Ensure a great color with quality hair care.

Quality hair care will ensure a great color.

One of the easiest ways to transform your look is to change up your hair. For some, this means a hair cut, extensions, a wig or a brand new hair color, but should you color your hair? With all the information going around about how dyes affect your hair, you may be worried about what coloring will do to your hair. Let’s talk about the hair dying process and what effects it can have.

What’s in a Strand?

First, we need to talk about your hair itself. If you’re using quality hair care, your hair will be nice and healthy so there shouldn’t be much damage to your strands. Each strand is made up of a protein called keratin, which is also what your fingernails are made of. Keratin is arranged in overlapping scales to form each hair strand, making the hair flexible.

Each hair strand has a cuticle, which is the protective outer layer. This actually determines how healthy and shiny your hair looks so if you’ve been using your sulfate free shampoo and conditioner, your cuticle will be in top shape! If you haven’t been using quality sulfate free shampoo, your cuticle could be raised, making your hair seem dry and damaged.

Hair Dyes

Color your hair while using a sulfate free shampoo.

Use sulfate free shampoo when you color your hair.

Now that we know more about hair (and the importance of quality hair care!) let’s talk about the dying process. There are a few types of hair color we need to look at. Permanent, semi-permanent and demi-permanent hair color all have different ingredients, processes and effects on your hair.

  • Permanent: Permanent hair color is a two-step process. This is without a doubt the most damaging of the options because it forces your cuticle open to let the color in. First, ammonia is applied. This chemical causes the cuticle to open up in order to let the dye into your hair. Then, peroxide is used to penetrate the hair and remove your existing hair color. Once this process is finished, you’ll have a brand new hair color! You’ll then use a conditioner to close the cuticle again in order to seal the color inside. This process is the one used in average salon color treatments and most box hair color you buy at the supermarket or drugstore. It is important you use sulfate free shampoo and conditioner in order to preserve the color after you dye it!
  • Semi-Permanent: This process is much gentler and usually lasts about a month. This option doesn’t involve ammonia or peroxide, instead adding tiny molecules of color to your hair cuticle without dramatically changing the color. The color will fade after a few shampoos so using a sulfate free shampoo is important in order to make your new color last.
  • Demi-Permanent: This type of dye lasts longer than semi and contains no ammonia but does use a small amount of peroxide. The process coats each strand with large color molecules, helping it last longer than semi-permanent. Quality hair care and sulfate free shampoo and conditioner will help your color last even longer.

Does dying damage your hair? When done in moderation, no. However, if you dye your hair too often, it can and will result in damaged and dry hair, which will be extremely difficult to repair. If you’re looking to dye your hair, make sure it’s the color you want to cut back on dying too often!

If you want to change your hair color without damage, contact us. Our quality hair care will keep your hair looking healthy and beautiful long after you color!