How to Get Back Natural Hair Color (Bleaching Gone Bad)

When the Beatles repeated the chorus “Get back to where you once belonged” in 1969, they certainly did not have hair color in mind, but this could be a theme song in many salons today as clients come in a desperate search to “get back.”

And in this case, they want to get back to the natural hair color that may have disappeared under layers of bad dye or bleach jobs and unfortunate attempts to “play stylist” at home without the proper tools or know-how.

If you wanna get your hair back to its natural hair color after the bleach, we can walk you through what you need to know about returning your mane to its original glory.

When (and Why) Hair Color Goes Bad

We should note here that hair color can “go bad” even in salons: the blame does not rest solely on non-stylists trying to color their hair at home. Sometimes the bad color could result from a distracted professional stylist juggling too many clients and leaving color on too long.

In some cases, despite a stylist’s attempt to talk a client out of a bad decision, the client may have simply insisted that she must go blonde. And only upon seeing the result the client realizes what her stylist knew all along: that her skin tone was simply no match for blonde hair, and now she looks as if she could be an extra on The Walking Dead.

Bad color can be too light, too dark, too brassy, and anything in between, with poorly matched shades for skin tones and cuts. Artificial color is best when it does not look artificial, though unfortunately, this can be tough to achieve in some cases.

While there may not be an “instant fix” for your particular hair predicament, there is likely a remedy that will improve your color over time or give you some temporary relief with what is known as hair color correction. And as you work toward correcting your color mistake, you might decide scarves and hats are your new favorite accessories!