How damaging is dye? (no bleach)

[Scyphozoa]

I used to bleach and dye my hair a lot. And I was a lifeguard, so my hair was constantly full of chlorine. I didn't have serious long hair ambitions at the time, so whenever I disliked the texture of my hair from all the mistreatment I'd just cut it off. Now I have shoulder length virgin hair. I don't dislike my natural color, I just ever so loved having a variegated blue mane.
What are y'all's thoughts on dying without bleach? I used Splat Semi-Permanent and Color Ion Semi-Permanent in the past. I still have some of my old favorites. Has anyone else used these? I don't remember having split ends or breakage, but I also didn't pay much attention.
Thoughts on Olaplex? I read some amount of that thread, and the overall theme seemed to be that Olaplex is nice, but not a miracle. And expensive.
Right now my length goal is somewhere between tailbone and classic. And I really want healthy blunt ends, otherwise it's not worth it.
If trimming will help I don't mind. I want to reach my goals, and sooner would be great, but if I can take more time with it in order to have nice ends with a fun color, I'd do that.

(Sorry if this issue has been well discussed in other threads! I'm new and I didn't see any.)

[Scyphozoa]

Also, my hair is mostly straight. I wash 2 times a week (currently with low sulfate shampoo and conditioner, though once I run out I plan to try some Chagrin Valley bars with acidic rinses). I'm blonette and totally happy for the color to be not so bright. I don't do any heat styling, or put any styling products in my hair (I'll occasionally use leave-in conditioner, my hair is short and doesn't need it now, but I'm trying to build habits and prevent as much damage as possible). I have used elastics in some of my more awkward stages from growing out a buzzed head (buzzed because I liked it that way, not because of damage), though I'm trying to get away from them now. I have to have my hair up for work, and it's not long enough to put completely up with a stick or fork. My hair is also moderately thick, so clips have trouble holding it all. I am trying to build healthy habits, now, while I still have time to prevent damage before it happens.
But.
Also.
I like having blue hair...

[Obsidian]

Temporary colors like splat and manic panic are non damaging. Its only permanent colors and bleach that damage.
Splat has a line especially for dark hair, I think the blue is called midnight indigo.

[NicoleJean]

My sister who went to beauty school also told me if I ever want to color my hair to use semi permanent to avoid damage. I was asking her because I was thinking when I get grey hairs to maybe dye then to match my natural color.

[lapushka]

My sister who went to beauty school also told me if I ever want to color my hair to use semi permanent to avoid damage. I was asking her because I was thinking when I get grey hairs to maybe dye then to match my natural color.

Semi's that cover grays? Do they exist?

[NicoleJean]

Semi's that cover grays? Do they exist?

I am in the United States. My husband uses one called "Just for men". It's suppose to target just the grey hairs. I have no idea how it knows which are grey hairs but he says it works well for him. He is about 25% Grey now. It appears to cover greys and it looks totally natural. You can't even tell that he put anything in his hair just that he is less grey. He says even though it's marketed towards men he thinks women could use it too.

Once I get greys I'll probably just use a semi permanent in my natural hair color. Hopefully I won't have to worry about it for a while!

[lapushka]

I am in the United States. My husband uses one called "Just for men". It's suppose to target just the grey hairs. I have no idea how it knows which are grey hairs but he says it works well for him. He is about 25% Grey now. It appears to cover greys and it looks totally natural. You can't even tell that he put anything in his hair just that he is less grey. He says even though it's marketed towards men he thinks women could use it too.

Once I get greys I'll probably just use a semi permanent in my natural hair color. Hopefully I won't have to worry about it for a while!

I'm in Belgium. What we have for semi's in the drugstore is "Casting colors". And I don't know how that does on gray at all... wait, I am going to look that up.
https://www.loreal-paris.co.uk/products/hair-colour/brand/casting-creme-gloss

It appears to cover gray hair.

I'm glad I looked that up!!! :)
Thanks for making me think about this!

[Jo Ann]

Semi's that cover grays? Do they exist?

Yes, but the effect is more like natural highlights (a lighter color). Semi's also wash out quicker from the greys/whites than one's natural color, from my experience.

[TheDebby]

I'm in Belgium. What we have for semi's in the drugstore is "Casting colors". And I don't know how that does on gray at all... wait, I am going to look that up.
https://www.loreal-paris.co.uk/products/hair-colour/brand/casting-creme-gloss

It appears to cover gray hair.

I'm glad I looked that up!!! :)
Thanks for making me think about this!

I was wondering, the casting colors use a developer, will it damage your hair? I've been looking at some of them.

[TheDebby]

I will attempt to dye the ends of my hair, probably somewhere this week. I'll be using Colorista, witch is a conditioner with a color in it. I'm pretty sure it won't show up very much because my hair is slightly to dark I think. Although they have some options for darker hair.


I'm in Belgium. What we have for semi's in the drugstore is "Casting colors". And I don't know how that does on gray at all... wait, I am going to look that up.
https://www.loreal-paris.co.uk/products/hair-colour/brand/casting-creme-gloss

It appears to cover gray hair.

I'm glad I looked that up!!! :)
Thanks for making me think about this!

I was wondering, the casting colors use a developer, will it damage your hair? I've been looking at some of them and decided against it because of the developer.

I'm not formulier with hair dye, so chances are I'm wrong about this. Maybe someone els knows this?

[Longlegs]

It won't damage your hair if you just use semi permanent dyes - like Manic Panic, Arctic fox, La Riche Directions etc.... But they don't stick to unprocessed hair as well. The unbleached hair is usually too healthy and the cuticle too compact. And they don't stick to grey hair. Obviously they won't be as vivid on darker hair, the results will vary with your own colour and how the dye takes to it.

[lapushka]

I was wondering, the casting colors use a developer, will it damage your hair? I've been looking at some of them and decided against it because of the developer.

I'm not formulier with hair dye, so chances are I'm wrong about this. Maybe someone els knows this?

It is generally assumed that anything that comes with a developer is bad. But I never saw any damage or so after rinsing out a semi (in due course) that had had a developer in it. No color difference either afterwards. But it's up to you whether or not you are wanting to risk it.

This one doesn't stain clothing after it's in.

I know things like Manic Panic, La Riche Directions and such will stain anything around it, even touching it; there's that.

[Servana]

I was wondering, the casting colors use a developer, will it damage your hair? I've been looking at some of them.

Yes unfortunately these do damage your hair because while they are marketed as semi-permanent, they are actually demi-permanent. Semi-permanents just deposit colour on the outside of the shaft, meaning if your hair isn't porous due to previous bleach they will wash right off. Semi-permanents use some peroxide to make the colour stay for longer, but not as long as permanent.

I used L'Oreal Casting Cremes for many years in high school. I have brown hair and I used to dye it cherry red. It looked good and stayed for a while but once it washed out my hair was orange-tinged until it grew out. I went a few years without using these dyes and had fully virgin hair. So I tried again and it left my hair so fried. Super dry and frizzy. After a few months it was back to normal but I was quite put off and started using only actual semi-permanent dyes. They would stick to my hair due to the peroxide from the casting creme. But my virgin roots wouldn't take the colour and if they did it would come out in a wash or two.

[lapushka]

Yes unfortunately these do damage your hair because while they are marketed as semi-permanent, they are actually demi-permanent. Semi-permanents just deposit colour on the outside of the shaft, meaning if your hair isn't porous due to previous bleach they will wash right off. Semi-permanents use some peroxide to make the colour stay for longer, but not as long as permanent.

I used L'Oreal Casting Cremes for many years in high school. I have brown hair and I used to dye it cherry red. It looked good and stayed for a while but once it washed out my hair was orange-tinged until it grew out. I went a few years without using these dyes and had fully virgin hair. So I tried again and it left my hair so fried. Super dry and frizzy. After a few months it was back to normal but I was quite put off and started using only actual semi-permanent dyes. They would stick to my hair due to the peroxide from the casting creme. But my virgin roots wouldn't take the colour and if they did it would come out in a wash or two.

I have had semi's with developer. And casting colors is marketed as a semi, not a demi.

[MusicalSpoons]

Yes unfortunately these do damage your hair because while they are marketed as semi-permanent, they are actually demi-permanent. Semi-permanents just deposit colour on the outside of the shaft, meaning if your hair isn't porous due to previous bleach they will wash right off. Semi-permanents use some peroxide to make the colour stay for longer, but not as long as permanent.



Did you mean 'Demi' there?


I have had semi's with developer. And casting colors is marketed as a semi, not a demi.

It is, but their marketing is wrong. In looking to see if this distinction is in general use or only on LHC, I found lots of confirmation the industry uses the distinction. Like this from https://www.clairolpro.com/inside-clairol-pro/demi-semi-permanent-faqs


WHAT IS DEMI-PERMANENT COLOR?
Demi-permanent color contains no ammonia and deposits only. It is mixed with a low-volume developer to help open the cuticle and lasts up to 24 shampoos. This type of color is great for blending gray, enhancing natural color, refreshing color, toning highlights, or for corrective work.

:scissors:

WHAT IS SEMI-PERMANENT COLOR?
A semi-permanent color contains no ammonia and deposits only. It does not require mixing with a developer and lasts anywhere from 4 – 12 shampoos. This type of color is used to blend gray or enhance natural color and it’s safe for immediate use after a relaxer or perm service.

So L'Oréal are wrong about their Casting line (incidentally here it's called Casting Crème Gloss - again with the different marketing! It still states outright it's semi-permanent and I even saw a hair blog stating "no ammonia=no damage" ... the developer contains peroxide, of course it's going to cause damage! :doh: just, maybe not as much as a full-strength developer for permanent colour.)

[TheDebby]

It is generally assumed that anything that comes with a developer is bad. But I never saw any damage or so after rinsing out a semi (in due course) that had had a developer in it. No color difference either afterwards. But it's up to you whether or not you are wanting to risk it.

This one doesn't stain clothing after it's in.

I know things like Manic Panic, La Riche Directions and such will stain anything around it, even touching it; there's that.


Yes unfortunately these do damage your hair because while they are marketed as semi-permanent, they are actually demi-permanent. Semi-permanents just deposit colour on the outside of the shaft, meaning if your hair isn't porous due to previous bleach they will wash right off. Semi-permanents use some peroxide to make the colour stay for longer, but not as long as permanent.

I used L'Oreal Casting Cremes for many years in high school. I have brown hair and I used to dye it cherry red. It looked good and stayed for a while but once it washed out my hair was orange-tinged until it grew out. I went a few years without using these dyes and had fully virgin hair. So I tried again and it left my hair so fried. Super dry and frizzy. After a few months it was back to normal but I was quite put off and started using only actual semi-permanent dyes. They would stick to my hair due to the peroxide from the casting creme. But my virgin roots wouldn't take the colour and if they did it would come out in a wash or two.

I can understand where you both are coming from. I also think different hair will react differently to hair product, regardless of what you use.
For me at the moment I won't start anything that as any risk, I might feel different when I finally get married (I'm engaged now and don't want to risk bad hair in my wedding pictures).
So no big risks until the big day, after that doesn't really matter for now. :lol:

[Dark40]

I used to bleach and dye my hair a lot. And I was a lifeguard, so my hair was constantly full of chlorine. I didn't have serious long hair ambitions at the time, so whenever I disliked the texture of my hair from all the mistreatment I'd just cut it off. Now I have shoulder length virgin hair. I don't dislike my natural color, I just ever so loved having a variegated blue mane.
What are y'all's thoughts on dying without bleach? I used Splat Semi-Permanent and Color Ion Semi-Permanent in the past. I still have some of my old favorites. Has anyone else used these? I don't remember having split ends or breakage, but I also didn't pay much attention.
Thoughts on Olaplex? I read some amount of that thread, and the overall theme seemed to be that Olaplex is nice, but not a miracle. And expensive.
Right now my length goal is somewhere between tailbone and classic. And I really want healthy blunt ends, otherwise it's not worth it.
If trimming will help I don't mind. I want to reach my goals, and sooner would be great, but if I can take more time with it in order to have nice ends with a fun color, I'd do that.

(Sorry if this issue has been well discussed in other threads! I'm new and I didn't see any.)

Hi and welcome to the forum! :) I have dyed or color-treated hair, and I haven't had any issues with damage or breakage. I've been coloring my hair since I was 18 years old, and I'm now 47! I've always stuck with using the same permanent hair coloring product for many years now, and that's Clairol Nice N Easy. I've been using that brand ever since I've started coloring my hair, and I have never had any issues with damage, breakage, or split ends. Your goals sounds just like what my goals are too! I would like to reach either tailbone or classic someday soon. I was setting my goals a bit longer. Like, to mid-thigh length.

[Strwberryfields]

I’ve used all forms of hair dye and each and everyone has damaged my hair. But some hair types just cannot handle dye! I’m
One of them. You’ll honestly just have to make a judgement call. Those colors for dark hair have a lifter in them.

[Poi.Lily]

Some dyes are more damaging to your hair than others - demi permanent dyes are nondamaging dyes.
But permanent dyes are somewhat damaging.
That doesn't mean you can't use them though.

The best route would be to go to a salon if you want to bleach your hair and go blue. Since salons are now using olaplex while bleaching and whatnot which helps protect your hair.

Of course, having a good hair care routine is going to help keep your hair healthy.
Sulfate free shampoo is definitely a must for color treated hair, sulfates wash color out very quickly.

[Ylva]

Some dyes are more damaging to your hair than others - demi permanent dyes are nondamaging dyes.
But permanent dyes are somewhat damaging.
That doesn't mean you can't use them though.

Demi-permanent dyes also contain peroxide so they are at least technically damaging.

[Scyphozoa]

Thanks for all the replies! I think I'll try a mixture of a few different blue dyes over my natural color. A lot of people who dye their hair seem to hate the "uneven" look, but I like it. I want my hair to look like a gorgeous handpainted skein of yarn. It will be unpredictable, and some colors will wash out quicker than others, and it'll be fun. And I'll wait at least several months before dying it again.

Though I am going to wait until I have a sulfate free shampoo routine that works well for me before any of this, so don't hold your breath for update photos, sorry! :p