Wednesday 9 January 2008

I thought it may be good to look at the process of hair dye colors and how it works.

75% of American women color their hair, with red as the most requested color.

Men's home hair color sales have increased by 50% over the past 5 years.

Most hair dye colors can be applied easily. Depending on the product, this may be to wet or dry hair or applied like a shampoo followed by rinsing and conditioning.

There are three main types of hair coloring.

Semi Permanent color is generally used for adding color to hair, rather than changing the color of the hair. The dye contains color molecules, which enter the hair outer layer and cortex. They do not react with the natural pigments and generally wash out of the hair after 6 to 12 shampoos and the hair is the same color as it was prior to application.


Demi-Permanent color Molecules penetrate the cuticle and cortex then react with other color molecules, creating a larger molecule which takes longer to wash out, about 24 - 26 shampoos. The product does not contain ammonia, so the hair cannot be lightened, but generally does contain peroxide, which enhances color.


Permanent color is the coloring process, which will afford the greatest change in hair color. These dyes use both ammonia and peroxide. Molecules enter the cortex and react with the hair and cannot be washed out, hair has to grow out. The product lightens the hair, forming a new color base, then the color dye reacts with the new base, to create the desired color. Because the hair's natural pigment is lightened, it means the final effect will be a combination of your natural pigment and the new color, it means the final color will vary slightly between one person and another. Roots do grow back and touch up is generally required every 4 to 6 weeks. Hair can be lightened or darkened. Lightening hair always requires a bleaching process, which is strips color out of the hair.

There is a fourth group of hair dyes, which are the bright unnatural colors, (which I use in my own hair). These vary in strength and generally require the bleaching of hair prior to application, to achieve the desired effect, a far more aggressive color stripping process, than from the three mainstream groups.

This site provides a wide range of hair products and is well worth the visit:

Unique salon hair care, hair styling, and more

Please feel free top add your comments about hair dye colors






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