Does Color Oops work? Check out my Color Oops before and after pictures! I wondered if Color Oops works, and now I know. In 20 minutes (or so) it took my hair from this color to that color!
So, I have been dying my hair for oh, about 23 years, and along the way, a LOT of accidents have happened.
Like the time I dyed it “Herbal Essence Raspberry,” and it ended up hot pink, which I, in my 16-year-old wisdom, decided would just go back to blonde if I dyed it blonde over the top.
Hint: It didn’t.
In a hurry? Skip my story and Go HERE to grab OOPS Color Remover
Or the time I went to a salon and she turned me orange and then overcorrected it to ash, which translates loosely to “greenish gray”. Not a good look on a 21-year-old.
I had to chop off ALL my hair for that one but they did send me a year’s worth of Wella for my pain and suffering.
Or the time, about 2 years ago, I let a cruise boat do my highlights and she bleached over my bleach (instead of my roots) and my hair fell out in fried-off chunks- the night before our family photos.
I love that every time I walk by my big blown-up images I see my strategically placed bobby pin where my hair was gone.
Color Oops on Red Hair Color Mistakes
And with all this knowledge about hair color and artificial pigment, I can tell you two definite things: Never, EVER do bleach over the counter, and red is actually pretty ok to do from a box.
Now, usually, I go to the salon to cover any gray hair and touch up my natural hair. I do a lot of highlights and that requires a hair person.
Highlighting from home is basically like lighting your checkbook on fire (do people have checkbooks anymore? I’m showing my age.) because of all the corrections you are likely gonna have to do when it goes horribly wrong.
But red- ok now red is a different story.
Red washes out in weeks, sometimes even days after you put it in your hair.
Hate your red? No problem, your red hates your red and it will go if you have the patience. But after 3 months of paying $120 to a salon every 4 weeks to keep up with my red, I did something I haven’t done in 10 years- I picked up a box of artificial dye.
And LOVED it.
First, I used Feria Red Copper INTENSE. It was super bright, but again, all good things come to an end and the artificial color eventually faded. Here is the day of the dye and then 4 weeks after. It did fade to a pretty color but I really missed the bright glow of it.
The next time I picked up a box color, I decided to try another brand, but in the same color family of copper.
Here is L’Oreal’s Intense Color Copper. Less vibrant but still pretty. This one faded QUICK. I was in brown in about a week and a half.
So at $9.99 a box times 2 boxes, this wasn’t going to be much more cost-effective than going to a salon.
On my next visit to Walgreens, which was last Friday, I thought “Hmm, let me try something BRIGHTER, more RED than copper. I can handle copper pretty well so why not red?”
I did Feria Power Red. And this is what happened. In all fairness, it looked just like the box, but after a day or two, I realized didn’t match my skin tone or ANY of my clothes. Like…at all.
I tried on dresses and the only color that looked remotely decent with this newly dyed hair of mine was blue.
I HATED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Using Color Oops to Strip the Color From My Hair
Color Oops Hair Color Remover, Extra Strength
So last night I decided to strip the color from my hair with color oops extra strength hair color remover.
Normally, I would tell you this is a REALLY horrible idea. And under most circumstances, I would say “RUN, DON’T DO IT.”
But after a little research, I picked up some Oops Hair Color Remover, Extra Strength, and decided to try my luck.
The whole concept of this remover is that it breaks the bonds of the color molecules and allows you to wash and rinse the dye away from the strands.
Few things to note if you are going to use Oops Hair Color Remover:
1) It does stink. It smells like a perm solution. A lot of people believe it smells like rotten eggs. I honestly didn’t think that but I have spent hours in the salon breathing in permanent hair dye and remover so pretty much nothing phases me.
If you are sensitive to really intense chemical smells, you may not like it. I didn’t have an issue personally. The smell doesn’t just wash away with good clarifying shampoo either. My pillowcase will be getting a bleach bath today.
2) Have a deep hair conditioner ready. It didn’t break my hair or do anything that I couldn’t handle, but you will need to condition it after, from the hair shaft right down to the ends.
I use the Macadamia Hair Intense or if you want something more cost-effective, this Dove Restoration Mask.
3) READ THE Color Oops INSTRUCTIONS FIRST! Basically, you mix two bottles, shake for 30 seconds and saturate your hair. I have a lot of hair that needed color removal so I was really terrified it wasn’t going to cover my entire head.
The product is very watery and comes out QUICK, but I was able to work one box through my hair.
Do not leave it on for more than 20 minutes and then, here is the kicker, you have to rinse and shampoo your hair for 20 full minutes.
I always thought I would love a 20-minute shower, but I got bored in like 7. Keep rinsing. And rinsing. And rinsing some more.
This is what is taking out that permanent hair color and no, the water wasn’t running red. It was actually clear the whole time, but I kept rinsing, shampooing, and rinsing.
When I got out I immediately put on my deep conditioner and sat for another 20 minutes before rinsing one last time and then finally drying.
Here is what I was left with. It didn’t restore natural hair color, but it did take the insane red out of the artificial hair color. Now it’s like a strawberry reddish blonde color, but Oops Extra Strength Hair Color Remover totally did WORK on box dye.
How Does Color Oops Work?
Orange Hair After Color Oops
I have a lot of people ask about their hair going orange after oops…you have to first leave it in the entire time and two, realize it’s not going to put your natural color back.
NOTHING can go back to your virgin hair (except chopping it off and letting it grow back out).
It will simply remove you to a base that will allow you to REDYE IT a different color or more natural shade.
Now I wouldn’t say go on the hair journey I have been on the past 6 months being red and once you find your color you should absolutely not venture OUT of that color range.
But, if for some reason you do something insane like I did, I think picking up this Color Oops Hair Color Remover perhaps could save you from a HIDEOUS permanent dye! It sure saved me.
Just to remind you- these are my Color Oops before and after pics. Pretty good, if you ask me!
Color Oops
5 Tips to Keep Your Dyed Hair Healthy
It should go without saying that dying, removing dye, and redying your hair over and over again aren’t the best ideas if you want hair that is healthy and not fried.
But if you insist on dying your hair crazy colors just for the heck of it, or you’re constantly having to keep the color up to cover that gray hair that keeps insisting it stay, there are a few ways that you can ensure that your hair has a healthy shine, bounce, and zero split ends.
1. Use Shampoo and Conditioner Formulated for Color-Treated Hair
Regular shampoos and conditioners can actually strip the artificial color in your hair, leaving your color looking dull and your hair feeling dry. When you’re dying your hair permanently (or even semi-permanently), be sure that you’re using a shampoo and conditioner that will protect your locks, rather than damage them.
2. Condition Like There’s No Tomorrow
Hair that is overworked, whether it be by excessive heat or consistent coloring, will become dry, cracked, and may even break or fall out (yikes!). To avoid the horror of hair with a straw-like texture and appearance, you’ll want to condition your hair frequently — and this isn’t limited to a shower.
Of course, you do want to use conditioner after shampooing, but after rinsing and towel drying your dyed hair, you should also put in some leave-in conditioner to keep your hair moisturized.
Occasionally (once a week or so), you should also consider deep conditioning your hair with a hair mask that you leave in for a few minutes (or an hour) and then rinse away and wash as normal.
3. Wash Your Hair Less
It sounds gross, I know, but it’s better for your hair, trust me. The less you shampoo your hair, the more natural oils will be retained and distributed throughout your hair. This protects against dryness and prevents breakage.
Washing every other day or even only a few times a week will do wonders for your hair.
If you’re having a hard time grasping the idea of washing less, wash as normal and simply skip the shampoo (which acts as a stripping agent to rid the hair of debris, dirt, and dead skin cells).
Go straight to the conditioner a couple of times a week and watch how your hair shines!
4. Protect Your Hair From the Heat
Hair that is dyed is already under a lot of stress from the process of applying artificial color. So, because your hair is already potentially stressed out, you’ll want to do everything in your power to prevent it from falling under any additional stress.
Now, we all love to style our hair with heat – curling irons, straighteners, blow dryers – but it can do a world of damage if we let it.
To prevent your dyed hair from becoming damaged from the heat, find a good heat protectant made for color-treated hair, and use it every time you plan to heat-style your hair.
What I actually do is spray my heat protectant (which doubles as a leave-in conditioner) onto damp hair after washing, allow my hair to air dry (which is WAAAYY better than using heat, if you have the time), and then spray a few more spritzes of my protectant onto my dry hair directly before I style using heat.
5. Switch to a Silk Pillowcase to Prevent Frizz
Seriously. It WORKS. As I mentioned earlier, dyed hair (especially hair that’s been dyed and redyed as many times as mine has) is being put under a lot of stress, and to be honest, it can take a lot of work to keep it looking nice and smooth.
One of the ways I’ve kept my hair frizz-less (or less frizzy anyway) is by switching out my old cotton pillowcase with a silk pillowcase.
You read that right – silk. I feel like a queen every time I lay my head on the silky wonder that is my pillow.
Friction is one cause of damage to the hair, and when you’re tossing and turning during the night, the friction between your pillowcase, sheets, and your hair may actually be doing quite a bit of damage.
Silk pillowcases (and sheets, if you want to go all out) will help to minimize the intensity of the friction your hair receives during the night.
Update About Color Oops COLOR REMOVER: I have used it several more times since this post with excellent results removing unwanted color!
Like me and need to rid yourself of some hair color drama? I buy mine on Amazon so I get free shipping:
Color Oops Hair Color Remover, Extra StrengthCOLOR OOPS HR CLR RMVR REG STRColor Prep from Color Oops Hair ColorColor Oops Wipes, 10 Count
FAQs About Color Oops
Q: Does Color Oops damage hair?
A: Yes, and no. It doesn’t damage your hair nearly as bad as frequent dying, bleaching, and other treatments, but it isn’t good for your hair. It’s using chemical color strippers which are drying. If your hair is already damaged and brittle, Color Oops is going to make it a little worse. Be sure to use conditioning masks immediately and frequently on your treated hair.
Q: Why did my hair get dark again after Color Oops?
A: This is common when removing black or very dark dye. When you dye your hair, the color goes into the pores of the hair, depositing permanent color. When you use Color Oops it helps those pores open up so you can quickly wash the hair dye back out (mostly). If you don’t get it all out, it will go back into the hair and become darker again.
Q: Is it better to use bleach or color remover?
A: If you want to remove the dyed color AND lighten your natural hair color, use bleach. If you only want to remove the hair dye, use a color remover like Color Oops. It could take several uses to completely remove color using a remover, but repeatedly bleaching is terrible for your hair.
Either way, be sure you’re using conditioning masks to help repair the hair so you get less breakage and frizz.
Anne-Marie @ This Mama Cooks! says
Waaaaay better. This is why I let professionals handle my hair color. Last time I tried fixing things, I burnt the heck out of my scalp.
trisha haas says
Oh yes! Chemicals be really strong but this one didnt affect me at all. No burn, no loss of hair, no unusual dryness. I was actually really shocked that it came out! I thought..no way.
Rebecca Orr says
I actually really like they way your hair turned out after you got the red color out.
trisha haas says
its not bad! Its not the color Ill leave it, but atleast i know how to fix the screw ups ha! Back to my normal red today. (i hope?~!)