Want to dye my hair darker but scared of PPD in hair dye?

[Blondieee]

Hey guys! I was a blonde growing up and then my hair turned light brown. I don't like the light brown. I went blonde before and it looked awful (although it was a terrible job). I also got my hair dyed before. It was a light brown but it was more richer and prettier. I still wanted darker though. I'm wanting a dark brown like Angelina Jolie has. I have green eyes just like her. I'm tan in summer and super pale in winter. Although I used to want blonde, I feel like dark brown gives a sexy, sultry look. Not to mention, it appears (and this may sound ridiculous) that most guys, especially the MATURE, attractive guys prefer brunettes. Even with celebrities, the brunettes appear to get the mature hunks. I do think blondes get more attention and get approached more by guys but not the right kind of guys and not long-term (marriage). Also, when I'm blonde, I get constantly compared to Scarlett Johannsen and it just really annoys me cause I don't find her very attractive and I think it's insulting. Some people may think it's a compliment but I don't. But when my hair is darker, people don't say that. I was told I look like Mila Kunis which is a huge compliment. I just really want dark brown hair but I'm very scared of PPD :( I would ask my stylist to put the dye in foils but it's still going to touch my scalp when he rinses it out. The salon I go to uses Davines dye btw. My biggest concern is if you become allergic to PPD, there's a huge possibility you become allergic to all medication/food that has artificial dyes. I take medication for my anxiety which has dyes in it and I can't function without it. I also take Advil every month for my period. I'm going to be taking Flintstones vitamins to correct an iron deficiency. Also, artificial dyes are in lots of food and candy. It just seems like it would be a nightmare to become allergic to artificial dyes. I'm not concerned about the part that once you're allergic, you can't dye your hair again. I'll deal with that if it happens. But I'm very concerned about the medication.

I know there's Henna but I'm not familiar with that. It comes from a plant, it's not FDA regulated and I really don't feel comfortable using it. My only other option is to go blonde so I'm not exposed to it since bleach is used but I really don't wanna do that. Also, patch tests don't work and actually increase your risk of having a reaction with the amount of time they tell you to leave it on.

Any advice/suggestions? I'm in college and it's heartbreaking wanting something so bad and seeing all the other girls have dyed hair but having this fear holding me back.

Thanks in advance!

[Nique1202]

A lot of demipermanent (usually labeled "ammonia-free") dyes don't contain PPD now, because of this kind of allergy concern, but if you really want to be sure, you can use a vegetable dye like Manic Panic or Special Effects. Start with an orange base and add blue until it looks like the colour you want. If you want a darker end result, use deeper base colours to mix up.

I don't want to pry/preach too much, but I don't think hair colour has that much of an effect on the "type" of people attracted to a person. If you want a mature, stable partner to settle down with, you have to look in different places than for someone who's less serious, but no factor in your appearance is going to play as much of a part in finding that partner as your personality, confidence, attitudes, and interests. If you go from blonde to brunette and still look for partners in, say, bars, you're going to get the same kind of person who hangs out at bars, not some magical moment with a dreamboat.

Changing your hair colour might make you happier with your look and more confident, and that's reason enough to change it! Confidence and assertiveness can definitely help you in approaching people and all that. But, while I realize it's not possible to judge from just one post, I hope you aren't putting all your hopes and dreams on finding a "mature hunk" solely on your hair colour. That's unrealistic and you might find yourself sorely disappointed.

[Majorane]

Also, why would you feel uncomfortable with henna? :) I have only used henna to go redder, but if it's mixed with indigo (ask the guru's here) it can give an amazing warm brown result, if I'm correct. And the vast pro overr henndigo (as we call this henna indigo mix) is that it is permanent, while not damaging to hair.

Veggie dyes, dyes that rinse out after a while like Manic Panic (they are not purely plant based by the way, despite the name) also do not damage your hair, but they wash out after a while and you have to color more often. And there are many PPD-free oermanent hairdyes on the market nowadays. I'm sure that with a bit of research you can find many brands that do not contain PPD. I don't even know if it's legal to use any more over here (I am from Europe). I have so far not heard of anyone who got inti trouble for dying hair darker and then getting allergic, for what that is worth.


And as for haircolor and serious guys: ......hey, I have been an henna redhead for 16 years. Over here, red is seen as THE haircolor of wild girls that wanna have fun and are crazy. And I have a temperamental personality to boot :D but I still end up with the relationship material guys. And really, there is nooooo correlation with haircolor and stable relationships. Like there is no correlation between any other color and psychological thing. Dark people aren't more serious or smarter then white people, asian people aren't inherently better in math, and blondes win the nobel prize as much as other haircolors. If you have trouble hunting for men, you might need to expand the hunt to another herd of men where they are more serious, and if you have problems with people labelling you as That Blonde That Looks Like ....relax, shrug it off, they mean no harm and who cares?

But seriously, don't write off the henna. Henna is of all the hairdyes the most innocent out there, and might be a great solution. The FDA also doesn't approve of Kinder Eggs, they don't know all. :)

[lapushka]

Just a warning, if you'll want to read it. If you dye it darker, and your roots come in, it might give a slightly "balding" look depending on how light your natural hair is.

[Majorane]

Oh, yeah, that happened to me with my hairdye disaster when I wanted to get light mousy brown and got pitch blueblack. Also, always strand test. I never do this, and sometimes that goes wroooooooooong.

[Anje]

I'm going to say that vegetable dyes are probably the easiest route for you. Most of them are wild colors, yes, but one I know of (Adore) has a lot of natural colors as well as a few funky ones. Easy to use, non-damaging, and they fade out with time. They're my first line recommendation for long haired people who want brown or black but want it fairly easy and may change their minds.

If you are ready to commit to this thing for ages and are willing to deal with long application times and not bring able to bleach it out of your hair, a blend of henna and indigo, both purchased from a reputable supplier, is a good way to go. Maybe after the first application, it's more permanent than the veggie dyes. Sometimes too permanent: indigo turns green when you try to bleach it out, and henna clings on for dear life! (Is decent for the shorter haired folks, definitely. My husband has been keeping his goatee brown this way for years now, since he's prematurely gray there.) Some suppliers are fishy, definitely, but others are quite good. Many sources are even certified organic, if that's important to you. But I'm a long time henna user, so I'm a bit biased. Really, it's fantastic stuff if you want permanent red, decent for fairly permanent warm brown, and it works but takes huge time commitments for deep black. Henna is best for people who want to have red hair for decades to come, among longhairs. (Short haired people tend to not have the same hangups about cutting out a dye job they no longer want,and don't have hair they'll have to live with for years if they damage it somehow. They get more freedom to change their minds when it comes to permanent hair changes, because it's considerably less permanent for them!)

[Breanna]

I agree with Anje, vegetable dyes and henndigo will be the best and safest ways to go! Henndigo will definitely be cheaper, you can get 100 grams of each on ebay for about $4-5 total. I've bought henna from the brand Zenia and it's very good.
good luck!

[spidermom]

Definitely try a deposit-only dye before you do anything permanent. If you don't like it, at least you'll know it will fade out.

[meteor]

Definitely try a deposit-only dye before you do anything permanent. If you don't like it, at least you'll know it will fade out.

^This!
I wouldn't recommend anybody to jump on a permanent hair-dye bandwagon before firt trying a temporary, non-damaging, deposit-only dye (e.g. Manic Panic, Pravana, Adore, Directions...), because even strand-testing doesn't fully convey the exact look you'll get when you dye all the hair. Better safe than sorry!

[Blondieee]

Thanks everyone! I've actually decided to go blonde instead. I don't know how to dye my own hair and stylists only use their products. So I think it'll be safer and easier to go blonde. Not to mention, I was looking at pictures of myself as a blonde last night and I think it suits me better and looks good on me. So I'm gonna go blonde again! :)