Kayla Young
Coloring your hair is a great way to show your personality or just to change things up a bit! But what do you do when you end up not loving the results? Do you just wait for your hair to grow and chop off the hair with the unwanted hair dye?
That could take months or even years. Going back to the salon would mean another treatment and payment. If only you could use something that you have at home…
Some might suggest you wash your hair with dish soap to remove color. Will that really work?
Washing your hair with dish soap could remove some of the hair color — but not all of it.
In this article we’ll further explain the effect of dish soap on your hair and what other things you can do to remove the color from your hair.
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Should You Wash Your Hair With Dish Soap To Remove Color
We’re all fond of trying out so-called “hacks”. One popular hack about removing hair color is by using dish soap.
This hack may or may not work, depending on the color you want to remove.
If you are planning to use dish soap to remove color from your hair, it will work best if you try it on hair that was just colored. Right after dying your hair, you may not like the color you see.
Washing your hair with dish soap will help remove the dye that hasn’t adhered fully to your hair. Using it right after coloring could significantly lighten the color, but it won’t remove all of the dye that’s already on your hair.
Washing with dish soap also helps speed up the hair color fading process. Hair dyes will naturally fade the more you wash your hair.
With the strong cleansers in dish soap, the hair color is more likely to be stripped off compared to using regular shampoo. But again, using it once will not strip off all the hair dye from your hair. It will just fade it and lighten it a few shades.
On the other hand, if you are trying to use dish soap on your hair to remove the natural color, then you’d fail miserably.
Dish soap can help strip off hair dye, but it isn’t a substitute for hair bleaching products!
How To Use Dish Soap To Remove Hair Color
Alright, you want to try dish soap to remove your hair dye. Here’s how to do it:
Step 1: Wet Your Hair
Wet your hair with water. Any temperature that you are comfortable with works. However, it would be best keep the temp luke-warm or cooler, or else you could end up having dry and brittle hair.
Step 2: Apply Dish Soap To Hair
With your hair wet, create a lather using dish soap. Get some dish soap on your hands and apply it evenly on your hair.
Massage it to create a lather.
You can use dish soap from the roots to the tips of your hair. If the hair color that you’d like to remove is mostly on the tips, focus on that area and use less product toward the roots.
When massaging the hair and creating a lather, make sure to do it gently so that you do not create tangles on your hair.
Step 3: Let It Soak
For the dishwashing soap to work properly and efficiently, you may need to leave it on your hair for about 15 minutes.
Step 4: Rinse
After letting your hair soak in the dish soap, you can now rinse it thoroughly. Make sure to completely rinse the dish soap. Be careful, you don’t want to get dish soap in your eyes!
Step 5: Repeat Steps If Necessary
If you are still not content with the amount of color removed, repeat the procedure. However, be mindful of how many times you repeat the procedure. If after a couple of times you’re still not satisfied, don’t keep trying.
Dish soap will remove not only the hair color but the oils and dirt in the hair too. Too much could also make your hair feel extremely dry afterward.
Step 6: Use A Conditioner
After using dish soap, use a conditioner to rehydrate or moisturize the hair. Rinse out the hair conditioner then style your hair as you want.
Side Effect Of Using Dish Soap On Hair
If you are planning on using dish soap on your hair, you must be prepared for the consequences.
Dish soap is meant to remove all the oils from plates. It will remove the oils from your hair.
Even if you only wash your hair once with it, you’d definitely feel the difference. It will be very dry.
That is why you should deep-condition your hair right after using the dish soap.
You should not use it multiple times because it can really strip off the natural oils in your hair. It would be better to use it once or mix some of it with your shampoo if you want to try a second round.
It is best not to use it on consecutive days. Your hair needs to recover from the dryness.
Additionally, you should keep conditioning your hair for several days to give it moisture.
Other Ways To Remove Hair Color
Knowing that dish soap could dry up your hair might make you think twice about using it. No worries, we’re here to provide you with other alternatives on how you strip off hair color.
Clarifying Or Anti-dandruff Shampoo
There are lots of shampoos available today. Some can help you maintain the vibrancy of your hair color but there are also others that can help fade it out faster.
Such shampoos are the anti-dandruff or clarifying shampoo . These shampoos have ingredients that are better at removing oils, chemical build-up, pollution, and minerals from the hair.
Similarly, it could also help break down the pigments in the hair dye you used. However, just like using dishwashing soap, it will also cause your hair and scalp to feel dry.
Hair Color Remover
Instead of trying out different products at home to help fade your hair color, you may also simply purchase products specifically formulated to do that.
There are hair color removers available for home use too. The kits contain the products you need plus instructions on how to use them.
Baking Soda
Baking soda is a great product to remove stains. Similarly, it can also help remove some of the hair color from your hair.
The results of using baking soda to fade the hair may not be immediate. It could take a couple of days for you to see the results. After this, you should also deep condition your hair.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C is not only great for the immune system because it is a powerful antioxidant. That property can also help remove or fade hair color by oxidizing the hair color.
With Vitamin C, the molecules of the hair dye become loose due to the process of oxidation. That will make it much easier to remove the color from your hair.
Conclusion
Some hair dye color can be removed by washing your hair with dish soap. However, it will not remove all of the hair color. If used right after coloring your hair, it can significantly fade or lighten it.
Although dish soap is effective, it will dry out your hair significantly. You should deep condition your hair right after washing it with dish soap because the natural oils have been stripped off.
Apart from dish soap, you can also use other products to remove hair color. Such products include Vitamin C, clarifying or anti-dandruff shampoo, baking soda or commercial hair color removers.
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