Coloring hair

[SquirrellyMama]

For those of you that color your hair, how often do you do it? It seems that my gray shows up after only 4 weeks. How much damage am I going to do to my hair if I color it every month?

 

Kelly

[PrairieSong]

All hair coloring damages the hair, unless you use something that coats the hair like henna/indigo etc. so yes, the more you color the more damage there will be. Can you just touch up the roots between coloring to minimize damage to the length of your hair?

 

ETA: I am letting my natural color grow in because I want it to be more shiny and healthy. If I choose to color at all, I will probably use a henna gloss (henna diluted with conditiner) but I probably won't use anything for months so that I can see my natural color with the gray..to see how I like it.

[SquirrellyMama]

I was  thinking about a root touch up, but wondered how time consuming it would be. I usually just throw it on and wait 30 minutes and I'm done. Root touch up will take more patience I think ;) I have  never been accused of being patient.

 

Kelly

 

 

[foxbridgeacademy]

I go to my sister who's a professional.  She said that the amount of damage depends on if you're trying to go lighter or darker? The lighter you color the worse it is. She also said that occasionally you should have a respected hairdresser take a look and see if there are any hair treatments that might help with damage.

[Slache]

Every 3 months, but it's blond and my roots are light brown so I can get away with some roots. The lighter the color, the less the gray shows.

 

 

 

All hair coloring damages the hair, unless you use something that coats the hair like henna/indigo etc. so yes, the more you color the more damage there will be. Can you just touch up the roots between coloring to minimize damage to the length of your hair?

ETA: I am letting my natural color grow in because I want it to be more shiny and healthy. If I choose to color at all, I will probably use a henna gloss (henna diluted with conditiner) but I probably won't use anything for months so that I can see my natural color with the gray..to see how I like it.

I DID NOT KNOW YOU COULD DO THIS!!! How long does it last?

[Pawz4me]

I have mine done every nine weeks.  The color is very close to my natural color, so the roots don't show terribly even though my hair grows very, very fast.

[PrairieSong]

Every 3 months, but it's blond and my roots are light brown so I can get away with some roots. The lighter the color, the less the gray shows.

 

 

 

I DID NOT KNOW YOU COULD DO THIS!!! How long does it last?

It's permanent. Some people have bleached it out, but usually some of the red stays and the bleaching is very harsh on your hair. I have never been brave enough to do straight henna, but I have done the glosses...a little henna mixed with conditioner and left on my hair for an least 1.5 hours. This diluted the red a lot and made my grays golden, not red, and the rest of my hair was only a tinge redder...I wasn't a redhead. Since it was a subtle change it was easy to grow out. Henna just coats the hair. It doesn't lift the cuticle, etc. The color you get totally depends upon your base color AND the particular crop of henna. Some are more orange, some more red. If your hair is gray, white, or light blonde you could end up a fiery redhead with straight henna. If you have very dark hair, the red will mainly only show up in the sunlight. Your color is still there. Henna will not lighten your hair.

 

Is that more than you wanted to know??? Lol Oh, and I'm talking about the pure henna powder, not the boxed henna colors that have other stuff added to them. Hennaforhair.com is a great web site if you want more info.

[icollectkids]

I color with henna. It probably lasts about 6 weeks or so.

[icollectkids]

Every 3 months, but it's blond and my roots are light brown so I can get away with some roots. The lighter the color, the less the gray shows.

 

 

 

I DID NOT KNOW YOU COULD DO THIS!!! How long does it last?

 

The henna makes the gray kinda look like highlights. LOL I need to do mine again....it's time... sigh....

[Rose in BC]

I have coloured my hair since I was 20. Tomorrow is my 49th birthday. I get a professional colour every 5-6 weeks. I'm not going lighter. My hair is in great shape.

[HSmomof2]

I've been using a semi-permanent color to blend my grays about every 4 weeks for almost 20 years. It hasn't seemed to damage my hair at all.

[SquirrellyMama]

I don't go lighter.  I stay with my natural color which is a very dark brown.   The gray seems to come back in full force around 4 weeks.  It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't look like a skunk :)  So, as long as I'm staying with my natural color I'm not going to do as much damage.  That is good to know. 

 

I did a hair treatment this summer so hopefully that will help minimize damage also.  I'll give it another week before I color again.

 

Kelly

[rmtzc2009]

I use permanent but not the boxed stuff at the drug stores.  I get my stuff at Sally Beauty.  My hair grows fast so I redo my roots every 3 weeks.  Once every couple of months I will do the rest of my hair leaving it on for 15 minutes or so.  My roots get done for 35-40 minutes as I have resistant grays. 

[mama27]

If you buy color at a store like Walmart, it won;'t last as long and it is more damaging to your hair. Buying it from a beauty supply store, using what professionals use, is less damaging and lasts longer.

[SoCalLynn]

I color my hair my natural color, or what used to be my natural color (medium brown) as I'm about 75% gray now if I let it go. While the color itself is long-lasting, it's the growth at the roots that is hard to keep up with. I have to do root touch up or all over color every 3 weeks. 4 weeks is too long because by then I have a very distinctive 1/2 in stripe. I use a box color from the store and it has not damaged my hair at all. I have people tell me all the time how natural and healthy my hair looks. Maybe I just have very healthy hair but I've been doing it this way for about 15 years, since I started going grey. I'm old enough now, 51, that I'm considering going natural grey, and my hair stylist told me she'd help me do it right. What I'm trying to say is that if you're trying to color your gray roots, it will only last about 3 weeks before you have gray *growth* showing again, whether you use beauty salon products or drug store products.

[Greta]

I get mine done at a local cosmetology school because it is cheaper than going to the salon, and I just don't trust myself to do it on my own! Because my hair is very dark "espresso" brown, the grays start to show quickly, so I have to get it done every four weeks, sometimes six if I've been particularly lazy.

 

I have a friend from high school who is a cosmetologist, and she told me that any time you are *adding* color you are not damaging your hair, but when you *remove* color (i.e. "bleach" it or go lighter) you are damaging it. I believe her because I am SUPER picky about the health of my hair (I never even blow-dry it, and I don't let them blow-dry it at the salon or cosmetology school either, even though I only go once a month) and coloring it regularly has not damaged it at all.

[redsquirrel]

If your natural hair is dark brown and your roots are quite grey, then, yes you are going to have to touch up more often. As my hair gets greyer and greyer I am seeing the time between touch ups shrinking. No one looks good with a skunk stripe. I am getting on 5-6 weeks and it used to be 12

 

You can try a temporary hair colour to stretch out time between full dye jobs. I have done that in a pinch. You can buy them at a Sally's Beauty Supply. Just pick the one that is closest to your natural colour. You don't have to worry too much. It washes in, sits for a bit and washes out. It is kind of messy so I think of it as a bit of a project, lol.

 

And there is doing only roots and then there is doing the roots and about 3 inches up. I do roots and about 3 inches up, much easier and faster. No need to be super precise if you are only doing a one step process.

 

there are so many things you can do to make dying your hair easier on your hair. You can massage a bit of coconut oil through your hair before you dye it. I have done that at least 20 times with no problem. You can mix in a bit of deep conditioner or even just a plain every day conditioner right into the hair dye. Before I started doing it myself my hairdresser told me that she always did that. She added in about an ounce of conditioner to the mixed colour to protect the hair. I have been doing the same for about 15 years with no problems. However, I switched over to coconut oil a couple years ago. I like it much better. A couple of times I have done both and couldn't tell the difference.

 

Recently I bought L'Oreal "Total Repair 5 Damage Erasing Balm", which is a deep conditioner. It is a protein conditioner so no need to use it super often. But I have to admit that it left my hair in very  nice shape. I am not a big drugstore L'oreal etc fan but I liked this. I am thinking the next time I dye my hair I might try it with that in my hair instead of the oil. I heard the L'Oreal 5 is very similar to the Kerastase deep conditioner.

http://thebeautybrains.com/2007/12/21/how-kerastase-kills-your-cash/

BTW, this is for a different L'Oreal product, but I bet the point stands.

[guilfordlake]

I've been using henna to color my hair for about 3 yrs now and I have no damage.  Henna is very conditioning, adding permanent color (though it will fade) and shine and it makes your hair super soft.  To my knowledge you cannot go lighter with henna.  Henna would only be an option if you color your hair darker.  My natural color is dark blond and I use 50% indigo and 50% henna to achieve a red-brown color.  Ideally I would recolor every couple of months but I think I usually drag it out as long as four months between colorings.

 

If anyone wants to try henna coloring, I purchase my henna from Poofy Organics in NJ.  She has a website as well as a physical store and the owner is so incredibly patient and kind about answering questions regarding henna.  I must have emailed her a dozen different times before I first colored my hair because I was so nervous about using henna on my hair and she was so understanding. I cannot speaking highly enough about her customer service.  (I have no affiliation; just a really happy customer.)

 

Jennifer

[walkermamaof4]

I don't think anyone has mentioned esalon.com - They are selling root kits now too I think. I've loved using them! Try it and you can do it every 4 weeks if you like!

[gardenmom5]

I have mine professionally done as my hair is quite thick. (and resistant to color)  I have a three-color foil with the gray in between so the roots don't show that much between foils.  

 

 

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

I have been do root touch ups and occasional all over color at home with Revlon Colorsilk. I use a mixture of half dark ash blonde and half light brown. I vary the mixture proportions sometimes. I have found Revlon Colorsilk to be great. I am all grey now just about so I have to touch up about every 4 to 6 weeks, I have found youtube videos on how to do this which were very helpful. MY husband does sometimes help me too. This lady has several videos which I found helpful and she recommends root touch mainly to avoid ends of hair looking overly dark. 

 

[texasmama]

I have dry, easy to damage, long, curly hair with hard to cover gray (about 50-60%).  Between salon visits (about every other month), I color my roots only using a cheap root kit.  No damage because it is only on my roots.  I take a comb and do the part heavily, around my face, and then every quarter inch on either side of my part until the color runs out.  I don't love doing it, but it is not hard, expensive or damaging to my hair.  It is all over color that damages hair, IME.