Customer Reviews

COLOR OOPS HR CLR REMOVER XTRA Size: 1

5 star:		(84)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

BACKGROUND
As a naturally medium blonde 20-something, I'd been talked into going red by my salon stylist. I loved it, but 8 months down the road I was frustrated with having to touch it up every few weeks, let alone not being able to consistently find the right shade in the drug store (sorry, but I'm not paying a stylist obscene amounts of cash to do my hair every few weeks). I'm a beginner when it comes to color and didn't realize how difficult it would be to try to take my hair back to blonde after having it red for many months.

I asked my stylist, who said that she could strip it, which would be time-consuming, damaging and expensive. The other option was to highlight my hair repeatedly over the course of a year or so while my natural hair grew back in (again, expensive). I thought, surely there has to be some other way...

PREPARATION FOR COLOR OOPS
Then I found Color Oops online. I read hundreds of reviews on multiple Web sites, some good and some frightening, and picked up lots of usage tips along the way. I proceeded to purchase two boxes of Color Oops, two boxes of hair color (Nice n Easy - Natural Dark Neutral Blonde and Natural Lightest Golden Brown) in case I had an "omg" moment, a shower cap, a wide-toothed comb and a thermal conditioning treatment (heavy duty conditioner). If you use Color Oops, I highly recommend making sure you have all these items handy. Also, read the box insert, and know it like the back of your hand. This is a must.

Make sure to do a strand test. Cut out a small piece of your hair and just do it, or you'll be sorry later. Check it every five minutes so you can see the various shades of change and decide on the best time for your hair. They recommend no longer than 20 minutes. Based on mine, I saw my hair change from red to blonde after 20 minutes and elected to leave it on for the full amount of time.

THE PROCESS
Still, I was super nervous as I prepared the mixture and dumped it on my hair. It is a thin mixture, maybe a bit thicker than water but not by much, so be careful with the dribbles. I didn't notice any bleaching effect on the red robe I was wearing. As everyone else has said, it has a very strong odor - citrus and sulfur, so be prepared. I made sure to spread the mixture quickly and evenly, using the wide-toothed comb to ensure that my hair was fully saturated, then put the shower cap on to help "lock" in the product. I avoided being in cool areas of my house, as the insert said this could cause it not to process correctly (also a good reason to use the shower cap). I'd recommend checking your hair periodically, even after the strand test, so you don't let it go too long.

Rinsing it out was a breeze in the shower. This is the most important part of the process. I kept the water warm, rinsed for several minutes, shampooed and rinsed for several minutes, and repeated once more. Rinse until your water gets cold, no joke! Your hair may feel a little stiff at this point, so use your restoring conditioner after the second shampoo. I had some left over from an older Nice n Easy kit and it worked better than the thermal treatment I bought specifically for this purpose (read on to find out why I ended up having to condition twice).

THE MOMENT OF TRUTH
After I got out of the shower I could tell right away that my hair was looking pretty bleached blonde and much lighter than my natural color, but probably due to the previous dyeing I'd done (most over-the-counter permanent dyes include a bleaching agent, no matter what color you choose). I dried it using my blow dryer and it came out looking pale and brassy - almost a strawberry blonde. My boyfriend said, "Your hair is kind of orange..." I didn't think it was hideous, but not exactly what I had envisioned. It didn't seem damaged, either, though I had very healthy hair to start with.

REDYEING AFTER COLOR OOPS
So I started thinking about that box of blonde hair color I bought to use after the Color Oops, in case it didn't turn out. Color Oops recommends using a color filler if you choose to dye right after the color removal process. They also advise that you choose a lighter, warmer shade than that of what you are trying to achieve and say not to let it process for more than several minutes. I skipped the color filler and applied just the color, noticing that by the time I'd applied it to my whole head, it had already "taken" and rushed to rinse it out, but it was too late. After no more than just a few minutes, the blonde hair color had turned my hair a distinct brown, and on the ashy side (even though it was labeled a "neutral" shade). That wasn't the hair color's fault, though - it was mine. The box insert is not joking. Use a color filler and/or buy at least a couple shades warmer and lighter than your desired end result if you are dyeing right after Color Oops. So if you're looking to go medium/dark blonde, buy a golden light blonde (or even lightest blonde).

COLOR OOPS... TAKE TWO!
Luckily, I had bought the second box of Color Oops, did another strand test, and decided to leave it in for only 15 minutes this time. I got the same result as the first Oops application (glowing blonde hair), and still little, if any, damage. Stinky, though. I don't notice the smell one day after, if that's any consolation.

THE AFTER GLOW
Realize that the rinsing process is absolutely the most important part of making Color Oops work (yes, I'm reiterating, but honestly it can't be repeated enough). Even after what I thought was excessive rinsing, I did notice that my color darkened overnight, meaning that the first application probably would have done the same thing if I'd been patient. I am still blonde, but not back to my natural caramel blonde. It appears very golden with some glowing reddish tones, which could be from the previous dyeing, but definitely toned down after just 8 hours. I have actually received compliments today on the new color, and told people that I had my hair stripped at the salon. They commented that it didn't appear damaged at all. The results are that good. Just be aware that you will likely have some darkening up to 24 hours after you complete the process (and also take this into account if you are redyeing).

THE END?
Sorry this was so long. I learned quite a bit about Color Oops by reading reviews and realize that this information is invaluable to other people who are thinking about taking the risk to get their hair back to normal (or at least close to it). I hope the detail in this review helps you to relax and embark on your Color Oops adventure!

This product really works at removing your previous color, and evening out your hair tone so that you can re-dye if you need to.

I've dyed my hair at home for years, usually with professional dyes. Last week I decided to try a new brand of pro color in red specifically for dark hair, but the results were terrible. To correct this, I tried re-dying with a slightly darker red of a different brand. It worked but after 2 days and 2 shampoos, the red was fading unevenly.

Deciding to just give up on red for the moment, I got Color Oops. I bought the Extra Strength since I'd dyed my hair twice, both more than 48 hours previously. The Regular Strength is for hair which has been dyed within the previous 48 hours.

I've tried the Clairol Color Remover you can get at drug stores, but Color Oops was much better. The mixture is very thin and it bubbles when you put it on your hair, which was kind of disconcerting. It does really dry your hair out, so you'll need to condition very well after using.

To use, leave Color Oops on for 20 minutes, then rinse for 5 minutes. Shampoo, and rinse 5 minutes again. Then you shampoo & rinse two more times. It is time-consuming, but the point of the product is to wash your old color out.

It works like a charm. It took both reds out of my hair and left just the lightened/bleached look from the peroxide in the first pro red I used. (Nothing will get rid of bleaching once it's done to hair, Color Oops just gets rid of the color. You have to re-dye if your hair has been lightened/bleached.) I decided to stop after 3 shampoos and rinses and use conditioner, because my hair was pretty crunchy and dry. It still worked just fine, all the color came out.

You can dye your hair the same day you use Color Oops, but I decided to wait 24 hours. When you dye your hair afterwards, the color you get will be darker than you expect. For example, I chose a dark ash blonde, but after using Color Oops it came out as more of a light ash brown.

My only complaint is the smell. It's terrible. I had to air out the house and get the used bottles outside immediately after using it.

My teen daughter insisted on going down the dye path, in spite of the fact that she had long, thick, milk chocolate colored hair that had red highlights when the sun hit it. I said no way, she said yes way, guess who won (she only lets me win an argument about every 30 days, just to bolster my esteem and foster the pretense that I'm in charge).
She started out with very light brownish/blondish highlights. I hated the way they looked, she liked them, she kept them for about a year. She got tired of them, and got darker highlights, which looked more natural, but her hair wasn't as thick and soft anymore, even with sulfate free shampoos and once weekly deep conditioning. Dying is HARD on your hair; imo it's better for your hair and less likely to end in weeping and drama if you go the non-permanent route, with color that washes out in 6-10 washes (there is another semi permanent color that washes out in 28 washes, it's a little rougher on your hair and the color stays in longer than 28, at least it did for me, and my daughter). My other daughter gets a kind of 'glaze' of color over her hair when she goes to the salon; it looks really beautiful and natural. It washes out in two/three days, but it's a safe way to experiment with color. We are all about drama free experimenting in a house of two teen girls.
Back to our story: daughter now has darker highlights for six months, gets tired of them, and wants all over color that is a bit darker than her dark highlights. (I did the coloring myself...I've paid significant amounts of money for terrible dye jobs, for color that washed out in the salon sink, for traumatically bad shades, i.e. hair that turned purple when it was supposed to be auburn. I don't pay for color anymore. If your colorist is amazing, count yourself among the blessed and be sure to tip them well. They are few and far between, in my experience, even at reputable salons). In spite of using the washes-out-in-28-washes semi-permanent dye of medium brown, her color came out almost black. It looked like it was coated with shoe polish, it absorbed light like a black hole, it didn't even look edgy or goth, it just looked gawdawful. Cue rounds of weeping and door slamming and bitter recriminations (I know, I know, it's not good for kids to see their mothers like that, but, it was just so, sob, UGLY ;)
While my daughter cried herself to sleep, I went online and researched dye lightening/reversal/howcanigetvaliumwithoutaprescription options. It became apparent there are so many people online, RIGHT NOW, looking up ways to fix their overly dark awful dye job (some home, some from salons). The message boards are full of desperate, horrified people, of all ages and genders, trying to fix their hair. There are many 'cures', from the ridiculous (pouring diluted clorox bleach on hair) to helpful (wash w/drops of Dawn dish soap mixed with Prell shampoo, rinse with hottest poss. water, condition, repeat for a month). I don't know why it took me four hours to find Color Oops, but it did, and by this time I was convinced there were no quick fixes, just tedious, somewhat useful fading techniques. That being said, however, C.O. seemed unusual enough that I began to wade through about 500 reviews on [...].
Following the instructions is EVERYTHING with this product (I know, right? Me? Following instructions to a T? But I'm an American! I have instruction rights!) Also, it only works with hair that has gone darker, not hair that has been lightened. Be prepared to spend some quality time counting tiles in your shower; the rinsing time is critically important. The infamous smell isn't a problem, because, when you (or, say, your teen) have a wretched dye job and you are wailing "I'll do anything, ANYTHING to fix this, I can't live with this!", a temporary sulfuric, rotten egg-type smell is a small price to pay. The smell doesn't last past a day, anyway. You can always put a little perfume on to distract your nose (which fragrance notes work well with eau d'egg rot? There's gotta be something). Also extremely important: the test strand. I cut about twenty hairs for a tiny but thick enough strand to observe results. I left the solution on for the instructed 20 min, and after rinsing, it seemed too light for her original hair color.
For the actual process, I used a timer on my cell, which was more helpful to me than setting an alarm, because I knew precisely how much time had passed. We left the solution on for 13 minutes (I had intended to have her start rinsing at the 10 minute mark, considering how light the test strand went after 20 min, but it ended up being 13 minutes because I had a cooking interruption). She rinsed with warm, not hot, water because we didn't want the heater to run out too quickly, shampooed for 5 minutes, rinsed for 20, shampooed again for 5, rinsed for 20, shampooed a third time, rinsed for ten, and then got out of the shower. The odor was mostly gone by this time, and in point of fact, the smell wasn't as much an issue as the marathon rinsing. It really seemed endless. She had the radio on to help with the tedium, but it was a good thing we used the cell timer, as we both kept saying "Oh surely it's been time enough", and discovered to our chagrin that it wasn't.
I didn't have her use conditioner, as I had a packet of olive oil/orange oil deep conditioning mask for her to sleep in, under a shower cap (I use it all the time, it's lovely. $1.50 for single use packet at Walgreens). Her hair, even wet, looked almost exactly like it did back before she started ever dying it. I was amazed. I just couldn't believe such a remarkable transformation. The next morning, she rinsed off the mask, used a tiny drop of BioSilk on the ends, and blew it out with the dryer. Her hair was BEAUTIFUL. It once again looks like milk chocolate with those reddish hues when the sun hits it. A week and two shampoos later, it's still beautiful. She has only been blowing out her bangs, the rest she lets dry overnight, just to baby the hair a bit. I've read reviews about successful color reversals, but with a lot of damage, to the point where they question if they should have just let the hair fade with other timely techniques. I don't know if it's because she has only been dying her hair for a few years, but it's not terribly damaged. A little bit, yes, but not enough to merit concern. Almost certainly her hair would be more damaged if we had dyed again after the C.O. to achieve her desired shade, but we lucked out.
I love this product. If I had known of it when I was younger, I could have avoided a lot of my own hair drama. If possible, I'd like to implore the makers of C.O. to branch out: Marriage Oops, I Ate The Whole Box Of Fudge When My Period Started Oops, I Looked Away For Two Seconds To Snarl At My Kids And Nailed The Bumper Of The Mercedes In Front Of Me Whose Driver Turned Out To Be A Lawyer Oops. There's an untapped market here, I'm sure of it.
This product is cheap, simple to use, and most importantly, I am now the mother of a Happy Teen With Good Hair. Amazing.

I'm going to write this review it two parts. I will come back and update in a couple days. Because your hair darkens after using it.

I am a natural golden blonde, fair skinned gal with light green eyes. One day being a little bored and looking to change my look (as well as save money) I decided to dye my hair Loreal Medium Golden Brown. Mistake #1. My hair turned too orange/brassy. I should've picked an ash or neutral shade to tone down the gold in my hair. So wanting to change it a little darker and make my eyes stand out, I chose a non-permanent dark burgundy so it could fade out if I didn't like it. Mistake #2. This made me look older and was not at all flattering with my skin tone.

Enter the Color Oops. After reading literally 100's of reviews on this site as well as Walgreen's (they have over 400 reviews there), I felt I had enough info, tips and courage to try the Color Oops. I purchased 2 boxes because I have thick hair to the middle of my back. Did a patch test to see if I was allergic. I also did a strand test a couple days before using it on my head. I mixed an equal capful of each 2 oz bottle and did a 15 minute and a 20 minute test on strands. I gave myself a haircut a couple days earlier after the dye jobs so I used this hair.

The strands looked like they had almost all of the color removed and were very blonde with the solution. I washed/rinsed and put them aside noticing the next day they darkened up quite a bit, to a dark blonde almost brunette but without red tones.

I still went ahead and used the Color Oops. Bring a radio to listen to while in bathroom/shower because using this product takes some time. I mixed first bottle and applied to head. It's very runny and be careful shaking it gently, gasses build up in bottle and spray out a little when you open it. Don't get it in your eyes! I used almost both bottles, one would not have been enough for my head. I also kept my hair untangled and combed it with a comb to apply the product evenly. Then I used a shower cap and timed it for 20 minutes. I made sure there were no drafts and I sat in a warm room. The smell was not as bad as people were saying. One girl in her review wrote it smells like "lemon fart". Perfect description! I thought Yellowstone hot springs were bad, but honestly I don't think Color Oops smelled as awful as I'd expected.

After 20 minutes I got into shower and I rinsed it from hair, shampooed/rinsed/shampooed, then rinsed for 20 minutes with very warm water. Rinsing is key. This was actually the worst part for me. I wanted the water to be very warm/hot, cold would close the hair shaft and you won't be able to rinse dye molecules out. I actually felt like I was going to pass out (kinda scary) from the heat and smell together and 20 minutes is a long time. Radio helps.

After all of that I applied Original Hair Mayonnaise Conditioner and sat for 20 minutes with it on my hair. Then rinsed some more.

When I towel dried hair I noticed almost all color was removed, roots were brassy/light blonde and ends were dark blonde/light brunette. I was happy it was almost back to normal.

It has now been an hour and my hair has darkened up almost to the color it was before this whole ordeal. It has less burgundy but it is a reddish brunette color. The ends are dark and roots are still orangey/brassy, like a copper penny. Wonderful? Not so much. But my hair feels healthy like before, doesn't feel damaged. But I always use lots of shower conditioner and leave in conditioners. It also doesn't smell sulfury anymore, maybe just when it's wet.

So I will wait a couple days before I use any more products to try to fix my hair. I also think it will darken up some more. Honestly girls, if you have gorgeous hair to begin with, don't mess with it! But if you're reading this, you're probably in the same boat as me, and want to try to fix a mistake you made by trying to do your own hair.

So bottom line, Color Oops didn't work for me. It didn't bring it back ANYWHERE close to my natural color. And I followed directions to a tee. I also used the product a week after the colorings, and one was non-permanent dye. I had high hopes for Color Oops but I'm left disappointed. I guess I'm in minority though. So if you feel your hair can't get any worse, maybe give it a go. But if you have the money, have a professional fix your hair. I wasted $28 altogether using this product. And I'm back in square one.

This product saved my butt! I dyed my medium-brownish-reddish hair black. As in, permanent, jet black. I left this black dye in for about 3 weeks, and then got sick of it. I bought a box of this Color Oops Extra Strength, FOLLOWED THE DIRECTIONS (left on for 20 minutes in a warm-ish room, rinsed for 5 minutes, shampooed thoroughly, rinsed again for 5 minutes, shampooed, rinsed some more, conditioned) then followed up with a henna & placenta mask to help my poor abused hair.

It took out ALL THE BLACK. Seriously. My normal colour is back again! My hair smells pretty awful and seems a tiny bit distressed, but some deep conditioning and a bit of time will help that.

This stuff might not help you if you have layers of different colours in your hair-- it'll take off the top layer & might be uneven. This stuff won't help to remove direct color dye (those gaudy unnatural colours- pink, purple, blue, etc). This stuff won't help you if you don't follow the directions.

But it rocks my socks off! (And no, I don't work for the company. I'm just some chick who bought a box of it in the drugstore)

This stuff works so well! Heres the story: My hair is naturally a medium brown but I dyed it pitch black a few months ago. Looked like a stupid wig at first but softened a little bit after I washed it. I liked it for a little while then decided to get hot red highlights. Black with red highlights, sounds hot right? NO! Long story short- it looked like a really cheap dye job. So..... I read all the reviews about this product and it sounded pretty promising so I thought I'd give it a try. It took ALL the red and black out. My hair is still slightly darker than my roots but its so close, nobody can tell.

It says right on the box but just incase anyone doesnt know- this stuff doesnt work if you have lightened your hair. The salon had to bleach the streaks in my hair before they put the red dye in it so now I have blonde highlights. Oh! and I was freaking out about how bad the smell was going to be in my one room apartment. But it actually wasnt too bad. The at home hair dying kits smell SO MUCH worse!! The bathroom kinda smelled like crap for a little while....but its a bathroom. Thats what its for, right? And the consistency of the dye remover could definitely be worse. Think about it as having a squeeze bottle full of water...thats pretty much what it was like.

This was all a few weeks ago. I waited a while before posting a review because I was really paranoid about the black coming back like some other reviews had said. But......nope! Im so happy my hair is back!!!! This product is the best thing ever invented.

I've been coloring my hair dark brown for several years now. recently when I went to buy my regular color they were out. I figured I could use the natural black and it would just stay very dark a little longer. I was wrong, wrong, wrong. It turned out jet black and made me look like a hag!

I researched about the different color removal products and decided to go with Color Oops. It was really runny and I was worried i wouldn't have enough for my long hair. It was no problem. I was able to comb through it after I applied all the product just to make sure everything was covered. then I just clipped it up in back and waited the 20 minutes. I realized when my time was up that my hair still felt pretty cold and it clearly states to do it in a warm room. For an extra 10 minutes I layed by my electric baseboard heater just to make sure it would all come out.

I was surprised when I started rinsing that I didn't actually see any color coming out because that was what I had expected. It rinsed about 5 minutes, shampooed, rinsed another five shampooed again and rinsed another 5 minutes. I could tell even in the shower that my hair was much lighter.

Now I am back to my medium brown hair. My ends aren't even darker. My hair is just a little dry but some extra conditioning should take care of that. I feel sooooo much better!!! I highly recommend this product.

I've now used this product a few times, and have learned:

1. When they say rinse, RINSE! The package says it will undo hair color in 20 minutes, but that's just the application time. You'll easily spend another half hour or more just rinsing your hair. The rinsing is very, very important, as it removes the old hair dye molecules from the hair shaft. If you don't rinse enough, those molecules will stay on your hair, waiting to re-oxidize (and there are lots of things out there, not just peroxide, that will "oxidize" those molecules, turning your hair dark). So RINSE...until you think your arms are going to fall off.

2. You'll need to seal the hair shaft afterwards, some how, some way. There will be some stubborn old dye molecules still stuck to your hair (especially if you didn't rinse as much as necessary), and you do not want to reactivate them, or your hair will return to the color you were trying to get rid of. So, you'll want to create some sort of barrier between those old molecules and anything that can possibly oxidize them. That means lots of protein products, and lots and lots of conditioning.

I'm always experimenting on my hair and when i mess up I turn right to this stuff. its great! it really does smell but it certainly is worth it rather then bleaching too dark hair colour out like some of my friends do. It dries out your hair a bit but nothing compared to bleach or peroxide removers, and it works a alot better then they do too.

Color Oops WILL remove too much or unwanted hair color. If your hair was colored before the latest "oops", it will also remove that color, leaving you most likely with yellow-y, orange-y, and somewhat uneven hair that in most cases will require additional coloring to be transformed into something pretty;-) At this point you have two choices:
1) Immediately (possibly wearing a hat?) go to a professional salon, explain what happened, and let THEM do the job with demi-permanent color of your choice. I recommend to ask the stylist to treat your hair with a protein filler before coloring it, or better yet, do it at home right after "color oops". This is a foolproof way of getting preferred hair color and saves you quite some money, since this isn't a "correction" anymore, but a single process dye job.
2) At home - If you are coloring your hair yourself, you HAVE to have a "Neutral Protein Filler" (sally's, amazon). Use it as a leave-in conditioner BEFORE a hair dye job. The filler will restore the structure of your hair, so subsequently applied color will grab on evenly. The treatment also helps covering grey, avoid the "hot root" effect, and overly processed ends. I apply this treatment even before professional dye treatments. I am really, really pleased with the results! Less damage, better color, no oversaturation. For those going brunette: Use a NEUTRAL shade (to avoid too much red) of a medium/dark blond or light brown demi-permanent hair color or hair gloss. Put protein treatment in your hair, wait 20 min., don't rinse!!! TIP for those fearing too much red - buy the "UNRED" drops (Ricky's, Sally's, Amazon). Add a few drops (following the instructions) to the color mix, this will take care of the unwanted red. After putting the color mix on your roots, massage it through the rest of your hair, let it sit for 5-10 min. max! This should be enough time for the color to grab. Rinse, wash, rinse, deeply condition, style. Voilà, your new color!
Other tip based on experience:
If your hair turned very light and you want to go to a deeper brown shade, you want to use a double process. First you color with a light strawberry blonde/light golden blonde, after that you color with a neutral shade of medium/dark blonde/light brunette. This will give your hair a nice dimension and add gloss. You probably will still end up on a "warmer" side.