Rant: A veteran stylist in Phoenix told me to stop using a certain brand of color remover on bleached hair.

I tried it on a client's level 10 blonde last month and it caused major breakage, costing me over $300 in corrective treatments. Anyone have a safer remover they trust for high-lift situations?

4 comments

4 Comments

nathankim12d ago

Start by saying I've been using that brand for almost 15 years on bleached hair and have never seen anything close to what you all are describing. I'm not saying it can't happen, but it sounds like the problem might be more about how it was applied or how long it was left on rather than the product itself. A cream remover is fine for some things, but it doesn't always pull out stubborn dark pigments the same way. I'd want to see the actual strand test results and application logs before I blamed the formula. Sometimes what looks like damage from a remover is really just hair that was already overprocessed and finally gave up.

ward.anna1mo ago

My salon in Tucson banned that same remover two years ago after a similar incident. It seems like these harsh formulas get popular online before their real damage is known. I've had much better luck with a gentle, cream-based remover for levels above 8.

shane_bell1mo ago

Our Denver shop switched to a cream remover last year and it cut our damage complaints in half.

quinnm771mo ago

My buddy's wife runs a salon and she had a stylist use that stuff on a platinum client. It basically melted a section of hair near the crown, like it turned to mush when she tried to comb it. They had to do a major cut and a series of protein treatments for weeks. She said the client was in tears. Now they only use a specific cream remover for anything above a level 8, and they do a test strand every single time.