Schwarzkopf Modulat permanent haircolor remover

What it`s for: Removing permanent (oxidative) haircolor.

Why it`s significant: It causes virtually no damage to your hair.

How it`s used: Solutions #1 and #2 are mixed together in a 1:1 ratio and applied to the hair. The hair needs to be kept wet (like with a cap) and heated (it doesn`t work well at all without external heat) for about 30 minutes. Wash the hair with solution #3 for 5 minutes up to 3 times(*). Admire your decolorized hair for a few minutes, then apply 10 volume developer and watch in horror as 99% of the color you thought was gone reappears in about 30 seconds. You can repeat the procedure up to 2 more times in one day.

What I did wrong: Modulat actually works very well, but there`s one small detail that wasn`t in the instructions or promotional literature: you need to wash the hair with a steamer to really get out the dye. Modulat breaks up the dye into small enough pieces to be physically capable of exiting the hair through the cuticle, but it`s up to you to actually flush it out.

The verdict: You`re not going to apply it to your hair and rinse the old color down the drain 5 minutes later. It`s a great product, but it really isn`t for home use. Not because home users lack intelligence, experience, or the god-given right to work on their own hair, but rather the simple reason that getting it to work requires fairly expensive equipment (a hair steamer) that most people don`t have. Its biggest problem is that using it is fairly labor-intensive and potentially time consuming (from what I`ve heard, it really does take at least two, and usually three, rounds to remove old buildup). On the other hand, the fact that it causes very little damage means it can be used in situations that would otherwise be really risky (like stripping dark haircolor buildup before bleaching naturally dark brown hair to pale yellow).