Removing Hair Dye from Skin

Removing hair dye from skin doesn’t have to be a hair-raising experience.

The best advice is to not get hair dye on your skin in the first place. There’s really only one time you should get hair dye on your skin and that’s when you do a test spot to make sure you aren’t allergic to the dye before putting it on your head.

There are many ways to avoid getting dye directly on your skin including:

• Follow the mixing instructions and don’t add extra liquids. You don’t want the mixture runny which can cause it to drip onto your skin easier.
• Wear gloves, but not the ones provided in most home hair coloring kits. If you’re prone to being a bit messy, try a pair of gloves that go further up your arm. Some dish washing gloves will work – the extra thin cheap ones are best. If the kit gloves are all you have, though, use them. They’re better than nothing. You should put the gloves on before doing any opening of bottles or mixing of dyes.
• Before you start, pull all of your hair up off of your neck and pile it on top of your head. Apply Vaseline to your ears, neck, forehead and anywhere else you think your hair might touch during the dying process. Vaseline, even the cheap store brand petroleum jelly, will prevent the dye from directly touching your skin. If dye does get on, it will wipe right off.
• After you have the dye on your hair put an old shower cap on it if you can with the hair dye you’re using. Not all hair dyes can be covered but if they can it will prevent you from accidentally touching your head during the dying process.
• During the rinsing process start with a tub - not shower - rinse. A tub rinse means that you kneel over and rinse your hair under the bathtub faucet, not by standing in the shower. This can help to keep dye both off your skin and out of your eyes.

The above are steps you should always take. Sometimes, in spite of your good and safe intentions, dye will seem to get everywhere, including on your skin. Plus you hopefully did the skin test so you should have a little dye on your arm. Read on for what to do to remove all traces of hair dye from your skin.

There are many options for removing hair dye from your skin and some are better (and safer) than others. There’s a lot of information out there and a few ways to remove dye that you may have heard can be downright dangerous.

Here are the options for removing hair dye from skin – from the safest to the questionable.

Soap is safe - or at least most people have a soap that will work safely on their skin. Choose a soap that doesn’t bother you and scrub down. You can also lather up one of those tiny skin brushes and use that. If you can’t find a small skin brush use one of those small nail brushes.

If you have fancy body scrubs and don’t mind using them to scrub away dye, go ahead. If you’d rather not waste expensive body scrubs, make a tiny batch of your own. Take two tablespoons of sugar or ground oatmeal and mash it with a touch of water – you want the consistency thick. Scrub away.

An alternative scrub is toothpaste, which sounds odd but really works - especially if your toothpaste is the kind with tiny scrubbers in it.

There are different products you can buy made especially for removing hair dye from skin. Following are two that are recommended as good by salons or hair specialty websites. Note that individuals with very sensitive skin may find these too harsh.

• Revlon Roux Clean Touch - Haircolor Stain Remover: This is rumored to work very well, even being able to remove some clothing stains.

• Tweezerman PRIMA-TINT Tint and Color Remover: This one is all natural and works on both skin and clothing.

All of the above items are meant for skin. They are products that can go on skin and likely won’t do much if any harm. If you browse the web for ideas long enough you will see the following hair dye removal ideas:

• Bleach
• Bathroom cleaners
• Goop – a substance that removes glue and other sticky stuff.
• Nail polish remover
• Ajax

Don’t use any of the above or anything like these products on your skin.

Nail polish remover is likely the safest item here but it’s not meant for large areas of skin and could be painful. Harsh cleaners full of chemicals are toxic and barely safe to use around your home, so don’t use them on your skin. Use of these can cause problem skin which no one wants.

If you are so upset about a dye stain that you’re about to dump scrubbing bubbles on your forehead than please consider going to the salon to see a professional colorist. You will get professional help with the dye removal and not harm your delicate skin or eyes.

The first and safer choice above (soap) will work just fine almost every time, though. Have a happy and dye-free (at least on skin) coloring!.

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