I’m very fickle and whimsical about my hair. Over the years, I have had blonde highlights, red highlights, blonde “peak-a-boo” highlights, ombre, and multiple all-over, one color hair dyes.
My natural hair color is a very dark brown, with reddish-auburn highlights. Back in October of 2013, I decided to dye my hair black. I really liked the sleek look of the black hair and it really made my dark eyes and eyebrows stand out. It sounds crazy, but there really is a big difference between having dark brown hair and having jet black hair. Between October 2013 and March 2014, I dyed my hair black 3 times.
In April 2014 however, with spring and summer approaching, I decided I wanted my hair “back to my natural color”, but I didn’t want to go to a salon. I knew if I went to a salon the stylist would bleach my hair and then redye it to match my natural color and I didn’t want to put my hair through all of that.
So I took to the internet for some very intensive research on “how to strip hair dye out of your hair”. There are many ways advertised on the web to do this, and after researching, I came up with this concoction that combines a few methods.
What you’ll need:
Your measurements will differ depending on how much hair you have and how much you need to make. I have a lot of very thick hair so I needed a lot to cover my hair, root to tip.
- 1 cup Head & Shoulders Shampoo (you can just eyeball this, I don’t actually measure it)
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 10 vitamin C tablets
What to do:
Smash up the Vitamin C tablets until they are a fine powder. To do this, I put the tablets in a plastic bag, covered the bag with a dish towel, and smashed the tablets with a wooden rolling-pin. You can also put them into a blender and pulse it a few times until they are ground up.
Then combine the shampoo, baking soda, and vitamin c.
Stir until the mixture is combined. Coat your hair with the combination. Make sure all of your hair is thoroughly coated.
Cover your hair with a plastic grocery bag and let the mixture sit in your hair for exactly 1 hour. After 1 hour is up, wash and condition your hair.
I did this treatment twice and then used honey in the sun to achieve a highlighted look for the summer. Your individual hair type will determine how quickly the dye is lifted out of your hair.
This treatment can be very drying, so I definitely recommend following it up with an oil treatment with either coconut or avocado oil.
After using this treatment, I went a little too crazy with lightening my hair with honey and my hair got much lighter than I wanted it to be. To counteract that, I re-dyed my hair a “darkest brown” shade.
In January of this year, I decided to stop dying my hair and focus on keeping my hair long, strong, and healthy. So now you’ll see me rocking my natural hair color and texture. I try to stay as far away from hot tools as possible. I plan on posting about my hair care routine soon!
*I am not a trained hair stylist or colorist, I was just a girl tired of having black hair who took it upon herself to find a DIY solution. 🙂
Love always,
