my hair journey: red to honey caramel - step 1 strip out color build-up (no bleaching))

DISCLAIMER: 
i'm not a professional!!! however, if you should be unsure about dying your hair (damaging, chemicals, color result etc) please do NOT do it! consider your professional beauty salon for adivce! all i do is sharing my experiences i made on my own.

before / after using color b4 hair color stripper in extra strength
my red hair was so washed out and just uuughh
i didn't even put on an ashblonde yet!! these are the results i got after stripping out the color!

"no jess, there is no way you can dye your hair in a honey brown tone without bleaching the red shit out of your hair."
"no jess, there is no way you can dye your hair red without bleaching the dark shit shit out of your hair."

l: red washed out / m: after using color b4 stripper / r: final result after going over with ashblonde
read about dying my hair ashblonde to get rid of brassy tones in my nxt post

ehm i always did my research first and experimented with products from the states or uk - and yes, i can and i did! i started off with pitch black hair, had my first attempt at a salon, didn't come out bright red - so i tried it on my own using l'oreal hicolor in "red" and "red hot" and manic panic (vegan hair dye - no harmful chemicals) afterwards for touch ups- check out my older post my hair journey: black/dark to red hair (without pre bleaching) - as it says without prebleaching!

started off with black hair in feb 12

result after visiting a salon - red? ehm nope

see that?! that's fucking red! ah wait what did you say? "you can't dye your hair vibrant red without prebleaching over and over again!" just showing you that a salon isn't the nonplusultra, there are always new or different ways to treat your hair and get results without frying your hair too much. learn to google in an efficient way!

so over here they know shit about color stripping - so here is how it works: (text from http://www.colourb4.com/products/colour-b4-extra )

"Colour B4 shrinks the artificial dye molecules in the hair, enabling you to simply wash them away. What’s more Colour B4 does not touch your natural hair pigment so you are left with the colour which lay beneath your artificial shade. Colour B4 takes you back to your lightest shade. It will return your hair to its natural colour if the artificial hair colour applied is darker than your natural level."

i had so much color build-up from dying it red and using vegan hair dye by manic panic i really believed that it would be impossible to get rid of the red tones in my hair - because dying your hair from red to light brown/blonde is almost impossible because of the nasty red pigments you have to bleach out at least 2x  - yada yada yadaaaaa! i did my research and et voila, by using a color stripper you strip out the build-up hair dye in your hair. i didn't use any random hair stripper i wanted the best and that's from color b4 according to soooo many reviews. and it really works!

 half dry hair after rinsing out everything for 20 minutes and towel drying it

daylight / much lighter (had my hair tied up to a bun that's why they look so messy haha
it won't look that crappy when i straighten them)

i'm not done yet - i'll proceed with putting on an ashblonde to get rid of the brassy tone and a semi-perminent honey hair dye to get my desired hair color. i'll have a cut when i'm done dying my hair.  but the results from using color b4 extra strength are amazing in my opinion - it doesn't contain any ammonia or bleach! your hair does feel a bit dry after you went through the whole process but that's no problem - use a ph neutral shampoo and deep condition it afterwards.

w h a t   y o u   w i l l   n e e d

small plastic mixing bowl*

gloves

application brush*

color b4 hair color remover - i used "extra strength" it's for darker colors or build-up colorations
buy here: http://www.colourb4.com/products

*i apply hair dye using a mixing bowl and an application brush, you can do it however you like to

h o w   t o   u s e

1 - mix A & B together, stirr well and cover section after section on your dry hair - let it proceed for an hour under a shower cap. the hair will proceed better when its heated by your natural body heat.

2 - this step is very important and by all means don't be too lazy to rinse long enough - now you'll rinse out all the product and the shrunken molicules, rinse for about 10 minutes - use a timer so you know when to stop rinsing. rinse rinse rinse and yes.... rinse out your old hair color. say bye bye!! i expected that my hair would "bleed" out the red - but the water was clear while rinsing! that's why - do the recommended 10 minutes!!!

3 - now shampoo your hair with the bottle C - the buffer - this step is also very crucial, the buffer ensures that all the molecules get washed out + it conditions. leave that in for a few minutes and rinse out again -  it's very important that you rinse out for another 10 minutes.

4 - repeat the 3rd step

5 - towel dry your hair first and let it air dry afterwards. deep conditioning is recommended!

good luck!