- Semi-permanent hair dye always washes out of bleached hair. The time it’ll take will depend on the brand and intensity of color you applied to your hair.
- Brands like Splat and Adore take longer to wash out because of the strength of their pigments and capacity to adhere to the hair.
- If you still have traces of semi-permanent hair dye on your bleached hair, you shouldn’t bleach it. Today, I’ll tell you about some alternative methods to remove traces of hair dye that are less damaging than bleaching.
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Eventually, semi-permanent hair dye washes out from bleached hair. Don’t look at me like that!
It may be several weeks since you dyed your bleached hair. Even though you’ve washed your hair more than twenty times, the color is still there.
It may not be as vibrant and crisp as the first few weeks, but it refuses to go away from your head.
You’re probably desperate.
- For example, if you had applied an intense violet, it’s a washed-out lilac now.
- Second, you want to try another color, but you’re afraid to apply it over the hair dye that hasn’t washed out yet. You know that the end result may be a horrible color mix.
Yes. I understand.
Everything looks good in theory.
You bleach your hair, choose a semi-permanent hair dye, open the bottle, and apply it. Your fantasy world unfolds before your eyes and fills your soul with joy.
Best of all, you’ve read that the semi-permanent hair dye will wash out from your bleached hair in a few washes.
However, four, ten, twenty washes go by, and the color is still there.
Your fury is unleashed. You feel cheated.
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Why does the manufacturer claim that the semi-permanent hair dye will disappear from your bleached hair after a certain number of washes if it doesn’t?
Because you should keep in mind that semi-permanent hair dyes are not all the same.
Some take longer to wash out from bleached hair and are more difficult to remove.
For example, in my experience, Splat semi-permanent hair dye is harder to wash out than Arctic Fox’s.
If you’ve had semi-permanent hair dye for a while, and it just won’t wash out, it’s not the time to despair. The first thing you need to do is understand what’s going on with your hair.
Why doesn’t the semi-permanent hair dye wash out from my bleached hair?
If you applied a semi-permanent hair dye, you were looking for a radical change with a fantasy color.
Also, the advantage is that it isn’t applied with a developer, which is a very corrosive chemical.
That was great news for your hair, which had undergone a very aggressive process such as bleaching.
So, you were killing two birds with one stone: you were coloring your bleach-dried hair with a fantasy color with the least possible damage.
However, you may have missed a tiny detail.
Bleaching not only takes moisture out of your hair. It also leaves it thinner and weaker.
Hair dye adheres more strongly to that hair than to unbleached hair.
Bleached hair is porous. So, it makes it easier for the hair dye pigments to adhere. And this is one of the reasons why semi-permanent hair dye doesn’t wash out from bleached hair.
The hair dye manufacturers don’t know what level of porosity each client has. That’s why the times they state for washing out are general.
You should also take into account the brand and color of semi-permanent hair dye you applied
In my experience, each brand has a particular duration.
That’s why, before applying a semi-permanent hair dye, I do a little survey to find out what their expectations are.
- For example, do they want the color to last longer?
- Will they change color once the previous one washes out?
- What are their hair washing habits?
These questions help me decide which brand of semi-permanent hair dye to use because some last longer than others.
- For example, for those who want the hair dye to wash out faster to change color, I apply Manic Panic and Arctic Fox. They last an average of 16 and 12 washes, and their pigments are weaker.
- For clients who want vibrant colors that eventually wash out to lighter shades, I recommend Splat or Adore semi-permanent hair dyes. They can last up to 25 washes.
Can you see the difference?
Even the same color will last more or less according to the brand.
For example, Manic Panic’s fuchsia, which lasts 16 washes, will wash out faster than Splat’s fuchsia. The latter washes out after 28 washes on bleached hair.
Also, the darker or more intense the color the stronger the pigment. In other words, pale pink or light mint doesn’t last as long as violet or blue.
- Manic Panic’s purple color line states that it lasts for 16 washes. However, in my experience, it can be extended up to 25 washes.
- Splat claims in their directions to last 30+ washes. However, in my experience, it may be extended in dark colors like blue.
Now you understand what happens to your bleached hair and why the semi-permanent hair dye didn’t wash out. Forget about bleaching!
If you bleach your hair, you’ll remove the hair dye residue, but you’ll also ruin your hair. There are other methods to fade semi-permanent hair dye, and that’s what I’ll talk about next.
How to remove semi-permanent hair dye from bleached hair
We’ve ruled out bleaching.
If you think you’re one step ahead by considering a hair color remover to wash out the semi-permanent hair dye, stop right now. Otherwise, you’ll ruin your hair too.
Color remover opens the cuticles of your hair and allows it to expel the color. However, semi-permanent hair dye doesn’t penetrate the hair core. Therefore, you would be using a method that is too aggressive.
- To remove traces of semi-permanent hair dye, you’ll need to use a clarifying shampoo. It’s specifically designed to remove traces of any hair product.
All you have to do is replace your regular shampoo with the clarifying shampoo. After two or three washes, your semi-permanent hair dye will be removed from your bleached hair.
- You can also use an anti-dandruff shampoo, which contains a higher amount of sulfates and color-corrosive detergents.
Replace your regular shampoo with the anti-dandruff shampoo. You’ll see that color residues and hair dye will be completely gone after three or four washes.
Afterward, I recommend moisturizing your hair with a suitable conditioner or essential oils to restore moisture. Remember that bleached hair is more fragile and can suffer from hair loss or breakage if you don’t moisturize and nourish it properly.
Conclusions
In addition to the recommendations regarding the duration of the semi-permanent hair dyes, you need to consider the hair color and porosity. They directly influence hair dye washing out on bleached hair.
Now you know that you can use a clarifying shampoo or an anti-dandruff shampoo to remove the remains of semi-permanent hair dye.
