Dry and damaged hair can be the result of a lot of things. Using heated tools like straighteners and curling wands without applying a heat protectant first, a lack of vitamin B in your diet, scrunching your hair up in a bun, dyeing your hair,... But how much damage does hair dye bring to your locks? Is it really that bad to change color or freshen up your color on a regular basis? I did the research and I'm sharing my findings with you in this post!
The amount of damage from a dye job depends on a couple of things:
1. Health of your hair
It is possible your hair is already damaged even before it's ever been touched by a drop of hair dye. Hair can get easily damaged by not taking care of it properly. Here are some tips to improve the state of your locks:
Condition after every wash
Use a hair mask at least once a week
Use a heat protectant before drying or styling your hair with heated tools
Get a regular trim, every two - three months to get rid of split ends. Even when you're growing your hair out it is a necessity!
Be careful combing your hair when it's wet, your hair is more vulnerable wet. You can damage it by combing or brushing too roughly. A great tool to comb wet hair is the Tangle Teezer, a brush made completely out of plastic with flexible pins.
2. Chosen color
In the mood for a drastic change? Going from jet black to platinum blonde to try to cope with a life crisis? Been there! But not exactly what your hair is waiting for... A drastic color change can damage your hair and cause terrible breakage, which WILL lead to you needing to chop off a big chunk of your hair. Stripping and bleaching hair is especially bad because it will always dry out your hair. So keep in mind to opt for subtle hair changes, work with highlights and lowlights or colors that are two shades lighter or darker than your current hair color. This might be a slow process to get to the color you want but it will limit any possible damage.
3. Type of hair dye
There are natural and artificial kinds of hair dye. The artificial ones, think of L'oréal and Garnier, will damage your hair more than the natural ones. Many of the permanent and semi-permanent hair dyes that are available at the drugstore contain ammonia, which is known to dry out and damage hair.
More and more hair salons have been working with ammonia free and natural dyeing products, so that is a plus!
Plant base hair dyes are considered permanent to semi-permanent, depending on a person's hair type. The most famous example of a natural type of hair dye is Henna. This plant can be used to achieve orange, red and auburn hair colors, depending of which ingredients you mix it with.
Another natural hair dye is Indigo, which creates brown and black colors in the hair.
These natural hair dyes often provide more shine and a longer lasting result, but after using a natural hair dye on your hair, you won't be able to use artificial hair dye (for example bleach) until your hair has grown out. Your hair will literally break off when you do (plenty of horror stories on the internet!). So keep that in mind!
4. Repair & rest
When you did take the plunge and changed your hair color you will most likely love it or absolutely hate it and want to get rid of it immediately!!! First of all: DO NOT PANIC! The worst thing you can do right now is run to your local drugstore and buy 10 boxes of hair dye and hope at least one of them will work. Using a different kind of hair dye on your freshly dyed hair will 100% for certain damage your locks. Wait at least 14 days to use another hair dye on your hair, just sit it out and use plenty of nutritious masks and hot oil treatments. In a couple of weeks, months or years, depending of your sense of humor and amount of self-mockery, you will laugh about this awkward orange or blue phase, while combing through your shiny locks.
Hope you enjoyed this article and will keep these tips in mind!
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