Monday night, I decided to touch up my roots and grabbed a box of hair dye at the drugstore on the way home. Keeping myself as red as I like to be is a challenge, but I’ve been doing it for 14 years so disasters are a rare occasion. But this time… a disaster of epic proportions. I went from my usual to something like this:
(Note: This is not me. I was too busy panicking to think about taking photos at this point)
Yep. My hair was purple-red. All of it. I googled away and got lots of advice about how to lighten it without frying it entirely. I shampooed four or five times. I washed it in dish soap. I washed it in laundry detergent. Still burgundy. And now crispy. Had I not been exhausted, there would have been tears. Instead, I coated it with coconut oil, wrapped it in a towel, and decided to try again in the morning when I could see straight and give my hair a chance to soak up some moisture before it all fell out.
I woke up on Tuesday, looked in the mirror, and decided not to leave the house. Yep. I’m a grown woman and I stayed home because of a bad hair day. I took a couple of conference calls and as soon as I could get away, headed back to the drugstore to seek out a solution. I knew my curly hair couldn’t take another round of dyeing and wasn’t confident in my color-mixing skills. But tucked on the bottom shelf, I found a box labeled Color Oops. What I was walking around with was more of a “Color Holy Sh*t” than an “oops,” but I was willing to try anything.
The Color Oops people are not giving me a dime for this. But I am telling you, this product is hair salvation. Seriously. I want to give people boxes of this stuff for Christmas. I want to write them a love letter. I want to wear a sandwich board for their company and walk around outside hair salons. I want them to marry me and to become Mrs. Color Oops. My hair is really long so I bought two boxes, followed the directions exactly and spent almost 45 minutes under the tap (thank heavens I don’t pay my own water bill). But after letting it soak in, three rounds of shampooing and rinsing, and a good conditioning, my burgundy hair went back to its usual coppery self. See:
I don’t pretend to understand the chemical process behind all of this, but this stuff is ammonia-free and bleach-free and just took it all right back to where I started from. The directions say that you can dye again immediately after use, but I decided not to press my luck. I’m going to give my hair a chance to recover for a while before I try for glamor auburn again and just be grateful for what I have. And start shopping for a Christmas gift for Mr. or Ms. Oops, wherever they are. I love you.
I realize I don’t get “a vote” or anything, but the burgundy hair is kinda…rockin’.
I’m glad your color crisis was averted, but now i distinctly wish we had actual comparison photos.
I had similar burgundy hair for years in my much more hardcore youth. Unfortunately it doesn’t blend so well in my current job in a pretty conservative workplace. One day when I’m independently wealthy, I promise to go back to my rocking ways.
I wish I had known about the Color Oops stuff several months ago. You see, Bad Pants picked a brighter shade of red for me. Only, while he was out of town for work, leaving me stranded on the farm, the dye turned my hair PINK!
So, I feel your pain. And I’m glad Color Oops saved the day.
(Lesson learned: Don’t let your husband pick your hair dye, EVER)
Sound advice- especially, if he prefers a more rocking look than you do.
Oddly, everything about him and his life seems to be tastefully understated. Well, everything but ME. But, maybe that’s the key?
For a period I tried to keep my hair a coppery colour but it was such a pain…every time I went to the salon it came back a different colour. The last straw was when a hairdresser dyed it brown. I think she did it on purpose. Then I just gave up, it was way too much effort, too much money and too much heartache. But I still swoon when a girl walks past with coppery, redhead that is more of a natural tinted red.
There used to be a drugstore brand that carried “Copper Penny” dye. It was perfection. Of course, I haven’t seen it in years…
My gosh, the coppery color is so beautiful! Why would you ever want to change it to a different color?
Then again, this is coming from a gal who can’t even be bothered to cover the gray in her otherwise beautiful brown hair.
I have fantasies of getting Joan Holloway Mad Men red. But I think after that scare, I’ll just live with the copper for a while. Retro glamor can wait!
Okay, I had been dying my hair black for several months. My hair is naturally dark blond and then I got pregnant and decided I wanted my natural hair color back. I tried growing it out, but it was taking forever. My hair was transitioning from about 4-5 inches of dark blond to hard black. The salon was going to charge me, like, 100 bucks! Forget that… So, a couple of weeks ago I bought some of the Color Oops. After reading a ton of reviews in fear I would screw up my hair, I finally tried this stuff today. I read your post and couldn’t help but laugh because I was thinking the same sort of things when I was done! My hair is now, like, a medium brown with a small hint of an orange sheen. It’s not bad. From far away, it just looks medium brown. It looks a million times better than the black with 4 inches of dark blond growing out! Anyway, just wanted to say, good post. It totally mimicked my feelings!