Giving your hair a new coat of colour may be something many of us do frequently throughout the year. With modern cosmetics, you can give your hair any colour you like. But did you know that hair dye might be doing damage to your hair and scalp.
Most hair dye is a concoction of chemical designed to open up the cuticles, strips the hair natural colour pigments before adding in the new colour.
So it’s no surprise that frequent hair dye might be damaging your hair and scalp.
How Hair Dye Works?
Before we look at how hair dye works, let’s take a look at how our hair works.
Hair is made of two parts – the follicle and the shaft. The follicle is the hidden part beneath the scalp much like the roots of a plant and hair shaft is the visible hair that we see.
Hair shaft is comprised of three parts; cuticle, cortex and medulla.
The cuticle is the outermost layer of the shaft that serves to protect your hair. The cortex or the middle layer provides our hair its strength and elasticity. It also houses the pigment for our hair colour. Medulla is the innermost layer that is found commonly in coarse and thicker hair and plays no part in a hair dye process.
Hair dye is a series of chemical reactions between the chemicals and your hair. The main chemical components of hair dyes are ammonia, hydrogen peroxide and dye agent.
Ammonia - Lifting the Cuticles
Like window blinds, the cuticle layer is the protective sheath that normally stay close and flat but may open up exposing the cortex.
The cuticles of your hair can raise up under conditions that are either hot or at a certain pH level (alkaline). This is also how shampoo works to cleanse your hair. The alkaline pH of shampoos and hot water works by lifting the cuticles and allowing it to penetrate and cleanse your hair.
Since the pigmentation of our hair lies in the cortex, hair dyes will contain ammonia to reach the required pH level in order to lift up the cuticle before colouration can happen.
Hydrogen Peroxide - Removing the Colour
Hydrogen peroxide is an oxidant that decolourizes and lighten the natural pigmentation of our hair, thus making room for the new colour. It serves as a bleaching agent that can also be found in other bleaching and whitening products such as teeth whitener and hair bleach.
This process can be particularly drying and damaging on the hair, making it dry and prone to breakages.
Dye Agent - Applying new Colour
After the cuticle is lifted and the natural pigmentation decolourized, the new colour pigment can be deposited onto the cortex.
Dye agents have tiny molecules that penetrates the hair shaft before oxidizing and forming larger molecules that are too large to fit back out through the cuticles.
Why Organic Hair Colouring can be Better
Dyeing your hair frequently can deprive your hair of the needed moisture, causing extensive damage to your hair.
Healthy hair is very dependant on moisture. Our hair is very porous and made up of collagen and cellulose that needs moisture to function properly.
It is thus important to take steps to remoisturize as much as you can and as quickly as you can after a hair dye.
Our Organic Hair Colouring uses products that are formulated with 98% organic natural ingredients to give you the desired colour without the damage. Made with quality and naturally sourced ingredients, most notably our signature botanical blend of orange, jojoba seeds and caster oil designed to protect and infuse your hair with an amazing shine.
Ready for healthy beautiful hair? Book your appointment here!
