Is virgin hair so amazing compared to pampered coloured hair?

[Isilme]

I have been thinking about something for a while. Pretty much half of my hair is virgin hennaed and the other half is coloured two times with box dyes and henna (only two colours over virgin hair was enough to fry it, does that say anything about the quality of my virgin hair?)
I long for the day when I have only virgin hennaed hair but I can't stop thinking that maybe I'm overvaluing (this word sounds wrong to me, is there a better one?) virgin hair. So I have a question for those of you who have grown out dye, is you virgin hair tougher than the hair you had which was coloured? Do you find as many splits in your virgin hair? What is the difference?
I remember that my virgin hair could get awfully damaged, then of course I didn't take care of it at all. So I'm afraid I'm setting myself up for disappointments.
This also leads me to wondering how much abuse my old ends will stand up to when I plan to have fun and bleach and colour them every colour of the rainbow before I chop them off (don't worry, my plan is to take the hair from classic with multicoloured ends to tailbone when I get tired of the old ends, this will take some years)
Thoughts?

[Amara]

No words of wisdom here, just interested to see what others will say. I have about a year's worth of virgin hair and will be interested as it grows out and I continue trimming away the damanaged/dyed ends, how much of a difference in strength etc I see.

*sits back to watch for replies*

[AJoifulNoise]

My hair is frizzier in it's natural state. I am completely at a loss as to how to take care of it. The part that is colored lays nice and smooth. As for splits... I have no idea if it splits more or less.

[Pegasus Marsters]

As long as you don't use bleach your hair will come out of the dying just fine... As long as you don't want it to like your knees it'll be fine. But yeah, I dye mine and grow it looong.

[Nightshade]

I don't have an answer for you either, as my dyed ends are junk and my hair was poorly treated in general then. So for me, the henna-only part is a cut far and above the dye, but I found henna when I finally figured out how in the nine hells to actually care for my hair as though I wanted it attached to my head for longer than a week :rolleyes:

So in that case, the comparison really isn't fair.

That said, before I started really going nuts with the dye, and I'd only done it a time or two, it was fine. Fading aside (which begs for reapplication), the hair itself was in decent shape. Had I not overlapped the dye and used a deposit-only to correct the fading I doubt I'd ever have damaged it to the point of it snapping off.

I'll be interested in the answers of those that can actually compare virgin versus dyed, but with comparable good-hair-care standards for both.

[Islandgrrl]

I can only speak for myself, but yes, my virgin hair is much stronger and in better condition than my damaged parts. I have some damage on the lower part of my canopy from highlights I had a couple years ago - ONE TIME. I'd classify this damage as moderate to severe. Virgin hair can become badly damaged through neglect or mechanical means, but if you're taking good care of your virgin hair then it's always going to be in better condition than chemically processed hair.

I have hennaed my whole head once within the last 6 months and this has significantly improved the condition of the damaged parts of my hair, so I'm a believer in henna, for sure.

Here's the thing, if you're planning on having some fun with those old damaged ends, and the end result (no pun intended) is that you're going to cut them off anyway, you might as well have the fun. If it doesn't work out the end result is going to be the same - you'll cut them off. :)

ETA: Above when I say that virgin hair is going to be in better condition than chemically processed hair, please note that I don't necessarily mean you'll like it better - it may be less frizzy when treated, or straighter or whatever, but the integrity of the hair is compromised once you apply chemical color.

[willowcandra]

I couldn't have gone past tailbone with dyed hair. Even without bleach it was still very damaging, even with henna.

I now have three years and eight months of roots and they are 300% nicer than the dyed part. (maybe a lil more fly away but a teeny amount of jojoba deals with that and by a day or so after a wash it's all great.

[PseudoScot]

I think it depends entirely on the person and no doubt there are people who love their colored hair and there is nothing wrong with that. Neither virgin nor colored is superior to the other.

Virgin hair is exceptionally superior in one respect for me, that is, it's never dyed. I have no upkeep. Zero. My kind of style. :D

I imagine virgin hair has less handling and chemicals on it for the most part, so it could be quite good. But, there are people with colored hair who treat their hair far superior to those who don't dye and have much better locks.

It just comes down, I think, to being sensitive to your hair and how it responds and treating it as best you can.

[liseling]

I dyed my hair about 3 years ago and now the beginning of the ends are down at about my shoulder. I definitely notice the difference between my dyed ends and the hair above that. They are fuzzier and dryer than my other hair. And they look duller.

[Delenn]

The last 6" or so (I'm estimating as I have done microtrims) has been horribly abused: blowfried and flat ironed while both bleached, then eventually overdyed with commercial dye and ultimately hennaed. And it's really not all that bad. If I'm gentle with my hair it stays in good condition and pretty much looks like the rest although slightly lighter in color due to the old bleaching. Pre-henna I had to coconut oil the ends to keep them in line, the henna I think has done wonders at giving it strength. Ok... I had a point to this reply, but I lost it now. Uhhhh, oh hey look at the time! :o

[Dvips]

As PseudoScot said, it depends on your hair. :shrug: Some people's hair can take quite a bit of so-called abuse and suffer very little. Others get damaged quite easily.

[burns_erin]

This is a question a feel pretty qualified to answer as I have gone through some pretty distinct phases.

1. I kept long hair (waist or so) that I treated poorly and colored frequently. It was prone to splits and breakage and tangling.
2. I kept long hair (waist or so) that I treated okay, hennaed over old commercial dye. This was a bit stronger and less breakage, but was still very tangly and felt not very nice.
3. I kept moderate length virgin hair for a while, minimal splitting, breakage or tangling.
4. Now I am growing out essentially henna only hair, it is definitely the strongest and least prone to splits, it is however slightly more prone to tangling than purely virgin hair.

In between these stages there was much chopping off of hair and frenzied trimming.

All that being said, this is with my hair which is slightly unique in it's stats, so YMMV.

[ReadingRenee]

I used to dye my hair soley so that it would be more manageable. My hair virgin is slippy, silky, and smooth. I did grow out all my dye damage last year and my virgin hair was a LOT nicer. Fuller, softer, more body, and no splits.

Then I hennaed and dyed twice over it. :( No more virgin hair. Once again I can feel the amazing difference between virgin and dyed. hopefully this time around I won't forget what Ive learned and dye again.

[RedRose]

When I first started dying my hair, I would say that it was as beautiful and as healthy and strong as my virgin hair. But then I continued dying. And changing colours. And then I went red, and it hated being red and it lost all its condition.

My point? I think that repeatedly dyed hair loses its beauty and strength compared to virgin hair no matter how pampered it is. But if you only dyed once, and then only dyed the regrowth and not the length, I think it could stay it pretty comparable condition.

[Kiraela]

I know that for me, on my head, at least... you can easily feel the difference by running your hand down my hair. from scalp to mid shoulders, it's soft and smooth and lovely. from there, its... decidedly less lovely. My hair gets comments on the shine... but the virgin hair is almost blinding (which makes it hard to get a good picture of the color, btw). I have a lot of shorter hairs that are the same length as the cuttoff point from virgin to bleached... those hairs have no splits that I can find, whereas the rest is not good. Admittedly, though, taking better care of my hair has made the damaged bits much nicer than they were previously. I don't think dyed hair will ever be AS nice feeling as virgin hair, but with proper care, it may be darned close.

[Tressie]

Hi PseudoScot! I remember the "Gopher Guts Jingle" from childhood. We started it out with "Gobs and Gobs of..." LOL! I wanted to ask you about sulfate-free shampoo? I haven't been able to find any that is free of SLS AND ALS. What do you use? What kind of difference do you see in your hair since going sulfate free? Thanks so much for your kind help!

[Speedbump]

I have a slightly different perspective that might be helpful.

I have virgin hair, in that I have never colored, permed, or really did much of anything to my hair. Never flat-ironed, either. (I threw my blow dryer away a looong time ago, too.)

However, my hair was still total crap when I came to LHC. Tons of damage all over my head and horrible ends, lots of breakage. All because I wore it down all the time, used harsh products and too much of them and brushed it while wet ALL the time. :eek:

So although I cannot compare my hair to colored directly, I can tell you there is a whole spectrum of quality in virgin hair, just like all other kinds. So I think, just totally theoretically and not from personal experience, that it is easily possible poorly treated virgin hair could be in worse shape than well-treated colored hair. :twocents:

[wintersun99]

Regarding my own hair, I can absolutely tell the difference between my chemically damaged hair and my new growth that has been henna'd only. The new growth (I'm comparing new length at the nape of the neck) is super soft and thick, even without conditioner. The damaged hair, well, it sucks :)

[tinah]

i dunno. my colored hair has been "abused" pretty hard, as in colored LOTS, but i've always used lots of conditioner, brushed gentle, and worn up in a clip most of the time as scrunchies make even my dry hair feel crispy. And never, ever, ever have i blow dried or straightened it. i am having issues with the ends right now, but my hand is in a cast, so. . .
anyway, i have noticed the two year virgin growth is slightly more slippery. I'm thinking about hennaing, since the dye was always some shade of red anyway, but have more research to do.

[teela1978]

My hair is frizzier in it's natural state. I am completely at a loss as to how to take care of it. The part that is colored lays nice and smooth. As for splits... I have no idea if it splits more or less.

Thats interesting. My virgin hair is much less wavy/curly than my dyed was and is thus much less frizzy. I've found my natural hair to be glossier, smoother, and generally better behaved than my dyed hair was. I kinda dug the curls though. Dropped from a 2c-ish to a 2a-ish once my dye got chopped off.

[rapunzhell13]

IMO:

Pampered Virgin Hair > Mistreated Coloured Hair

Pampered Virgin Hair > Pampered Coloured Hair

Pampered Coloured Hair > Mistreated Virgin Hair

This is just in terms of damage. Some people have more resilient hair than others, so damage from colouring and mistreatment will always vary. :)

[dukkelisa]

Back in my hair colouring days, I had mostly short to chin length hair that was very oily. For me at the time, colouring and bleaching helped dry my hair out. I did not worry about damage back then as I could always cut it.

Its a different world for me now, as my hair has no bleach or colouring. I don't feel the oilyness anymore because I don't comb and brush much and I wear it up 99% of the time. My hair is silkier and shinier than before. For me, I would love to have lovely auburn hair, but I do not want the maintenance of it nor any growing out stages. I accept my mousy hair that is slowly turning white. I finally grew out my bangs and that was enough of the "growing out" stages for me!

[FrannyG]

I colour my hair, and I find that I have very little damage, as long as I do in fact, pamper it. There's no question that my virgin hair would be better, but I'm willing to make the sacrifice, as I'm not ready to go silver at this time.

I do know that high lift, ultra-light blonde shades are much harsher than what I use currently. I did have problems years ago with high lift blondes. Having said that, I certainly didn't care for my hair the way I do now.

[greekprincess]

I have about 5" of virgin hair and it's is softer than the dyed ends, but I also oil my ends like crazy with coconut oil so they are pretty soft right now too. When I used to dye my hair red, I have to say that my hair was very healthy. My stylist was the only one that touched my hair and she would trim about 1/8" every other month and my hair grew like crazy...my hair grew to my waist and it was soft and shiny.

Sooo...I guess it all comes down to how you treat your hair. Virgin hair can become damaged and not so nice if it is not taken care of....same thing with processed hair.

[sipnsun]

I've noticed that my virgin hair is a lot stronger than my bleached hair. Even when I bleached, I took very good care of my hair, only using good products, deep conditioning weekly, ect. But I still get lots of breakage and splits on my bleached ends, and have little to no breakage on the top 6 inches of virgin hair that has grown out.

[bex487]

I grew all the dye out of my hair, and then when I cut my hair short (getting rid of the last bits of dye), I succumbed and got highlights. To be honest, I notice absolutely no difference with my hair quality. Bleach, done properly, isn't going to ruin hair per se. I make sure to condition, use as little heat-styling as possible, and only dye my hair ONCE. My highlights will get root touch-ups, but I will not be dying over the highlights.

I think that if colored hair is cared for well, it's not going to absolutely ruin your hair. It comes down to what your natural hair is like, the resiliency of your hair, and what kind of coloring you're doing.

[sibilum]

Bleach, done properly, isn't going to ruin hair per se.

I respectfully disagree. Yes, it will. Not if you keep it short, of course, but bleached long hair just can't stand the damage.

This is my hair history...

When I was 14 I began to henna, and until 18 I used and loved it. No damage there, just shiny, strong auburn hair. Then I started with the chemical dyes until I was 32!

On the rare occasions when my hair was a little longer, about shoulder lenght, yes, I had some damage, split ends, and it got SO TANGLED I had to spend so much money on very expensive heavy duty conditioners.

When I was 32 I got very tired of all this and I shaved my head.

Now my hair is virgin, and yes, the quality is 100% better. I hardly find a split end, and I don't need strong conditioners to be able to detangle when I wash it.

When I see the henna heads on the boards I get tempted to henna my hair again, but then I think about touch ups and 2 toned hair and I quickly forget about it. I still like henna on others though. Plus, I discovered my hair has a very pretty color I had forgotten about. I don't want to ever dye it again, and I look forward to have a silver mane when I get older!

[jivete]

I don't actually remember a time I had all virgin hair. When I was young, it was either growing out a perm or was very sun-bleached. However, the last time I dyed and also used shampoo was back in February of this year and I can say this, the top 5" or so of my hair is smooth and unbroken. Below that the entire length has broken hair throughout. I was very surprised when I had enough virgin hair to really notice a difference and now I'm looking forward to having virgin hair all the way to the end and curious how much thicker it will be.

[Curlsgirl]

I had longer virgin hair when I was younger and it was frizzy though soft. My hair is in much better shape now and it has body where my non-virgin hair was pretty flat. That is one thing I like about color. I do baby my hair now though VERY much. I really think that is the key.

[akiss4lexie]

My virgin hair is definitely tougher than treated hair. I only have very limited experience with dye though, but there still is a huge difference for me. I wouldn't say my virgin hair is "tough," as it is very fine and fragile; but in comparison with my highlighted hair, it holds up to damange better and cooperates with me better.

Two years ago I got highlights and a "trim" that ended up chopping my BSL+ hair to my shoulders. shudder: I did like the highlights though. I got them touched up once, and after that decided to start growing them out. Because it was somebody else that did the touch-up highlights, I think she may have used a bleach concentration that was stronger than necessary for my extremely fine hair. But even if that wasn't the case, I had a hard time growing out those highlights. My hair kept splitting and breaking, because the hair shaft is weakened by bleach.

Eventually in February 2007, I got several inches of bad damage cut off, and had my hair dyed to my natural color with semi-permanent dye (which washed out completely after a couple months). The dye coated my hair, so it helped protect the hair a bit as it was growing.

The highlights are well past my shoulders now, but they still are the bane of my hair's existence. Those strands get much drier than my virgin hair, because they're more porous, and they are much more susceptible to splits. I've started using cassia now to help protect the hair, so that seems to help a bit.

But I'll be so glad when I can chop off the last of the damage. I think I'll have fun with it first though, as suggested, and bleach just the tips and dye them in a crazy color. :cheese:

[bex487]

I respectfully disagree. Yes, it will. Not if you keep it short, of course, but bleached long hair just can't stand the damage.

I guess this goes to show it really depends on the inidvidual! I've had hair longer than APL with highlights (so bleached), and it wasn't damaged. I only did highlights about 3 times a year though, and never dyed over already-dyed hair. Maybe I'm just lucky!

[spidermom]

My hair is virgin but it's not all that amazing.

[ChloeDharma]

For my hair then virgin is definately better than chemically processed. My hair is fine and has some weird tendancy to act like curly hair even though it's become much straighter over the last few years.
When i had coloured hair it was almost impossible to make it look nice and often just running my fingers through it was impossible and it took a long time of mainly soaking it in oil and constant DT's to be able to bear growing it out.
My virgin hair is fairly low maintenance, as long as i treat it gently it stays fairly happy....soft with reasonable shine.

As has been said, some people will have hair that copes well with chemical processes and others will have hair that can take very little. Also not all colouring practices are equal.....a semi permanent is unlikely to cause many problems....and a permanent colour varies in the strength of peroxide used mostly dependant on the amount of lift required. Bleach on the other hand is the harshest of lighteners and after a point will dissolve hair and could even be used in theory as a hair remover. That said, it can still be used without meaning you have to cut the hair off, but will definately require compensation of some kind.
One of my sisters has i'd say 2c/C/iii hair and her hair can take being coloured with high lift tint and bleached highlights but never breaks......but the feel of it is rough. If i used bleach then my hair would end up back at my shoulders at least.

[PseudoScot]

Hi PseudoScot! I remember the "Gopher Guts Jingle" from childhood. We started it out with "Gobs and Gobs of..." LOL! I wanted to ask you about sulfate-free shampoo? I haven't been able to find any that is free of SLS AND ALS. What do you use? What kind of difference do you see in your hair since going sulfate free? Thanks so much for your kind help!

Will PM you. :)

[ilovelonghair]

For me my chemically dyed part of my hair is very brittle, dry and tangles a lot, the virgin hennaed part is much healthier and stronger!

[Avrilon]

It's been awhile since I've had virgin hair, but I do remember it feeling limper with less body before I colored. My hair is 38" which is past tailbone on me and I think it is still in great shape with full color - and I'm shooting for classic. There are no black and white rules here... some people have very resilient hair and some don't. Some can grow very long hair while coloring and some can't. Could be the hair, the type of color used, the products used, daily care, genes... who knows? But it's certainly not impossible to have "amazing" colored hair as well as amazing virgin hair. :)

Here is a recent picture of my hair that I color every six weeks:

http://images32.fotki.com/v1108/photos/1/105445/394790/hair22308i-vi.jpg

[JessTheMess]

Avrilon.....:agape: your hair is beautiful!!!!

[Ohio Sky]

The hair that is now at my tips has been dyed on average probably every 2 months for... 7 years now. This includes several (probably 5 or 6) bleach jobs, ranging from highlights to full-head 'let's see how long I have to leave this stuff on to strip 15 layers of black dye off my blonde hair' type of sessions.

And I honestly don't see a difference.

Granted, I haven't had virgin hair since joining LHC so I'm sure I didn't care for it as well as I could have when it was virgin, but I did have it down to TB at some point and the only problem I ever had then (besides the thinness) was tangles. I still have problems with tangles but have learned that ripping through them bith a brush isn't the best way to deal with them and that keeping it up minimizes that, so it's not so much an issue anymore.

I'm also a cone-head, and many would argue that I have damage,it's just hidden. But I went no cones for a while and had the softest, shiniest hair EVER and never noticed any more splits than usual, which is suprisingly few for waist length hair with the history mine has. But I still had those tangles, and no amount of oil would allow a comb to get through it. So take that for what you will, I suppose. My hair was tangly before dye, too :shrug:

All that being said, I'm sure it does impart SOME damage, and I'm more concerned with minimizing that now, so I am switching to demi permanent dye and roots only applications, whereas I used to use permanent all the time and do the whole length to keep the color looking it's best.

[Elenna]

I have been growing virgin hair for about a year and it is noticably softer, stronger and nicer than the dyed hair. Unfortunatley, the dyed hair is brittle and breaking. So I am trying to deal with the damage. I wish that I had never started dying my hair.

[AmselJoey]

Just adding my two cents to the discussion!

I colored my hair for years as a teenager. It held up pretty well and still looked healthy...until I decided to chemically straighten it (2 or 3x total I believe :bigeyes:).

I'm voting for virgin hair because I miss mine and it looked so lovely. I wish I had thought the same at the time! Oh well live and learn.

I have had enough fun with dying and am now making it a goal to grow out my virgin hair, which I can't wait for! :D

Still I feel everyone has something different that works best for them both hairwise and in life. So I feel virgin vs pampered colored hair is a personal preference. Plus I have seen beautiful hair of each kind. :)


Amsel Joey:happydance:

[AmselJoey]

PS-Avrilon your hair is GOR-GE-OUS! I love it!

[Isilme]

well, thank you all of you for taking the time to answer. I feel so at a loss sometimes when my hair gets so dry and oil just makes it crunchy. And then I remember my mistreated virgin hair. I guess it's just grow and see.
Avrilon, you hair is gorgeous! It looks like spun gold.

[Tap Dancer]

I colour my hair, and I find that I have very little damage, as long as I do in fact, pamper it.

Me too. Good conditioners are my best friends. :) And I don't have any more damage now than I did when my hair was virgin. Of course I also didn't care for it as well back then.

[busnutmedic]

A friend of mine is very sure that dying her hair kept it MORE healthy. I don't know what she used to dye it. It did look very nice at the time, I haven't seen her in years. I think she had been at it for a while when I saw her last.

[Wanderlust]

I don't think virgin hair is 'so amazing' compared to colored hair. I think there are positives and negatives to both. When I had virgin hair, it was very strong, and only tangled when I didn't comb it every day. I had very little breakage and could have grown it much longer without probably needing any trims except to keep the length even. BUT, I didn't like the color. When I colored my hair, it lost a lot of shine, but it had more body and looked and felt softer. I had A LOT more breakage with dyed hair than virgin, and since the ends of my hair are dyed now, I will have a lot harder time growing it long, but I will enjoy the process more because I like the color better.

I think it really depends on the person what is 'better' because different people value different things. I value color over length (to an extent. I wouldn't prefer a colored shoulder-length cut over undyed waist length hair, for instance). Some people value length over color. Some people prefer silky hair, some prefer soft hair. It just depends on what's important to you.

[daydreamer]

For me personally the dyed part of my hair is generally rougher and dryer than the virgin part -- but this is because it was dyed three times in pretty short intervals. I've had dyed hair before that was not very damaged though -- in fact it usually made my hair hold styles better and seem thicker. I'm going back to virgin anyway, because I love my natural color and I am not sure I can get to tailbone if I kept dying it. My hair is fine and thus rather fragile.

[Polyhex]

I respectfully disagree. Yes, it will. Not if you keep it short, of course, but bleached long hair just can't stand the damage.

Different heads of hair are just different. I have bleached highlights that are approaching my knees. I have no doubt you are correct for your own hair.

[VanillaTresses]

Personally, my hair was very strong with just color, but when I had hilites done over virgin hair I had lots of breakage. :) So I just personally distance myself from the bleach! I do agree though that different people's hair can take different levels of outside assault... but I do think that a for sure "nono" for almost anyone would be bleach over bleach. That is seriously walking on the dangerous side of things IMO!

[LadyMoon11]

It's been awhile since I've had virgin hair, but I do remember it feeling limper with less body before I colored. My hair is 38" which is past tailbone on me and I think it is still in great shape with full color - and I'm shooting for classic. There are no black and white rules here... some people have very resilient hair and some don't. Some can grow very long hair while coloring and some can't. Could be the hair, the type of color used, the products used, daily care, genes... who knows? But it's certainly not impossible to have "amazing" colored hair as well as amazing virgin hair. :)

Here is a recent picture of my hair that I color every six weeks:

http://images32.fotki.com/v1108/photos/1/105445/394790/hair22308i-vi.jpg

:agape::thud::thudpile:

OMG this photo + your hair is.... amazing!

[NorthernDancer]

It's been awhile since I've had virgin hair, but I do remember it feeling limper with less body before I colored. My hair is 38" which is past tailbone on me and I think it is still in great shape with full color - and I'm shooting for classic. There are no black and white rules here... some people have very resilient hair and some don't. Some can grow very long hair while coloring and some can't. Could be the hair, the type of color used, the products used, daily care, genes... who knows? But it's certainly not impossible to have "amazing" colored hair as well as amazing virgin hair. :)

WHOA Your hair is BEAUTIFUL! :thudpile: I might have just found a new hair idol!

I was the same way. I've colored my hair since I was 18 (so 5+ years) and my hair was limper and wouldn't hold a style before I colored. I even got a perm, but that fell out in 2 days! My virgin hair was ok, I'd had it long (waist+), I'd had it short, but there was nothing great about it. And it always tangled. When I was a young child my mom would have to spend a half an hour detangling my hair EVERY MORNING (this did get better as I got older, but not by much).

Once I colored my hair it had slip and shine, and almost never tangles. And I like the color much better! :cheese:

Now I have thought about trying my virgin hair (esp. since coming here!), but then I think about all the time it would take to grow out my current color, and what if it goes back to the way it was when I was younger? I couldn't stand that.

Some people don't have luck with color, some do. It's all YMMV! If you want to try virgin hair, good luck to you. But for some people (like me), virgin isn't always better.

[EvaSimone]

I had virgin hair up until I was 16 years old and I remember it being very soft, thick, and resilient.

It also had no body whatsoever, even a hair stylist remarked that since my hair was virgin it really wouldn't hold a curl or much of anything.

After I started dying my hair it would hold styles much better and it had more body but it was no where near as strong as my virgin hair is.

Part of the issue with the dye was that I subjected my hair to whole head applications every time I dyed my hair. I think over the long haul it weakened my hair substantially.

So I vote for virgin hair also!