Stripping

[fadeintoyou]

Hey everyone, I need some help! My hair is past my shoulders and is naturally a reddy brown colour. Around a year ago i started to dye my hair dark brown. Then I decided to dye it black, and I have dyed it black around 3 or 4 times now (both permanent and semi permanent).
I have since decided that I want it a bit lighter than black, just a dark chocolatey brown again. I went to a colourist and she said that I will need to have a bleach bath and then colour and that it will take around 6 months to get it how I want (but she seemed to think I wanted it lighter than I did I think).
To be honest I did not ask enough questions and basically what I want to know is what exactly is a "bleach bath", what will it do to my hair, why does it take so many months etc. and if anyone has experience of it! I know it's not good for the hair so just want to know what I am letting myself in for. Pictures would be good too.
Thank you x

[Elegance.Is.Refusal.]

you want something like a hair colour removal product that doesnt contain bleach or ammonia since bleach does damage your hair and is used for highlighting. i cant exactly recall the product that i bought from sallys i think it was called id or i could be wrong i used it when i had dyed my hair darker i always use permanent dyes and wanted to go a light red so used that it took the colour out without damaging my hair then i put the red on top of that.

using excessive bleach to get abit lighter over 6 months seems abit over the top. but then again i've never had my hair as dark as black but it seems if you bleached your hair over 6 months you might end up being a platinum blonde!

[angela xx]

I just had the same problem last week!
My hair was a dark brown with medium ash brown highlights, but I decided to dye it black, but it came out JET BLACK and waay too dark. There are a couple of ways you can go about fixing it without having to bleach or strip your hair, both of which will damage it soo much, especially over six months. Here are a couple methods I used to bring my hair back to my original dark brown with highlights:
- If you're willing to gradually fade the color, use Prell shampoo, it's a super clarifying shampoo that will help to slowly fade the black. You can speed up the process a little by adding a few drops of Dawn Original dishsoap and a little baking powder. Be sure to use the hottest water you can handle, because this will allow the pores in your hair to open up. I've also heard of people using Tide laundry detergent and anti-dandruff shampoos to get the same results, but I have no personal experience. But just be sure to condition like crazy after, because this will dry out your hair.
- I used the above method, for a few days, and could see the developing results but of course was too impatient to wait for the full results, so I used a hair color remover called Color Oops. It works by shrinking the dye molecules, ultimately bringing you back to the lightest color you've had. It doesn't damage your hair, but depending on the condition your hair was originally in, it can make it very porous. I've gotten my hair stripped by a professional before, and it left my hair fried, so Color Oops IMO is definitely a safer and cheaper choice.

I found both of these methods on Google, so if you look them up you can find better answers. Good luck!