You’re just looking for a fabulous color which you apply at home and look like you just stepped out of a salon.

Perfectly reasonable.

Except for an irritating little bit of reality.

All that color that you applied previously, and which hasn’t been cut out or lifted out is still there, impacting the outcome of any color you apply on top of it.

color layered on top of color will change your color results over time. You will see darker, duller, flatter color results creeping up on you each time you recolor.

There are 4 key signs of color Build Up:

• Dull looking hair with no or minimal shine.
• Hair which is very dry or coarse, even after conditioning treatments.
• Hair which looks and feels heavy.
• Brighter regrowth and darker ends.

How color build-up changes your color outcomes:

You recolor using the same color as always but your color result is darker and duller than it used to be.

As you are adding layer upon layer of color, which inevitably gives you a deeper, heavier, less vibrant, washed out and flatter color result.

You recolor and get the color you want, just not where you want it.

Your roots look fab, gorgeous, but the lengths and ends of your hair are flat, dull and heavy.

This is another clear indicator of color build-up. The color is doing its job perfectly on uncolored hair, but it can’t achieve the same results on hair that has been recolored repeatedly already. The layers of old color block the effect of any new color, giving you a muted, heavier color result which lacks the brightness and vibrancy of the color result at your roots.

You try coloring with a lighter color and still get a dark color result.

It’s just not as simple as that. A lighter hair color will not give you a lighter color result if your hair has already been colored a darker color. It can’t. color cannot lighten pre-existing color pigments. The only way you can use a lighter hair color over darker color and achieve a lighter result is if you have used a color removal product (maybe a few times) or bleach process such as a bleach wash before recoloring with a lighter color. These products can lift the darker color pigments out, lowering your base hair color level so that a new lighter hair color can be effective.

What to do?

If you color your full length hair regularly, then you should schedule in color removal as part of your ongoing coloring strategy.

You can do this at home with a bleach wash which will lift lighter pigments out, enabling you to then use a lighter hair color product or the exact same color your regularly use and to get the bright, vibrant, fresh and fabulous color result you want.

Bear in mind that the darker the pigments of color in your hair, the harder it is to get them out.

Another option is bleaching, which is not quite as scary as it sounds. You can bleach or color remove your hair at home using The Shade’s Bleach Wash Kit ($23.95) which includes everything you need in one kit, including easy to follow instruction. .

When you have removed the built-up color, you can recolor your hair and say hello to bright, shiny color again.

Try to adapt your home coloring technique to avoid more color build-up in future – use the tint brush we provide to only apply color to regrowth. Avoid overlapping color so that the lengths of your hair have only been colored once. This will keep you on a path to gorgeous color and banish build-up.

Very happy with the end result. I used the bleach wash kit first to get rid of excess previous color. Easy to use & my color application was even & bright. Have had some compliments & someone not believing I did my color at home.

. McCredie

I used the bleach wash to get old color out and then used this color and am so happy with my new color! I have received so many compliments.

P. Shires