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How to Remove Purple Shampoo Stain From Hair

Maintaining blonde, white, or silver hair can be difficult, especially if your hair tends to tint more yellow than you like. However, if you use purple shampoo to combat the yellow tints in your hair, you might have had the horrifying experience of purple stains throughout your hair!

Luckily, this article will teach you how to remove purple shampoo stains from your hair without bleaching or dying your hair anew.

How to Remove Purple Shampoo Stain From Hair

If you are trying to remove purple shampoo stains from your hair, there are several ways to do it. You don’t have to jump straight to bleaching or dying your hair to get the color out.

Instead, you can use some more commonplace ingredients to clean your hair thoroughly. These include: 

  • Sulfate shampoo
  • Dandruff shampoo
  • Clarifying shampoo
  • Baking soda
  • Hydrogen peroxide
  • Dish soap and lemon juice
  • Color remover

Any of these products can be found in the supermarket and aren’t dangerous. Put away the bleach and stop texting your hairdresser; these at-home remedies will be just fine to remove those purple stains and get you back to your regular blonde beauty! 

How to Remove Purple Shampoo Stain From Hair: 8 Ways

There are several ways to remove purple shampoo stains from your hair, and they all use pretty much the same method.

You’ll wash your hair in a substance, let it sit for a while and soak up the purple coloring, and then rinse and condition it thoroughly. The main difference between these methods is what you are putting in your hair.

The biggest danger of all of these cleansers is that they will dry out your hair. There’s no way to avoid this; if you want the purple stains out, you’d better have a deep conditioner ready to keep your hair from drying out too much! 

1. Stop Using Purple Shampoo!

Of course, the first step is to stop using your purple shampoo. If you have purple stains in your hair, you’ve probably already used too much purple shampoo. Stop using it so you don’t deepen the purple stains, and you’re already halfway to fixing the problem. 

Purple shampoo doesn’t have the same depth as hair color or commercial dye, so you don’t have to worry about dying or bleaching your hair to get the stains out. However, you might need to take some further steps before they’re completely faded. 

2. Use a Sulfate or pH-Balanced Shampoo

The easiest way to get the purple stains from purple shampoo out of your hair is to use a sulfate or pH-balanced shampoo. You might have heard that sulfates aren’t always good for hair, and that’s true.

They can dry out your hair, especially if you have fine or thin hair. However, they work if you need a deep cleaning agent. You’ll need to buy sulfate shampoo if you don’t already have it.

It can be as cheap as regular shampoo–just ensure that it has the sulfates you need for the cleanse. Now, use it to wash your hair.

Condition your hair thoroughly to prevent excess drying out. The positive thing about using a sulfate or pH-shampoo is that it won’t make a huge difference in your daily life. You can use it regularly and not worry about special instructions.

The negative part is that it will probably take several washes for sulfate shampoo to completely rid your hair of purple stains. While a specialty shampoo might clear up your purple stains after a few washes, you should never wash your hair more than once or twice a day.

If you’re thinking about washing your hair repeatedly until the purple is gone, don’t. The sulfates won’t work that quickly and you’ll just end up with dry and damaged hair. 

3. Use a Clarifying Shampoo

A clarifying shampoo is the best way to give your hair and scalp a deep clean. Sulfates are a strong cleaning agent, but clarifying shampoo gives an even deeper clean. It has a unique formula that attracts dirt, oils, and any foreign substances.

Basically, clarifying shampoo will take out everything but the hair itself. If you use a clarifying shampoo, know that it’s very strong. You will need to fortify your hair with conditioner after you use it.

For those with delicate, thin, or fine hair, use about half the recommended amount to start. You can bring that up if you think the purple isn’t fading, but the shampoo should pull it out after a wash or two.  

4. Use a Dandruff Shampoo

Dandruff shampoo is another method that is easy to access and will keep your scalp safe. Dandruff shampoo works from the roots out to get any dead skin or dandruff. It can also work on unwanted stains and colors.

While dandruff shampoo is gentler than clarifying shampoo, it doesn’t work quite as fast. You can wash your hair once or twice a day with dandruff shampoo, especially if you’re trying to get purple stains out.

However, make sure that you are also conditioning your hair fully and keeping it moisturized. If you struggle with dry or fine hair, only wash your hair once a day until the purple stains are gone. 

5. Use Baking Soda

Baking soda is one of the home’s most versatile cleaning supplies, and it’s also quite natural. If you want to strip your hair of the purple color without using chemically-heavy shampoos, you can let baking soda (which is still a chemical, just more natural) do the work for you. 

To use baking soda, mix it in with your regular (not purple!) shampoo. Wash your hair normally and completely rinse it. Condition your hair well, as baking soda can strip your hair of oils and dry it out.

The baking soda will naturally take the color out of your hair after a few washes. Within a few days, you won’t even notice purple at all! 

6. Use Dish Soap and Lemon Juice

It may seem strange, but dish soap and lemon juice are a combination that can take the color out of your hair. Dish soap is exceptionally good at removing products and oils and will strip your hair entirely clean.

Lemon juice then takes any extra color out of your hair (some people use lemon juice as a natural lightening agent). Using dish soap, wash your hair gently and rinse it thoroughly.

Then spray or coat the purple sections of your hair with lemon juice and let it sit for a few minutes. Make sure that you follow this up with conditioner, as the chelating process dries out your hair. 

7. Use Hydrogen Peroxide

Hydrogen peroxide is another solution that has fewer chemicals and might already be in your house. It is a very strong agent and can damage your scalp and skin if left on for too long, so be careful when using hydrogen peroxide. 

To clean your hair with hydrogen peroxide, combine it with an equal amount of water in a spray bottle.

Spray the mixture on the parts of your hair that are purple and comb it through. After a few minutes, you should see a visible difference in color. Wash your hair immediately after to remove any hydrogen peroxide that’s left over. 

8. Use Color Remover

Before you get desperate and turn to bleach, you can use a box of commercial color remover to get the purple out of your hair. This color remover does have chemicals in it, so you might want to wait until you’ve tried some other options to try this.

However, it’s not as bad for your hair as bleach is or as permanent as dye. Color remover works quickly, so if you don’t have time to wash your hair multiple times and wait for the purple stains to fade, you might want to consider this.

It might strip your hair of some of its dyed color as well, so prepare yourself for this. For extreme cases, it’s a good and quick way to get purple color out of your hair. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Woman removing purple shampoo stain from hair and giving an ok sign with her fingers

Anetlanda/Shutterstock

If you are still wondering about purple shampoo, how to avoid stains, and why it does what it does, here are some frequently asked questions and their answers for you! Hopefully these help to answer any last questions you might have. 

What Is Purple Shampoo? 

Purple shampoo is used by people who have naturally or colored blonde, gray, silver, and white hair.

Because purple is on the other side of the color spectrum from yellow, it will neutralize the louder yellow colors and make blonde hair look glossy and perfect. It’s often offered by salons when someone dyes their hair any shade with yellow in it. 

How Do Purple Shampoo Stains Happen? 

Purple shampoo stains happen when purple shampoo is used incorrectly. This is either because the brand is too strong for the hair color or type or the person using the shampoo leaves it in for too long. 

Sometimes, a person’s hair is exceptionally porous and accepts more of the coloring than it should. If this is the case, a lighter purple should be applied or you should consider not using purple shampoo as often! 

Do I Need to Dye my Hair to Get the Purple Stains Out? 

No! Unless you have very deep purple stains and you’ve tried everything else, there’s no need to rush to a salon in tears. Any of these home remedies will work just fine to get the purple stains out, especially if you are patient and let the purple fade properly between washes. 

You won’t even have to bleach unless it’s an extreme situation.

If you have very fair and porous hair and none of the remedies are helping with your purple stain, a bleach rinse might do the trick. However, always be careful with bleach. Get a professional to help if you need to! 

How Do I Use Purple Shampoo Correctly? 

The first step in using purple shampoo correctly is following the instructions on the package. If you use purple shampoo on your blonde, white, or silver hair, you’ll be able to maintain a beautiful color without it fading too yellow. 

Only use purple shampoo about once a week. Make sure you have the right amount of purple shampoo and work it through your hair.

Let it sit for two or three minutes maximum. Any longer than this, and you risk purple stains. Rinse thoroughly, and you should have perfectly glossy hair without a hint of purple! 

Does Purple Shampoo Dry out Your Hair? 

Like most shampoos, purple shampoo strips your hair of oils. It does this to help clean your hair and maintain a healthy scalp. However, shampoo can dry your hair. Always follow shampoo use with a moisturizing conditioner so your hair doesn’t become brittle or dry. 

So, How Do You Get Purple Shampoo Stains Out of Your Hair? 

You can get purple shampoo stains out of your hair in several ways. Whether you use a pH balanced shampoo, baking soda, or wash your hair with hydrogen peroxide, you will be able to release that purple color and get back to your gorgeous blonde hair!

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