Q. Help! I’ve had a disaster at the hair salon and the colourist used a finishing product - not sure if it was a glaze or a toner or what - all over my streaked blonde hair and has turned it sallow mousey-grey, dark and, as my boyfriend says, 'just dull'. Is there anything that will remove the unwanted colour?

A. One of our Beauty Bible staff members had a similar colour drama recently. The first thing we would say is that if you have a colour disaster it is really worth having a consultation with a colour specialist to advise you on the way forward. Our Amy ended up finding help from specialist colour salon FOUR London (fourlondon.com). So we asked Luci Green from Four London to detail how, as a colour specialist, she sets about correcting these problems.

Luci explained that when a client has had a colour disaster, ‘It’s difficult to tell for sure what has been used on their hair. In Amy’s case, her long hair looked very dull and had a grey tone. She usually has very fine bleached highlights but after these had been redone by the previous salon the wrong colour toner was applied over the top, which caused the dull grey finish.’

In correcting this type of problem Luci’s major concern is to look after the condition of the hair. If you have already had quite a lot of colour on your hair, she advises against using harsh products to remove the toner. Equally, she wouldn't put in more bleached lights as they wouldn't sort the problem.

Where there isn’t a ‘massive amount of colour build-up’, as in Amy’s case, Luci opts to use ColorWow Dream Filter rather than a colour remover (which she would use if there was a lot of colour build up). ‘Dream Filter is one of my favourite products because it’s so gentle.’

Dream Filter/£24 for 200 ml, is a pre-shampoo spray, which was formulated as a brightener for hair colour. It’s not a colour remover as such and doesn't contain bleach or other harsh synthetic chemicals. Luci explains that ‘Dream Filter doesn't change the base colour but it does remove any minerals and metallic salts (often used in hair dye) that are present in the hair; these can distort the base colour and lights and make hair look dull, and feel stiff and rough to the touch.’

Prize Draws

It’s important to test a lock of hair first. Dream Filter completely removed the unwanted colour when Luci tested it on Amy so she used it all over the hair before shampooing. Lucy then dried off Amy’s hair and put in a few highlights to frame her face and also on the ends of the hair to give her the brightness she wanted. Luci plans to start building up Amy’s colour over several appointments.

Luci is a ‘huge fan’ of Dream Filter as a colour brightener and advises all her clients to use it every three to four shampoos at home for a couple of weeks after having their colour done, then once every three to four weeks.

But just to reiterate, if you have a colour disaster you may need a professional colour remover – and only a consultation with an experienced colour specialist (like Luci Green at Four London) will be able to advise you on that.

Photo by Court Cook on Unsplash