Thinking of colouring your hair? Of course, colouring your hair will give you a brand new stylish look. But have you ever thought what is its effect on hair health?

You might have heard that colouring hair will damage your beautiful hair. Do not consider it as a hoax, it’s time for you to think about your hair health and how your styling can lead to major hair problems.


Type of hair coloring:

Now let’s take a look at the types of hair color that is commonly used-

  • Natural hair colour (henna)- This type of product acts naturally without changing hair’s own colour as it doesn’t contain any ammonia peroxide. This contains natural color molecules that enter into hair cuticles and travel to hair cortex. The molecules are very small they can be removed after several shampooing and they don’t interact with natural pigments. It covers 50% of gray and lasts for 6-12 shampoos.
  • Semi-permanent colour- This type of colour lasts up to 24-26 shampoos. This type of product contains ammonia so natural pigmentation of the hair is reduced. The Peroxide content of the hair color blends with hair and covers gray hair strands.
  • Permanent color-This type of colour contains both ammonia and peroxide. It directly enters into the cortex and expands size which can’t be washed out. This process also fades away the natural hair pigmentation. To element roots,regular touchup of 4 – 6 weeks are needed.

Chemical hair colour and its effect on hair:

Hair colours consist of the heavy amount of chemicals in it. Chemical hair colours mostly contain compounds like 4-methoxy-m-phenylenediamine (4MMPD) or 4-methoxy-m-phenylenediamine sulfate (4MMPD sulfate), coal- tar ingredients. Besides this, chemical hair colour also contains ammonia peroxide and other chemicals which cause major hair damage that can turn up to hair loss. After permanently dying hairs major people experience breaking hair which seems similar to hair loss. The hairs start becoming thinner and under such circumstances, the only thing you can do to avoid traumatizing your hair anymore by combing, dying, straightening or styling.

However, following are the visible effects of hair colour on hair:

  • Colouring hair with these chemical components in it strips away natural oil, lipids, and nutrients which make your hair weak that leads to breakage of the hair shaft.
  • The ammonia content of the hair reacts directly with the cortex of the hair and creates large molecules, this can even lead to cancer at worst scenario.
  • The ammonia content in chemical dyes penetrates through the hair cuticles to change the colour of the hair. It not only damages the hair cuticle but also interrupts the hair structural integrity.

Remedy:

After knowing how adversely our hair gets affected by chemical hair colours, it is pretty much obvious to find out a valid remedy for hair loss. So here are a few tips that might be a great help for you:

  • If you want to colour and safeguard your hair from hair dye effects, then go for an ammonia-free dye such as henna.
  • Use a colour guard shampoo which is obviously different from any other regular shampoos and that might compensate all the essential needs of hair.
  • It is really important to condition hair after every shampoo. A conditioner helps to retain hair’s natural lipids especially for the split ends of hair. Because they aren’t getting nutrients directly from the scalp and has increased the chance of damaging.
  • Avoid heat styling products i.e. curling irons or hair dryers. The heat stress effect in stands and hair may weak and fall out.
  • Coloured hair should not be exposed directly to sun rays. Overexposure to hair to sun rays might weaken the hair which can lead to hair fall. You may use a hat to protect hairs after colouring on outdoors.