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If a hair colour turns out too dark, it is very annoying. It's not what you wanted and often makes your face hard. The colour does eventually lighten on its own. After six to eight weeks, the colour has already lifted one colour level.
Is this not going fast enough for you? Unfortunately, you can't colour dyed hair lighter directly. But what can you do? And how do you prevent your hair from getting too dark? We give you tips and advice on how to lighten your hair that has been dyed too dark. The sooner you act after dyeing, the better you can remove the hair dye.
The best advice we can give you is to wash your hair with vitamin C powder. We have tested this method ourselves, and it really works very well! The sooner you wash with vitamin C powder after dyeing, the better. Put a few vitamin C (effervescent) tablets in a bowl, crush them, add a little hot water and shampoo, and mix well. Make sure you get a thick paste. Apply this to your wet/towel-dried (can also be used on dry) hair and let it work for an hour with a shower cap or plastic wrap around it. Then rinse your hair well and use shampoo and conditioner. You can also use vitamin C powder.
After rinsing, use a moisturising mask. Impressive colour pigments will still hold on!
What also works well is to massage an (aggressive) anti-dandruff shampoo into your dry hair. Pin it down (for longer hair) and blow-dry it so it gets nice and hot. Then wrap your hair in aluminium foil, which helps you retain the warmth better. After 15 minutes, rinse it out. Then wash it with WECOLOUR shampoo and conditioner or Dark Bamboo. If you use this method, do it only on the first day of the 10 days and not every day.
Do you prefer a natural remedy? Brew tea from loose chamomile or chamomile tea bags. Pour the cooled tea (possibly through a sieve) into a spray bottle. Spray your dry hair thoroughly with it. Allow your hair to dry in the sun or use a hairdryer. This will lighten your hair more quickly. The advantage of this method is that it is very gentle on your hair (aside from using the hairdryer, of course). You can repeat this regularly. Just be cautious with the use of the hairdryer; don't use too much heat.
The above methods don't always work entirely as desired. The only option you have then is to decolorize or bleach your hair. This is the same. Usually, it is necessary to colour your hair or use a toner afterward. Be careful not to use a colour that is too dark for your porous hair. So be careful which colour you choose. Again, be very careful when decolouring/bleaching. Always use a professional bleaching product.
You can also add some highlights around your face. This way, with just a few highlights, you create a significant effect.
Want to lighten it a little less radically? Then use bleach for a bleaching wash. Want to lighten your colour a half to a full colour level? Mix WECOLOUR blonde cream 1:2 with shampoo and massage well for a few minutes. Then rinse thoroughly. Want to lighten your hair 1 to 2 colour levels? Then mix the blonde cream with activator (1:2) and mix this with your shampoo (again 1:2). In between, check if your hair is already the desired colour level and rinse as soon as it is. With these methods, you often don't even need to use a toner afterwards. Read more about the different methods how to use our bleach when your hair has become too dark here.
Prevention is always much better! You can't easily change hair dyed too dark. You can always use our hair colour advice tool, to choose a new hair colour. This takes into account the condition and the current colour of your hair. You can reduce the chance of a hair dye that's too dark a lot. In case of doubt, go for the lightest colour. You can always colour dyed hair darker, but not lighter. If you have a colour in mind, read the product information about that colour on our website. Sometimes, for example, a colour is known to turn out darker on damaged or fine hair. Also check out the WECOLOUR Pinterest hair colour board. There you'll see many examples of how that colour can turn out. Is your hair chemically treated, porous or damaged? Then first get your hair in a better condition, by using for example hair masks like our Colour Mask conditioner before dyeing. This will prevent that hair dye turns out too dark. Before dyeing, would you like to have a chat with one of our color specialists? Schedule a free video consultation.
People with porous, damaged, curly or fine hair are more at risk to get their hair colour dyed too dark because their hair cuticles are very open. Therefore, the pigment can very easily get into the hair. The result will come out much darker than it's supposed to. With a lot of hair and fine hair, a colour can also look a lot darker because there are more layers and the pigmentation is therefore more intense.
Next time, choose at least a lighter colour or mix the desired colour with a lighter colour! Don’t dye all of your hair every time you want to dye your roots. When you dye all of your hair each time, the colour will become darker. If you want to refresh the lengths of your hair in addition to only dyeing your outgrowth, let the dye in the outgrowth sit for 20 minutes and then add 1/3 part water to the rest of the dye mixture and apply this in the lengths of the hair. Leave this in for another 15 minutes. Also make sure that your hair is in good condition by taking good care of your hair. Healthy hair is less likely to get too dark when dyeing. You can treat your hair with a good shampoo and our Argan Silk. If you have very porous hair, then try Colour Mask as a deep-working reconstructive hair mask.
If your hair colour from WECOLOUR turned out too dark after dyeing, please contact us for advice, and you may receive a new colour from us at no cost, hopefully achieving the desired result.