Green haircolor

Moms View Message Board: General Discussion Archive: Archive November 2005: Green haircolor

I colored my hair with an all over color. I usually do a medium or light ash blond, varying brands. I'm not even sure what brand I used today. Today my hair came out with a greenish tint! Help. Why would it do this?

I made an appt. to have a professional do a color on Thursday. I hate going to have it done. The money and the time! Anyone else have this problem?

By Tink on Tuesday, November 1, 2005 - 07:17 pm:

I've BTDT and it stinks!!! A professional had to help with mine and she said it was because my hair was too dry and it soaked up parts of the dye that it shouldn't have. Good luck with the pro!

By Karen~moderator on Tuesday, November 1, 2005 - 08:21 pm:

Happened to me years ago - with brown color - mine ended up with a greenish tint. My hairdresser told me that *one* reason that happens is when the dye you purchased is old or damaged. UGH!

By Kaye on Tuesday, November 1, 2005 - 09:47 pm:

I used a dye and got an awful shade of red, so i washed and washed (it was a 30 day color), hmmm after I called clariol and finally got a hold of someone they said, DON"T DO THAT! Apparently over washing and drying your hair will make the color last longer. What I did do, that helped a lot, was cover my head with olive oil and saran wrap. Heat with a blow dryer and let it sit. I repeated this twice, rinsing in between NO SOAP, and then went to bed with icky oily hair. the next morning i washed like normal and it was MUCH better. Good luck.

By Feona on Wednesday, November 2, 2005 - 03:32 pm:

Does she have to wait longer to get her hair professionally colored?

I know you have to wait between coloring but I am not sure how long. I would call and tell them what happened and ask how long you have to wait to have them fix it.

Something about letting the color set or something....

I see alot of blonds walking around with green hair....

By Annie2 on Wednesday, November 2, 2005 - 07:12 pm:

I can't wait. I have an in-law wedding to attend next week. Of all the times for this to happen!

By Kate on Wednesday, November 2, 2005 - 09:18 pm:

Kaye, did Clairol tell you to use the olive oil and saran wrap and then heat it? Does it have to be OLIVE oil? I'm about to color and now I'm scared!!

By Annie2 on Wednesday, November 2, 2005 - 09:28 pm:

Kate, I have been coloring my hair at home for the past three years without a problem. I usually go about every 6 weeks. Then the gray starts to show at my roots and my hair gets too light on the ends.

I haven't had a trim in a while, either. I'm sure my hair was too dry or a bad product.

I hate having to go to the salon. It's pricey/time consuming. I know I will need a touch up in six weeks. I don't want to start going to a salon again. UUghh!

By Mrsheidi on Wednesday, November 2, 2005 - 10:13 pm:

UUGGHH...that is exactly why I will never do an at-home hair color again...same thing happened to me only I looked like a street •••••. Talk about white blonde trashy, etc etc etc...icky. I've had mine done every 2 months at a professional salon bc I'm too paranoid that will happen again!!
Sorry, Annie! ANd such a rotten time too!

By Mrsheidi on Wednesday, November 2, 2005 - 10:13 pm:

Sorry, the word was "wh*re"

By Breann on Thursday, November 3, 2005 - 10:18 am:

Funny how we are never happy with our actual hair color! I dye my hair regularly, at home. Just did it last night, in fact. I have blonde hair and I dye it "golden brown".

I hope you get that green tint out before the wedding. You'll have to let us know what you end up doing.

By Annie2 on Thursday, November 3, 2005 - 07:24 pm:

I went to the salon today. It was the first time meeting this hair professional, second time to the salon. First time for an eyebrow wax, though. I trusted her immediately.

My hair came out great! It is a dark blonde with subtle lighter highlights. Whew!! It looks better than it has in a long time. I don't think I will color at home again.

She also gave me a great cut. She kept my length but cut in more layers to give it more swing and body. She also textured my bangs to help with the process of growing them out.

Thanks for all of the support, ladies!!!

By Hol on Monday, November 7, 2005 - 08:27 pm:

I'm glad that it turned out well. What professional brand did they use, did they say? I am a hairdresser, and in my opinion, Redken is the very best, but it is for professional use only. It has a real deep shine.

The reason that your hair turned green is probably due to two factors. All haircolors have a base color. The ash shades have either a green or blue base, to cancel out the natural red in your hair. If you are a repeat home hair colorer, you probably have a build up of color on the older hair. It is much more porous because it has been exposed to the elements, (sun, wind damage, etc). The best way to avoid this is to only color your new growth. Only put the color on the older hair the last five minutes.

Also, if you have "city" water, it may be treated with chlorine or flouride. Both are chemicals that are greenish in their natural state. It's the same principal that turns your tub and faucets green. Those chemicals react with the copper in your plumbing pipes. Good salons usually have water filters installed on their water system.

Be sure to use a shampoo for color-treated hair. It doesn't open the cuticle of the hair up as much as shampoo for normal hair, so your color will last longer.

That is true about washing your hair too much to get rid of unwanted color. It dries it out too much, and makes it more porous, so you get the opposite effect that you want.

I can appreciate the fact that having your color done is expensive and time consuming. However, what you are paying for is the colorist's knowledge. Also, as previously stated, the products are far superior to anything you use at home. As far as the time, consider it time for YOU...to relax and be papmpered.

If you MUST color your hair at home, use a shade that is NEUTRAL. That is usually indicated on the package by an "N" after the color number. The higher the number, the lighter the shade; the lower the number, the darker. If you have a lot of red in your hair, stay away from the "golden" shades. Thaey will go orange on you because they have a red or orange base. And you already found out what happens with too much "ash". Neutral is more natural looking.

By Kate on Monday, November 7, 2005 - 09:10 pm:

Wow, Hol!! Thanks for all the expert advice!

By Kate on Monday, November 7, 2005 - 09:11 pm:

BTW, Hol, do you recommend a particular home coloring brand? I need it just to cover grays; I'm not trying to change my hair color. My hair is a medium brown. At least...it's SUPPOSED to be!! It's NOT supposed to be gray!!

By Shellyg on Monday, November 7, 2005 - 09:55 pm:

So glad that your hair turned out well! My sister is a hairdresser and her specialty is color. She always gives me a hard time when I color my hair in between seeing her and having her do it. Last time I saw her she thought that I had my hair professionally done and said how good it looked. I used the Loreal kit where one color is the base, and the other the highlight. She never knew, and I never told her. I use it now all the time in between seeing her.

By Hol on Wednesday, November 9, 2005 - 04:01 pm:

I like L'Oreal, too, if you must color your hair at home. "Excellence" or "Preference" by L'Oreal both have good gray coverage. "Excellence" a little more so because it is thicker; a gel color. The L'Oreal two dimensional kit is good, too.

Gray hair is really WHITE hair. It has lost it's melanin, which is the substance in the cortex of the hair that has color. (The cuticle is transparent, and covers and protects the cortex like scales on a fish. As we age, our follicles lose the ability to produce melanin. Beacuse there are now no, or very little, color molecules in the cortex, there is little for the artificial color to grab on to. That is why gray is so resistant. Because of that, too, the whiter your hair, the lighter the shade that you want will come out, and will fade quickly. Keeping that in mind, you might want to go a shade darker (ONLY if your hair is WHITE).

Gray hair is hair that still has SOME melanin. Eventually, it will turn white.