Can Vinegar Remove Hair Dye?
Vinegar can not fully remove hair dye. It can often cause fading effects on dyed hair, but it cannot fully remove semi-permanent or permanent hair color. While vinegar can sometimes clarify one’s natural hair color, it cannot completely remove dye from the hair.
A common and well-circulated beauty misconception touts vinegar as a hair cure-all. With semi-permanent dye, especially fashion colors outside the natural spectrum like red, pink, and purple, vinegar only fades or changes the color’s tone. Semi-permanent and permanent hair dye must be properly removed with chemical compounds uniquely tailored to the dye’s makeup. For best results, consulting someone in a salon will lead to restoring natural hair color and completely removing the hair dye.
Timing Makes Things Easier
If you dye your hair and immediately despise it, attempting to remove it right away will make the job much easier. Professional colorists and hair dye boxes tell you to wait three days before washing your hair after dying it because it takes 48 to 72 hours for the dye to set in your hair completely.
In this case, merely rinsing your hair with hot water may cause the dye to fade. Shampooing repeatedly with a volumizing shampoo may also help, as these shampoos work by opening up the hair cuticles, which might cause more of the dye to leave the hair. Hot oil treatments can also help strip chemicals off your hair.
Home Remedies
With YouTube so readily available, you can find numerous videos demonstrating how to remove hair color at home. The great thing about videos is that you can see the results to decide if you want to try it out at home. The only word of caution would be that you see instant results, and unless you are following a channel cannot know if there are any negative side effects to any of these methods.
Several themes seem to work for many people. And note that none of the popular videos include vinegar! Here are a few examples.
Vitamin C and Head and Shoulders
The most popular method is the vitamin C Head and Shoulders method. The basic premise is to pulverize chewable vitamin c tablets, then add Head and Shoulders shampoo until you have created a loose paste. You then apply this to damp hair in the same manner that you color your hair. Wrap your hair with plastic wrap and leave it on for 50 minutes or so. You should see the hair color washing down the drain when you rinse.
Things That Affect Results – Since millions of dollars of testing are not performed for home remedies, they generally require a bit of experimentation to work for different people. Common mishaps with this hair color removal method seem to be not using enough vitamin C, not wrapping your head, and not leaving it on long enough.
Head and Shoulders and Dawn Dish Liquid
This is a long-term method of washing your hair daily with Head and Shoulders mixed with Dawn Dish Liquid, which will fade hair color slightly with each washing.
Most accounts report that both of these methods leave your hair feeling dry, so be sure to use a deep conditioner following treatment.
Over-the-Counter Products
If you are not happy with the results of home treatments, a trip to a professional is your best option. There are also over-the-counter products that are created for this purpose.
Both One ‘N Only’s Colorfix and Clairol’s The Uncolor System are marketed as semi-permanent hair dye removers, but they may help fade even permanent dye from your hair if applied soon enough. To avert further disaster, strand test them on hair from the nape of your neck before applying them to your entire scalp. If the product seems to help, apply it according to the directions.
Resources
Gladstar, Rosemary. “4.” Rosemary Gladstar’s Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health: 175 Teas, Tonics, Oils, Salves, Tinctures, and Other Natural Remedies for the Entire Family. null. Reprint. North Adams: Storey Publishing, LLC, 2008. 150. Print.
Irons, Diane. “2.” World’s Best Kept Beauty Secrets: What Really Works In Beauty, Diet & Fashion. 2Rev Ed ed. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks, Inc., 2005. 46. Print.
