Colour B4. Hair Colour Remover Extra Strength

My hair background: naturally medium ashy brown. 6 months ago I had highlights, basically natural at the roots that lightened to almost blonde at the bottom. About 4 months ago I decided to go all dark brown with bangs and loved it. I was tired of paying 140 to get my hair done so about a month ago I purchased: L'Oreal Paris Excellence Creme, 4A Dark Ash Brown. This turned my hair way too dark, almost black, and I unfortunately missed some areas. My hair is just past my boobs (very long considering I'm almost 6 ft. tall) and my hair is also thick. I decided I had already committed to the dark hair so I purchased another box to finish the spots I had missed. As my hair faded (while using a deep cleansing shampoo) I noticed the ends looked too dark. It wasn't noticeable to my boyfriend, but I could tell when my hair was straight.So I decided I was sick of looking at the dark ends and wanted to try a color remover... (because my hair just hadn't been through enough yet -_-)I followed the directions exactly, aside for doing the optional skin spot check. I did not perform this because my skin typically isn't sensitive to products and I didn't want to have a glob of this product on my skin for 24 hours like instructions suggested.However, I did do the hair strip test. I grabbed about a square centimeter section at the bottom of my hair line and applied a pea size amount. I waited 60 minutes and then did the five minute rinse. The amount my hair ligntened was barely noticeable, but this was okay to me because I didn't want a drastic change.So, I sectioned my hair into 6 sections (since my hair is thick) and applied the product one section at a time, combing it through with a plastic comb as I went. I was able to completely saturate my hair with just the one bottle. Based on the instructions, I should have needed two, but one was plenty. Almost seemed like too much, but I went ahead and used the whole thing because I didn't want to be streaky. I combed through my hair a lot, until all of the tangles were gone.Once I felt satisfied with my hair saturation, I decided to try to plastic wrap my hair to my scalp like the instructions recommend. I have never done this before but it was super easy. I twisted my hair, piled it on top of my head, balanced, and then plastic wrapped a few times around my hair to hold it all in place. The instructions also said it won't work as well in the cold.. since it's snowy out now my apartment is colder than usual so I put a beanie on over the plastic wrap cap. Cute.I waited one hour and went back to the bathroom to start the rinsing stage.. my first impression after taking the plastic cap off was "wow okay". It looked so light it concerned me.I rinsed my hair with hot water for ten minutes, pulling it around my shoulder to look at it every few minutes. My hair seemed to darken as I rinsed it so the initial shock wore off pretty quickly. I added the final product (the pH balancer), rinsed for five minutes, pH balanced again, rinsed.. and my hair felt pretty dry. It felt about the same dryness as after I use a cleansing shampoo.. so I conditioned because I couldn't stand not to. I also used a spray conditioner after I gently towel dried to help me comb through.I nervously blow dried my bangs to check the color and I was pleasantly surprised. It is definitely not my natural light ash brown, it's warmer than that, but it's really pretty. I'm assuming my hair will darken up a bit and that's fine, I'm just happy my hair is all the same color. It's much more natural looking.Needless to say, this product absolutely worked for me.Lastly, I'm going to comment on the smell. I was anticipating the worst smell in the world based on reviewers, and I'm not going to lie it's bad. My boyfriend thought it smelled like eggs. It smells bad when applying and while wet during the rinse.. but now that I have blow dried my hair I can't really smell it. However, my hair doesn't typically retain smells. It almost annoys me that shampoo and conditioner smells wear out of my hair quickly but maybe that's a good thing.UPDATE: It has been a couple of days, I have washed my hair once using a clarifying shampoo, and my hair has darkened. It is not as dark as it was before, just a couple of shades. I am glad, the product worked well on my hair but it was initially a tad more auburn than my natural color. My hair is now closer to my natural shade.

Edit: it’s been 2 months and the smell is still there. I cut off 6 inches of my hair and wash every day and it’s still there 😭 I hate it soooo much! I can’t go swimming because when I get in the water I smell like a dank fart.Edit 2: almost at 3 months, I tried dying again thinking that hey maybe the dye will cover up the smell and the smell is way stronger now. The chemical is obviously still in my hair and is now stronger smelling with the new dye in. I don’t know what to do. My head smells awful, I’ve cut off almost all of my hair, and I can’t get my hair wet in public in summer.So this was my first time using a dye remover so I came in not knowing quite how bad the smell was, but I did read reviews that had mentioned it. I wanted to remove my dark brown dye from my hair to let my grays come out again. I followed the directions, wrapped hair in plastic wrap (no heater because it’s hotter than hell right now anyways), left it in for the hour, and whatnot. I have pretty course hair (it’s called a hapa fro haha and is a mix of my white and Asian genetics so it’s a frizzy voluminous mess normally and I love it) so knew that it might not get all out the first time round since, according to the reviews, darker colors are hard to take out blah blah.Well, I have a really sensitive nose and one thing I didn’t expect was the power of the smell. It smelled like rotten meat and the smell was STRONG. I’m not even exaggerating. And apparently, when the product is wet it’s much worse. So imagine having to sit in a shower with this overpowering stank for 30 minutes just wringing your hair … yeah I was gagging a lot, fan blasting, manically washing and running my fingers through my scalp, I used so much product after to try to get the smell out but nothing worked, I still wanted to throw up at my own smell. Luckily I found one solution on a forum that actually helped a little because it was from their direct support. Here’s what they suggest:“ Mix 10% of a water soluble bicarbonate/carbonate salt [baking soda] with 90% water and leave on the hair for 5 to 10 minutes. Then without rinsing apply an acid-based solution to acidify the hair, such as 5% white vinegar (acetic acid) [I used apple cider vinegar and it worked fine] or 5% lemon juice (citric acid) mixed with 95% water. Leave this solution on the hair for a further 3 to 5 minutes, then rinse off. This procedure will produce a carbon dioxide gas which will remove the chemicals that cause the odour. Then finish with a pleasant shampoo and condition as usual."So I did this and just kept running the solution over my hair above a bowl and I definitely saw more color come out even after that 30 minutes of rinsing before! The smell is bearable now, but it’s definitely still there and I am absolutely hating it. Like the smell is so close to my face and I keep getting little whiffs of it and I just can’t. It makes me want to throw up.The color itself is still around. My grays lost a little color, but are definitely not at their purest, so it’s suggested to do it a second time. I can’t go through that again lol so I’ll just let it grow out aux naturale.In conclusion: if you have a sensitive nose and dark course hair this product might not be the best for you.