Color Oops is one of the most useful hair-and-beauty products out there. It can easily and effectively reverse an undesirable hair dye application. However, the fact that Color Oops can safely remove hair dye in around 20 minutes should clue you into the fact that some powerful chemicals are at play.

This means that an unfortunate downside of Color Oops hair dye remover and just about every similar product out there is a lingering, highly unpleasant stench. If you’ve ever smelt a stinky fart, then you should have a pretty good idea of what to expect.

So, if you’ve already used Color Oops and your hair now smells like rotten eggs, or if you are thinking of using it to remove a hair dye that did not live up to your expectations, you are going to want to read this post.

I’m here to tell you just what you need to do to rinse the awful Color Oops smell out of your hair.

Color Oops Smells Bad

How Do You Get Color Oops Smell Out Of Your Hair?

To get rid of the smell of Color Oops from your hair you should follow these steps:

  1. Rinse your hair with a solution of diluted apple cider vinegar in water. The high acidity of apple cider vinegar will work to neutralize the odor, and significantly reduce the lingering smell of Color Oops.
  2. After the vinegar rinse, you are going to want to wash your hair using a shampoo that is free of sulfates. Regular shampoos with their typical high-sulfate content will strip your hair of natural oils, and make the smell of rotten eggs caused by Color Oops more pronounced.
  3. After shampooing, use a deep conditioning treatment. Conditioner will help to both nourish and revitalize your hair and scalp and will help keep a healthy shine even after repeated applications of Color Oops.
  4. Once your hair is dry, follow up by applying some type of hair perfume or scented oil. While this won’t necessarily do much to get the strong smell of Color Oops, it will work extremely well at “covering” the lingering scent of rotten eggs.
  5. If you don’t like the idea of applying perfume or a scented oil (oily hair people, I’m looking at you), you can use a dry shampoo product instead.

How Does Color Oops Work?

Hair dye removers like Color Oops are a type of color corrector that works by breaking down individual hair dye particles at a molecular level. This is possible because these “color strippers” are typically formulated with a variety of harsh chemicals.

For example, hydrogen peroxide is used to “bleach” your natural color, which helps to lighten the recently applied dye. These products are typically very harsh and can cause permanent damage to the hair after repeated use.

Mixing Color Oops

Ammonia is used to break down the chemical bonds in each molecule of dye, which allows subsequent washes to rinse the newly applied color out of the hair.

Oftentimes, additionally enzymes are used to target the protein chains inside the structure of the hair, which “loosens” the dye molecules and makes it easier to remove them. Enzymes are the least harsh chemical you will find in hair dye removers.

Why Does Color Oops Smell So Bad?

The bad smell of Color Oops hair color remover comes from the sulfurous compounds used in the product, which produce that characteristic rotten egg smell.

While Color Oops prides itself in having a bleach-free and ammonia-free formulation, it still contains this sulfur base along with plenty of other chemicals.

As such, it is extremely important that you follow instructions to a T, in order to prevent unwanted and unnecessary damage to your hair.