chemical coloring and healthy hair?

[mommy2one05]

can you still color your hair with the box chemical stuff from walmart or wherever and still grow long healthy hair ? my roots are really showing and I don't know whether to color or not

[justgreen]

I have highlights and have my roots done every 4-7 weeks. I have long healthy hair with virtually no split ends. I get one hair dusting done a year.

[misspriss]

I used to do it, back when I had long hair. I did it a lot when my hair was short. It didn't cause too much damage for me, but I know it did for some people. I think it really depends on your hair. My hair could probably hold up to anything, I mean I bleached it at home from black to blonde...The bleach is the only thing that ever did real damage to my hair. But again, it is up to your hair. I know I made the choice to color when I had long hair before and I will color again as I grow out now, but it may vary from person to person.

[aney]

You can def. have dyed healthy hair, as long as you take care of it! Lots of deep condition treatments and you should be fine!

[Alaskanheart]

Depends on your hair. I used to color like crazy and had healthy hair, but at about 24 years old that started to change, now my hair gets damaged if I color.

Bleach is worse on my hair than dying darker, Highlights at the salon are the worst for me.

[Fee]

I have been dying my hair with chemical dyes for 5 years now,I'm growing my hair long for 4 years and it's healthy!

[Patrycja]

Theres a social group here called Chemical Heads that all of its members still use chemical dyes.I had extrememly damanged hair from dyeing but I wasn't taking proper care of it either.Now I know the tricks to keep it healthy,I have healthy dyed hair :) Beware though-oils and other treatments are known to lighten hair and take out dye.It does take your hair sometime to recooperate after dying,so what may seem like it killed your locks,give it sometime to repair itself ;)

[amaiaisabella]

Like previous posters have mentioned, it depends on the condition of your hair.

Look at it this way- if you take really good care of your hair in other ways (no heat, using a wide-toothed comb, oiling/deep conditioner, etc) then the coloring shouldn't affect your hair as bad.

[jojo]

posted wrong place

[FrannyG]

Chemically coloured hair is going to be somewhat damaged and that's just a fact of life. Babying it can really help though.

I colour my hair myself with box dye, and have done so for years. I deep condition it frequently, make sure it's lightly oiled for protection, and never use heat appliances. My hair, while not as healthy as virgin hair, is in very good shape. COing has also been a big help for me.

[brok3nwings]

looking for my friends hair i think that if you have oily hair if you dye your hair with a similar colour to yours (darker or with the same level of lightness) there will be no visible damage (visible!) but..if your hair is normal or dry...you may see it, you may feel it...and i think that straight hair looks more damaged then curly for example (although it is just an ilusion) that is just my opinion

[mommy2one05]

thanks for everybody's input!!

jojo: if you cannot say something nice do NOT say anything at all :)

[Patrycja]

I was wondering if COing was okay with dyed hair...thanks Frannyg

btw-I dyed yesterday and my siggy pic shows the new color.Its Deep Burgundy from Feria

[brok3nwings]

ilovemycop that is a pretty intense colour! :)

[mommy2one05]

ilovemycop: very pretty vibrant color

[spidermom]

thanks for everybody's input!!

jojo: if you cannot say something nice do NOT say anything at all :)

Nice to know you feel that way. Sometimes when people post a question, they want to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly. I'll try to remember that you only want to hear the good.

[Patrycja]

Thanks with the compliments.

I don't care what everyone elses opinion is about chemically dyed hair.It makes me happy and I know that I'm taking proper precautions to keep it from getting completely fried :)

[Curlsgirl]

I use boxed dye close to my own color (maybe one shade lighter) and I have relatively healthy hair by looking at it anyway! I am sure it would be healthier if I didn't color. I only do the roots as best I can and treat it very well in other ways. I'm a curly too and my hair is somewhat resiliant. I think that matters too. Some hair types can take it better than others.

[Shypii90]

I believe chemically dyed hair can be kept healthy; as long as you take a lot of care of it :)

I dyed my hair and it's still healthy, but most of it washed out by now (over 5 months later!!), so it involves a lot of care, I believe

Ilovemycop, thats a cool colour!!

[Tracyarts]

- ilovemycop: I *love* that color. I get mine dyed a similar color at a salon (unfortunately not as vivid as yours, but it does have a violet-red base tone to it). It's a deposit-only color (no lightening) so the peroxide is not all that strong. I get the roots done every 6-8 weeks and the length freshened up about once a year, if that. Sometimes I use the corresponding semi-permanant color to freshen the length and make it nice and shiny. Coloring long hair with chemical dyes is a trade off. Of course you will have some damage, but oftentimes the only way to achieve such vivid rich colors with any kind of staying power is to go the chemical route. And damage can be minimized and managed with care.

I usually wash my hair every other day, as I live in a hot and humid area with a lot of pollution. I have found that using shampoo on my scalp but conditioner only on the length works well for me. I probably only shampoo the entire length 2-4 times a month, depending on how often I use an oil on it and how dirty it's gotten. Just the conditioner alone is enough to remove any surface dirt and styling product/leave in conditioner residue.

Tracy

[Nat242]

Depends on your hair. I used semi-permanent box dyes for years (red), and my hair is still recovering. The split ends I have are the legacy of this hair dye. I now use henna, and since not using box dyes, my hair is finally beginning to gain some length.

This has been my experience. I know there are people that colour their hair with synthetic dyes, and they have lovely, long hair. They're lucky! It really depends on your hair.

-- Natalie

[willowcandra]

I happily used chemical dyes till I hit around tailbone. Past waistlength I found it hard to keep the ends in good condition.

I guess by the time hair reaches tailbone that's alot of coatings of dye (you have to sometimes dye the entire length as it fades don't you.)

For me personally if I was waistlength again I wouldn't worry about dye affecting condition.

Fwiw I decided to grow out dye and I have bra length virgin hair and dyed ends...The virgin part knocks socks off the coloured part in terms of shine and strength etc.

It's your call. Your hair might be able to dye without getting damaged as much.

[Rini]

Well after enjoying my henna for a couple of years and the gorgeous condition it gives your hair.....I went and bleached it all out to go back to my natural colour (ashy blonde). Let me tell you, it is not in the condition it used to be, but it is getting there with all the nice treatment I give it :) And now I only do the roots every 5 weeks or so and the few inches of new (unstripped, dyed only) growth are actually not too different from what my henna hair was.

Bottom line: if dyeing your hair will give you the colour your happy with, then do it. I couldn't grow my hair long (healthy or not) with a colour I wasn't entirely happy with. So it's up to you, but just be gentle and take care of it either way ;)

HTH

[jojo]

Nice to know you feel that way. Sometimes when people post a question, they want to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly. I'll try to remember that you only want to hear the good.
to mom2 or whatever your called
As I have the thread starter hidden, i was actually writing something in response to the second poster. The thread starter has taken a dislike to me because she does not like to to hear bad things and when she does writes nasty Ims to people, well me anyway.

The thread started really needs to seek help for that paranoia of hers, if people want advice then sometimes its not what you want to hear. i believe in honesty and my post to the 2nd poster was complimentary not nasty but i deleted it as i thought the thread was started by 2nd poster.

Spidermom
Thanks for seeing my point SM and very well said. x

[justgreen]

Ok, let's all play nice nice. When someone takes my comments wrong, or worse, doesn't even act like I posted, I just go on and ignore them. Once ignored, they go away.

[Patrycja]

Ok, let's all play nice nice. When someone takes my comments wrong, or worse, doesn't even act like I posted, I just go on and ignore them. Once ignored, they go away.

Amen,justy :applause

[jojo]

Ok, let's all play nice nice. When someone takes my comments wrong, or worse, doesn't even act like I posted, I just go on and ignore them. Once ignored, they go away.
i was going to say your hair is lovely dyed or not!

[dancingbarefoot]

Ok, let's all play nice nice.


**MOD HAT ON**

Hear, hear! Let's also remember to leave the moderating to the moderators. That's what the "report post" button is for, after all.

[psvzum]

I color my hair and have my roots done every 31/2 weeks. My hair is bsl and very healthy but I baby the heck out of it.

[Eilean]

I have been dying my hair with chemical colour for 14 years (actually I have been dying my hair for 17 years but three years were a "Henna period") and my hair is fine. No split ends, not overly dry.

However.. and that is what I am writing.. I was wondering how you treat your hair after dying it? I will check the following thread: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=889&highlight=chemical&page=2 in a second, maybe I find some ideas. However, if you have any suggestions I'd appreciate it if you shared them :). Thanks!

[Curlsgirl]

Since my hair has gotten longer, I no longer am doing the color myself. I get highlights at the salon every 5 or 6 weeks only on the roots. I just treat my hair like I normally would but use MORE leave-in conditioner and perhaps baby it a bit more than I would otherwise. I love my color and am willing to compromise a little for it. My hair is healthy and waist length.

[Dementia1013]

Patrycja I love your color in your sig!

I obviously use chemical dye and My hair has never been healthier. I had splits on the ends that I just took care of, so now I have smooth hair down to my tips. :cheese:

[ericthegreat]

You want the honest truth? Any kind of chemically treated hair will not be as healthy as totally virgin hair. That simply a hard truth.

With that said, it doesn't mean that if you decide to color or highlight your hair that it will totally damage your hair. If you are diligent about moisturizing, conditioning, and oiling your hair regularly (you should do this even if your hair is virgin but especially if you've had your hair chemically treated!) then you can keep your hair in its best degree of health.

I myself have recently colored and added in highlights to my hair 6 weeks ago. My normal routine is to do a CO rinse every night and once a week I do the Ojon nut oil treatment. This is a pre-shampoo oiling treatment, it is a super intensive treatment that works magic on my hair. Even after having my hair highlighted I still haven't had any noticeable damage, and I credit this to my care routine.

[grldollies]

Back Ground & My Agony:
I decided to go back to my natural hair color & did not want to have issues. I read going back to brown from blond can be problematic. So . . I went to my hair dresser for her to match my regular hair color, Med Brown. I told her I wanted to stop highlighting my hair after doing it for 15 years (L'Oreal Preference Champagne Blonde 8 1/2A w/ Ardell un-red added). She knew I did my hair myself as she has been cutting my hair for over 20 years. The first time she did my color she matched it perfect to the 2" I grew out so she had something to match. Well after a couple of weeks green started to show up. So she did it again this time she forgot to leave my new growth alone. After a couple of weeks I had 3" of reddish hair (my natural hair pulls red) & 4-5" of nice color, then the rest 18” I had blond showing on the top layers – but it at least was not green. She is such a great person but my hair fix was not in the cards. Gee wiz now I have 3 colors going on so . . I decided I had to do something - myself. I felt I had to go darker to cover everything up. I do not have a lot of grey maybe a 3 strands, well very few – I’m 49 and fortunate. I bought Loreal Preference (ol' trusty) in Dk Ash Brown 4A because I read it had a blue base unlike their other brown ash tones which was green based. I did not want to see any red in my hair. Well the first week the color was great but it did not stick to my roots I had a half inch of natural color & then after two weeks I also had the dreaded hated blond showing up again. So this second time I clarified my hair then applied Colorful Neutral Protein Filler I bought at Sally’s as per instructions – leave on 20 min. Then I dyed my hair again w/ Loreal Preference Dk Ash Brown 4A. This time the color stayed covering the blond high-lights - yea, but I still had the darn root problem & I now had quite a bit of damage going on. I was not doing a whole lot better then my hair dresser did! I had to cut off about 4”, Whaaaa My daughter suggested I use Clairol Premium Crème Hair Color so I wouldn’t have any more damage to my hair. She just started using it as she has even finer hair then me. The rest of this story has a nice ending – my hair is wonderful again, a little shorter but at least I can grow it out now with confidence that it will stay in good shape!
How I Dyed my Hair:
I used 2N, Clairol Premium Crème Hair color, w/ 10vol developer. Holds color fantastic, very deep dark color. Stays on roots – stayed covering the old highlights on my length.
I use Aveda clove shampoo and various non-cone conditioners, Giovanni styling products. Hair sprays w/ UV filters.
The next time I do my hair I plan use 2N & 3N together, just so it is still a dark brown, but less close to black and closer to my hair color. I pull Red & this color is really neutral - no red what-so-ever. I hate- hate red! (Sorry Sissy – She Loves Red!)
I mixed it all in a plastic bowel – use a small plastic whip or an application brush to mix it. The Clairol Premium Crème tube color is quite a bit more dense then toothpaste. I poured/spatula it into the bottle. It’s very thick and does not drip at all. Which is nice not to have so many dark booboo’s on your face & neck to clean. I bought a soft style bottle with a wide opening and an extra long tip. I cut an inch off the tip so the hole was bigger. Use an application brush to pat the line of solution into your part, as it needs to be worked in a little more then the thinner type of hair dye. Once I had my roots done I mixed in a little Colorful Neutral Protein Filler which made it thinner & I applied it to my length the last 10 minutes to make sure it is even and keep the old blond highlights from showing through. It turned out perfect. Better then I hoped for! It was way less damaging then the Loreal Preference I used before.

[Buddaphlyy]

Patrycja I love your color in your sig!

I obviously use chemical dye and My hair has never been healthier. I had splits on the ends that I just took care of, so now I have smooth hair down to my tips. :cheese:
OMG, I love the color of your hair. If I was braver person, I so would rock it.

[BringMeThunder]

I thought perhaps I would be shunned for it, so I'm glad to know I'm not the only one keeping my hair dyeing routine. I just love trying out new shades. :o

The only time my hair was visibly damaged by chemicals was when I used bleach. Of course, I had no idea what I was doing, so it could've been better, but it also could've been much worse! I never use heat, and rarely wash my hair, so that might explain why my hair wasn't utterly fried...

So, as others have said, chemically colored hair will never be as healthy, but it can definitely still be healthy, long, and beautiful.

[BringMeThunder]

OMG, I love the color of your hair. If I was braver person, I so would rock it.

And I agree, Dementia's hair color is amazing! I think you should go for it, at least once. :applause:

[JCFantasy23]

When my hair gets damaged it's mostly from mechanical type damage and just not taking care of it, getting tangles and breakage from that. I dyed my hair to light blonde from dark brown for five years in a row, usually every fourth week. My hair actually didn't do too badly with it but I never conditioned, had some misconceptions about that. I do think that if I took care of my hair and conditioned it then like I do now, it wouldn't have slowly shown damage. As it was, with all the dying and lightening with permanent dye, no care routine, shampoo only and no conditioner, I don't think it really looked that bad considering.

[Rosetta]

I'm really happy I came upon this thread :) I've been thinking it's impossible to have healthy long hair if you use chemical dyes, but many people here prove it's not! (Well, of course it varies individually, but anyway.)

Due to the above, I've stayed away from chemical dyes for years now (apart from temporary colours, the ones that last about 6-8 washes, and usually contain no damaging substances like ammonia and peroxide). In fact, I used to be a big "hair dye addict" years ago, but for years I've used henna instead, which is of course better for my hair (and probably my health, too); but sometimes I get an itch to try some chemical, usually semi-permanent dye... (Just like BringMeThunder above, I love to try new shades every now and then :o) Now I know I can probably indulge in that every now and then, if I then take good care of my hair (which I already do anyway). :)
But, if possible, I think it's best to stay away from ammonia and PPD, though (both of which nearly all permanent dyes contain)!

Come to think of it, my hair wasn't in that much worse condition than now when I was still using chemical dyes. But OTOH, that was probably the main reason why I was never getting anywhere past BSL before (due to splitting etc, even though I have to admit than I do get splits even now, with nothing damaging in my routine... :().
But - dare I say it - my hair often seemed at its best right after a chemical dye :o Shiny, stronger-looking etc. Maybe that was partly due to those very coney dye-package conditioners, but I do use coney condishes now, too, and it doesn't usually have the same effect. I don't know why...

Btw, have you all surely seen this thread..? (Sorry if this has been mentioned here already and I just missed it!)
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=10495 ("Possible way to protect hair from conventional peroxide damage")

[BringMeThunder]

Rosetta, I know exactly what you mean about the extra shininess that lasts a few days/weeks after chemical dyeing. I got it especially when I was dying my hair black, but not so much after auburn or red. I haven't figured it out either!

And thank you for sharing the link--since I'm a newbie, I hadn't seen it yet! :)

[HeatherWeather]

hi, i used to dye mine blonde and keeping to just the roots was okay but despite what colour you use i would seriously condition before and after. no matter which way you look at it its still a chemical. i use henna now which is fantastic for me but i do sometimes wish i could go blonde again but just the thought of having to use all those chemicals scares me now. like one extreme to another.