- You have to wait for red hair dye to fade completely before dying it blue.
- If your hair still has some traces of red, you should wait several more weeks or shampoos so that every trace of red disappears.
- If you apply blue dye over red hair, you’ll get a purple shade instead of blue.
Of course, all of that only applies when you use a semi-permanent or temporary dye.
These types of hair dye don’t change your hair structure. Instead, they deposit color on the surface of your hair.
So here’s an important question: did you dye your hair with a semi-permanent or temporary dye?
If the answer is yes, then great!
Here we’ll explain how to go from red to blue, step by step.
Hair that’s been dyed red with permanent hair dye is another story altogether.
Why?
Because permanent hair dye changes your hair’s structure, the only way to remove it is with bleach.
We’ll also go over how to go from red to blue if you used permanent dye, but in that case, it would be best to go to a salon because bleaching hair is a tricky process.
Now that we’ve cleared that up let’s move on to another important point.
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How to Dye Red Hair Blue Using Semi-Permanent or Temporary Dye
As we said at the outset, it’s easy to go from red to blue hair if you used a semi-permanent dye.
Semi-permanent dye fades with each shampoo. Exactly how long the color lasts depends on which brand of red hair dye you used.
Once the red hair dye fades completely, you’re ready to switch to blue.
But it’s not quite as easy as it appears.
Even after waiting the length of time the manufacturer says the dye will last, if the color is as vibrant as the day you dyed it, you should not apply the blue hair dye.
The mixture of red and blue will create a purple-violet color that’s nothing like the blue you want.
How to Completely Remove Red Hair Dye
To completely remove red hair dye, wash your hair more often, or use a clarifying shampoo to remove the red pigment.
If you decide to wash your hair more often, make sure to use an anti-dandruff shampoo.
Are you curious why?
Dandruff shampoos contain higher levels of sulfates than other shampoos.
Sulfates corrode hair dye, causing it to fade faster.
If you wash your hair every day, or even twice per day, the red color will soon disappear.
On the other hand, if you don’t want to wait or do all that work, you can opt for a clarifying shampoo.
Clarifying shampoo removes all the artificial pigments from your hair.
Because it has a strong smell, using a clarifying shampoo in the shower isn’t recommenced.
Clarifying shampoo is very easy to use:
- Wet your hair as usual
- Apply the clarifying shampoo, and let it sit for 15 minutes
- Rinse with warm water and check if the red has disappeared
- If there's still some red dye, you can repeat this process two or three more times.
- Clarifying shampoo does not damage hair.
Whether you choose to wash your hair more often or use a clarifying shampoo, you can apply semi-permanent blue dye as soon as the red hair dye is gone.
What Shade of Blue to Choose
The darker blue you choose, the better it will cover your base tone.
Why does that matter?
Despite all you've done to remove the red hair dye, there still may be some faint traces of it in your hair.
Even semi-permanent red colors are tenacious and difficult to remove.
If your hair is a pale, faded pink, you can apply a light blue dye.
A pale pink will not affect the blue dye, even less so if you choose a dark blue.
How to Go From Permanently Dyed Red Hair to Blue Hair
If your hair was dyed red with a permanent dye, you're going to be facing a much more difficult situation.
To remove the red hair dye, you'll have to apply bleach several times, depending on your current shade of red.
- Dark red hair will have to be bleached at least two or three times.
- Light red or pink tones, on the other hand, can be removed with one or two bleaching treatments.
Keep that in mind, when you apply the semi-permanent blue dye.
And remember that semi-permanent dye does not cover permanent dye.
This is because, unlike permanent dye, semi-permanent dye will not change the structure of your hair.
This is also why you have to bleach your hair first.
But how do you bleach hair, and what will you need?
To bleach your red hair, you'll need 30-volume developer and bleaching powder.
Once you've got those products, it's time to apply those products to your hair.
- First, comb your hair, so there are no tangles to make the process more difficult
- Mix the 30-volume developer and bleaching powder in a plastic container’
- You should get a creamy, uniform mixture
- Apply the product, starting at the ends of your hair and middle section of your hair, since those areas will have the highest concentration of hair dye.
- Finally, apply the product to your roots
- Let it sit for twenty minutes, and rinse
- If necessary, you can repeat this process as many times as you want, so long as you wait fifteen days before bleaching your hair again
- Remember that bleach id very corrosive to the hair fiber
- Afterward, you can moisturize your hair with coconut oil and masks to repair the damage
Once you've removed all the red dye, you can apply a semi-permanent blue dye.
But not a permanent blue dye. Why not?
The reason why is simple: blue is a fantasy color.
Therefore, most brands don't manufacture permanent blue dye, and the blue tones are only available in a semi-permanent dye.
While there are blueish tones on the market, such as 1.7 black blue or 2.7 brown blue, it's difficult to dye your hair that color, and it won't come out as the blue tone you're looking for.
Therefore, you'll have to apply a semi-permanent blue dye, after removing the red dye, of course.
In this case, choosing a color is the same as choosing a shade after removing a semi-permanent red dye.
There may still be some traces of red dye in your hair, and remember that the darker shade of blue you choose, the better it will cover those red tones.
Just like if you let your red dye fade, an orange tone will appear after you bleach your hair the first time, that will fade to a coppery tone if you bleach it again. At that point, a semi-permanent blue dye will cover it perfectly.
So don't worry!
If you follow these instructions, you'll get that beautiful blue hair.
Conclusion
- If you dyed your hair with a semi-permanent dye, going from red to blue is easy.
- That being said, hair dyed with permanent dye is another story altogether. Depending on how dark your hair is, you’ll have to bleach it one or more times before dying it again.
- Always remember to moisturize your hair with masks, coconut oil, argan oil, or silk extracts to make it soft and shiny once again.
