What You Must Know Before Dyeing Your Hair

April 13, 2018

Nearly all women and a growing number of men are dyeing their hair to change their appearance, make a fashion statement, or cover gray hair. Whatever the reasons for dyeing your hair, there are a few things you should know before putting your hair through the strain of chemical-filled dyes and oxidants. In the best case, you will need nourishing products to repair your hair, in the worst case, you might even need Thinning Hair Solutions to help you recover the original beauty of your hair after a chemical procedure or hair dyeing gone wrong. In most cases, you will surely get beautiful hair, but do you know the implications? You're about to learn how hair dye works, the consequences of hair coloring, and how to minimize any negative effects.

How Does Hair Dye Work?

The first thing you should know is how hair dye works. The chemicals in hair dye start a chain of chemical reactions that allow the hair to be lightened or darkened as desired.

The active ingredient in hair dye is ammonia. The high pH of ammonia lifts the hair cuticle (the hair's outer layer of protection). It is necessary to break this barrier down to achieve a color change. Once the cuticle is lifted, peroxide starts doing its job of removing your original hair pigment by oxidizing the pigment molecules in your hair, which renders them colorless. The higher the volume of the peroxide, the lighter the color will get.

The final chemical reaction in hair coloring happens when the tiny color molecules penetrate into the hair's cortex and join one another to become bigger. This change in size is what keeps the dye from being washed out.

What Are the Consequences of Hair Dyeing?

As you can suppose from the explanation above, hair dye changes the chemistry in your hair. For one, alkaline pH is needed to lift the cuticle. This high pH opens and expands the cuticle to look like a pinecone. In other words, with the sole application of hair dye, your hair is left "without its shield", and therefore, more prone to damage. The natural hair and scalp pH is between 4.5 and 5.5 and raises to around a 7 during coloring. If the hair's pH gets much higher than 7 during a harsh or overly long dyeing process, damage is much more likely to happen, not to mention that the dye won't hold properly.

Breakage is another possible consequence of hair dyeing —especially when bleaching is involved. The rise in the hair's pH changes the electrical charge of the hair fiber to negative. This, in turn, increases friction between hair fibers, leading to fiber breakage.
Your hair's texture can also change if the hair's cuticle gets damaged. People with naturally dry or coarse hair should know that their tresses will probably get even drier and coarser with an open cuticle, so it is even more important for them to use nourishing masks that close the cuticle. A change in hair texture can be less of a problem for thin and volume-less hair, which might appear thicker. All in all, moisturizing the hair after dyeing is highly recommended regardless of hair type.

Although the cases may be very rare, hair dyeing might cause hair thinning is there is a predisposition to hair thinning. Hair dye causes protein loss in small quantities, which might lead to thinner, weaker hair. However, most likely any hair loss that follows hair dyeing is caused by extreme breakage. If 50% or more of the hair shed after hair coloring doesn't contain bulbs, it represents mostly broken hair, not hair lost because of alopecia. Also, the rough handling that the coloring process involves can cause the shedding of hair that was ready to be shed (club hairs). Hair dye is never a trigger for other types of alopecia, which are related to systemic causes and genetic predisposition instead.

How Can I Remedy Damage From Hair Dyeing?

First of all, it is important to get your hair dyed by a professional colorist; they know how to treat the hair during and after coloring with appropriate products and procedures. This is something that you will not have when you dye your own hair with a home kit.

As explained before, lifted cuticle means dry, brittle hair. A flat cuticle means that the hair will look shiny and supple. This is why an essential part of the dyeing process is applying masks that will help seal back the cuticle and lock the color in, giving it a better appearance. The Cosmetic Republic USA has the Scalp Repairing Mask, which treats your hair gently as a nourishing treatment after coloring or on a regular basis. This product is free of sulfates and parabens, which means that it is safe for color and won't wash it out.

A much less serious consequence of hair dyeing is skin staining. The dyes on hair color are quite strong and can remain on the skin along the hairline if your colorist doesn't take any precaution to avoid them. To keep the skin clear from these stubborn dye stains, you can apply the dye very carefully or use a lotion or petroleum jelly.

What About Washing My Hair Before Coloring?

There are mixed opinions about washing your hair right before coloring. The truth is that this decision depends on you only. If you have washed your hair within 24 or 48 hours prior to your coloring, and you do not have product buildup, you might not need to wash it. If you wish to remove an excess of products, you can wash your hair one night before the coloration, but preferably not immediately before. Your natural oils can act as a protective layer for the irritants in hair dye. As a rule of thumb, your hair will be more beautiful whether it's colored or not if you use paraben- and sulfate-free products like the Multivitamin Shampoo by The Cosmetic Republic USA.

As long as you treat your hair well with high-quality products, it will be healthy and beautiful, even after coloring. The Cosmetic Republic USA has exactly the products you need to take care of your chemically-treated hair. Contact us for further information by calling TOLL FREE 1-888-513-8815 or filling out the contact form on this website. If you want to stay in touch with our latest news, follow us on Facebook (The Cosmetic Republic USA, and follow us on Twitter (@TheCosmeticUSA), and Instagram (@thecosmeticrepublicusa), and subscribe to our newsletter.