Does "virgin hair" include undyed hair on a head that once bore dyed hair?

[The Maple Leaf]

The term "virgin hair" means hair that has never been chemically processed (essentially dyed, bleached, permed, or chemically straightened). For a long time, I took this to mean the current state of the strands of hair. So for example, if you have 20 inches of hair on your head, and the lower 12 inches are grown-out bleach, and the 8 inches closer to the root are natural, then those 8 inches are virgin hair.

Is this correct?

Or does "virgin hair" refer to a person's head of hair as a whole? I.E., the hair of a person who in their life has never colored or permed their hair?

I'm asking because I found comments online from someone who described a one-off coloring of her hair, for the first time in her life, as "losing her hair virginity". She seemed to take it in the same way as the original sense of losing your virginity - once you've had sex, you can never get your virginity back. I googled around "virgin hair" and found a page (I think it sold hair extensions) that made a comment about how once your hair is dyed, permed, or even highlighted, its virginity is gone forever. It was not clear from the context whether the author meant this only about the chemically treated strands, or whether they meant the person's whole head of hair now and forever.

So to recap, if someone had colored hair on their head five years ago, but that hair is now grown out and the hair on their head currently has never been chemically processed, does that person now have virgin hair again?

Nitpick: maybe no one ever defined this, but if you use temporary hair dye that washes off, do you still have virgin hair underneath?

[Simone_Fatale]

Yes, if the current hair is not coloured or processed, it is considered virgin no matter how many times the grown out bits have been dyed in the past. It's not like dyed and processed hair grows out of your follicle once you dye it for the first time. I would say that temporary hair colours that just coat the outer layer of hair without penetrating the shaft leave the hair virgin, but if the hair is porous, some of the pigment will penetrate deeper and perhaps that is an exception. Just my thoughts.

[Chasemi]

I agree that if you dyed your hair, but it has grown out and been cut off, your hair is virgin again. That hair hasn't seen any dye or manipulation in that way. I am growing out a peekaboo colour. I say the ends of my underlayer are due, but the canopy is virgin

[Chasemi]

Without getting too far into virginity as a concept with sex (which is kind of silly anyways), the difference here would be that the hair itself hasn't touched colour or bleach. The follicle isn't affected, as colour isn't put into the scalp. Therefore previous colouring wouldn't affect new growth at all
Those are my person thoughts! Love the question