This post is a place for me to share my personal experience transitioning from Goldwell’s Elumen red to an icy platinum blonde. I hope that it can help someone else, however I preface this post with some disclaimers (that we all probably know, but need to cover so we can move on to the fun stuff):
- I am not a professional hair stylist.
- If you can, you should always seek wise counsel from a professional.
- Bleach is damaging to your hair. Use caution.
- Everyone’s hair is different. Your experience may be different than mine.
My Hair History with Elumen
Since I was a child, I had always wanted Ariel-red hair. My inner mermaid was calling, but I had heard that reds were really difficult to work with, not holding and fading fast. Those who have red hair don’t keep it for very long. I was discouraged until I eventually stumbled upon Elumen by Goldwell. Elumen is a high-performance, permanent hair color that is ammonia-free, non-oxidative and gentle for the hair. The pay off is intense and brilliant color results, exceptional shine, durability, and healthy-looking hair. Elumen is a stain, not a dye, so since I already had a lower level hair pigment, I could put Elumen on top of it, without bleaching it, and still get intense color. I began using Elumen RR@All 3-10 in the fall of 2013 and fell in love with it. I would stain my hair every 2-3 months with it to cover my roots and freshen up the color, even though the fade was next to nothing. The compliments rained in. My hair was well-loved by others and myself … until the fall of 2016.
I began noticing that my hair was no longer the same color it used to be. It was darker and every time I “dyed” it, the color became even more dark. There are two possible explanations I can think of for this. 1.) Because it’s a stain, every time you use it, you’re layering more color on top making it progressively darker and darker. What doesn’t make sense to me is that my hair color was the same for the first 3 years I used it. I can’t understand why it took 3 years to suddenly start layering on darker unless… 2.) the hormones in my body from being pregnant affected it. I gave birth in the fall of 2016 which would match both timelines up exactly. Since my body was going through so many changes, my hair could have as well.
Regardless, I was unhappy with how dark it had become. It was still a pretty color, but not what it used to be and I was growing bored with it. I became interested in a more versatile hair color for a change. Why not try to go an icy platinum blonde?
I referenced a lot of different articles, education, and videos to see how other people were achieving this look. I had zero exposure and experience to bleaching my hair prior to this and it was something I had tried to avoid at all costs up until this point. I also had very limited exposure with developers and all those fun hair coloring products you use to dye your hair so it was a total learning curve. I had extreme difficulty finding a place that had all of the information in one spot and I couldn’t find anyone going from Elumen red to platinum. Not to mention all the discouragement from “you should really be going to see a hair stylist” to “bleach is really damaging to your hair” – all of which I was aware of and, for the sake of the comments, made sure to mention up front in this post, however you’re not here for someone to tell you what you already know. You’re here to research in making a decision and I hope I’m able to serve you well from my own research and experience.
To have a better understanding of my hair history and its current state going into this, my hair is naturally a dirty blonde that I had dyed professionally and consistently for one year prior to switching to Elumen which I applied and maintained myself up until August of 2018 (5 years). While having my hair dyed professionally it ranged from blonde highlights and red lowlights to fully dyed burgundy and an organgey red. My hair has always been incredibly healthy, thick, wavy, and long enough to reach the middle of my back. I cut it in January and it’s now just past my collar bone in length.
Pros and Cons of Elumen
Pros
- Vibrancy
- Color Selection for Brights
- Doesn’t Fade
- Doesn’t contain peroxide or amonia
- Great coverage
- Repairs Hair while colorirng
Cons
- The build will darken the color over time
- Elumen Return doesn’t work for everyone
- Removing long-term Elumen use from hair will be time consuming and damaging
What You'll Need to Remove Elumen
A few days before beginning this process, it’s smart to deep condition your hair regularly using treatments or simply coconut oil, leaving it in over night and rinsing out the next morning. If I’m being honest, I didn’t do this because I was too excited and knew my hair was already in pretty good shape from my day to day care. I did use Mane and Tail before I began the process though which is a leave-in conditioner and hair strengthener. It’s also a good idea to have unwashed hair so your natural oils can help protect the hair before you bleach it.
Products for Bleaching
You can find these at Sally’s Beauty or online:
- Mixing Bowl
- Mixing Brush
- Gloves
- Plastic processing caps or plastic bags
- Elumen Return or One N Only ColorFix: to remove any previously applied dyes or stains
- Coconut Oil: to moisturize and condition your hair
- Bleach: Bleach strips away any pigmentation your hair has. I used the Prism Lites Lightener Blue bleach.
- Developer: Developer lifts the hair cuticles so the dye, bleach, or toner can penetrate the hair shaft. The volume of the developer will determine how much the cuticle is lifted. It’s recommended to never go beyond a 30 volume developer, but you should generally use a 30 volume developer if you’re trying to lighten your hair. I used the ION Sensitive Scalp 30 volume developer to be paired with the bleach and the Color Charm Creme 20 volume developer to be paired with the toner. 20 volume developer is the most commonly used developer.
- Toner: Toner neutralizes brassy yellow or orange tones in your hair that occur from bleaching. It’s generally in a cool tone like blue or purple to neutralize the warm tone. I used the Color Charm #T18 Lightest Ash Blonde.
- Red Gold Corrector Plus is an extra-strength formula that that you can add to the toner to help offset red and gold tones even more. Additionally, it deep conditions the hair and refreshes blondes, grays and white hair.
After-Care Products
You can find these at Sally’s Beauty or online:
- ION Repair Effective Hair Care Treatment
- Depending on the damage or your hair, if it’s really damaged, Olaplex would be a good investment.
- Purple shampoo and conditioner for consistent toning. I used Generic Value Products at Sally’s.
- Good, leave-in conditioner to help hydrate and strengthen hair. I used Mane ‘n Tail.
Step 1: Remove Dyes
If you have virgin hair, you can skip this step. If you have any previous dyes in your hair, you need to remove them. Elumen has a special remover called Elumen Return that is supposed to strip the stain out of the hair, but it didn’t work for me. I pulled out some of the color, but not enough to make my hair look any different. I even used it multiple times to no avail, however I had better results when my hair was wet than I did when it was dry. I know some people have had success with the remover, but I also read that red is the hardest Elumen color to pull out of your hair. For those not using Elumen and are using other dyes, the most common way to pull dyes out of your hair is by using a product called ColorFix that will strip the dye out of your hair completely and will, more or less, put you back at the color you were before you dyed your hair. This is very helpful if you’ve gone a darker color because it will lighten your hair without using bleach so you don’t have to bleach it as much and if you’ve already bleached your hair, but have a crazy, fun color on top, it will take you back to a nearly bleached base that you only have to clean up. You may have to use ColorFix multiple times to achieve the desired results. Directions on the box should be followed with a recommended processing time of no more than 20 minutes. Since the Elumen remover didn’t work for me, I crossed my fingers hoping the ColorFix would, but it didn’t touch my color. Not a single drop washed down my drain. This left me with no other option to ever get the Elumen out of my hair other than to bleach it. Thankfully, I was already heading down that route, but this means that I will never be going back to Elumen and that I’m going to have to bleach my hair way more than I want, in order to achieve the color I’m going for.
Step 2: Protect + Hydrate
Lather your hair in coconut oil to hydrate and help protect it from the bleach.
Step 3: Apply Bleach
Mix a 1:2 ratio of bleach and 30 vol developer per the instructions. Lather it up and based on the level of color you were when you started will determine how long you need to process it. The maximum amount on my bleach was 50 minutes for the darkest shade which is what I went with. Wash and, while you’re in the shower, you can use an ION Repair Effective Hare Care Treatment which is a deep conditioning treatment to help repair your hair. Be gentle with your hair and dry on cool.
Step 4: Evaluate Hair Health
At this point, it’s time to evaluate the state of your hair: color and health. Determine if you need to do another round of bleach based on the color and how long you need to wait to let your hair repair before doing another round based on the health of your hair. For me, I felt like my hair was healthy enough to bleach it a second time, however I only felt comfortable bleaching it after letting it rest overnight. I lathered my hair in coconut oil and kept it on while I slept.
Step 5: Protect + Hydrate
Lather your hair in coconut oil to hydrate and help protect it from the bleach.
Step 6: Repeat Process
Lather your hair in coconut oil before you begin bleaching and then repeat steps 2-4 until you are happy with the color results.
After the Second round of bleach
I could definitely tell a difference with my hair, however I kept up my conditioning treatments and felt that it was healthy enough to attempt bleaching it a third time 2 1/2 days later. At this point, based on the color outcome I was guessing my hair would be going through 5-6 bleaches in total.
After the Third round of bleach
I waited two more days before bleaching it again, but I was really concerned by how my hair was feeling so I did an overnight coconut mask and deep conditioning treatment on it. I loved the ION Repair deep conditioning treatment SO MUCH that I bought a whole bottle of it to help me finish out this process and heal my hair. It made ALL the difference.
After the Fourth round of bleach (and toner)
To be honest, my hair really needed one more round of bleach to get out some remaining stubborn orange strands, but at this point it was really hurting so instead of bleaching it another time I decided to tone it and move on. The toner made the orange subdued enough to where I can live with it for a bit, but I plan on nursing my hair back to health for the next month and then when my roots have grown out some, I will bleach everything one final time to kick any remaining color out. (You can also see the difference between the two pictures with the health of my hair. It’s due to the ION Repair deep conditioning treatment.)
Step 7: Toning
Once you’ve reached your desired level of lightness, you can tone. Toning doesn’t lighten your hair. It only tones warm tones (yellows, reds, oranges) by balancing them out with cool tones (blues, purples). If you have any orange in your hair prior to toning, it will still be that level of darkness, but the toner will make it more cool. If you still have orange in your hair, you need to continue bleaching.
Toners come in different shades so you have a lot of options for how to tone blonde hair. If you’re going for an icy platinum, you will want the T18 Lightest Ash Blonde. You mix your toner with a 20 volume developer according to the directions and since I was already coming from a red hair color and was dealing with orange, I included a Red Gold corrector in the formula mixture.
Leave on your hair for up to 30 minutes. You do have to be careful because over toning can result in lavender hair opposed to blonde hair.
I had a little more of a lavender tint than I was hoping for. If you find this is the case for you, you can try washing your hair with Dawn Dish soap, using lemon juice (a natural cleanser and brightener – “nature’s bleach”), and following it up with a deep cleansing treatment. This pull impurities and oils from the hair, including some of the toner, but since you just bleached your hair you will need to put hydration right back into it. If your hair is still lavender, you will have to consider other bleaching methods.
If you find your hair fades to a more brassy color over time after toning, you can use a purple shampoo and conditioner to help keep the warm tones at bay.
I’d say going through this process at home cost me less than $150.00 compared to what could have been a $1,000+ experience at a salon with multiple trips. I know bleaching can be scary! If it’s something you really want then be brave and go for it. In the end, it’s just hair. The most important thing is making sure that you stay in tune with the health of your hair. In order to help you not feel overwhelmed by all those steps and details, we can sum everything up into three simple steps:
- Remove Dyes
- Bleach Hair
- Tone Hair
And make sure to condition before, after, and in between every step of the way! Stay tuned as I will be posting my after-care routine.
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love the look and step by step process!
Thank you! It was a long process, but so happy with the results!
Hello! It’s hard to find thorough info on removing Elumen so this was nice to find, thank you! I’ve been doing Elumen RR@all for the last 1.5 years. Only coloring every 6-12 weeks. I decided to go blue so I started to remove as much of the red as possible. Most of the info I could find was that Elumen is a pain to get out and the RR as one of the worst and to only use Return, not bleach. I have used the Return a total of 4 times. First time did absolutely nothing! The last 3 applications did remove a decent amount each time but mine wasn’t as built up as yours. I could probably use it 2-3 more times to try and get more of the RR out. Not sure I want to keep going that route since it seems I’ll never get it all out with Return. So I’ve been scouring the internet for more info. I had been hesitant to bleach the RR as I had heard it would just turn it into pink. Great to see that you were able to actually make that much of a transition using just bleach. Now I’m thinking I’ve gotten enough RR out that I could probably bleach it once, maybe twice, and get a move onto the blue!
Side note for Elumen knowledge sake: Few years ago I did Elumen VV@all but only for about 8 months. Used the Return then with better results since the dye was a little fresher and I hadn’t done it that many times. Still didn’t remove it all but I only tried twice and then just colored over it. I probably could have gotten almost all the VV out if I had tried the Return a couple more times.
I love Elumen dyes, their richness in color, how long it takes to fade and the fact that it doesn’t damage my hair like oxidizing dyes. But I am getting a little tired of how hard it is to get out when I like to switch colors every year or two. Although the blue I’m going to use this time is Elumen, haha! I am going to experiment with using Return once every 3 dye applications to try and keep buildup from becoming excessive. Hoping that will make total blue removal easier when that time comes in a year or two so maybe I won’t have to bleach. Fingers crossed! Researching Pravana dyes as an alternate once I’m done with blue.
Thanks again for the detailed process and photo documentation! I really liked when it went to the orange with the white roots though, looked awesome to me!
Hi Jen,
Thanks for your comment! 🙂 I’m so glad this could help you! My husband liked the orange and white roots too. He thought I looked like a superhero. Haha! Elumen would be IT if it wasn’t so hard to get rid of. I think the genetics and history of your hair have a lot to do with how difficult the color will be to remove and what color you might end up with after bleaching. I had thought about using Return in between touchups myself if I were to ever go back that route. I’m not sure how well it would work, but I think it’s a good place to experiment from. Best of luck to you! Feel free to share any tips you find in the future – I’d be curious to know if there are better alternatives out there.
Try Elumen Play it’s semi permanent version
Wow! Thanks for sharing. I’m about to do the same thing except I have Elumen Blue. I’ve had it for 5 years. Never bleached my hair. I also noticed after about 3 years it started looking darker and duller. I thought maybe it was because I had moved from Hawaii to Oregon and my sun exposure is much less, but maybe it is just from a build up of dye over the years. Either way, I’m finally over it and ready for a change. I don’t expect the Return to do much. I plan to do a soap cap with baking soda after the return before I start the bleaching. I bought the Olaplex !!! and I hope it’s the miracle they claim for that price! I’m trying to switch it to a pink with purple roots and plan to use Joico color. Fingers crossed!