Is it possible to remove hair dye without using bleach?
I’m going to be straight to the point with you, the short answer is yes! Most hair stylists and hair dressers will tell you that bleaching your hair is the only way to remove your hair color, but bleaching will surely fry and damage your hair. Fortunately for us who love to dye our hair, bleaching is not the only way to go. There is a much more natural way to remove permanent, semi-permanent, and even henna dyes from your hair with little to no damage.
This simple and humble ingredient is Vitamin C, and most of us already have this at home!
How does Vitamin C work in removing hair color?
I’ve done lots of reading on this but it’s not completely understood why Vitamin C actually works well in removing hair dyes. However, experts believe that the ascorbic acid (the main ingredient in Vitamin C) interacts with the dye molecules and breaks the chemical bonds that make dye to stick to the hair.
And because citric acid is acid, it’s also believed to help break down the dye, which makes it easier to wash it out. But whatever the reason, Vitamin C is a sure way to remove any type of hair dye, old or new, without causing horrible damage to the hair except a bit of dryness. It is still acid, after all.
How do you use Vitamin C to remove your hair color?
All you need is a few ingredients and a few simple steps. If you already have Vitamin C tablets at home you can also work with that, but I recommend getting actual Ascorbic Acid powder because it’s much easier to work with, and the ingredient is much more finely “milled.”
It doesn’t matter how many milligrams your Vitamin C is, but it does neet to be Ascorbic Acid based. 500mg or 1000mg is fine – they should give you the same desired result.
Stuff you’ll need to prepare:
- 1 tbsp conditioner (optional)
- 15-25 Vitamin C tablets or 1/4-1/2 cup of ascorbic acid powder
- 1/4-1/2 cup shampoo (clarifying shampoo works best but any shampoo will do)
- 1 tbsp conditioner (optional)
- shower cap
- plastic mixing bowl
What you need to do:
- If you’re working with Vitamin C tablets, put them in a ziploc bag and crush into a fine powder something like a rolling pin. You can also use a spice grinder to get a super fine texture. If you’re using Ascorbic Acid powder, measure out 1/4-1/2 cup into a plastic bowl. This depends on your hair length.
- Transfer the powdered Vitamin C into your bowl and add in your shampoo of choice. Mix well until you get a thick, creamy, paste-like consistency. Add more Vitamin C if the consistency is still too watery.
- If you have very dry hair, I recommend adding 1 tbsp of conditioner to the mixture.
- After you’re done mixing, apply the Vitamin C mask to dry hair. I repeat, dry, not wet! Make sure to saturate all of your hair by the strand. Massage the mixture into the hair to maximize the potency of the mixture.
- Wear a shower cap on your hair and and let your hair sit for about 60 minutes.
- After the hour is over, wash your hair with warm to hot water for a minimum of 5 minutes. But be careful not to burn yourself! Rinsing your hair thoroughly and well will prevent the hair dye molecules from reattaching after the Vitamin C treatment. If you do not rinse your hair long and well enough, the dye may darken again.
- Condition and dry your hair as you usually would. Expect that your hair may be a tad drier but it will get back its luster and softness after deep conditioning.
Some final words…
- The results of this technique will greatly depend on the shade of your dye, the quality of your hair, other factors.
- If you have a lot of dye buildup, you may need to repeat this process a few more times.
- Rest your hair in between treatments – don’t get one every day! An interval of at least one day is enough.
- When you have already removed all the dye from your hair, then you can safely apply a new hair color of your choice. I recommend natural hair coloring alternatives.
Have you used Vitamin C to remove your hair color yet? Tell me about your experience below!
Worked perfectly. I used a spice mill to crush the tablets.
Hi! I dyed my hair a lighter shade of brown, but i’d like to get it back to my original darker shade. Will this method help to do that or will it make my hair color lighter?
Hi, I’ve done the same. Did u try it and did it work for you?
If vitamin c fades any color you have it can only become lighter. Once hair is lightened it can’t go darker again unless you use another color on top. So if you want your hair to become darker you should dye it with a darker color.
I dyed my hair a way too dark brown that looked nearly black. Way too harsh for my skin tone. I used this method and was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked. I am super happy with the results and how evenly colored my hair came out. I don’t even need to re-dye. If I had used a stripper, it would have most likely been an orangy, tiger-stripped mess. It’s a very natural shade of med-light brown and I love it.
i used this on my silver-dyed hair and it worked within minutes! i saw my blonde clear as day when working on my final layer of application! thank you!!
I just done it I didn’t work at all. Absolutely nothing has happened. My hair is very dark. Ive been dying my hair for many years so there is a lot of build up to come off. I kept the mixture for 1 hour and 20 mins.
Try increasing the ratio of vitamin c to shampoo, and perhaps try with an anti-dandruff shampoo. It’s pretty well known by itself for helping to strip artificial color from hair.
I have at home vitamin C 600mg but it have also adds of vitamin E, D, selen and cink,can i use that? Can something go wrong? In my country vitamins are not so cheap, I already have this,what do you think?
FYI — this works on grey hair, too. I had dyed my hair green for Halloween. The stuff was “permanent” but supposed to wash out after 20 shampoos or so. Ten weeks, maybe? Here it was middle of February and hair still green (though faded). My vitamin C tablets wouldn’t crush, so I mixed them with shampoo, let them soften and then crushed and mixed. Hair is no longer green — but also not the original all-over silver — a sort of apple juice blonde. Plus no worries about abusing hair with nasty chemicals.
I’ve dyed my grays since I was 20 (started dying due to grays) im 35 and I want to try to grow my grays out and stop dying it but I don’t want 2tone hair and to grow it out forever, as my hair grows sooooo slowly. Im probably 75-90% white/gray…. but who knows? I’ve only seen my roots!
Anyway, sorry to hijack your post, any advice?
I have dark brown, dry, fine and frizzy, thin. My roots are mostly white, light auburn, brown
Will this actually remove years of hair dye?
Thanks!
i dyed my bleached blonde hair Transylvania black by arctic fox and iv don’t the vitamin c treatment 6 times. it’s still not out. my hair is drying but i really don’t want to do a bleach bath. the only thing i’ve been doing different from this article was applying it to wet hair. i’m going to try it on dry hair and see if that makes any difference
Used ascorbic acid on my white hair as I put in a semi permanent purple by mistake. The color faded but my once white hair is now orange …help!
I used a toner on my white hair (to get out the yellowing) and it turned gray.
I used Head and Shoulders with an equal amount of baking soda. I used 1/2 cup each. Blended well then applied to dry hair, adding water sprays as needed to cover it all into a soapy pile on my head. Put a shower cap on for 30 minutes and rinsed well. Washed a 2nd time just with Head and Shoulders shampoo, rinsed well. Followed with deep conditioner. It removed much of it! It does dry your hair out but with moisturized conditioner, I was good!
I’ve just done this tonight on dark brown hair dye, my ends looked black. the roots have lightened alot more than the rest but its definitely lightened it all over. I’ll do another one in a few days, should I concentrate on the ends more and leave roots alone?
This worked well in some areas, but not on red. It took out the silver I used on previously bleach sections (which ended up bluer than I wanted) It lightened the silver very well! But the auburn red I used everywhere else still is the same. I’m a natural dirty blonde so I wasn’t sure what to expect after this treatment. Oh well! At least I didn’t try to bleach it all away and lose my hair comepletely!
I tried this on my grey hair that has been coloured brunette. Wanted to get rid of the colour because roots look awful. Am now a horrible shade of greeny- orange with grey roots.
Oh well… might try it again, it can’t look any worse.
I wonder if you could mix the juice of an orange or lemon with dandruff shampoo and get a similar result…We have been trying to fade midnight blue Splat from my daughter’s hair for almost two months. I may try it and see if it works.
I’m letting my “natural white” grow in. Have previously dyed my hair dark blonde.
Tried this yesterday. Applied to colored sections only. Used 30 tables of 600mg Vitamin c, crushed to powder, blended with regular shampoo.
Worked great! I’m so pleased! Removed so much of the brassy yellow tones that my dyed hair always got.
Can use effervescent vit c tabs? My thinking is they will dissolve better in the shampoo.