Color Oops

I’ll take a look…

I’ve been wondering about this, too. I’m really looking forward to finding out about this…

The shrinking of dye molecules that Color Oops / Color B4 claims to do with hydrosulfite sounds wonderful, but I’m not clear on the details behind the mechanism, and I wonder if it is actually damaging or only drying.
(According to their website, “hydrosulfite rapidly reduces the dye molecule without the need for
bleach, ammonia, or peroxide.” – http://coloroops.com/how-it-works.html)

Also, are there any other color removers that use dye removing mechanisms without peroxide/bleach? Are there any non-damaging dye-removing ingredients?

ArgonOilsTheNuRadium, that’s not a dumb question at all. In some cases, what you are describing would work very well: you can just build up dye on top of old dye, but it can only go darker if one isn’t resorting to developer (peroxide). (Always strand-test first because the resulting shade may not be what you are after.)

But to lighten, “lift” pigment, bleach is the way to go, and it’s quite damaging.
And if you already have old dye that you want to remove, and it’s not fading enough on its own with washing hair, and if you want to avoid the damage of a bleach bath or a color stripper with bleach, then products like Color Oops that are supposed to “shrink dye molecule” seem like they could be a less damaging alternative.

It’s just that there isn’t much information out there on the exact mechanism behind non-bleach color removers like that. It’s also not something that hair salons use normally (they tend to simply bleach old dye to go lighter).

@ meteor… O.O I didn’t know. I thought they all eventually fade from sun damage, or wash out, you mean there is like a archeological history of sedimentary deposited dyes on my strands of hair? Like you could get a laser, and peel back what color was dyed at what time chronologically after another, just from one strand, dating all the way back from when I first dyed my hair?!!! (I keep my hair long enough that I don’t think I would have out grown my first hair dye job yet.) THAT IS NUTS!

@ Randy, perhaps there is a way we can try to test this at home ourselves in some way? Say we had the box, what would you recommend us trying from home to try to identify exactly what this hydrosulfite, or what ever X chemical(s) are responsible for supposedly being less damaging to your hair during color removal. Is there a way to chemically identify the X ingredient(s) from home, like a chemists’ blackhat trick you might know, we could try, to save you research time?

If one had the box I suppose a good way to test if it does damage your hair would be to snip a lock, tie it, and dip it in the solution, for how ever long it’s supposed to be activated, and side by side compare it to a control, and one in peroxide, bleach, and ammonia, right? (This would be after looking up each of the catalyst’s color removal duration period)

(Bleach and Ammonia should not be tested near each other, and all of these chems should be tested in a VERY well ventilated area if someone does decide to do this. I know I don’t need to say this to anyone reading this on here, but I’d feel dumb if I didn’t.)

^@everyone, if he responds w/something, I might actually do this.

@ Randy, Nvm, I was thinking of entirely something else, which is done in a different type of chemistry profession, I assumed all you guys did something similar in testing… Anyways short version of what I was thinking about was that process where you can identify certain chemicals in a solution, then measure how potent it is, by adding other chemicals, and measuring the results. (Please excuse me if I’ve made a mistake, or left anything too crucial out.) All of which is totally unnecessary anyways,
 
 All you need is the back of the box, Google and the hair lock testing, and mystery solved, onto Loch Ness!