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If you’re thinking about dying your hair blue, read this first. These are things I wish I knew before getting blue hair.
Two months ago I decided to dye my hair blue. I thought it would be a fun thing to do to switch it up. Teal is my favorite color and I’ve always wanted to try it out.
So when I got my hands on a semi-permanent teal hair dye from Sephora, I decided it was time.
Little did I know that I would end up having blue hair for months instead of two weeks.
If you’re thinking about dying your hair blue, read this first. If you decide you still want to go for it, just know that it’s not an easy color to get rid of and you might be stuck with it for a while.
1. Semi-permanent doesn’t mean it will wash out
But the box says it will wash out in 7-14 washes! Don’t be fooled. Everyone’s hair is different and depending on what you already had on your hair, ahem bleach, it can last for months. Some people’s hair grabs onto color more than others. I had bleach on my hair before using the semi-permanent dye and the blue attached to my hair like a magnet.
Within the first week, I washed my blue hair over 20 times to try and fade it quickly. I wanted a more turquoise/teal color and it had come out deep, deep blue/teal at first.
2. Blue hair dye is the hardest color to get out of hair
Let me repeat that. BLUE IS THE HARDEST COLOR TO GET OUT OF HAIR. I don’t care what color you try, blue is always the peskiest and trickiest color to get out. I have researched and researched how to get rid of blue hair and almost everyone says it’s a ton of work and very hard. They aren’t kidding.
3. It will turn green
Blue hair will eventually fade into green. It’s hard to avoid it but it is easy to fix. A simple purple shampoo will do the trick and put the green at bay. Just wash your blue hair with purple shampoo every time it starts to turn green. Just don’t leave it on for too long and don’t use it every day.
I’ve tried probably over 10 different purple shampoo brands and my favorite is the Fanola No Yellow. They have a vegan version too!
4. You can’t wear certain clothes (unless you want to clash)
Thinking of wearing a red shirt? Think again unless you want to look like the American flag. In hindsight, it would be perfect for Fourth of July.
If you want to appear professional and put together, your best option is to dress in neutrals. I’ve been wearing blacks, whites, and creams. A neutral colored wardrobe will compliment and accentuate blue hair.
5. It fades quickly, at first
If you’re hoping for a deep, bright blue color, good luck trying to keep it like that. It will fade pretty quickly at first. The first few times I washed my hair, the color kept getting slightly lighter. I couldn’t keep it deep teal like the first day I dyed it. Which was a bummer because it looked amazing the first day. It was a really pretty dark teal.
If you want to keep it as blue as possible for as long as possible then your best bet is to barely wash it. Stay away from dandruff shampoo since it helps to fade blue hair and keep it vibrant with a purple shampoo.
6. It can be very damaging
This one is more geared at getting rid of the blue. It’s extremely damaging doing multiple color corrections and bleach washes to try and get the blue out. I’ve been growing my hair out for a few years and it was super healthy before dying it blue. After all the things we’ve done to try and get rid of it, my hair is a bit thinner and definitely more damaged.
Basically, conditioner and hair masks are your best friend.
If you’re still up for blue hair, by all means, go for it! I’ve loved having my blue hair and think it’s such a pretty color when done right. I have gotten sick of it and I’m in the process of getting rid of it but it’s been tricky.
Thankfully, my mom is a hair dresser and I haven’t had to spend a fortune at a salon. It has been a challenge to get rid of and figure out how to go from blue to blonde. So far, we have color corrected it 3 times, done 2 bleach washes, and bleached my roots. The bleaching of the roots was to make it blend with the light turquoise it became after everything else. I’ve also done some dawn dish soap mixed with baking soda washes and even tried vitamin c tablets mixed with dandruff shampoo to lighten the blue.
Read Related: How To Fade Blue Hair Dye or Lighten Semi-Permanent Dye
Right now, my hair has white roots and a light turquoise/mint blue color. It looks best curled and it’s gorgeous but I can’t wait to be blonde again!
Dear blue hair,
You are a sweet nightmare and have outstayed your welcome. Please pack your bags and leave as soon as possible.
Love,
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You are Beautiful in any color!!!! Love you!!!!
I’m slightly confused. You say it’s hard to get out and that you washed it over 20 times to lighten the colour, then you say that it fades quickly and that you loved the colour it was on the first day you dyed it. Please clarify what you mean because these appear to be opposites
So what I meant was that it was a deep, vibrant blue the first day but after the first wash, it wasn’t as deep blue as it started. It wasn’t light turquoise either, it was just a slightly duller blue, like it lost its vibrancy. I then tried to get it a lighter turquoise color so I washed it over 20 times. I hope that makes more sense!
I’ve had blue hair for almost 2 years, I understand
Still love My teal blue hair since 2 years.
I have blue hair and it transfers! I use blue towels to dry my hair, because white ones would become blue! I have blue pillowcases, blue collars (lol), blue on the headrest of my car. I touch my hair and color transfers to my fingernails and so I keep my nails painted blue. For many people this is too messy and is unacceptable. I don’t mind and I love my blue hair. Because I have different hair colors, brown red and gray, my blue is darker on some hairs and more turquoise on others, so the product is absorbed differently on the hairs. This is another plus for me but might be a problem for others looking for a more pure, solid hue. Blue is red hot!
Starting to wish I’d read this before dying my hair blue.. im naturally blonde previously dyed it orange/ginger and fancied a change so bleached it and went blue. Whilst I still love every single colour it changes to after every wash, I feel after reading this I’m not going to enjoy the next colour change?
I honestly thought blue would be easy to change, I tried bright red in my younger years and that took me years of dying to get rid of the red tint.
In my case, my blue was supposed to wash out with a few washes. It didn’t. I wasn’t planning on being blue for months. I was just trying to get rid of it. If I did nothing to it (bleaching, etc) then it probably would have faded beautifully on its own but I just was over the blue and impatient. You might have different results than me!
Really appreciate these insights!
The trick to getting rid of blue is NOT BLEACH. Thats very damaging. I’m naturally a gold blonde, and how I got rid of the blue was I added a ginger red to cancel it out, then let the red fade on it’s own before doing a low-lift.
Thanks to explained,my birthday is on April and im looking for a Temporary color cause i dont want to be blue for month,Any tips?
The Answer is to use Pulp Riot’s blank canvas along with 20-30vol developer
I learned this after I made the mistake of trying to bleach bath my blue out. Which I’ve since learned will push it deeper into the hair shaft causing potentially permanent staining. Luckily I only did the clean bath once and after some research, asking questions from folks a lot more experienced in vivids I heard about the Pulp Riot product and I have to say it got a good 95% of the blue out leaving a slight green tint that I was able to tone with a pink/red based toner to get to a nice level 9-9.5 blonde. Of course less than 2 weeks later I covered it back up with galaxy colors lol
love my blue color but I also have gray or white roots which are strong to get the color into in .how can i have the blue on my strong white roots please ? any ideas : ?thanks