Alright so last week I totally messed up my hair dye job. Went way too dark, looked almost black when I was aiming for a light brown. Like, seriously stupid dark. Felt stuck because I didn’t wanna use harsh chemicals again so soon, y’know? Started digging online for ways to fade it naturally, faster.
My Stupid Hair Situation & Research
First, I panicked a bit. This color just wasn’t me. Found a bunch of folks talking about vitamin C crushing. Like, regular vitamin C tablets? Supposedly lifts color. Sounded safer than bleach. Saw people mixing it with shampoo too. Grabbed my phone and searched stuff like “natural dark hair fade” “quick vitamin C hair”. Lots of home remedies popped up.
What I Actually Did (Step-by-Step Mess)
Okay, so I decided to try the vitamin C thing first. Here’s exactly what I used and did:
- Gathered Stuff: Ran to the drugstore. Got cheapo chewable vitamin C tablets (like the orange flavor kind, 500mg each), grabbed my usual clarifying shampoo (just Suave or whatever, basic stuff), and a small plastic bowl from my kitchen.
- Crushed Like Mad: Took about 15 tablets. Maybe 7500mg total? Didn’t measure perfectly. Dropped ’em in a ziplock bag, grabbed a heavy mug, and smashed them into a fine powder. Got dust everywhere. Looked like orange snow.
- Made a Weird Paste: Dumped the powder into my plastic bowl. Squirted in a decent amount of clarifying shampoo – enough to make a thick paste. Mixed it all up with an old butter knife. Looked like gross orange sorbet. Didn’t smell too bad though, kinda citrusy.
- Applied & Waited: My hair was dry and dirty (saw advice saying don’t wash before). Sectioned it kinda messy, didn’t clip it perfectly. Slapped that orange paste all over, really focusing on the super dark roots and mids. Massaged it in a bit. Covered my head with an old plastic grocery bag – felt like a shower cap but trashier. Stuck a timer on for 45 minutes. Watched some trash TV.
- The Weird Smell & Washout: Around 30 minutes, I smelled this weird… kinda metallic, acidic smell. Started getting nervous my hair might melt off. Rushed to rinse after 45 mins. Used lukewarm water. Man, it took FOREVER to rinse completely. Water ran orange, tons of tiny grit. Then washed with my normal shampoo and conditioner.
What Happened After
Dried my hair with a towel. Honestly? It wasn’t magically blonde or anything. But the super intense blackness was definitely lifted. It looked more like a dark brown, maybe a level lighter? Slightly warmer too, maybe the orange thing. Hair felt dry as hell though, like straw. Needed tons of conditioner.
So I repeated the whole mess again two days later. Same process, but left it on for an hour because I’m impatient. Risky? Probably. Rinsed forever again. Did notice more fading! The ends were definitely lighter than before. Still dry, but manageable with deep conditioner.
Bottom Line Results
After two vitamin C treatments over a few days, my hair went from that awful near-black disaster to a much more acceptable medium-dark brown. It’s definitely lighter. Did it fade perfectly even? Nope, roots lifted more than ends. And yeah, my hair texture took a hit – drier, needed serious moisture. But compared to expensive color remover or more bleach? It worked way better than I expected for just vitamin C and cheap shampoo. Took the edge off the darkness fast and cheaply. Would I do it again? Yeah, if I screwed up bad like this. But man, it’s a hassle rinsing that gritty paste!
