This product works well on permanent dye but it dries your hair badly. I am sure part of that is the 20 minute rinse then 3 washes with 5 minute rinses. Just have deep conditioner ready to use after. I actually used a leave-in deep conditioner from Shea Moisture in my fine hair. Normally that would completely flatten it, but i slathered it in thick, waited about 5 minutes and rinsed fairly well and it helped a ton.

I have used this product several times in my life and have always been satisfied with it BECAUSE I KNOW WHAT ITS SUPPOSED TO DO, AND WHAT IT WILL NOT DO! First of all, this will NOT take you back to your original, natural, hair color, as its not supposed to. When you dye your hair (no matter the color) you use a developer which is made from hydrogen peroxide; this is what lifts the hair cuticle so your hair can absorb the color molecules of permanent and semi-perm dye. EVEN IF YOU DYE YOUR HAIR BLACK this is the process, so your natural color has been permanently compromised by the developer. Generally your natural hair is now, at the minimum, a shade lighter. if your natural hair color was dark, it will pull red because the undertone of dark hair is red.

Ok, now having said that... what this product does, if you use it properly (meaning you use enough of it and follow the directions) is remove the oxidized color molecules, thereby removing the DYE COLOR only. not the effects of the developer. Your hair will be left with the color that the developer lifted it to which is usually a lighter brassy or red color.

Having said that - most people will need to re-color their hair after using the product to get a shade they like, or at the very least TONE out the brassy, if you don't mind the actual shade/LEVEL. However, I would advise waiting 3-7 days after using the product to do so as your hair cuticle is recovering from the process and will absorb much more color often giving you a darker re-color than you intend.

Yes, the product smells. It has a sulfuric odor (rotten eggs) that many people describe here. That is the mild chemical that slightly lifts the hair cuticle (similar to, but nowhere near as much as developer) and deoxidizes the color, shrinking the dye molecule to a smaller size so it can wash out of your hair shaft. The process does dry your hair (it is still a chemical, but not as strong as peroxide or bleach) as does the process of shampooing with hot, hot water which is required to remove the color molecules. Make sure to get a good conditioner/hair mask or some coconut oil to moisturize afterwards. The hair masks and coconut oil will also help with removing the lingering smell, which usually lingers for a day or two.

If you have dyed your hair many times you will likely have a lot of color molecule saturated in your hair, so you may have to use the product more than once to get it all out. Always start by applying the product at the ENDS of your hair, where you will likely have the most accumulated dye, and do the roots LAST! Also wrap your head to keep the heat in, as heat helps the product to work. Sometimes, before I wash it out, I will use a hair dryer to heat up the ends as a little boost. Your roots will get heat from your head, so they will likely process better. (similar to bleaching) You will need to wash your hair very well, several times, preferably with clarifying shampoo and rinse, rinse, and rinse with the hottest water you can stand. Again heat helps wash the color molecules out. Do this for at LEAST 15mins, but longer if you can stand it.
You will need to deep condition your hair well after all this, because it is a "stripping" process. (both the chemical process and the extensive washing and rinsing, but it is a lot less damaging than coloring, and certainly less than bleach! (both of which you always use a deep conditioner after, right?)

I have had my hair every color under the sun since I'm 14, and I've used Color oops often. It works. End of story. You just need to have realistic expectations of what it can do, when you follow the directions. Its good to HAVE AN UNDERSTANDING OF HOW HAIR COLORING ITSELF WORKS before you use this product so you understand how this product reverses that process. It will also help you understand why IT DOES NOT WORK ON DEPOSIT ONLY COLORS like Manic panic, artic fox, etc, that only "coat" the hair shaft, not penetrate like permanent dye.

It's not a magic wand, or a genie, so, no, it won't get you back to your pre-dyed hair color, but it will get the color you don't want out of your hair shaft so you can re-color or tone it. It's also good for removing color build-up so dye takes better to your hair. Please research how permanent hair-dye coloring works and have REALISTIC expectations, and you won't be disappointed.

After reading TONS of reviews on this product and a few more like it with no bleach..... I went with two boxes of this. I have naturally very dark hair, with a yet unknown amount of gray. After 13 years of coloring my hair every three weeks, I decided I was going to go natural. I talked to two different hair dressers who WOULD NOT DO IT for me!!!! Not sure if they knew what was going to happen for sure, or just had a conflict of interest.

BUT, this takes the color out of your hair, no doubt. But you will end up NOT your original color. Do not be deceived by other reviews, or optimistic. Many of the warnings inside the product (not on the outside of the box mind you) say that you will not get back your natural color, particularly if you have dark hair. What I have learned is that even if you dye dark hair dark, as I had done to cover gray. The dark DYE actually uses peroxide to lighten your hair first and then deposits the color molecules on your hair and the developer 'expands' them to stay in your hair shaft. That is how they 'know' what color your hair will be when done, otherwise it would be a little different for everyone depending on your original hair color, right? SO, if you had dark hair going into ANY other color, it will be coppery when you remove all that color. FOR SURE. (I'll try and find the right after photos and add to this). If you have gray or light colored hair, you will also end up with some off color, but it will depend more on what color you had colored it and I cannot speak to that... my grays are just a lighter shade of the copper than my darks are apparently. It will take a couple months for it to grow out and know for sure.

SO, if you are 'going natural' to salt and pepper after coloring your hair dark for many years my advice to you is this. Let it grow out as much as you can stand it after you stop coloring before you do ANYTHING. I had longer than shoulder length hair... and I now have very short hair except for on top, and that is going shorter before I"m done!! Remember, it will grow back.. but I could not stand the idea of just suddenly having salt and pepper roots with dark brown everything else and let that grow out that way. SO, this will lighten it and give you and in between stage. OR you can have the salon do highlights to start blending it in as you transition. THERE IS NO GRACEFUL, QUICK, one step solution to this objective. This worked out OK for me, people just thought I was doing another odd color job, I have varied between auburn and dark brown over the years, but ALWAYS colored before my roots would be obvious... Now in the back, all the colored hair is cut off and the shaved/taper neck is mostly dark brown and the longer stuff looks copper, it is 60% the dyed shaft in length and 40% grown out. At my next cut in a couple weeks it would be at least 75% natural with just the ends being coppery on the top half of my head and might look like that style they have now where you color the ends a different color!! who knows, but it is a good transition for me! GOOD LUCK TO YOU if this is what you are trying to accomplish! I think 3 months of patience is the only real solution!

This worked for me to remove one layer of permanent color from my blonde hair but there was only enough one application and I have straight thick hair down my back stopping right beneath my bra strap. If you have many layers of color to remove then get Color Fix instead, it's one dollar more and I got three applications out of it when I was removing black box dye. Hence I give this 4 stars, -1 for not a lot of product.

Don't let this interact with metal, it will ruin it. Make sure hair is clean and dry before application. All color remover instructions say to rinse after 20 minutes but that's not enough time, leave it in for 30-60 and you'll get better results (it will not damage your hair, I left it in overnight once). This product is low viscosity which I found helpful in that I could comb through my hair for even distribution. Heat helps results...a hack I learned is to wrap my head in saran wrap and place a beanie over it while it processes, that way I can get stuff done instead of being tied to my bathroom using a dryer. Rinse with very hot water, almost burning, twice with clarifying or dandruff shampoo. Hair will be dry and not so conditioners will put moisture back into it, I tried two different brands my first time and began freaking out because they weren't working. I thought my hair was ruined but then I tried my Joico color therapy luster lock and my hair was fine. Can't figure out what it has that the others don't but it promptly put moisture back in my hair and restored it. That's why there's a few reviews on color removers with people saying it ruined their hair... It didn't they just need a product with big guns that will put moisture back in.

If you have a sensitive nose the smell of any remover will bother you and I recommend you get a nose plug on Amazon (they're super cheap). For those of us with weak senses of smell don't worry, it's not too bad.

So I went to a stylist who dyed my light brown hair with honey highlights to dark, dark brown (almost black) with orangish-red at the front/bottom. I was going for a dark brown look with copper, but it ended up more jack-o-lantern, which just isn't okay unless it's Halloween.

Anyway, after a few days of scaring myself in the mirror, I just decided I couldn't live with the color anymore, so I ordered Color Oops, and decided to go for it. I read all of the reviews and followed the directions to a T. Let me warn you, this isn't for the faint of heart. Yes, the smell is bad, but worse, is rinsing your hair in scalding hot water for 30 minutes. That was brutal and I thought I was going to have a heat stroke. The toxic smell + heat makes it even worse. As long as you are prepared for that. You'll be okay.

I opened the window in the bathroom while a took a shower and stuck my head by the window to get air once in a while. 30 minutes in hot water seemed like forever, though! My results were pretty good. I really thought it would end up more like my natural brown color, but I guess she must have bleached before she added the red in because when I stripped the color the parts that were red turned blond. It's also pretty reddish where the dark, dark part was on top, but I still think it's toned down and much better than before. My hair is really dry after the treatment, so I'll be conditioning the heck out of it for the next month. I also plan to use a blue/voilet shampoo to continue toning down the brass. One good thing: the smell is already better today. You have to rinse, rinse, rinse and then rinse 5 minutes more than you think you should. Also, have a glass of ice water near the shower so you don't overheat! Maybe I was running the water too hot, but I read a review that said hot rinsing was key and I wanted to ensure I got it right the first time! Good luck to you. I think this is a good option if you feel like you don't have any other options that work for your budget and time. In a perfect world, I would have gotten a pro color correction, but having just spent a bunch of money on the color job, I didn't want to spend even more.