Ammonia vs peroxide - What causes more damage?

[infinity_girl]

I am just wondering what is more damaging, ammonia or peroxide in box dyes?

I ask because L'Oreal have produced a dye that is ammonia free but I presume it still has peroxide and I am wondering how much less damaging it is without ammonia?

[torrilin]

Most box dyes only use peroxide. Depending on the dye, the concentration will vary. 10 vol peroxide (3% solution) is what is used in semi-permanent dyes, and on most hair it isn't very good at lightening. Blondes and some kinds of ash brown hair will find that 10 vol peroxide lightens their hair a great deal. Most dyes that are classed as permanent use 20 vol (iirc 6%) or 30 vol peroxide, and this will lighten many hair colors. Some highlighting formulations and blonde dyes use 40 vol peroxide. This will strip color out of almost any shade of hair. The higher the peroxide concentration, the more damaging the dye is... and the more easily your hair bleaches, the more likely it is to "overreact" to a too strong peroxide concentration.

Most of getting a good dye job with minimal damage is a matter of working with your hair. Since I have the kind of ash brown hair that can lift to white blonde just off 10 vol peroxide, my hair takes dye very easily, and it's not real inclined to let go. Freaking and trying to get rid of a coloring mistake would be a great way to trash my hair. Someone whose hair really resists peroxide and gets their most permanent results with 30 vol will have an easy time "fixing" mistakes, but they'll need to do a lot more upkeep than I do. They'll also find that the standard dye classifications do last about the same as it lists on the box, and it's hard to do wild changes with box dye.

I'm sure some kinds of dye do contain ammonia, but it's not a routine thing.

[ellen732]

Ammonia is used in hair color to swell the hair shaft so the color molecules can get deeper into the hair shaft. Color companies found that this swelling of the hair shaft causes damage so many companies have gone ammonia free. Peroxide develops the chemical color, the first 15 minutes the color is on your hair the peroxide is lighting it (how much depends on the volume) and the second half of the process time color is being deposited.

[Rosetta]

I'm sure some kinds of dye do contain ammonia, but it's not a routine thing.

Actually, most box dyes (permanent ones) do contain ammonia - up to now nearly all did, these ammonia-free permanent dyes are a relatively new invention.

It's not really about choosing which of these two causes more damage, as I know of no dyes with ammonia alone and no peroxide, so all do contain peroxide even though not all contain ammonia ;) What seems quite certain that these two together are more likely to cause damage than peroxide alone. I do remember reading somewhere, though, that even if a dye does not contain ammonia, it has to contain some other alkaline substance with similar effects, otherwise the dye wouldn't work... So it's not 100% certain that a dye without ammonia is less damaging. :?

[jojo]

^^ a lot of dyes say they are ammonia free but have a similar chemical in the ingredients cant remember the name of it atthw moment but all hair dyes or most have some peroxide in them apart from the wash in wash out kind!

[spirals]

I've always used ammonia-free colors, and yet my previously-colored ends are soooo damaged.

[torrilin]

Actually, most box dyes (permanent ones) do contain ammonia - up to now nearly all did, these ammonia-free permanent dyes are a relatively new invention.

If by relatively new we mean "within the last 15 years". Most box dyes that are level three/permanent/contain 30 vol peroxide proudly trumpet that they're ammonia free on the label, and they have since I was a teenager. There are scads of alkaline chemicals that can substitute for ammonia. Even something as simple as soap is an alkaline chemical.

Being ammonia-free is not due to the damage tho. It's due to the smell :P. Most people don't like the smell of ammonia and hair dye companies clearly don't want customers thinking of their product as icky smelling.

The most damaging box dye I've ever used was L'Oreal Feria, and it's on the ammonia free list. I suspect it's got a lot less to do with the exact chemicals, and a lot more to do with how the reaction is designed to run. Our hair is a protein fiber, so it will cheerfully take the same dyes as any other protein fiber. Only we try to dye it attached to our heads, and oddly humans don't do so well when heated to 170F the way a lot of textile dye processes get run ;). So that temperature limitation will affect things pretty strongly in terms of how hair dye companies design their process vs how I design mine for other fibers.