Walking around with the same hair color for years is not necessarily exciting. Semi-permanent hair dyes are a great way to bring some variety to your head. However, if the desired change doesn’t occur and instead your hair becomes too dark or takes on a tone that you absolutely didn’t want, you usually want to get rid of the color as quickly as possible. However, dyes, especially intensive dyes, usually take a few weeks to fade. But there are a few home remedies and products that can speed up the whole process. This is how you can wash out the semi-permanent hair dye quickly and gently!
8 methods to get semi-permanent dye out of hair
Especially if you had lighter hair before and the dye has become too dark, you can get rid of the color pretty quickly. But even if the shade simply goes in an undesired direction, and you are annoyed by, for example, the red tint, these eight home remedies and products can help you get closer to your natural hair color again.
#1 Vitamin C Tablets
Dissolve five vitamin C tablets or aspirin plus C tablets in a small bowl of water. Pour the water over your entire hair and let it sit for about half an hour. You can wrap a towel around your head during this time. Then rinse thoroughly and care for your hair with a conditioner. By the way, this also works great against green tones in the hair!
#2 Chamomile tea
Chamomile is contained in many blonde shampoos and is known to lighten hair. To wash out your non-permanent hair dye faster, boil five simple chamomile tea bags and wait until the tea has cooled down. Then pour it over your hair, leave it on for ten minutes, and rinse your hair thoroughly.
#3 Lemon juice
Lemon also has a lightening effect on the hair. Mix the juice with water in a ratio of 1:10, massage the mixture into your already damp hair, and preferably go out into the sun with it. After 20 minutes, you can rinse your hair again. Be sure to apply a hair mask afterward!
#4 Clarifying shampoo
Cleansing shampoo penetrates deeply into the hair fibers and removes not only dirt and styling residues but also color pigments from hair dyes. It is inexpensive and available at every drugstore. It is best to leave it on for a few minutes. Alternatively, anti-dandruff shampoo like Head and shoulders also works!
#5 Hair color remover
With a hair color remover from the drugstore, you can get rid of your intensive tint in a chemical way. However, this method does not work for non-oxidative hair dyes, such as soft tints that only last for a few hair washes or direct dyes like Directions.
#6 Honey
Honey can help to wash out fresh tints from the last 24 hours. Mix honey with the same amount of warm water, apply it to your hair and let it work for an hour. Then wash your hair thoroughly. If the tint is already older, you probably won’t achieve any changes with this method.
#7 Olive oil
Pour enough olive oil over your hair and massage it thoroughly. Wrap a towel around it and leave it on overnight. Afterwards, you will probably have to wash your hair several times to remove all the oil, but the tint should now be less visible.
#8 Baking soda
Baking soda can lighten not only teeth but also hair. Mix two tablespoons of the powder with water to a paste, which you distribute in dry hair. After 20 minutes of exposure time, rinse and wash again. You can read more about this method in this post.
Does dish soap remove semi-permanent hair dye?
You should definitely avoid experiments with detergent. It is often mentioned as an effective method for washing out tint, but it contains such strong chemicals that roughen your hair structure, tangle your hair, and thus damage it.
How many washes to remove non-permanent hair dye?
Of course, you should not expect miracles from these methods: depending on what kind of tint you used, how strongly the pigments are stuck, and what hair structure you have, the effect can vary. However, since these are mostly natural methods for washing out the tint, you can repeat the process more often and try different methods. Generally speaking, most semi-permanent dyes can be removed after about 4–6 washes.
And if you are wondering how to remove hair dye stains from a bathtub or sink, you can check out the methods here.