How to fix a patchy hair dye? Find out why your color came out patchy and how to fix it

There are three reasons why your hair dye might have come out patchy:

 And all three of these problems have the same solution: You should dye your hair all over again.  

 

In this day and age of social media tutorials, many young people decide to dye their hair at home without knowing much about dyeing hair. Sometimes they’re able to change their color successfully and then share it with their thousands of followers.

But, there are plenty of others – more than you think – that don’t have the same luck. And instead of ending up with a beautiful color, their hair ends up patchy and uneven like a zebra.

 

Of course, nobody is going to put a video up on Instagram of a disastrous dye job. Have you seen many influencers talking about their bad decisions? Maybe one in a hundred do.

Most only talk about the experience when their change of style goes well.

 

 So, if your hair ended up two different colors, don’t feel bad. It happens all the time, maybe from a basic color error, because of a lack of experience, or even just because of an attention problem. 

Now that you know you’re not the only one who has ended up with a patchy dye job, it’s time to get to what’s most important: how to fix it. And I promise the solution isn’t to cut all your hair off.

 

Like I told you before, there are three possible reasons why your hair color might have ended up patchy.

That’s why we’re going to look at each of the reasons in a little more detail and then talk about possible solutions.

 

Stick around because I’ll tell you:

 

 

How to even out hair color if you didn’t apply the hair dye right

The most common reason for patchy color is messing up some steps in applying the hair dye to your hair. There’s more to dyeing hair than mixing up all the ingredients and putting the mix on your hair like it were water. No, ma’am! There’s a technique behind coloring hair, and you should follow that technique.

For example:

That’s because the dye will be on your ends longer than on your roots.

 

How to fix your hair

If your hair color ended up patchy because you didn’t use the dye right, the only solution is to dye your hair again.  And the first thing you need to do is make sure that you buy the same color dye that you used the first time.  

 

Part your hair down the middle so your roots are exposed, then, with the help of a dye brush, use the dye mix on your roots.

Do the same thing to the rest of your head. When you finish, check to make sure your ends are dry and your roots have dye, so that way you know you did it correctly.

Leave the dye in for 40 minutes, rinse, then look in the mirror. How do your roots look now?

 

Brush your hair the same way you usually do, then use the dye mix from the middle to the ends of your hair, leaving an inch and a half to two inches dry at your roots. If you don’t have a dye brush, you can also do this with a comb.

Once you’ve worked the dye into your hair, make sure all of your hair has dye on it, except your roots.

Want to know if you did it right?

Are your roots dry?

Is the rest of your hair wet with dye?

 

If so, then you’ve done it right. All you need to do now is let it sit for 30-40 minutes and then rinse.

 

Now, if your color ended up uneven but you didn’t make any mistakes during the application process, then there must be another problem. We’ll take a look at other possibilities now.

 

What to do if your hair color is patchy because you didn’t mix the dye’s ingredients correctly

Dye has some pretty important similarities with baking a cake. If you don’t prepare the mix you’re going to use for a cake right, it won’t rise. It’s the same with dye, but instead of not rising, it will only patchily cover your hair.

That’s why you need to be very careful when you mix the dye and the developer, to make sure that you end up with a well-mixed cream.

Why does your hair end up patchy if you don’t mix the ingredients well?

 

Because in some areas of your hair, only the developer will act, lightening your hair, while in other sections, only the dye will act, giving your hair color.

The result? Zebra stripes in your hair.

 

How do you fix it?

You should dye your hair again, but this time, mix the dye and the developer well.

While you mix, think about your ex, the worst boss you ever had, or the wrath of your mother-in-law. Think about whatever you want, but don’t stop mixing.

 You need to get a smooth, creamy, malleable mix that should be easy to apply – it shouldn’t drip. 

 

Once the mix is smooth, start to apply it from your roots to your ends, leave it in 40-50 minutes, then rinse.

I can assure you that your color will turn out perfectly even.

 

Now, what was your base color before you used the dye? Because getting an even final color also depends on your base color.

 

How to fix patchy color if the dye didn’t work right because of an uneven base color

No matter what, the color you start with before you use dye is also very important in making sure your final color ends up even.

Often, when women bleach their hair, something doesn’t turn out quite right, so they want to fix it using hair dye. But, that’s when your color ends up uneven.

 If your base color is patchy, then the dye job will also be patchy.  

 

This is one of the risks associated with bleaching your hair because it isn’t an easy process, and hair colorists spend a long time studying to be able to do it correctly with good results.

 

How do you fix it?

Desperation yields bad advice, so keep calm because there is a solution to everything.

If your base color was uneven, and that’s what made your new color patchy, all you need to do is dye your hair again, but this time you need to use a new dye that is a shade darker than the dye you used before.

For example:

 

That way, your hair will be even because the darker dye will cover the parts that ended up patchy. And always remember to mix the dye well before you use the cream and to be sure to use it on all of your hair, starting at your roots and moving down to the ends, covering every inch of the surface of your hair.

Let sit for 40 minutes, then rinse. Now your hair color will finally be even!

 

Conclusions

As you can see, when a dye job ends up patchy, the only solution is to use a new dye.

It’s crucial to pay close attention to your problem this time, so you don’t make the same mistake again. If you mess up again, you’ll end up with the same results.

Now tell me, which problem caused your hair color to end up uneven?