is porous (as it will be after you remove dye), it absorbs dark very easily. If you dye it the colour on the box, it will end up being much darker. If you dye it a few shades lighter than your goal shade, it should turn out darker and hopefully end up the result you're interested in. The box says same-day re-colour, but keep this in mind!
All in all, I'm extremely pleased with this product. I was mortified with my black hair and even though it sounds superficial and silly, I didn't want to leave the house. I dyed it on a weekend, worked the following week day and if I hadn't fixed it by then, I would've called in sick to work! I'm serious. It was horrendous. I'm incredibly happy Color Oops has fixed this whole ordeal for me, and I would absolutely recommend it to anyone with a hair-dye mishap. Or, really, anyone who just wants a change and needs to get rid of old dye they no longer feel like having.
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To sum up just a little bit, here's a timeline of my experience with using Color Oops. It was a long-weekend when all of this took place, so Monday was a holiday. I was just ecstatic there was a drugstore open.
Evening: Dyed hair. Left in for 25 minutes, as normal, and washed out. Was very, very dark, but I figured I could work with it and hopefully fade it a little before I went back to work. Showered multiple times in an attempt to fade the colour, to no avail.
Morning: Woke up to black hair. It had way, WAY, darkened overnight and was now a pitch black shade. Slightly mortified, decided it can't be as bad as I think it is. Washed it again. Decided to look up home-remedies for lightening hair. Decided to try the baking baking soda mixed with shampoo trick. Nothing.
Afternoon: Frantically ran to grab Color Oops from the drugstore, along with two boxes of hair dye just in case. I bought my normal hair dye, not knowing at this time that I was supposed to go 2-3 shades lighter with the box dye. Went home to read reviews and tips before applying the product to my hair.
Evening: When it was time, I followed the instructions. Rinsed only for about 10-15 minutes (they recommend 20-30) but I wanted my hair to darken slightly still so I wasn't concerned. Ended up with a shade somewhat close to my natural hair colour (the colour it was before this whole mess).
Morning: Woke up to darker hair than the previous evening. It had gone about 1-2 shades darker. As I mentioned previously, this was the shade I was aiming for originally, so I ended up very pleased.
Evening: Hair hasn't changed at all, it remains the same shade.
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My hair is fairly thick, approximately top to mid-boob length (totally legitimate unit of measurment). I usually only need one box of hair dye when dyeing my hair (since I'm never doing a drastic change) and only used one box of Color Oops, which was enough. I had about 1/8th left over in the end.
Would I repurchase? Absolutely. But here's hoping I don't need to.
Would I recommend? Yes. I knew about this product because when I worked in Cosmetics, the store I worked at carried it and I had many people come in looking for it. Never had to use it up until now.
Worth the price? Yes. It's about as expensive as a basic drugstore box of hair dye.
Pros: Inexpensive. Lightweight. Easy to apply. Effective. Life-saving. Very gentle.
Cons: Smelly. Requires a lot of rinsing.
Would I recommend? Yes. I knew about this product because when I worked in Cosmetics, the store I worked at carried it and I had many people come in looking for it. Never had to use it up until now.
Worth the price? Yes. It's about as expensive as a basic drugstore box of hair dye.
Pros: Inexpensive. Lightweight. Easy to apply. Effective. Life-saving. Very gentle.
Cons: Smelly. Requires a lot of rinsing.
I hope this review was helpful, and I hope you never have as terrible a hair-mishap as I did! If you've used this product before, what was your experience? Did it work for you? Do you have any advice you can offer?
Enjoy your week, sunshine.
C
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