How Do I Take the Red Tones Out of My Hair?
To remove the red tones from the hair, apply a homemade color shampoo, rinse out and apply a neutral brown shade over it. Removing red tones from the hair takes roughly 1 hour and requires shampoo, green food coloring and brown hair coloring. Hair should be deep-conditioned after the process.
- Mix the color shampoo
Pour 1 tablespoon of shampoo into a plastic container. Add a pea-sized drop of green food coloring to the shampoo, and mix well. Green is opposite red on the color wheel, so they neutralize each other.
- Apply the shampoo
Wet the hair as usual, then work the color-enhanced shampoo into the wet strands. Leave on for 10 minutes.
- Rinse and follow up
Rinse the color-enhanced shampoo thoroughly, until the water runs clear. Follow up with the regular shampoo and conditioning. Dry the hair to see if the red tones are neutralized.
- Color the hair brown
The green food coloring may not be sufficient to tone the red alone, or it may leave the hair an unnatural hue. If this is the case, apply brown hair dye. Mix and apply the hair color according to the manufacturer's directions. However, do not leave it on the specified amount of time. Instead, check it every few minutes to see if the desired color has been reached. L'Oreal Paris recommends leaving the dye on no longer than 10 minutes.
