Skip to Content

How to Remove Semi Permanent Hair Dye DIY

How to Remove Semi Permanent Hair Dye DIY

Semi-permanent hair dyes are great when you are not sure for how long you’d like to change your hairstyle. Personally, I’ve used them all, from blue to green, orange, purple, silver, yellow and your normal brown or red.

Semi-permanent hair dye will fade off every time you wash your hair, but what if you just dyed your hair and realised it was a big mistake?

Or maybe you are just tired or your current color and want a change.

There are plenty of ways to fix this! In this article, we will talk about some home remedies and some products you could buy to remove semi-permanent hair dye and get the look you actually want.

How to Get Rid of Semi Permanent Hair Dye Quickly

We will list here a couple of things that you might have at home with which you can remove the color. The methods listed here are not quick solutions and therefore damage your hair less. These methods need to be repeated multiple times and take about 1 week for good results.

Anti-dandruff shampoo

You’ll need

  • Anti-dandruff shampoo (buy only the shampoo, not the 2in1 version that has conditioner in it)

Apply anti-dandruff shampoo on wet hair and leave it in. Don’t wash it out. Put a cap on your hair and wait for 20 min. Rinse it thoroughly with lukewarm water. You’ll want to repeat this process 4-5 times.

Do only 2 sessions per day since this will dry out your hair. Use plenty of conditioner after doing this or use some argan oil or coconut oil and leave it overnight. Then repeat the process the next day. If you have enough time it’s best to wait even a day between sessions.

Baking soda

You’ll need:

  • Baking soda
  • Anti-dandruff shampoo
  • Re-conditioning mask

Mix one part baking soda with one part anti-dandruff shampoo. Apply the mixture on damp hair and rub it in for 5 min. Make sure you are covering all your hair.

Put a hair cap on and wait for 15 minutes. Rinse your hair with lukewarm water. Apply a reconditioning mask and leave it in for 5 min. Rinse off and let your hair dry. You can repeat this process every other day until the color has faded completely.

Vinegar and olive oil

You’ll need:

  • Vinegar
  • Olive oil

Wash your hair first with regular shampoo and wait for 15 min so that your hair dries a bit. Apply the olive oil all over your hair, make sure you are covering everything. Leave it in your hair to sit for 15 min then rinse out with warm water. Pat dry your hair and apply vinegar on your hair, preferably apple cider vinegar.

Let this sit in your hair for about 20 min and wash your hair again with regular shampoo. Condition your hair as you usually would and let it dry. You can repeat this process every day until the color has faded as much as you desire. If you do this process every day make sure to condition your hair in between with argan oil or coconut oil.

More: Purple Hair Dye

Anti-dandruff shampoo and dishwashing soap

You’ll need:

  • Anti-dandruff shampoo
  • Dishwashing liquid
  • Conditioner

Mix one part antidandruff shampoo and one part dishwashing liquid. Wet your hair and apply this mixture all over your hair. You will need to massage your scalp a lot. Try to rub your hair thoroughly. Do this for about 15 minutes until you see the color coming out of your hair through the soap bubbles.

Rinse your hair with warm water and apply a deep conditioner since this can dry out your hair a lot. Leave the conditioner in your hair for 10 minutes and then rinse it again with warm water. You can repeat this process every other day.

Vitamin C

You’ll need

  • Vitamine C 1000 mg(preferably the powder but you can also buy tablets and crush them into powder)
  • Clarifying shampoo
  • Conditioning mask

Mix ⅓ of a cup vitamin C powder with ½ cup clarifying shampoo. Stir whit mixture thoroughly with a brush and let it sit for 5 minutes. apply this mixture all throughout the hair with the brush. Put a cap on and let the mixture sit for 30 min. Rinse it off with warm water and apply the conditioning mask. Leave this in for 5 minutes and rinse again with just water.

You will need to repeat this process about 4-5 times but do not repeat it on the same day. Use this mixture every other day until you have your desired results. This will depend on what color you are trying to remove.

Remove Semi Permanent Hair Dye

Using products

The methods listed here are much more abrasive to the hair so it is recommended to do these with caution and do not exceed the recommended times or measurements.

Do not wash your hair for two days before doing this or if it’s possible even wait for 4-5 without washing your hair before attempting any of these methods. The dirtier your hair means the more protection it has from getting damaged.

Bleach method one (without developer)

You will need:

  • Bleach powder preferably ammonia free
  • Anti-dandruff shampoo
  • coconut oil
  • olive oil
  • vinegar

This process has to stages, one to bleach and one to hydrate

First stage

Melt coconut oil and apply this to your hair. Leave this mixture in for 2 hours.

Prepare this mixture:

One cup of anti dandruff shampoo, one spoon of melted coconut oil, two big spoons of olive oil and ⅓ of bleach powder.

Stir this mix thoroughly for about one minute. Apply this mixture to your hair. Your hair should still have the coconut oil in it. Do not rinse it. Make sure that you’ve applied enough of the mixture on all your hair. If your hair is very long or you have a lot of hair maybe consider doubling the mixture of making a second batch.

Massage your scalp with the mixture as if you were washing it with shampoo. Cover it with a plastic cap and use a hair dryer to apply heat around the cap. Do this for about 5 min and massage your scalp with the cap still on. Repeat this process two more times.

Apply heat and then massage your scalp for 5 min. Wash your hair with shampoo and make sure you rinse all the mixture off since it will dry out your hair. Apply a conditioner and leave it in. Do not rinse it out.

Second stage

With the conditioner still in your hair prepare this mixture:

One part vinegar and one part water.

Apply the vinegar and water mix to your hair and leave it in for 15 min. Rinse it out with cold water, don’t use shampoo and apply conditioner again in your hair. Let your hair dry and style it as desired.

You can repeat this process once a week since this process is more abrasive to your hair. It’s best to wait at least 3 days before attempting this procedure again.

Bleach method two (with the developer)

This method is much more abrasive and I would only recommend doing this once.

You will need:

  • Bleach powder (preferably without ammonia since it will damage your hair less)
  • 20% volume developer
  • Color fading shampoo
  • Deep conditioner
  • Bowl
  • Gloves
  • Brush

Start by putting the gloves on

Prepare this mixture

Mix in the bowl the same parts developer, shampoo and bleach. For example, ¼ of a cup developer, ¼ of a cup shampoo and ¼ of a cup bleach powder. If you have a lot of hair maybe use ½ of a cup in the measurements and if you have very short hair use less. Use the brush to stir this together until it’s mixed very well.

Procedure

Apply the mixture throughout all of the hair. Rub it in by massaging the scalp. Put a hair cap on and leave the mixture to sit for 30 minutes. Check the color and if its needed leave it on for 10 more minutes. Do not leave it in any longer than that. Wash it with the color fading shampoo and make sure you are removing all the mixture out of your hair.

If any mixture is left in the hair it will damage it so make sure to rinse for about 15 min. Apply the deep conditioner and leave this in for 20 minutes. Rinse your hair only with water and let it dry.

This process should remover almost all the color out of your hair. Make sure you don’t wash your hair for at least two days before attempting this so that your hair has more natural oils in it. This helps protect it from drying out too much.

As an extra alternative, you can use a purple shampoo if your hair ends up being too orange. This might happen if you are removing red hair color, brown, black, magenta, pink, orange and even some yellow tones.

Products on the market without bleach

Many brands also offer color remover kits which will strip your hair of the dye without bleaching it. These treatments are still abrasive for your hair but might be healthier than bleaching.

One product can be Pravana Artificial Hair Color Extractor. It’s a kit of three different products that you’ll need to apply to your hair.

Another great product is Splat Color Remover. It can lift up to three colors and it’s bleach and ammonia free. This process takes about an hour and you have the possibility to recolor the same day. It’s great for people who want to remove semi-permanent hair dye quickly.

Lastly but not least Joico Color Intensity Eraser is another great option to try out. It’s simple and quick and it’s not tested on animals.

Extra tips

Removing hair color from your hair is quite an aggressive thing for your hair so here are some tips to make sure your hair doesn’t end up dead and all dried out. These tips are also great to still use if your hair just feels a bit damaged

Wear a conditioning mask every night

Apply a conditioning mask before going to sleep once a week. You can apply it on dry hair, just make sure that you are also applying enough conditioning mask on the ends. Wear a cap to sleep. Rinse the conditioner out in the morning with a normal shower.

Wear oil in your hair overnight

  • For this, you can use different types of oil. Any oil you have available will do. I recommend olive oil, argan oil or coconut oil.
  • Apply the oil onto your hair and wear a cap. Leave it in overnight and rinse it out in the morning with a hot water and shampoo.

Start using Clarifying shampoo

Invest in a good clarifying shampoo since this will speed up the process a lot. These shampoos help strip the color out of the hair. Anti-dandruff shampoo also works quite good.

Do it over a period of time

The longer your spread out the sessions of removing semi-permanent hair dye, the less damage you will inflict upon your hair. If you are not in a hurry spreading the sessions over a month would minimise any damage.

Milk and honey mask

This mask is great to repair any damage done to your hair. Just mix both ingredients and apply the mixture to your hair. Leave this in for one hour and rinse it out with warm water. Use shampoo to get rid of all the mixture. You can use this mask every day for as long as you are trying to remove the dye from your hair.

Don’t wash your hair every day

Washing your hair everyday strips out the natural oils of your hair. This results in brittle and dry hair. Aim for washing your hair 1-2 a week. It can be very hard in the beginning but your hair will adapt. The first month it might be oily but after that, it will get used to it. Plus you also save water and hair products by washing your hair less.