How to get rid of hair dye from your hands!

Ok, so on Tuesday I mentioned that I needed to sort out my 'silvers' and so as usual I bought a pack of hair dye from a well-known brand and whilst a friend was over, I started to dye my hair. I do not know what possessed me, but I didn't use gloves!!! : ( By the time I realised, it was too late. Why the friend didn't advise me is a mystery to both of us - it was only when Mr O walked in and asked what I was doing did I take note of the fact that my hands were changing colour!

Over 12 hours later, my hands are still a different shade of black compared with 24 hours ago! A classic school girl error you might say. Last night, I googled 'how to get rid of hair dye from your hands' and was met with a really unhelpful answer on Yahoo which was 'use gloves'... um DOH! If I had used gloves then I wouldn't be googling this... sigh...

Anyway, I tried a series of home 'remedies' and there is definitely a noticeable improvement, but since the initial staining was so bad, this doesnt really say a lot! Just in case anyone ever googles the same thing again, here is a little list of things that in combination/alone helped to alleviate my hair-dye stained hands....

* Note that adding more hair dye to try to 'dissolve' the stain did not work for me!


- Lemon juice (the freshly squeezed kind)
- Bicarb of soda
- Hand wash
- Washing up liquid
- Whitening toothpaste
- Shampoo
- Nail polish remover
- Alcohol hand cleansing gel
- Vanish stain removing spray!
- Window cleaner!!!!

** Also note that I did NOT soak my hands in undiluted bleach as suggested by source! (can you imagine explaining that one to your Dr!)

I tried to use natural household items as far as possible but you can just imagine the random array of chemicals that my hands are likely still covered in - not just from the hair-dye itself, but also from my 'treatments!'...

*** Finally note that I tried all these 'treatments' in the order listed above, you can see the desperation!

This experience makes my argument for finding (or darn it even making) a natural hair dye even more convincing. Seriously, my hands are still covered in ammonia. Yuck! They don't stink or anything but this cannot be good! Sigh, I just want to stop putting rubbish on my body - completely. I imagine that henna could still stain my hands, but in some way I would find this somewhat more acceptable.... 

Why can't I be one of those hippified people who wears bright colours and jewellery that jingles as I skip barefoot (yes, skip!) across white sands and who rides a bicycle with a hand-woven basket - all whilst casually carrying an acoustic guitar across my shoulder and sipping on carrot and ginger juice.

Sure, I realise its a massive generalisation, but really - I'd love that... to be/become that soul....

Maybe I just want to be India Arie herself?!?!
 
I bet she wouldn't forget to wear gloves when dying her hair... in fact, I bet she just goes to the salon...or better, I bet she doesn't even have any silvers : )p

Anyway, lesson learnt: Wear gloves when dying hair at home or just stop being a sissy and go the salon! Until the next time though, I'm going to start finding out a bit more about natural hair dyes... I have 6 weeks to come up with a natural, more hair, and apparently, hand- friendly, solution!

Mrs O
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