4 Tips To Remove Hair Dye From Skin: A Celebrity Colorist Offers His Secrets
It happens to the best of us—even when you finally master your at-home shade, you may find some hair dye sticking around on your hairline, ears, scalp, neck, or hands. Not to fret (or go running to the salon, color-stained head hung low): You can clean up those areas pretty quickly, before anyone realizes the tops of your ears are tinged strawberry blond. Here are four foolproof tips to remove hair dye from your skin, straight from a pro colorist:
Avoid getting dye on your skin in the first place.
The first tip is to, well, make sure it doesn't happen at all. Celebrity colorist and Redken brand ambassador Matt Rez shares an old-school hairstylist trick to keep color off the skin: an oily lotion. "The oilier the formula, the better, as color and oil will separate," he tells us. Hairstylists may use professional barrier creams and stain guards before dyeing, but an oily moisturizer will work just as well—apply along your hairline, ears, and nape of the neck before going in with color.
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Just make sure you're lining just the skin, not the hair; the oil can keep color from dyeing the hair (which is the whole point of this venture, anyway). You also don't want to skimp on ingredients here—as always, be mindful of comedogenic products that may cause breakouts (especially if you're applying to areas prone to clogged pores, like the hairline). Gloves are also your friends here, as your hands are typically the first sign of an at-home hair dye job gone awry. They're included in many box dyes for a reason, so use them!
If you see a stain, don't use water.
It may seem a little counterintuitive, but stay with us here: "If water hits the stain, it will be harder to get off!" says Rez. So rather than lathering up the tinged area, he recommends reaching for your shampoo; apply it to the stained area, rub it in with your fingers (without getting it wet!), and use a dry towel to wipe it all off—the color should easily transfer to the towel.
You can even saturate a clean washcloth with shampoo before rubbing the stain off, if you need a tad more scrubbing. Either way, you'll want to keep it waterless—which means, work on the stains before washing out your color. According to Rez, it's best to assess your skin first before hopping into the shower to rinse.
Opt for stain removal wipes.
Of course, you can go the market route, if you so choose. If the DIY stain removal fails, Rez suggests searching for hair color removal wipes to help lift the pigment. As always, do a patch test before applying these products to the face or hairline (some sensitive-skinned folk may face some irritation), but they're pretty effective. And while no hair dye is going to be perfectly natural or clean (even the more natural-leaning brands), some removers have gentler, aloe-based formulas—like this cruelty-free option, for instance. Traditional baby wipes can also have a similar effect, if you're looking for sensitive-skin-approved options (we're partial to these hypoallergenic wipes).
If all else fails, let it run its course.
If you choose not to do anything (it's quarantine! Who cares if your skin is tinged auburn!), the stain should fade after a few days. But that time may vary, Rez notes, depending on your skin type: "If you are more dry to begin with, your skin will be more porous and stains will last longer," he explains. "The oilier the skin, the more of a natural barrier." As mentioned, color and oil tend to separate, so oily skin may fare better with hair dye stains in the first place. That extra bout of grease you may be facing during quarantine might be good for something, after all.
The bottom line.
Even if you've stained your skin with hair color, it's not a totally botched dye job (it's definitely common, and it even takes stylists some time to master!). Nonetheless, there are plenty of quick fixes to lift the pigment well before your next Zoom meeting. Just be sure to use the appropriate color-correcting shampoos and conditioners; that way, you'll lift any dye from your scalp and keep your color where you want it most—on your strands, not on your skin.