I have had a dip-dye which has gone wrong, please help!

Hi,

Sorry I'm not from the UK, but it's practically impossible to get proper haircare advice in my country so I'm hoping I can get some from you guys.

I got a dip-dye two weeks ago and it went terribly wrong, I wanted it to be violet and instead it turned out bright pink and bright purple. The next day I went and got it fixed and it was perfect, exactly the shade of violet I wanted.

But then with washing my hair, even though I used colour shampoo, it started washing out and getting pinker and pinker. I went back to the salon a week later and demanded they dye it again, and they did. The colour I wanted isn't easily available here so they used something similar.

Now it's more even but still more red-purple than violet deep-purple that I originally wanted. I've already put my hair through hell, but if I manage to get the violet colour I want could I apply it once more to this colour and get the result I am after? 

Thanks,

Anon, Bangladesh

Hi there, I’m so sorry that you’ve had such trouble! When you pre-lighten hair to achieve a dip-dye, it unfortunately becomes like a sponge so that any colour you apply over the top will most likely fade very quickly, even if you use colour-saving shampoos and conditioner. If you wash your hair everyday then you may have to go back to the hairdresser more frequently to re-apply the colour that you want. I would recommend talking to the salon you visited about having regular conditioning treatments, as the better condition your hair is in the more it will allow the colour to hold more.

Faye Turner, HOB Salons’ Creative Colour Director  

Violet is one of the prettiest colours on the planet; however it is also the most notorious for fading. As it is in the blue part of the spectrum of purple, this makes it a delicate tone that cannot stay in the hair no matter how much we try to prevent it from rinsing down the drain. 

If your colourist writes a record of the exact colour that you are happy with they should be able to match it when it fades after shampooing. When I work with bold fashion colours, I generally pre-lighten hair to the palest yellow I can achieve and then use Crazy Colour, Directions La Riche or Manic Panic to get the right shade I require. These possibly could be purchased online.

Applying these over and over does not damage hair as they are true semi-permanent colours that don't need a developer and they haven't got any ammonia in them to dry out the hair either.

You will need to keep having it coloured to maintain the colour, but using a shampoo and conditioner designed for coloured hair does help retain the pigment.

John Clark at Brooks+Brooks, London