Do You Really Know Your Hair Coloring Products?

Here are several basic types of hair dyes on the market. These are…..

Temporary hair colors

Which are applied in the form of rinses, gels, mousses, and sprays. They coat the surface of the hair and usually wash out within two or three shampoos.

Semipermanent dyes

Penetrate into the hair shaft, but not as deeply as permanent dyes. Although semipermanent dyes do not rinse off with water, they do fade and wash out of hair after about five to 10 shampoos.

Long-lasting semi-permanent

A newer category that promises to last through 24 washings. In general, the more permanent the color the better the grey coverage and the more accurate the color. This is a better choice than the semi-permanent if you have a lot of gray to cover.

Permanent hair dyes

Especially those that lighten and color in one process. These formulations penetrate deeply into the hairshaft and don’t wash out. Permanent hair-coloring products consist of two components that are packaged separately and mixed together immediately before application. One package contains a solution of hydrogen peroxide (usually 6%) in water or a lotion base. The other package usually contains an ammonia solution of dye intermediates and preformed dyes—called couplers. The primary intermediates are ortho or para diaminobenzenes, aminohydroxybenzenes, and to a lesser extent dihydroxybenzenes that develop color on oxidation. If you are trying to cover gray, you’ll have the most success with this group of dyes.

Research has shown that some of the substances in hair dyes are readily absorbed through the skin and scalp during application.

The new study’s findings indicated that women and men who dye their hair frequently might be at increased risk for hematopoietic cancers. The early studies showed an association between hair dye use and increased risks for multiple myeloma (cancer of cells in the bone marrow), non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (cancer of the lymph system), and leukemia (cancer of blood-forming cells) in both sexes, and ovarian cancer in women. Almost all the early studies indicated that increased risk might be restricted to long-term or frequent hair dye users, particularly users of dark hair dyes.

If you color your hair at home, please be sure to read the instructions carefully and do a patch test before hand. This is especially important if you change from one brand to the other. Medications you are taking can also make you more sensitive to hair color, which may result in itching or burning of the scalp.

A safer way to cover grey or change your own natural color is to have highlights and lowlights added, so the actual product never touches the scalp.