Color OopsColor Prep, 1 Application, Extend Results and Vibrancy, Hair Dye Remover Rinses Away Dull Colors, Product, and Mineral Buildup, Bleach & Ammonia Free

I’m a chronic Amazon shopper. Like every single day. I don’t do reviews. Butttt! This stuff works! I had like a year of black building up on just the front part of my hair. Evidently this section absorbs and over pigments my hair.I bought some dye to try to even it all out, but needed to remove the black first, I had zero hope of it working but, IT DID! It took all the black out completely in 15 minutes. Tomorrow I shall clean this mess up. Pics are so embarrassing but I’m sacrificing my pride to show yall how legit it is.

This stuff works really well. Smells bad, but perhaps not quite so bad as original color oops. There seems to be no real difference other than Color Prep is a newer formula. Stripped a few months of black box dye out with no problems, and works just as well with even longer dye buildup. It says you can dye it the same day, but be aware that your hair is extremely porous at this point and it will suck up dye and overprocess extremely quickly. Even light brown or red can turn black quickly. I like to wait a few days and use a protein filler before dyeing it again, but if you choose not to wait, still be sure to use the protein filler. It will even the porosity and repair protein bonds to help get even color. If you have dark dyed hair, don't listen to anyone bullying you to bleach it out or go spend hundreds and hours to be condescended to at a salon. Just grab a box of this and have a little care and patience. It won't damage your hair (it's bleach and ammonia free), but because you have to shampoo the old dye out, the shampooing can dry your hair a bit. I just grabbed a packet of yogurt conditioner at walgreens and my hair feels great. Oh, and it says right on the box that it ONLY works on oxidative dyes (dye you mix with a developer), and does not work on direct dye like henna or manic panic. So if you need to get some blue out, this is not the stuff for you.

For context, I have red hair and dyed it with a semi permanent teal dye. It wasn’t washing out as fast as I would have liked so I figured I would give this a try. It is very runny, so be careful. I followed the directions and left it on for 20 minutes. It did remove most of the color, my hair is just a bit darker than natural but not green anymore. However, it has left my hair really dry. And when I get my hair wet i can still smell it (a week later). Leave in conditioner covered up the smell, but when you’re showering it smells like wet dog and sulfur.

This worked great to remove three layers of dark red and brown dye that I had in my hair with the ultimate goal of being able to go back to a more natural golden brown color. In my pictures you see the bright red which was right after using this product.I continued to wash my hair every few days for over a week and got to the next photo which is a much more subdued brassy red brown. I honestly didn’t mind any of these shades too much and wish I’d gone to a professional at this point.Instead, I took the advice of a Sally employee and dyed my hair using a 5NN (medium intense brown) to neutralize the red before going on to a golden option in a month. This came out pretty much black (see picture). I think partly because my hair was stripped and ready for action that it took the color too intensely.In summary: works great, keep washing for a week to achieve maximum success, pick your next color wisely!

After multiple layers of semi-permanent dye over permanent dye had turned my hair into some sort of off-tone purplish-orange-blackish-red, I gave this a shot with very little hope that it would help. Boy was I surprised when it worked! It removed the layers of color and left my hair undamaged. When I re-applied, I mostly focused on my roots and let the rest absorb down the hair shaft during processing. (Always process for LESS time than normal after using this product - your (permanent) dye will work faster and go on darker than usual.) Once I rinsed out, my hair was a uniform reddish brown from root to end, which is what I wanted.Two months later, my hair was looking a little "off" again (I use a lot of semi-permanent and color conditioners in between doing my roots with permanent dye). I used another box of "Color Oops Color Prep" and experienced the same fantastic result. All one uniform color, no damage.NOTES TO CONSIDER:1) Read and follow the instructions to the letter.2) It has an eggy/sulphur smell, but it goes away after you color.3) It will remove the pigment from past permanent dye jobs, but will not restore your hair to its natural color. NOTHING can do that by removing old permanent dye. The old dye has already changed your hair, this product only takes out the color molecule so you can successfully re-color.4) This product is meant to remove the color from permanent dyes, and makes it clear that some temporary dyes may linger. In my personal experience, it took everything out and just left my hair that weird orangey color that is common for any type of color removal (those of you that experiment with your hair know what I'm talking about.) Once it is that shade, it's as de-colored as it is going to get, and you can dye over it.5) AGAIN: your dye will work faster and darker than normal after using this product. I recommend doing your roots first, for about half as long as normal, then just quickly pull the color down the ends for only a couple of minutes. In my experience, that was all it took to get one solid color. YRMV