Does hair dye have protein? Is that what my hair needs?

**Adavidal** · February 1st, 2017, 04:29 PM

Okay, so I know that my hair needs tons of moisture, and I've noticed a huge difference since I started doing pre-wash likings and deep conditioning treatments, but every so often (usually every 2-3 months, my hair gets ridiculously dry and no amount of conditioning will fix it.

I used to have bleached ends, but I've cut all of that out over the last year, so I know that my ends are natural. But I've continued to dye it (my same natural color) with deposit only dye (no bleaching, just the color. When I do this, my hair is nice and soft again for another couple months, and gets crunchy and weird again when I'd be scheduled to re-dye.

Does hair dye have protein and is that what I'm missing? Very confused.

For reference i have collar length 2a very thick and full hair. I used to heat style every day but I've been limiting myself to two times a month that I blow dry.

**mizukitty** · February 1st, 2017, 05:34 PM

Which dye are you using? I can check the ingredients for you

Deposit only dyes do coat the hair and make it more full, soft, glossy etc. It can sort of act like a protein treatment in that regard.

Have you tried clarifying around the times it feels rough and dry? Sometimes that rough/dry feeling can be caused by product or mineral build up instead of actual dryness, especially when conditioning feels like it's not working.

**Anje** · February 1st, 2017, 07:28 PM

Depends on the dye. The deposit-only that I use does. (Incidentally, my hair doesn't care for that much protein and I have to moisturize it extra afterward to get it more normal.)

Box dyes often come with a little tube of conditioner that's rather nice and frequently full of silicones. If you're using one of those dyes, maybe what you're really after is the nice conditioner.

**Hay_jules** · February 1st, 2017, 07:47 PM

I do notice my hair feels nicer after direct dyes too. I always assume it's just due to the extra conditioners and length of time the dye is left on....it's like an extra deep conditioning. I always leave my dye in minimum 2 hours.

**Adavidal** · February 1st, 2017, 08:20 PM

I use the Revlon Colorsilk in Medium Golden Brown.

I haven't tried clarifying but I'll definitely look into getting a shampo that does that so I can see if that helps.

**Adavidal** · February 1st, 2017, 08:21 PM

Originally Posted by Anje

Depends on the dye. The deposit-only that I use does. (Incidentally, my hair doesn't care for that much protein and I have to moisturize it extra afterward to get it more normal.)

Box dyes often come with a little tube of conditioner that's rather nice and frequently full of silicones. If you're using one of those dyes, maybe what you're really after is the nice conditioner.

I don't usually use the conditioner that comes with the box but I do like to mix some of my conditioner in with the dye when I apply it- maybe that makes a difference?

**Anje** · February 1st, 2017, 08:31 PM

OK, looking at the ingredients.

First off, Colorsilk isn't deposit-only. It's got peroxide, so it's an oxidative dye. Generally has a reputation for being low-damage, so I'm guessing it's a relatively low volume peroxide, but yeah.

It does have some protein in it. So does the conditioner.

My first thought is that you should try clarifying your hair when it starts to feel dry like that, see if it makes a difference. Maybe it will, maybe it won't. If it doesn't, definitely try a conditioner with some protein in it (typically the ones marked as reconstructers or for damaged hair have some, but so many bottles say things like "now with silk amino acids!" on the front that it's not hard to find a protein-containing conditioner). It might be what your hair wants, and hair that needs protein often feels dry but won't moisturize well. Trouble is that hair that needs clarified is like that too.

**Rebeccalaurenxx** · February 2nd, 2017, 01:29 AM

I actually never knew hair dye could have protein in it. No wonder my hair was always pissy when I colored haha

**Adavidal** · February 2nd, 2017, 05:58 AM

Originally Posted by Anje

OK, looking at the ingredients.

First off, Colorsilk isn't deposit-only. It's got peroxide, so it's an oxidative dye. Generally has a reputation for being low-damage, so I'm guessing it's a relatively low volume peroxide, but yeah.

It does have some protein in it. So does the conditioner.

My first thought is that you should try clarifying your hair when it starts to feel dry like that, see if it makes a difference. Maybe it will, maybe it won't. If it doesn't, definitely try a conditioner with some protein in it (typically the ones marked as reconstructers or for damaged hair have some, but so many bottles say things like "now with silk amino acids!" on the front that it's not hard to find a protein-containing conditioner). It might be what your hair wants, and hair that needs protein often feels dry but won't moisturize well. Trouble is that hair that needs clarified is like that too.

Aha, okay I will definitely clarify the next time my hair starts to get weird on me, and will keep a protein conditioner on hand in case the clarifying doesn't help. Also did not realize the dye had peroxide, maybe I'll switch back to ion dyes instead. Thank you!