Just about every girl's been there - you've dyed your hair and it DID NOT come out the way it looks on the box. Or you followed the instructions perfectly, but somehow still ended up with a patchy colour job that's reminiscent of scary 60's-style tie dye. Eeek! If you can relate at all, chances are you need to hear the low down on Colour B4 hair colour remover, R159,95. It's the easiest way to remove a bad dye job without the expense of having to run off to the salon. 

Colour B4 Extra is on the left (it's for use on very dark colours) and Colour B4 regular is on the right.

Unlike bleach which strips your hair or leave you looking even worse off, Colour B4 works by breaking the hair colour molecules in your hair. This makes it easy to simply wash them out. It doesn't touch your hair's natural pigment at all, so you're left  then you're left sitting pretty (or at least looking better) with your very own natural hair colour. It also comes with an 'after' treatment that allows you to re-colour your hair immediately afterwards, should you wish.

Last week, a bunch of us beauty eds got invited to the launch of Colour B4 and got to meet UK hair expert Scott Cornwall, the product's creator. We sat in awe while he demonstrated his product on this brave young lass, Tamryn. Poor thing had volunteered to risk her mane in the name of beauty and had allowed her pretty blonde locks to be dyed a bright red shade with PERMANENT box hair colour. 

That piccie that Tamryn is posing with is a shot of how her hair looked earlier that morning, just before it was dyed red.

After we all examined her hair, Tamryn was whisked off to another room where Scott gave her hair a few rinses with Colour B4. This gave us time to hit up the buffet next door where I got to chat to Style Scoop's Dimi Ingle (turns out we're both mal for Country Road) and gorge myself on oysters.

Yum! Thanks for spoiling us Eclipse PR, you guys rock.

A few minutes later, we were led back into the presentation room to view the results of a few washes with Colour B4. Check it out:

Ta da! Tamryn's back to blonde!

Impressive, right? I have to admit that I really didn't think Colour B4 was going to be able to totally remove that horrendous rooi mess, but it worked like a charm. Tamryn's hair felt silky soft too and I loved that her hair wasn't a horrid, 'flat' shade; I could actually see her individual highlights. 

Scott Cornwall posing with Tamryn.

As I'm totally committed to blonde and not likely to play with box dye anytime soon, I'm probably not going to get to try Colour B4 myself, but I'm now recommending it to every girl I know. It really does work and should be every arm chair colourist's secret weapon.

Want to give it a bash? (Or at least keep it in your bathroom cupboard in case of emergency?) Look out for Colour B4 at Clicks or buy it along with other Scott Cornwall hair products online. (Also, as of September you'll be able to find it at Spar and Dis-chem too).

The nitty gritty you should know
Colour B4 can be used up to three times in one session to remove a seriously bad dye job. If, however, you've used a very dark colour or have years of colour build up, it would be best to opt for a slightly stronger product, Colour B4 Extra, R159,95.

You shouldn't use Colour B4 on hair that's been chemically straightened, but you can chemically straighten it afterwards. Just give your hair a good two week's rest beforehand otherwise it won't straighten out as nicely.

Colour B4 doesn't work on ethnic hair, heavily damaged hair or hair that's been hennaed. 

Colour B4 contains no ammonia or peroxide and can't lighten your hair. If you find that you're hair looks a little lighter after use, this is because the hair colour you removed probably contained peroxide and lightened up your hair a bit before depositing a colour on it. 

If you've got any other questions regarding Colour B4, pop on over to their FAQ page over here. There you'll find in-depth answers to just about everything you might wish to know. 

Good luck girls!