No matter how your dye job was bungled, most colorists agree you shouldn’t try to fix it at home. “Color-removal products are created specifically for professional use,” explains Cogle. “They’re hard to get your hands on for a reason. We choose the best option for color removal based on a few key things: how much color we need to remove (for example, someone going from black to red or blonde versus someone who's a touch darker than they’d like); what was previously used on hair (such as permanent color versus demi-permanent); and what would be best suited for their specific hair type, including its current condition.” The truth is that the color-removal process is highly complex: “In the salon environment, there are many variables in lightener formulas, different strength developers, techniques, and so on. These differences are the tricks of the trade, and one size does not fit all,” she adds.Usually, professionals will first try products that remove color without bleach or ammonia. “These contain sulfur and shrink the dye molecules trapped in your hair,” says Choi. “It allows the color to wash out and is much more gentle than using bleach. It doesn’t have a 100% success rate and can only pull out so much, if it’s permanent or semi-permanent [dye].” For more serious removal, the pros reach for bleach. Though it’s a harsher process, “now that there’s Olaplex, it’s a less damaging process overall,” says Choi. “To fix that green-hair-in-a-pool moment, your colorist may use a mineral remover , which pulls out buildup and may slightly tweak the tone. A bad blonde job can be tackled in so many different ways and is quite specific to what actually went wrong.”