Hair Color - going from red to blonde

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going from red to blonde

Printed From: HairBoutique.com
Category: Hair Talk
Forum Name: Hair Color
Forum Description: The tricks and tribulations of changing your hair color
URL: https://talk.hairboutique.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=51066
Printed Date: October 04 2025 at 9:38am

Topic: going from red to blonde

Posted By: jemaniac
Subject: going from red to blonde
Date Posted: March 15 2007 at 8:00pm

Hi there.

I've been dying my hair since I was... about 15 I guess. I've been everything from red to black to blonde. I just recently wanted to go back to blonde, and I used a bleach I had never tried before (Christian Martin - anyone heard of it?). Well, it didn't work great. I guess I should've stuck with my usual choice, which works like a charm. So I ended up with baby blonde, platinum roots, and the rest of my hair was a light reddish/orange hue. I decided it wasn't light enough to use the blonde dye I had purchased, so I went out - hat on my head - to buy some red dye. I used that, and the bulk of my hair turned a nice dark red, but the roots became bright, clownish orange. It's starting to fade, but still everytime I look in the mirror, I cringe. So I am thinking about using the blonde dye after all, over this red. It's Garnier 100% Color, in Very Light Natural Blonde. The side of the box show results on different natural hair colors, but it doesn't say anything about red hair anywhere. So what I'm wondering is, what will happen if I use it? What color will I end up with? I've always bleached first before doing blonde, but I don't have any at the moment. What should I do? Thanks!!!

Replies:

Posted By: Susan W
Date Posted: March 16 2007 at 9:41am

Blonde dye isn't going to do anything over that red dye. Color doesn't lift color. Probably it won't change much at all if you do use it, so I wouldn't because you'll just be damaging it more for nothing.

For next time, what I would have done if I had been in your shoes and got the bleach blonde roots and the orangy ends, would be bleach again only the orangy parts until they also went to yellow, then used your blonde dye over it (though I would test strand it first to be sure it was going to come out a good tone). Your roots got lighter because the heat from your head made them process faster.

At this point, your red is going to fade really fast on that bleached hair, so you could either be red for awhile and wear hats and bandanas over the root area, go darker (which would put you further from the blonde you wanted), or try to wash out the red. You can try using 2 formulas to see which works better. One is clarifying shampoo (which is acidic) washing repeatedly with that may help the dye come out faster (condition between each wash because it will be very drying -and conditioner also helps reds slide out). The other is you can mix baking soda 50/50 with your regular shampoo and wash a few times with that.

Be prepared if you do that though, you will likely end up with either peach, pink, light orange, or yellow hair after this, so you will need to be prepared with a dye to put over it.

You can also try ColorFix , which is a low peroxide way to remove color. It also may leave you orange or yellow, and you'd have to dye after that as well. If you wind up yellow after this, you are ready for your blonde dye (TEST STRAND THOUGH! Don't make any mistakes on your whole head!), if you wind up orange after one colorfix, you may want to use colorfix again until you get yellow, then dye it. Don't dye over orange with a blonde dye, you likely will get the same result as if you dye it blonde over the red you have now...no change.

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Posted By: jemaniac
Date Posted: March 18 2007 at 1:22am

Thank you very much! I was pretty sure it wouldn't work, but was feeling bored and things develop, you know...

I'm going to fix it tomorrow because I can't stand looking at it anymore. I'm going to bleach with my usual brand. Thanks again!

Posted By: 360s comin
Date Posted: March 18 2007 at 11:32pm

Originally posted by Susan W

Susan W wrote:

Blonde dye isn't going to do anything over that red dye. Color doesn't lift color. Probably it won't change much at all if you do use it, so I wouldn't because you'll just be damaging it more for nothing.

For next time, what I would have done if I had been in your shoes and got the bleach blonde roots and the orangy ends, would be bleach again only the orangy parts until they also went to yellow, then used your blonde dye over it (though I would test strand it first to be sure it was going to come out a good tone). Your roots got lighter because the heat from your head made them process faster.

At this point, your red is going to fade really fast on that bleached hair, so you could either be red for awhile and wear hats and bandanas over the root area, go darker (which would put you further from the blonde you wanted), or try to wash out the red. You can try using 2 formulas to see which works better. One is clarifying shampoo (which is acidic) washing repeatedly with that may help the dye come out faster (condition between each wash because it will be very drying -and conditioner also helps reds slide out). The other is you can mix baking soda 50/50 with your regular shampoo and wash a few times with that.

Be prepared if you do that though, you will likely end up with either peach, pink, light orange, or yellow hair after this, so you will need to be prepared with a dye to put over it.

You can also try ColorFix , which is a low peroxide way to remove color. It also may leave you orange or yellow, and you'd have to dye after that as well. If you wind up yellow after this, you are ready for your blonde dye (TEST STRAND THOUGH! Don't make any mistakes on your whole head!), if you wind up orange after one colorfix, you may want to use colorfix again until you get yellow, then dye it. Don't dye over orange with a blonde dye, you likely will get the same result as if you dye it blonde over the red you have now...no change.

i agree

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Posted By: Slipknothartgir
Date Posted: March 26 2007 at 3:39pm

I'd listen to Susan.She's right.I will say she does know more than I do.Cuz if u dye it blonde it might end up worse than it is. I'm gonna have to take lessons from Susan myself.Good advice!

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