colour B4, how is this even possible?!

[LoolaBear]

over the weekend i decided to strip all the colour (or as much as possible) out of my hair and have now have a bet on that i can't go a year without dying it again!
but thats a slightly different part of the story.

anywho, i stripped, rinsed, buffed, rinsed, buffed, rinsed the whole shebang and was actually quite happy with the result. i had reddish brown hair all over with tones of copper and honeyish highlights throughout (guessing where parts had taken better to the remover) i absolutely loved it actually.

then i washed it and it darkened! i mean how i it possible to darken just from washing it?!

i have attached pictures, first is the day after i had done the remover the second is just now at work.

please someone please tell me how this is possible when i have had nothing on my hair since the remover apart from shampoo!

 

[AP]

Its called re-oxydising.

This normally happens after a few reasons

• Usage of peroxide based products too soon after using ColourB4 (not in your case)
• Not buffering long enough
• Using water too cold during the buffering process

You can use another application of Color B4 right away though. The best thing I'd recommend is
Make sure you have plenty of hot-as-you-can-stand water
Buffer as long as you can, even more so than the instructions say if you can

It's really, really common.

 

[LoolaBear]

Its called re-oxydising.

This normally happens after a few reasons

• Usage of peroxide based products too soon after using ColourB4 (not in your case)
• Not buffering long enough
• Using water too cold during the buffering process

You can use another application of Color B4 right away though. The best thing I'd recommend is
Make sure you have plenty of hot-as-you-can-stand water
Buffer as long as you can, even more so than the instructions say if you can

It's really, really common.

ah thank you!

so its common for it to happen when you wash it for the first time after processing?

i buffered for 20 minutes and i don't do cold water lol, so guessing perhaps i didn't buffer quite long enough. i couldn't stand to do it for any longer as my hair was starting to matte as it had gone that dry!

 

[AP]

It's common, but it's not the desired effect and loads of people have this problem. Its normally down to not buffering long enough but its the most important part of the process and you must do it for as long as it says, if not, more.

It is quite drying, but nothing even compared to bleaching or stripping. Condition well until you decide to pick up another pack, and do use it on freshly washed and dried hair. I know, the idea of 15 mins with your hair constantly buffering is dire and you're just tired and fed up!

Theres also a trick to try - Scott Cornwall, who used to do colorb4, wrote this a while back

"Secondly with regards to re-oxidation, there are several factors which seem to lead to this. It's been difficult for us to trace patterns in the hair types which seem to re-oxidize. For example, my hair doesn't re-oxidize. I've tried Colour B4 many times and have never found any re-oxidation - even when I have used jet black colours.

The biggest reason the colour will re-oxidize is because it hasn't been rinsed long enough. Although users feel they have rinsed for ages - what feels like 10 minutes can actually be 3! It's a very long and boring process. In fact, my best tip for rinsing it to stand in the shower and do it ....

My best tip to prevent re-oxidation (if your hair is prone to doing it - and remember not all hair types are). Is to rinse and buffer the hair for around 7 minutes. However, then towel off and blast dry with a hairdryer on a warm (not hot) heat setting. When the hair is 90% dry (at least) go back and buffer and rinse again for a further 5 minutes. By drying the hair mid-rinse, you are drawing out that water which could be trapping those colour molecules inside the hair and allowing the 2nd rinsing stage to effectively remove those trapped colour molecules.

After you have done this, for the next 7 days use a simple shampoo such as Baby Shampoo and do not re-colour your hair. You need to make sure all those old colour pigments are gone before using your previous shampoo or re-colouring. If you re-colour and there are old colour molecules trapped inside the hair - the peroxide in the new colour will oxidize them and cause your finished colour result to appear much darker than you had hoped ....

However, its incredibly rare the hair goes more than a shade or so darker with re-oxidation. It just tends to show up darker on (particularly) previously highlighted hair, as it mutes down all the blonde."

 

[LoolaBear]

Excellent, thank you for the advice, going to leave it a week or so and try again