The Weakening Of The Hair Shafts
Hair dying can also lead to a permanent weakening of the hair shafts, themselves. Dying the hair requires you to use hydrogen peroxide to swell the cuticular scale and open up the ports for the permanent dye to enter the hair shaft where the reaction takes place.
Once this process has finished, the hair remains more porous than natural, undyed hair. The new pores present in the hair shafts can promote the loss of protein from the hair, making it weaker especially with a lot of washing and combing, etc.
Also. porosity increases when the hair is made lighter than when it is darkened. Thats why brown or dark hair made lighter tends to experience more loss and breakage than lighter hair dyed to be a darker color. The amount of peroxide needed will dictate the amount of loss that occurs.
Knowing The Difference Between Hair Loss And Hair Breakage
To sum it all up, the hair loss that comes along with permanently dying your hair is not always hair loss because you are beginning to go bald. More hair could be appearing in the sink because your hair is weaker and breaking. This is what we mean when we use the term breakage. It can be hard to make this distinction.
The best way to know for sure is to collect hair samples for about a week and have a talk with your dermatologist to determine whether the hair is falling out from the root, or not. If less than half of the hairs have the bulb attached, then the loss is caused by breakage and isnt a major concern.
The best way to stop your hear from breaking is to do as little as possible to it. Thats where we can come in to help.
How To Combat The Effects Of Hair Coloring And Styling
You probably already know that you shouldnt be dying your hair every other day or weekly either for that matter. But, there are things you can do to help minis damage to your hair when you do color it yourself.
- Never pull or tug on your hair to initially get it combed out. This will cause your scalp to become tender. Applying hair dye to an already irritated scalp can cause scalps to form. Instead, use a product that helps you to easy comb out your hair such as Fresh & Easy Takedown Cream.
- To safeguard your scalp and hair, its always best to have these types of treatments done by a professional. And not just any professional. Choose one that that cares about the condition of scalp and hair.
- Dont comb your hair while you have hair color processing on your head. This strips away more of the needed proteins in your hair and youll notice the damage, possibly even hair loss quickly.
- Always apply a deep conditioning treatment after the color is thoroughly rinsed out. The sooner you can create an ideal environment for your scalp, the better.
- Use a color-safe shampoo as well as conditioner. These often offer a lot more moisture that regular products and they work to revive the protein production your hair needs.
- Make sure you maintain a healthy diet before and after coloring your hair. This will aid in the hair bulb and shaft width growth.
Also Check: Does Ulcerative Colitis Cause Hair Loss
Ask The Hair Expert: Does Hair Colouring And Dyeing Cause Hair Damage
Colour streaking. Global highlights. Gold. Blue. Pink. Silver. Red Hair colouring. The most popular and most seen hair trend these days. From a salon to a grocery store, its one service or product that sells best!
Have you ever stopped to think about how the hair colour works? How the hair absorbs the colour? It is a rather interesting fact, the science behind the process, that peculiarly is unknown to most who actually follow this hair trend!
But there are some of you, who have reached out to us, asking us about hair colouring, its impact on hairs health and hair colour damage. And we are hence back, once again, with our Ask the Hair Expert series to address your queries.
You asked: Can colouring my hair, damage it?! Is it affecting my hairs health? How do I tackle hair colour damage?
Heres the answer from the Hair Experts.Hair Colouring DOES have an impact on your hair. But, as long as you ensure its done right and necessary steps are taken, under the guidance of a Trichologist, to protect your hair & scalp, you can colour guilt-free!
So, lets first understand what happens to your hair when you colour it, the possible damage it can cause, what can be done to protect your hair against such damage and some handy tips on hair care!
Whats the science behind hair colouring?
Let us first explain how the hair is actually coloured. This process has to do with hair anatomy.
How do the ingredients impact the process and your hair?
- ammonia
- Toluene-2, 5-diamine
- resorcinol
Does Dying Your Hair Damage It
We all know that regular colouring sessions can cause a fair bit damage to your hair in the long run, but it’s hard not to be tempted to recolour when you scroll through endless hairstyle inspo on Instagram. ‘It looks so good,’ we hear you cry, ‘but I know it’s damaging my hair!’
Thanks to the hair powers that be, there are several tweaks you can make to your haircare regimen so that you can have healthy AND coloured hair.
First thing first, you need to understand what colouring does to your hair to be able to look for the right solution. You might think the easy answer is simply to buy products for coloured hair, but these maintain the colour vibrancy rather than repairing your hair. The tricky part is figuring out which product will give your coloured hair a new lease of life inside out. We’ll come to that, but firstâ¦
Also Check: What Does Hair Loss Mean
Pamper Your Hair Once A Week
Youâve invested on the perfect hair colour and shine, so naturally you want that vibrant shade and healthy look and feel to stay put. The key is to treat, treat, treat your hair. If conditioning is a must, adding nourishing masks and treatments once a week is the way to win your healthy hair back. It to floods hair with intense moisture and helps repairing visible damage, so here are a couple to stock up on.
Pantene Pro-V Intense Rescue Shots are a 1-minute intense treatment for over-stressed and damaged hair. It has deeply moisturising and repairing agents that help restore 3 monthsâ worth of damage after just one 60 second use. The best bit? You donât have to waste 10 minutes in shower, waiting for your treatment to work its way through your hair and you canât be wrong on the dosage as the handy individual tubes contain just the right dose for your hair.
Can Colouring Your Hair Cause Hair Loss And Balding
Permanent hair dye penetrates the hair to transform the colour and appearance of your hair.
And, its perfectly reasonable to suspect that this process could contribute to or lead to hair loss. Fortunately, its not as dire as you think it might be. Unless youve gotten right down to the roots of your hair , you havent messed with the chemistry that regulates hair loss directly.
However, hair colour, even the high-quality stuff, will act as any chemical or styling product does. Usually, that leaves you with dry and damaged hair. And that most often leads to split ends and breakages. Enough of that treatment and you shouldnt be surprised to lose more than 50-100 hairs a day.
Read Also: Does Hpv Cause Hair Loss
Treatment For Temporary Hair Loss
If you are concerned about thinning hair or bald patches from bleaching or dyeing your hair, it is best to stop colouring your hair further and seek expert help immediately. Whilst most temporary conditions will correct themselves in up to six months time, in line with the hairs normal growth cycle, a hair loss specialist will be able to provide you with a professional diagnosis and plan of action. If needed, they can also recommend a hair loss treatment plan as well as giving personalised hair loss advice tailored to your specific situation.
If you colour your hair regularly or frequently use heat styling equipment, it is a good idea to keep your hair in the best possible condition by ensuring it gets the necessary nutrients for healthy hair growth. You can do this through eating a varied diet featuring the various vitamins and minerals that benefit hair health, or by taking nutritional supplements such as our exclusive Hair Vitalics.
What To Do Next
To learn more about your hair restoration options, download Bosleys FREE info-kit, The Complete Book on Hair Restoration, to see how great your hair can look. If youre ready to do something about that bald spot or thinning hair now, schedule a FREE in-person or video consultation with a trained Bosley hair restoration specialist. Together with a Bosley Physician, we can help you find out whats causing your balding and what treatment solution is right for you.
Don’t Miss: Why Does Hair Thin During Menopause
Does Hair Dyeing Facilitate Hair Loss
Hair dyeing does not inhibit hair growth, but it may cause hair loss by damaging the hair that is color treated.
Dr. DraelosHair dyeing does not inhibit hair growth, but it may cause hair loss by damaging the hair that is color treated. Hair beneath the scalp that has not yet emerged cannot be reached by hair dye and thus hair dye cannot fundamentally cause hair loss, but hair shedding can increase with hair dyeing.
First, the manipulation of the hair shafts as part of the rubbing and combing associated with the dyeing procedure can loosen hairs in telogen causing increased shedding.
Second, the hair dye contains both ammonia and hydrogen peroxide, which also loosens telogen hairs.
Third, hair dye can physically weaken hair shafts increasing breakage-caused hair loss.
The most common cause of hair loss related to hair dyeing is physical weakening of the hair shaft by disruption of the protein backbone. Hair dyes that lighten hair from its natural color are the most disruptive as they contain high volumes of peroxide. Peroxide is necessary to remove the eumelanin pigments from the hair shaft and replace them with blonde colors. Many individuals who dye their hair from brunette to blonde will notice shortening of the hair or the need for less frequent haircuts. This is due to breakage at the distal end of the hair shafts, which are the oldest and have accumulated the most cuticle disruption, a phenomenon known as weathering.
Hair Loss Caused By Vitamin Deficiency
Hairgrowth requires a balanced vitamin-rich diet. An unbalanced diet and crash diets may lead to temporary hair loss. Hair is at its best when you stick to a balanced diet containing fruit, vegetables, protein , whole grains, nuts and high-quality oils. If you cannot stick to this optimal diet it may be sensible for you to take special supplements for the hair, which include biotin, niacin, zinc as well as the vitamins B6, B12, A and E.
Also Check: What Medications Can Cause Hair Loss
What Expert Agencies Say
Several national and international agencies study substances in the environment to determine if they can cause cancer. The American Cancer Society looks to these organizations to evaluate the risks based on evidence from laboratory, animal, and human research studies.
Some of these expert agencies have classified hair dyes or their ingredients as to whether they can cause cancer.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer is part of the World Health Organization . Its major goal is to identify causes of cancer. IARC has concluded that workplace exposure as a hairdresser or barber is probably carcinogenic to humans, based on the data regarding bladder cancer. But IARC considers personal hair dye use to be not classifiable as to its carcinogenicity to humans, based on a lack of evidence from studies in people.
The National Toxicology Program is formed from parts of several different US government agencies, including the National Institutes of Health , the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , and the Food and Drug Administration . The NTP has not classified exposure to hair dyes as to its potential to cause cancer. However, it has classified some chemicals that are or were used in hair dyes as reasonably anticipated to be human carcinogens.
Recommended Reading: Can Hair Extensions Help With Thinning Hair
What Can You Do To Fix It
Take a break from dyeing. A color hiatus of a month or so , will give your hair and scalp their much-needed breather. It will also help you determine if hair dyeing is indeed the cause of your hair loss.
If you cant we totally get it if you do jump back into coloring your hair . So when you do, try seeking other methods of hair coloring. Semi-permanent color, highlighting, and Balayage techniques are less harmful to your strands. You might want to check in with your colorist for these options.
If you decide to color your hair on your own, look for natural, organic hair dyes that do not contain harmful ingredients like ammonia or peroxide. These should cause less breakage and damage to the hair shaft and follicles.
Yes, they still cause damage to your hair. Do not be fooled. And always do a patch test first, especially when trying a new product for the first time .
And lastly, it always helps to support the natural process of your hair growth while keeping your current strands strong and healthy enough to resist the damage.
You can do plenty of ways to protect your hair, such as getting your nutrients in, resisting all other heat and chemical treatments, avoiding prolonged exposure to the sun, and using the right hair products.
Dont Miss: Does Blocking Dht Stop Hair Loss
You May Like: What Causes Hair Thinning And Loss
The Natural Hair Growth Cycle
Sometimes the hair loss is not bad news at all. Maybe it is just time for the hair follicle to renew its circle of shedding the old hair and letting the new hair shaft grow. The hair growth cycle is natural and there is nothing to worry about it.
To keep the hair healthy, you should follow a proper hair care treatment routine, have a healthy eating regime and limit the use of your hairdryer.
Cut Down Your Colouring Sessions By Grabbing Colour Protect Products
Ironically enough, the more often you dye your hair, the more susceptible it is to colour fade. Hair becomes more porous each time you dye it, which allows more water to pass in and out of the hair and reduce your colourâs vibrancy as it does so. So, whatâs a girl to do to ensure that all important vibrancy stays put?
Donât colour your whole head of hair each time you dye. When covering your roots, only apply dye to newly grown hair that hasnât been coloured before.
Firstly, donât colour your whole head of hair each time you dye. When covering your roots, only apply dye to newly grown hair that hasnât been coloured before. This will help to minimise the possible damage for the hair thatâs already been coloured previously and probably doesnât need a top up.
Secondly, protect and prolong the life of your hair by reducing your hairâs exposure to heat â like styling products or high temperature water. High temperatures open up the hairâs cuticle, letting colour sneak out. So, lukewarm showers and limited use of styling tools like blow dryers and straighteners will make a big difference. Spritz a hair protecting product onto towel-dried hair before using any tools, like our Gold Series Thermal Heat Protector to give hair an added layer of protection. Itâs also a good idea to avoid over-exposure to the sun which can cause colour to fade. A hat on those summer days could make all the difference!
Was this Article Helpful?
Also Check: How Much Biotin Should I Take For Thinning Hair