Have you ever heard of the term, “soap cap”?
If you’re into hair color, you need to know what a soap cap is. Let’s talk about how you can use this awesome technique to your advantage.
There are a few different types of soap caps (also known as shampoo caps, or color balancers). In this post, I’ll explain what they are and how to use them.
What You Need to Get Started:
First things, first… you’re gonna need some supplies. Don’t worry, I got you covered.
- 20V Creme Developer
- High-Quality Hair Lightener
- Clarifying Shampoo That Won’t Dry Out Your Hair
- Hair Coloring Kit
- Processing Caps
- Leftover hair color (depending on the type of soap cap)
- Gloves
- An old towel to drape around your neck
I also highly recommend you follow up with a deep conditioning treatment to keep your hair happy. I LOVE the It’s a 10 Miracle Deep Conditioner for projects like this.
1. The “Traditional” Soap Cap with Color
This type of soap cap can be used to refresh dull hair color.
To perform a traditional soap cap:
- Mix hair color with equal parts shampoo
- Apply to the hair and thoroughly saturate
- Process for 5-10 minutes
- Rinse, shampoo and style as usual
This method works best if you want to freshen up your color without recoloring your hair.
For example, if you’re just touching up your roots, you can use this method to revive the rest of your hair without the extra damage.
It could also just be used to refresh color between applications. The added shampoo dilutes the color so it won’t darken the previously colored hair.
It also ensures even application, which is a must.
2. Soap Cap with Bleach and Developer
I use this soap cap technique reasonably often on my own hair, as it is beneficial for platinum blonde hair. It can also be called a “color balancer” or “bleach bath.”
I use it to freshen up my bleached hair after touching up my roots or even just to freshen up in between applications. It does a lot less damage than re-bleaching the hair over and over again.
You could also use this type of soap cap to lift color gently. For instance, it will take out most semi-permanent colors without doing extensive damage.
You could also try to gently lift darker colors without doing too much damage. The Paul Mitchell color line recommends doing this before any color service (when switching color lines) to create a “fresh canvas” for the new color.
To perform a color balancer, you need to mix equal parts bleach, shampoo, and developer. Like the previous form of soap cap, process for 5-10 minutes, then rinse and deep condition.
3. Soap Cap with Bleach, No Developer
I honestly just learned about this type of soap cap yesterday, and it’s pretty much the greatest thing ever. You can mix powdered bleach with shampoo, and it will lift color out of the hair. Skipping on the developer cuts down the damage done to the hair.
Yesterday, my co-worker tried to tone her hair with Redken 8T (Titanium Hair Toner), which is silver for those of you that don’t know. Well…her hair quickly turned silver. We used this method of soap cap to lift the color out of her hair safely.
Scientifically, I am unsure of how the bleach works without peroxide; I think it has to do with the oxygen molecules from the water mixing with the bleach.
Anyways, believe me, it works, and it does very minimal damage.
Now you know…
Your Turn: Did you enjoy this post? I’ll love you forever if you share it with your friends on your favorite social media website…
Have you ever used a soap cap to freshen up your hair color? Do you have any tips to add for other DIY hair colorists? I’d love to hear your feedback in the comments section below…
I have very long damaged medium coppercolored hair and need A gentle way to revive ColOr through thE length Of the hair. I use wella color charm light copper permanEnt color. Is dOing equal Parts color formula and CLARIFYING shampoo the best tecHnique to use?
In the #3 Technique, you mention : “Scientifically, I am unsure of how the bleach works without peroxide; I think it has to do with the oxygen molecules from the water mixing with the bleach.”
so do you mix the bleach with water and the shampoo or what?? (just a bit of clarification to us who have never tried this thing before) Thank You!
Just want to confirm the first technique there is NO DEVELOPER, is that correct?
I have medium-dark brown hair and about 50-60% gray.
I’ve been using natural henna. It’s supposed to be just ground henna leaves. No other plants. So it’s very orange-red.
Over time it darkens from repeated applications. I also had my hair lightened with a high lift blonde I did myself loreal high lift for brunettes. They don’t make it anymore.
So my hair was really bright orange red and I loved it. As time goes on that was cut off and my natural dk brown turns out much darker with the henna now. I tried bleaching a couple years ago and my hair did not lighten very much. Now, I researched and faded my henna a bit with vitamin c powder and with a coconut olive oil mixture. This pulls the henna out. But not completely. I still want my hair lighter so the henna will be really bright.
Do you suggest a soapcap with developer or without? Proportions of bleach and shampoo are 1:1?
I also tried highlights. Which worked pretty well. By traditional bleach and developer, then HENNAed my whole head. So some of my hair was brighter.
I have long pOrous hair. Ive been using wella light auburn permanent colOr, but the ends get faded in time. Whats the least damAgIng way To revive the color on the ends? Could I do a soapcap with half condItionEr & color, no developer?
I tried the bleach, developer shampoo cap an all my color came out and I was a yellow bleached color again.
When using the soap cap with bleach and no developer, how long do you leave that on? still 5-10 minutes, or can you leave a little longer if necessary?
I’M planning on doing a bleach soap cap on myself. I bleached my hair about a month ago and the job was uneven and darker in some spots. after bleaching my hair ranged from level 10 – level 8 in different areas. I applied semipermanent color over it anyways that has now faded. my question is: will doing the soap cap lift my hair or just remove the color. the color has faded but is still present on my hair. I am planning on using 30 volume because i want to try to even out the uneven base. thanks so much and i don’t know why this is in all caps.
I’m wondering if it’s possible to do the first one (dye and shampoo) with a semi permanent dye like the Manic Panic ones? I’m trying to find a way to refresh red dye without completely dyeing it again.
The “manic panic” types of COLOURS are direct dyes ( intense depositing colour thats alrEady mixed with a deep conditioner. No lifting or lightening involved) so u wouldN’t need to use for the colour cap technique. To dilute a direct dye colour just add conditioner to the colour. The colour cap is meant to be used with normal hair colour that requires a developer to be mixed with And then the addition of shampoo makes it a colour cap. I hope this helps
Helo 🙂
I love doing soap caps on my dark hair that tends to get brassy. I’m doing one where I apply cocnut oil first to protect. my question is..if i just colored with 30 vol and a light ash blonde all over but my black lower half isn’t lifting is it safe to do a soap cap the next day? thank you for your expertese!!
jenn
In case you still need to know, You can do more than one soap cap back to back depending on the health of your hair. I’ve done 3 soap caps back to back before when getting someone from dark to light and it didn’t damage the hair much at all.
I used a Redken 9T and a 9P with adding low lights, that turned out to dark, using a 10 volume. for low lights that i wanted more subtle. I am trying to use a gentle soap cap or start with a golden schwartzkoph shampoo or a pureology gold shampoo. my hair is fragile and i am thinning.
could you please give me some insight on this?
I am a cosmetologist. It depends on how fragile your haIr is. If its breaking A lot and brittle i would advise against using Bleach aS it wi make It worse. You could Get a hair mask with keratin in it and use it once a weEk to get your hair HeAlthy again and then use a soap cap. You can also use a color remover but its damaging as well.
I do not have colored hair. It has naturally turned gray/silver from VERY dark brown. I have several sections which are normally bright white but have discolored into an almost blonde color. I read that using the shampoo cap (with developer) for 5 to 10 minutes will take out the discoloration. But what will happen with the rest of my hair? The parts that aren’t GRAY are lighter, MORE like lIGHT brown now. But it STILL seems DARKER to me at the nape of MY neck. This makes my hair look highlighted with steele GRAY and most people don’t believe me when I say it isn’t colored.
Have you ever tried using like a purple shampoo to tone out the yellow colors without lightening the dark hair? I’d give that a try first… if not, you can probably soap cap it, but I would only hit the white areas. Hope that helps 🙂
Hi. I’m a cosmetologist. To get the silver/white back i suggest You use a purple toning shampoo like Matrix So Silver. It will tone out the Yellow. If you used a Soap cap it would Also Lighten the darker parts of your Hair. The purple toning shampoo will only tone the white/silver.
I Dyed MY HAIR (TWICE WITHIN A WEEK OF DIFFERENCE EACH) WITH A 11.111 COLOR, MY ROOTS WERE NATURAL aND THEY TURNed OUT PRETTY YELLOW, I WANT TO GET RID OFF IT, BUT I’M SCARED OF RUINING MY HAIR ONCE IT IS NOT SO LONG SINCE I dyeD, SHOULD I WAIT A LITTLE LONGER?
I guess it all depends on what you do… if you were bleaching it over and over, that wouldn’t be good. But you should be safe to tone it. Hope that helps 🙂
Does each soap cap get your hair lighter? Could you get to platinum this way in the long run? Thank you for the article.
I don’t think this would be an effective way to get to platinum unless your hair is already super blonde… in which case, it will lighten out the yellow tones. It does lighten a little bit each time, but probably not enough to get hair that light. It would cause damage if done repeatedly. Hope that helps 🙂
Loved this post my granddaughter put pink in her bleached blonde hair even tho I suggested not to. Just a few streaks thought I would try shampoo cap to help her remove. Then she has about 2 inches of new growth med blonde thought I might try the soap cap with developer around to blend with her highlights. She is sunbleached just needs a little lift and blend. Your thoughts.
The soap cap will definitely help lift the pink, but I wouldn’t suggest using it around the outgrowth. It will probably give a brassy look to the hair. Hope that helps 🙂
last YEARI dyed my hair black but grew tired of it and went back red and did a big trim on my curly hair to get rid of as much of the dark as possible. now my dark dirty blonde roots are coming out about 2 inches ..So my question is would the color form of the soap cap be okay still and even my hair out? because the color i use makes it darker and but will it still have the same effect its supposed to eith the evening out of color?
Are you wanting to soap cap and then color over it? If so, that’s a good option. If you’re not going to color over it, I wouldn’t do it because it will turn out brassy. Hope that helps! 🙂
I recently bleached a section of my hair, (twice.. 😔) And can’t get rid of the orange tone.
I also didn’t have a toner so I just put purple shampoo on it, LeT it sit for a while then rinsed it out.
COULD I use either of these methods to get rid of the orange that won’t go away?
The soap cap probably won’t lift out the stubborn orange. I’m guessing that the area that won’t lift has been previously colored a dark color because those are really hard to lift out. In this case, it will just take multiple processes over a longer period of time. I’d just keep toning it and deep conditioning until you can get it to the shade you want.
Hope that helps!
This is a little long, but I promise you’ll FIND at least 1 helpful bit of info, if not more! You need blue for orange, not purple. However it will only tone it to as light as the base under the orange. So if it DIDN’T bleach enough it may tone to a light brown, but at least it won’t be orange.
What I like to do is use manic panic ultraviolet or a purple and a blue semi and put a tablespoon or so of each in a full bottle of shampoo or conditioner. I like conditioner because it adds a bit of slip to the hair, making it less likely to overtone. Then I put it on dry hair for anywhere from 15 to 30 mins. I never use toner that takes developer because it fades so fast and bleached hair doesnt need anymore peroxide processes than it’s already gone through. I like using violet because it takes care of yellow and orange, since it’s both blue and purple. Also helpful is pulling up a really in depth color wheel on GOOgle and finding your exact shade and then going directly across to the opposite, I use a pencil to be sure I’m on the right row, the more detailed wheels are kinda hard to tell which is across from which exactly. Then I add more purple, blue or conditioner until I duplicate the color I need to cancel my unwanted tones. It’s not as tedious as it sounds. It’s worth it when you take the wrap off your wet hair to find the color you wanted! Oh and use an old t shirt, not a towel for wrapping your hair! The loops in towels can snag and tear at hair causing more breakage. It stays on better and is lighter anyway. Just stick your head in the neck hole and wrap as usual.
I also highly suggest one of 2 things: find a friend with a cosmetology license or use one of the few legit online places to get olaplex. They sell single use packets for 8 bucks at cosmoprof/Armstrong Mccall! For real! 8 bucks! If you’d rather a bottle but cant afford the high prices, if you had to, you could just get #1. It has the strongest concentration of the active ingredient bis-aminopropyl diglycol dimaleate. Then add some to a CONDITIONER to make #2. Or shampoo and Conditioner to make 4 & 5 Or to a leave in conditioner to make 6 or hair oil to make #7.
2nd option: and this is not my 1st choice after doing this myself and realizing I could’ve bought a giant bottle of #1 for the same price, but I wanted to do it NOW, you know how it is. Lol Go to sephora, especially now, they have the holiday pack for 60 that has the 3.3 oz. Bottles of 3,4,5,6. So it’s like buy 3 get 1 free and then grab #0 too which comes with a freebie sample size bottle of 3. #0 & #3 are identical to 1&2 just a bit less potent, but way better than none at all! Literally 0 and 1 are 100% identical in ingredients and so are 2 & 3! 0 goes in your bleach or color and when that’s rinsed out follow with 3 and cover! Leave on as long as you want, as long as it stays wet, its still working, just like bleach. I’ve left #2 on 18 hours before. Just remember, it’s a Disulphide bond rebuilder, it isn’t a deep conditioner even though 3 calls itself conditioner. It should be called condition-er as in it improves condition, not imparts moisture. It also doesnt address protein, so a good protein treatment and deep conditioner are good after olaplex! I love joico k pack and aphogee 2 minute keratin is good quicky or more intensive is the aphogee protein 2 step. Save conditioner for last. You can always make your deep conditioner do more by covering with shower cap or saran wrap, grocery bag, whatever amd hitting it with the haIr dryer for 30 mins. You can still reap huge benefits when if you already bleached without olaplex! Do a stand alone treatment by clarifying your hair (I love aussie detox, it’s the only clarifying shampoo that doesnt dry out my hair, AND its liken 2.50 at target. The dollar store by house even has it) while damp, drizzle either #0 or #1 all over until fully saturated (it takes way less product when hair is still a little damp) cover & leave for 10 to 20 mins, remember you dont wanting to dry out. Then slather 2 or 3 directly on top of 0 or 1, cover and sit. The more damage, the longer I would leave it, sleep in it if you like. Again, if its wet, its working. Then shampoo/condition out preferably with 4 &5 or whatever stuff you like and then do your protein and deep condition. Voila! Done!
And since I covered so much, I’ll add one last bit of helpful info. If you’re dealing with a green tone, get a hot pinkish Fuchsia color to mix and get that color wheel out again and match your color to the antidote color. The ion pink ice toner is magical for greens but it’s a developer process. With olaplex though it isn’t as much of a risk, if it’s one at all.
Olaplex is absolutely worth it! Theres so many negative things online because most people think it’s a one stop fix all, and it isn’t. It does a lot, it repairs hair from the inside out, even being able to fix split ends! Just be sure to give your hair the other necessities after and you’ll be fine! (Unless you’re allergic to an ingredient and then it should go without saying dont use it!)
No olaplex dupe does what olaplex does, NONE! dont be fooled! They have their magic ingredient(BIS-AMINOPROPYL BLAHBLAH) locked tight in their patent, any other “plex” wannabes just deposit silicone in the spaces where bonds are broken and protein has been lost. Hardly a comparison to actually rebonding and rebuilding the structure of your hair.
So sorry for getting carried away, I just have been learning by trial and error for a long time and finally have it down. I like to save people time and research if I can.
@AnitaTaco, excellent!! THANK YOU SO MUCH for sharing all of that information and knowledge. I learned more than one thing from your post. The best being the tip on how to deal with the greens! I could not find any real in-depth information anywhere on how to deal with that. You saved me many more countless hours bc now I don’t have to continue searching for that information.
-tamara
What is the process IF there is 2 TO 3 inches of new growth, and you’re trying to lighten a level 6 red violet to achieve level 7 ginger color? Do you not apply the soap cap TO the uncolored new growth and how do you avoid that area?
I guess it really depends on what level the virgin hair is. You want to try to get it all on the same page before applying the new color. Without knowing anything about the hair you’re working with, I’d say generally you should put the soap cap on the colored hair and let that process for a while before running it through the virgin hair. When everything is at a similar level, you can apply the color. Hope that helps!
Im currently a darker brown color and have an upcoming appt for hiGhlights. Im cery short on funds so my Friend recommended me to do a soap cap at home first. Should i do it with or without developer and what kind of color do you think this will take me to?
A soap cap isn’t going to take you super light, it just helps lift some of the color out of your hair. If your hair is super dark brown, it will probably make your hair orange, to be honest. Unless you are planning on covering it with a lighter color, I probably wouldn’t go this route before getting highlights. If you do, I wouldn’t use developer. However, it won’t lift much out of your hair.
Hope that helps!
The shampoo and bleach no developer, what was the mixing ratio?
Equal parts 🙂
Thank you! I’m definitely trying bleach w/o developer on myself!
THis really does work! After coloring my hair i ended up with hot roots so i did the bleach and clarifying shampoo miX anD it completely evened everything out! I do recommend keeping a close eye, don’t just time it and walk away. MY hair evened out wIthin just a few minutes.
Wet or dry hair for bleach and shampoo
Either one works, but it’s easier to apply to wet hair. I’d just make sure the hair is more on the damp side… not dripping wet.
HELP, I dyed my hair with a different # color and it turned out dark, dark brown. I hate it, was suppose to be champagne blonde. Can I use the bleach and shampoo method to lighten it up? Help, I’m in hiding.
It’s possible but hard to say without being able to see your hair and without knowing all of the details. I would say that generally, you probably won’t get the results you want if your hair is a dark brown unless you’re planning to color it again after. I would say that your best bet is to lighten it and recolor it. Of course, the best course of action would be to have a professional look at it. Good luck! Let me know how it works out!
I am 64 and dying my hair lightest blonde. My roots are coming in dark gray/brown. Will the soap cap lighten the roots. What should I do, thanks..Fran
I had bleach in my hair just in foils then I had brown on the bottom. A stylist put vibrant red in. I stripped it out and it turned it this awful orange color. I tried to put a cool ash color number 6 in my hair. It turned it this brassy gross color. I stripped it again. And it turned it to a orangish color. All of my hair. I want to get the red out of my hair. Can I use a soap cap to do that? Would bleach work. Or bleach with developer. What would using purple shampoo with the soap cap do?
I have yellow hair could I use the shampoo bleach mix?
My daughter had natural blond hair can I use the shampoo bleach and 20 volume to bump her color
You say “had.” Has she colored it? If so, soap cap probably wouldn’t be a good option unless you are going to color it again after. I would use a hair stripper. If she hasn’t colored her hair, I still wouldn’t do a soap cap. It’s best used to remove some color before another coloring service, taking out some toner or refreshing bleached hair. Hope this helps!
Did you apply any heat when doing the powdered bleach and shampoo technique?
I never have and I’m not sure if you can or not. Certain bleaches shouldn’t be used under a dryer (read instructions) but I don’t know if it’s possible to do with bleach that is allowed to be used under a dryer. Maybe call the manufacturer hotline and ask.
Can u use purple shampoo with the bleach powder x
I’ve never actually done this, but I wouldn’t see why not. I think it would add a toning property to the bleach… but don’t quote me on that 🙂
i did when i was platinum. i would bleach my roots, then use the rest with purple shampoo on my whole head before toner.
The original soap cap…when you say the color is mixed with equal parts shampoo: Do you mean the color that has been mixed with developer? Or just the color from the tube (or bottle) with shampoo?
Does it work on dark blonde roots to match them to my platinum/silver hair? Or only color treated hair?
I have over frosted my hair and it looks brassey. Can I soap cap it with 511N for a few minutes to bring the gold down?
I cant say 100% since I don’t know what your hair looks like or what color you are using, but usually when it has N in the name, it is a neutral base. I don’t think a neutral base would do much to tone the gold. If your hair is slightly brassy, and you want it to go to a darker blonde, I think that would probably work, but it won’t actually tone out the gold. I would also make sure that you only let it sit for a few minutes and watch it the entire time, otherwise it might get too dark (I’m guessing it is a level 5). Good luck! Let me know if you have any other questions 🙂
What parts/amounts do you use for just the bleach powder and shampoo mix?
I would do equal parts!
Thankyou, do you know if theres a certain shampoo that should be used…as far as sulfate free, clarifying ect..
Clarifying would probably be best but I think that pretty much any shampoo works fine ??
Thanks so much
What parts/amounts do you use for just the bleach powder and shampoo mix?
I would do equal parts!
Thankyou, do you know if theres a certain shampoo that should be used…as far as sulfate free, clarifying ect..
Clarifying would probably be best but I think that pretty much any shampoo works fine ??
Thanks so much
I’ve seen a stylist try bleach/shampoo with no developer and it didn’t do anything, even after 1 hour (I wasn’t advising her, another stylist was). Maybe it was the dark red tones the girl had in her hair, or the type of bleach?
I’ve seen a stylist try bleach/shampoo with no developer and it didn’t do anything, even after 1 hour (I wasn’t advising her, another stylist was). Maybe it was the dark red tones the girl had in her hair, or the type of bleach?
I saw this post about powder bleach with shampoo ….was willing to try as I wanted rid of feria hair dye that was too dark …i was blonde but fancied being purple it came out nearly black ….wow this actually works I was left with a lovely copper colour , going to redo it again in a few days …going back to blonde x
I saw this post about powder bleach with shampoo ….was willing to try as I wanted rid of feria hair dye that was too dark …i was blonde but fancied being purple it came out nearly black ….wow this actually works I was left with a lovely copper colour , going to redo it again in a few days …going back to blonde x
Does it work on darker hair when using just bleach and shampoo? My hair is dark brown with blue ombre.
Does it work on darker hair when using just bleach and shampoo? My hair is dark brown with blue ombre.
Does it matter what shampoo you use?
No 🙂
Does it matter what shampoo you use?
No 🙂