Color Stripping Faux Pas

We’ve all been there, some people more often than others. Impulse or boredom lead us to buy the nearest box and color our hair something outrageous. We instantly wonder “What on earth did I do?” and our next trip is off to buy a color stripper. I have seen it over and over again, someone decides to “fix” what they did by stripping out their color, only to find that now they need a professional to fix it the right way and it is going to cost hundreds of dollars! Why, oh why, did I color my own hair?! Am I hitting home with anyone out there? The biggest misconception about color stripping is people assume that it only removes the color you just put on and that they will be left with their natural hair color. Faux Pas #1. Actually, a color stripper not only removes the color you just put on, but it also alters the natural color of your hair. Also, in the process of stripping out the color and lightening the hair, it leaves a very nasty rust, burnt orange type of color if you leave it as is. So, now you’ve colored your own hair with a box that has enough problems in and of itself. Then, you stripped the color out with whatever cheap remover you could find leaving the outcome a total mystery. You are left with dry, brittle, orange, mangled mess hair. Now you have a choice…. Leave it alone, color it again creating even more damage and unpredictability, or FIND A PROFESSIONAL! Obviously, option 3 is the smartest one at this point. Imagine, if you had gone to a professional to begin with at that very first coloring you could have avoided this whole mess and you wouldn’t be stuck paying out your ears for a correction. That brings me to my last point. Faux Pas #2 is that most people think color stripping/correcting shouldn’t be tricky, so why does it cost so much? In reality, color correction takes a lot of knowledge, time, and TLC. In addition to stripping out any color left behind, now you are looking at figuring a best option of color to put back on without damaging the hair further. Most of the time the hair needs some extra treatments such as protein additions, etc. to help build back up the strength of the hair. There is a lot more detail, process, and product that go into a color correction. That, combined with the expertise of your salon professional is what constitutes such a high price. The moral of the story? It’s easier on the pocket-book to always let a professional color your hair. If you do make a mistake on your own, the quicker you get to a professional the better chance you have of salvaging your hair.