Hair Color FAQ
What are some precautions I should follow when coloring
my hair?
According to the FDA's Consumer Report on Hair Dye Dilemmas,
people who dye their hair should follow these safety precautions:
* Don't leave the dye on your head any longer than
necessary.
* Rinse your scalp thoroughly with water after use.
* Wear gloves when applying hair dye.
* Carefully follow the directions in the hair dye package.
Never mix different hair dye products, because you can
induce potentially harmful reactions (if not an unappealing hair
color).
Be sure to do a patch test for allergic reactions before
applying the dye to your hair. Almost all hair dye products include
instructions for conducting a patch test, and it's important
to perform the test each time you dye your hair. (Salons should
also perform the patch test before dyeing the hair of their
patrons.) To test, put a dab of hair dye behind your ear, and don't
wash it off for two days. If no itching, burning, redness, or other
signs of allergic reaction develop at the test spot during this
time, you can be relatively sure that you won't develop a reaction
to the dye applied to your hair. If you do react to the patch
test do the same test with different brands or colors until you
find one to which you're not allergic.
Never dye your eyebrows or eyelashes. An allergic reaction
to dye could prompt swelling, inflammation and susceptibility to
infection in the eye area. These reactions can severely harm
the eye and even cause blindness. (Inadvertently spilling dye
into eye could also cause permanent damage.) FDA prohibits the
use of hair dyes for eyelash and eyebrow tinting or dyeing even in
beauty salons or other establishments.
I used a temporary dye and I don't like it or it is not
coming out of my hair. How do I go about getting it out without
damaging my hair?
Try adding two or three drops of liquid dish soap to your
regular shampoo; i.e.., pour shampoo in your hand and then add soap.
Use it only on the hair that has the color on it. Rinse and
condition. If this lifts some of the color, you can repeat it on a
daily basis until the color is gone.
Can you recommend someone in my area to color my
hair?
My recommendations have always come from a directory that
the International Hair color Exchange uses. A member of this
not-for-profit organization is interested in learning from the top
colorists and sharing his or her knowledge with others for
the betterment of the profession. Because this was the number
one question, I put the whole directory on my web site
(http://www.robertcraig.com). I have
the largest database of
top hair colorists on the web, almost 400 colorists, and it is
updated every other month. Always get a consultation first before
making a final decision.
How can I grow out my color without an obvious line?
Have your colorist switch to highlights. Do a lot of lights
the first time, then progressively less. Three to four
highlightings about 3 to 4 months apart should do it.
My red hair seems to fade or go brown when I color it.
What can I do?
Red hair color is the most difficult to achieve. Two tricks I
use are:
1. Seal the hair after coloring it with a clear
demi-permanent color. This can be applied the same day as
your regular
color and should be applied to dry hair.
2. Use 30 volume peroxide on the ends, not the 20 volume
that comes with most permanent color products. To do this you
need to buy two boxes of the color you are going to use and a
bottle of 30 volume peroxide. Mix them separately as you
need them. The ends only need color on them 5-15 minutes.
What will --fill in the blank-- product do if I use it?
The only way to find out what result you will get is to do a
strand test. This can be achieved one of two ways. You can
cut a small section of hair from underneath and color that or you
can separate a small strand of hair from the rest with a piece
of tin foil. Either way, a strand test allows you to judge timing
and see the end result without the risk of ending up with hair
the color of, well... read some of those hair disasters stories
from posters' youth in alt.fashion.
Can I perm and color my hair?
This question comes most often from people with thin, fine
hair. I always advise against it when this is the case, however,
the new demi-permanent hair color products offer a great chance
to color and perm fragile hair with minimal damage. It will
also hold more like a permanent color. Always perm first then
color.
I went to a salon for "professional" color and I'm not happy
with the result. What should I do?
If the result is completely off or obviously unprofessional,
return to the salon, tell the manager and get your money
back. If the result is close-but-not-quite you need to allow the
colorist the opportunity to fine-tune the color.
I don't want to use a product with peroxide because it will
damage my hair. Can you recommend an
alternative?
Using peroxide with permanent hair color is not the same
thing as using straight peroxide on your hair. The peroxide mixed
with hair color causes a chemical reaction to occur which in no
way resembles peroxide alone. Today's hair color products contain
conditioners and shine ingredients as well as buffers that
can actually leave your hair in better condition than if you
didn't color at all.
I love the color of my hair the week I do it and then it
just seems to fade. What can I do to prevent this?
Try leaving the product on the full time. Professional
colorists are now using a wide range of peroxide volumes for different
results with permanent hair color products. Here are some
simple rules:
* 20 volume peroxide activates a permanent hair color product
for about 45 minutes. After that, the product will do little
or nothing. If removed before the full time the amount of
color deposited inside the hair will be less.
* 10 volume lasts about 30 minutes. It will give more color
deposit but less lightening action.
* 30 volume lasts about 50 minutes, lightens more and
deposits less color than 20 volume.
* 40 volume lasts about 1 hour and lightens even more with
less deposit of color.
What are some other hair resources on the Net?
Glad you asked that. Here are some interesting sites you may
want to visit:
* Beauty Central
http://trek.mv.pde.paramount.com/wlink/beauty/*
Information about Bristol-Meyer (Clairol) products.
* Official Wicked Hair Dyeing Page
http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~mizraith/dyeing.html
Basic hair dyeing info and personal reviews of different
hair dyes.
* Salon Kennice Bashar Online Hair and Beauty Essentials
http://hair-beauty-products.com/
Although a site for ordering through this particular
salon,
they have full product listings of lines such as Kiehl's,
Phytologie, Sebastian and Paul Mitchell. It's as if each
of
these products has its very own homepage!
Thanks to Marie Raymond who provided several URLs for the
other
hair resources portion of this FAQ.
A very special thanks to Robert Craig who contributed most
of the
information and expert advice in the Hair Color FAQ.
Robert Craig Biography Info: email:
colorit@bway.net .
http://www.robertcraig.com/ .