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How to Naturally Remove Hair Dye with Vitamin C

03.19.2018 by The Beauty Info Provider // 23 Comments

How to Naturally Remove Hair Dye with Vitamin C

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 to Naturally Remove Hair Dye with Vitamin C

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

How to Naturally Remove Hair Dye with Vitamin C

What you need to do:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. If you have very dry hair, I recommend adding 1 tbsp of conditioner to the mixture.
  4. 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.
  5. Wear a shower cap on your hair and and let your hair sit for about 60 minutes.
  6. 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.
  7. 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…

  1. The results of this technique will greatly depend on the shade of your dye, the quality of your hair, other factors.
  2. If you have a lot of dye buildup, you may need to repeat this process a few more times.
  3. Rest your hair in between treatments – don’t get one every day! An interval of at least one day is enough.
  4. 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!


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Categories // Skin Care Tags // hair care, hair care tips, how to remove hair color using vitamin c, how to remove hair dye naturally, how to use vitamin c to remove hair dye

Comments

  1. Deborah Brown says

    December 30, 2018 at 2:44 am

    Worked perfectly. I used a spice mill to crush the tablets.

    Reply
  2. rae says

    January 4, 2019 at 11:17 am

    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?

    Reply
    • H says

      April 14, 2020 at 7:30 pm

      Hi, I’ve done the same. Did u try it and did it work for you?

      Reply
    • O says

      June 16, 2020 at 2:52 pm

      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.

      Reply
  3. Tami Garrison says

    February 19, 2019 at 5:58 pm

    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.

    Reply
  4. Sierra Baltzer says

    March 11, 2019 at 11:59 pm

    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!!

    Reply
  5. Kat says

    August 20, 2019 at 11:12 pm

    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.

    Reply
    • Deevyl says

      May 30, 2020 at 8:31 am

      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.

      Reply
  6. Anna says

    August 29, 2019 at 12:05 pm

    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?

    Reply
  7. Pat S says

    February 16, 2020 at 3:21 am

    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.

    Reply
    • Meg Sweetland says

      June 20, 2020 at 5:07 pm

      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!

      Reply
  8. CJ says

    March 15, 2020 at 1:43 am

    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

    Reply
    • Lex says

      October 22, 2020 at 3:46 am

      How did that work? Ive done it once on dry hair and it took a little out but I want to try it on wet hair too.

      Reply
  9. Maria says

    April 7, 2020 at 1:13 pm

    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!

    Reply
    • Cynthia says

      June 24, 2020 at 12:29 am

      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!

      Reply
  10. sue says

    April 26, 2020 at 9:46 pm

    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?

    Reply
  11. Star says

    May 15, 2020 at 5:09 am

    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!

    Reply
  12. Marysia says

    May 18, 2020 at 9:49 am

    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.

    Reply
  13. Jennifer says

    July 29, 2020 at 3:02 am

    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.

    Reply
  14. Chace says

    August 14, 2020 at 12:26 pm

    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.

    Reply
  15. Liv says

    August 15, 2020 at 12:39 am

    Can use effervescent vit c tabs? My thinking is they will dissolve better in the shampoo.

    Reply
  16. Jan Hill says

    September 28, 2020 at 1:47 pm

    This didn’t work for me, I coloured my hair and it looked very gingery, tried this and it was lighter, but a lighter ginger. My hair before was natural mid brown with a lot grey in it. I’m going on holiday in a few days and I’m at a loss what to do now.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Do Collagen Pills Actually Work? - The Beauty Info Provider says:
    March 27, 2018 at 6:13 pm

    […] it’s way more than that if you want to achieve healthier skin and hair. Experts believe that Vitamin C and collagen must be taken together. It is believed that not enough collagen can be produced if […]

    Reply

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