Question about a stubborn color correction that took me three days

A client came in wanting to go from a box black to a soft caramel blonde, which I thought would be a two-session job. The first round of lightener barely lifted, and I realized the black dye had metallic salts in it. I spent the next two days doing careful strand tests and using a color remover before I could even start the proper lightening process. The whole correction ended up taking about nine hours over three separate appointments. Has anyone else dealt with metallic dye recently, and what removal method worked best for you?

4 comments

4 Comments

jackson.faith2mo ago

My friend had a similar nightmare with a client's metallic dye last month. She had to use a specific professional remover twice before any lightener would touch it. Those hidden salts really do turn a simple color change into a whole project.

avery_ross24d ago

Actually it's not just hidden salts that cause those issues. Some of those metallic dyes have actual metal particles like lead or copper in them, not just salts. That's why they react so badly with lighteners and can even cause hair to smoke or melt. I've seen stylists on here explain that the metal particles can build up over multiple applications too. So even if you think you're just doing a simple touch up, you're basically layering more metal onto the hair each time. It's not really a "salt" thing, it's more of a metal contamination problem.

sandraf982mo ago

Come on, it's just hair dye.

-1

betty_wells2mo ago

But have you seen what some of those dyes can do, @sandraf98? It's not always just hair dye when it goes wrong.