Hair Color

The most important item to know about hair color is that chemistry matters. There are chemical reactions that happen between the molecules of your hair, the pigment of the color, peroxide, and ammonia that colors the hair. Coloring your hair is incredibly popular with both men and women. When looking for a hair salon near me, it is important to find one that understands how to color hair properly.

There are a few different types of hair color. There is temporary hair color which is also called semi-permanent. These colors put dye that is acidic on the outside of the shaft of the hair allowing a small amount of the molecules of pigment to make their way into the hair shaft. If there is any peroxide used, it is a small amount. These colors do not have ammonia, which will open the hair shaft to take in the color. This also means that the natural hair color remains once the temporary color is washed out. Regular washing with shampoo will begin to remove the color.

Permanent hair color opens up the cuticle before the dye is put on the hair. Once the cuticle is open, the inner part of the hair follicle reacts to the dye. This is really a two step process, even though to you, it seems to happen all at the same time. The first step is to remove the original hair color and then add the new color. This requires the use of ammonia and peroxide to work together. Ammonia opens the cuticle and peroxide acts as a developer to remove the old color. Once this happens, the new color is able to bond with the cortex of the hair. These colors use conditioners to close the cuticle and seal in the new color. When looking for a hair salon near me, it is important to understand which type of hair color they use.