How to get pink out of hair. Best solutions

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Pink hair color is a bright and bold statement when you show the entire world your shining personality. It’s beautiful. But there’s a small catch.

Everyone will see your sparkle, so it should look immaculate. No roots, no fading color. But when your creative self gets tired of pink and wants something new, how do you get rid of the pink hair faster and skip a messy stage?

So, after dying your hair pink and wearing it proudly for some time, you want to return to your natural color or some other hue.

Now, we’re on a mission to remove pink hair dye and avoid a messy period.

As you can guess, when you go for dramatic measures, the impact will be larger and more traumatizing for the hair. You got pink hair after it was bleached first. Then you applied the pink dye and voilà — a beautiful, clean pink color that turns heads.

That’s why, we decided to give you a choice: we’ll tell you about traditional methods to remove pink hair dye and about some home remedies that will probably take longer, but some of them will be more gentle on your hair, although we should say that removing hair color is never too kind.

Mission: pink color removal

Traditional vs. homemade

When we use the word ‘traditional’, we mean the methods used by professionals or, if performed at home, with special hair products designed for that purpose. As these products’ goal is removing pink hair dye (or any color dye), they are highly efficient. We’ll start with them.

Remove color with hair color remover

Naturally, that’s the first product you’d think of when you need to get the pink hair dye out of hair. The manufacturers usually try to minimize the negative impact of the ingredients, but you’ll still have to give your dyed hair extra care after the procedure.

A hair color remover will deal with a semi-permanent hair dye and with a permanent one too.

You can be lucky and need only one treatment with this product or not so much, and in such a case, you may need a couple of more treatments.

Let us walk you through the process and share some of the tips that we’ve gained during the years of using color removers. The more people they can help, the better. Nevertheless, don’t forget to read the instructions, either.

Wash the hair. We always start by thoroughly washing the hair with shampoo. And here is the first tip: don’t use your regular shampoo, go for anti-dandruff shampoo instead. Clarifying shampoo can be an option too.

Both clarifying shampoo and anti-dandruff shampoo provide very deep cleansing and strip the hair of its natural oils. While it’s usually a drawback, in our case, it’s essential.

Dry the hair. Be patient and let your hair dry by itself. If you use a blow-dryer, your already super dry hair (remember, you already stripped it off their oils) will get worse, damaging.

Apply the hair color remover. Now it’s time to open the box, read the instructions, and make the mixture according to the directions from the producer. And prepare yourself. This thing smells! Don’t forget to use some plastic wrap to cover your head (a shower cap will work fine too).

Wait. Stay in an area with a mild temperature without extremes. High or low temperatures can interfere with the ongoing process on your head. Wait, as long as the instruction directs you.

Wash it. You have to be meticulous here. All the products must be washed off. Use your usual or moisturizing shampoo and take your time.

Restore it. Give your hair some loving care and use a quality hair mask or some deep conditioner to revive it and feed it with moisture and essential nutrients.

Hopefully, that will be enough, and you won’t have to repeat the process again.

Bleach the pink out

When you are removing pink hair dye, you need to get to the core of the hair, and it takes an active agent. Bleach is one of them. It will get through the outer layers of the hair and reach the goal of dissolving the color pigment. Unfortunately, it’s not absolutely safe for the hair.

That’s why you have to be extra careful using bleach, follow the ratio, and never exceed the time of exposure. And wear protective gloves, please. You don’t want the bleach touching your skin.

Mix it. In a bowl, combine bleach powder and developer (1:1), then add shampoo in the same amount. Mix all the ingredients together.

Apply it. Carefully apply the mixture to your hair, moving from the roots to the ends. Cover the head with a shower cap or some plastic wrap.

Wait. The maximum waiting time is 30 minutes, but we recommend checking on the process every 5-7 minutes.

Wash it. Be thorough with washing off the bleach.

Restore it. Pamper your hair with a good hair mask for nutrition and hydration.

We think that using bleach to remove pink hair dye is better done by a professional hairstylist.

But if you are confident that you can get rid of the hair dyes yourself, bleach is pretty effective in removing hair color. It’s bleach, after all.

Homemade solutions

Hair dye removers and bleach powder are not the only options to remove hair dye. Through trial and error, folks have come up with rather creative homemade solutions that are actually working as hair color removers for permanent and semi-permanent hair dyes.

Read on and find out which unexpected ingredients people are using to succeed in getting pink hair dye out.

Vitamin C — to the rescue

We all know that Vitamin C is awesome. Apparently, Vitamin C can even act as a pink hair dye remover.

A hair mask made with Vitamin C can fade hair dye, and your pink locks won’t be as pink anymore. Just don’t forget that Vitamin C is still an acid, and it will dehydrate your hair.

The procedure is easy. You’ll need Vitamin C powder or Vitamin C tablets and clarifying shampoo.

Mix it. You’ll need 0.5 cups of Vitamin C powder or 15 crushed Vitamin C tablets to mix a good mask. Another ingredient is clarifying shampoo. Mix the shampoo (take enough for a mousse consistency) with Vitamin C.

Apply it. The mask should cover all your hair. Leave it for up to 10 minutes under a shower cap and then rinse off well.

Restore the hair. As with the previous methods, make sure you use a hair mask on your hair afterward to restore its healthy condition after exposure to Vitamin C.

Baking soda mask

Another specific ingredient to help you remove pink hair dye is a mask with baking soda. It’s effective, but quite aggressive too. There are several options in terms of the accompanying components.

You can mix baking soda with lemon juice (2 tablespoons of baking soda and 2 tablespoons of juice); anti-dandruff shampoo (1 tablespoon of baking soda and 1 tablespoon of anti-dandruff shampoo); or Epsom salt (1 tablespoon of baking soda, 1 tablespoon of Epsom salt, and 1 cup of water).

For all these masks, mix the ingredients, apply them to the hair, and wait for 20 minutes. Finish the treatment by rinsing the mask off meticulously and applying a nourishing and hydrating hair mask.

Vinegar hair mask

Vinegar is a miracle product for our household. We use it in so many different areas, and cooking is only one of them. How about removing semi-permanent pink dye out of hair?

We recommend using apple cider vinegar just because it smells better, but white vinegar is fine too.

The mask is a mix of apple cider vinegar and a moisturizing shampoo (1:1) applied to wet hair and left for 30 minutes.

Make sure you wash the mask off well. Follow with a usual routine of washing hair with a usual shampoo and conditioning it afterward.

This mask is effective, and it’s not aggressive. Which is a perk compared to the other methods.

Give it time

Here you are giving the pink hair dye the chance to run its natural course but at a higher speed.

To reach that speed, you’ll have to start using a more aggressive shampoo (like clarifying, or a chelating shampoo).

And every time you wash the hair, just let it be exposed to the shampoo for several minutes. Don’t rinse it off immediately. The active components of the shampoo will penetrate the outer layer of the hair and affect the shaft.

Of course, it will dehydrate your hair, and you’ll need to treat it with nourishing masks, but it should do its job and make the pink hair dye gradually disappear.

Go swimming

You’ve probably guessed it already. Yes, it’s chlorine.

This really aggressive agent will not only make an impact on the hair color but will damage the hair as well.

So, although you may be happy that your hot pink hue is fading away, your hair is also getting deprived of essential natural oils and moisture.

Use strong shampoos after a swim (like chelating shampoo) and never forget to pamper your hair with a high-quality hair mask regularly.

Let the sun do its job

This one is tricky. On the one hand, exposing your hair to UV rays will get pink out of your hair much sooner. On the other hand, sun rays damage your hair and skin, and too much exposure can be not worth it. So think carefully before subjecting your pink hair color to UV rays.

Potential danger

As we’ve already mentioned, any method you use, won’t be too kind. To remove the pink color from the hair, the agent needs to get to the hair cuticles in the inner layer of the hair. And that is traumatic.

Most options contain aggressive agents and require post-treatment care. We don’t recommend disregarding it. Make sure you use high-quality products for restoring the hair’s health.

Final thoughts

Some of us wear a natural color for all of our lives. And that’s absolutely fine. But for others, expressing themselves is critical, whether it’s a pink hair color or an eccentric style in clothing.

We’ll be really happy if you find our article useful, and it will help you get pink out of your hair to create a new, even more, fabulous look.

Frequently asked questions