Coloring hair?

**White_Rabbit** · February 6th, 2009, 12:53 AM

I love to mess with hair dye, but I'm afraid it will damage my hair (and then it won't be long an healthy! Oh no!)

I never use permanent dyes, only semi-permanent...and my hair is naturally oily...but will dying my hair end up frying it and/or making split ends?

I want to dye it, but I want it to be healthy...is this not a win-win situation?

**RancheroTheBee** · February 6th, 2009, 01:36 AM

Well, the obvious option would be henna. You only get one color, though, and you can't dye over it (unless you're magic). I also never liked it. It had this really unfortunate thickening effect on my hair, so I kind of looked like Little Orphan Annie for a while.

There are some nice semi-permanents out there (and of course, I cannot provide you with any specific examples because I suck.) Obviously, you're going to encounter some damage, and semi-permanent color isn't going to dramatically alter your color. For example, in the eighth grade, I really wanted to be blonde. My mother bought me a box of SP hair dye, and it turned out red.
Basically, SP dyes coat the hair, and permanents actually lift the cuticle and seep into the little nucleus there.

All that said, you can also check the natural recipes section of the board. They have some good tips on changing your color with things like honey that aren't going to hurt your hair.

**Toadstool** · February 6th, 2009, 01:45 AM

Many people here colour their hair, there are lots of threads on the subject.Also many don't. Personally I have stopped because I didn't like the condition of my hair after dyeing/bleaching. I don't know about semi-permanents, I know they're supposed to be less damaging but that may not be true.

**manderly** · February 6th, 2009, 02:11 AM

Well it kind of depends. What color do you want? Lighter or darker than your natural color? Is it something you want to play with all the time and experiment, or alter the color and touch it up?

If you want to bleach out your hair and dye it crazy colors every week, then yes, you're going to fry the living hell out of it.

If you want to achieve a color and maintain the roots, that is better and you still have the potential to have some pretty darn nice hair. If you're dying your hair darker or similar in shade to your natural color, that's even better yet as it requires less peroxide to remove your base color.

So there are a lot of variables to consider

**brok3nwings** · February 6th, 2009, 06:28 AM

If your talking about semi permanent i dont see a lot of problem. you wont use bleach and you wont use a high peroxide value... it also depends a lot on your hair type. Some can handle it and some dont... but even so, again, semi permanent dont seam too harsh. if you use it, use ammonia free

**Nera** · February 6th, 2009, 06:52 AM

I have noticed that dying always damages my hair, but on the long run.
I'm going for virgin hair now, so I will see if it really makes a difference.
I personally think you have to make a choice between long and healthy hair, or short and colored hair.

Of course it also depends on your hair type (: and a couple times of exerpimenting with dye, wouldn't ruin your hair totally(:

**3azza** · February 6th, 2009, 07:50 AM

Henna is good for your hair, but has a limited colour range from orange to auburn depending on your hair colour and how long you keep it. you can add boxus or indigo to make the colour brown or black. there is another plant called cassia for blond hair as well.
It's not true that you can not dye over henna. you can do anything if the henna is natural and no chemicals are added to it.
check this out: http://www.hennaforhair.com

**rymorg2** · February 6th, 2009, 08:02 AM

My opinion as a professional stylist is that all color damages hair to a certain degree, but that degree varies on your hair and what it can handle and what you use on it. Semis or demis are much more gentle than others but you will still get some damage. I do color my hair, about every 6-8 weeks, but I use a demipermanent and my hair can take it. Any breakage I have is leftover from highlighting I had done about a year ago.

**suicides_eve** · February 6th, 2009, 08:18 AM

Originally Posted by White_Rabbit

I love to mess with hair dye, but I'm afraid it will damage my hair (and then it won't be long an healthy! Oh no!)

I never use permanent dyes, only semi-permanent...and my hair is naturally oily...but will dying my hair end up frying it and/or making split ends?

I want to dye it, but I want it to be healthy...is this not a win-win situation?

You love to mess with hair dyes but you never used them??? What do you use then to color your hair??