Good day everyone. I hope you are all enjoying this lovely spring weather, providing that you are having beautiful spring weather. I hope you are. Anyway, on with the show!
I dyed my hair black alot and red. I've bleached my hair about 5 times, and it still won't come out. How can i get the black out of my hair???
Letecia
Regina, Sk.
If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me this or I had to fix this in the salon I would be rich beyond belief. But, alas, I don't get a dollar everytime so I am not rich beyond belief. But, I digress..
I never recommend that people color their hair black, be it in the salon or at home, unless you are prepared to have it black for a while or are prepared to wait a while to get it all out. I have seen people who have been blond for years color their hair black and a month later come in wanting it back to blond again. All I can tell them is, " Not gonna happen, " Remember the color theory blog I wrote about color molecules and what not?? Well, the black color molecules are bigger, hence they stay in the hair longer. You have to really open up the cuticle layer to get it out and doing that causes a lot of damage. But, telling you this now does not help your situation Letecia, so let me tell you what may help.
I dont know how many times you have put black over black on your hair, but you said you have done it a lot. I would assume that when you do color your hair you put the color on all over and not just on your roots. I am taking a guess that there are at least 3 layers of black color on your hair. This is your first problem. Trying to get one layer out one thing, working on more then one is another. Bleaching it is the really the only way to get it out, either that or a color remover from the salon. I always suggest going to the salon to do a color correction. A color correction is changing color drastically, usually from a dark color to a light color. Trying to do something like this at home will usually result in that bright orange color or your hair breaking off. Neither is desirable. Your best bet is to go to a salon right from the start. Head to a salon for sure if you have bleached your hair 5 times and the color is still in there.
What they will do at the salon is one of 2 things. I am not sure what color you are looking to go to now Letecia. One thing people need to remember is that hairstylist, although we can do some very amazing trasformations, we can't work miracles. If you hair is black and you want to be Marilyn Monroe blond, it is not going to happen in one step. They will either use lightener on your hair to lighten the black to a brown shade or use a color remover on you. Both are very damaging and despite it's name, the color remover will not remove all of the color. The color remover will probably bring your hair to that pretty orange color, but the good news is this; now that it is a lighter shade it can now be colored to another color other then black. Usually the stylist, after consulting you of course, will put in a shade of brown and add some blond higlights througout the top. This way it gives you a lighter look without damaging your hair completely.
However, the stylist you see may just tell you to cut off the black left in your hair, depending on how much is left. Sometimes this is the only way to get rid of that color you hate. If your hair is very damaged or there is just too much color there, this may be your best bet.
There you go Letecia..good luck.
Happy Hair Days!
Hello again everyone. Welcome back. I hope everyone drank a lot of beer and did many things Irish on Saturday. Everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day. That being said, on with the blog...
Welcome back to my blog and for all you new people, just plain welcome!!!!
I did not receive any questions this week, however, I think I have something that may be interesting to most people out there. Even my boyfriend finds it interesting.
Ever wonder how the hair color works?? How does it stay in your hair and why, oh why, does it fade out?? Well, here is the explanation, as well as some tips on how to keep that color looking the best that you can.
First off, color, any color, be it drug store or professional, break down into molecules. Each of the three colors, Blond ) yellow ), Brown and Red have different sized molecules and all mix together to form the color you want, brown molecules are the biggest, while red are the smallest. It's like mixing a red and white paint to make pink, the same idea and color theory applies to hair. Natural hair color, or as an instructor of mine used to say, " The color your Momma gave you, " is always a combination of all of these colors and so are artificial colors. Very dark brown or black hair has a lot of both the brown and the red pigment in it and even some blond, but the overpowering color is the brown. As we move up the color levels, there is a lower percentage of brown pigment and more blond, like mixing white paint with black, you get a lighter version. From this, I would imagine you had figured out that redheads have a higher percentage of red pigment in their color and so on with blonds as well. We number the levels 1 - 12, 1 being the darkest or black and 12 being the lightest, platinum blond. Some artificial colors will also have a blue-black, which is never a natural color.
Ok, now you know why our hair has color, I will explain how out hair itself is set up. I wont go into the complete chemisty and sugar bonds of why our hair is our hair, personally, it doesn't matter. However, if you want to know, there are some good websites out there is you google Hair Structure. This of each hair strand as if it were a set of Venetian blinds wrapped around a tube that has cement inside it. Inside the tube is a solid mass, similiar to the medulla in our hair strands. Next is the Cortex, the tube, then comes the cuticle, the blinds. And it is the cuticle that we are concerned about here. The cuticle layers overlap each other like the blinds do, sealing out damaging substances and keeping the hair smooth and thus shiny.
Alright, now we have the two main parts of hair coloring figured out. Now to explain how it acctually works! Finally, yes, I know. But it could be very confusing if you didn't have the basic knowledge before hand. My explaination is going to be based on professioanl color used in salons. Drugstore color, although I never endorse it, works in a very similiar way.
Let say you have sat down with you colorist and decided that you would like to take your medium blond hair to a medium brown-red. Medium blond would be a level 7 and you are going darker by 3 shades to a level 4, which is the medium brown with some red in it. There are 2 parts to all colors: Developer or peroxide, which is made in 4 different strengths ( 10 vol, 20 vol, 30 vol, and 40 vol ), and pigment or the acctual color. Each part can not act alone. Remember that your cuticle layer is much like Venetian blinds. The developer begins to work first, it open up the layers on your hair, much like turning the rod opens the blinds. This allows the color molecules to get into the hair shaft, like allowing sunlight into your room. This process can take anywhere from 20 - 60 mins depending on the type of hair you have and what color line you colorist is useing. Usually, this process take about half an hour. It is the rinsing that closes the 'blinds' and traps the color in the hair shaft. You need to make sure that you both shampoo well AND condition the hair after coloring. This is what seals the color in and closes the cuticle layer. Dry you hair and VOILA, you have a beautiful medium red-brown mane.
That was just if you are planning on going darker. But what if you want to go lighter? How does that work?
Lightening you hair works in much the same way. When you are going darker, the colorist will use either a 10 vol or 20 vol, this allows mor of the pigment to to be depostied. Each level of developer also has a level of lift to it. A 10 vol will lift one leve, 20 vol will lift 2 levels and so on. The higher the developer used, the more lift you get, but less color gets deposited. That is why sometimes people with really dark hair who are trying to get vibrant reds are usually dissapointed.
When you are wanting to loghten the hair, the color works very similiar to going darker. The only difference in that while the developer is opening the layers, it is also lifting out color, lightning the reds and browns in the hair so that the amount of dark pigment is less, therefore allowing a lighter color to be seen. Have you ever tried to put on a lighter color only to have to look like you did nothing? That is because the developer strength being used it not strong enough to lift enough color out of your hair to allow the new color to be seen. I little confusing I know. the best analogy I can offer is painting over a black wall. If you put a light color such as yellow or white immediatly over top of it, you will end up with either a muddy version of that color or you will not be able to see it at all. Firstm you have to prime the wall so that the light color you want ot see, comes out clear. The higher the strength of developer, the ligher the color or primer, would be one way to look at it. Bleaches work much the same way, but have added chemicals to make them lighten more then the traditional 4 levels.
So, now we know how the color works, how it gets into our hair and how our hair is built.
Keeping you color vibrant and true can be tricky. Because doing any chemical service on your hair can be damaging, we need to make sure we take special care of colored hair. Imagine the venetian blinds again, smooth and straight. When we color our hair, we can cause some of these 'blinds' to bend out of shape or crack in some areas. This causes them to allow sunlight to slip into your room when it is not wanted. The same is true with your hair. Coloring causes your cuticle layers to not close properly, be bent our of shape, thus allowing the color molecules to slide out of the hair. Using professioanl color care shampoos and conditioners are the best bet for maintaining your color. These products both help repair the hair from color damange as well as not causing any more color fading. The high alcohol and salt content in a lot of products acctually contribute to color fadage. Stick to a professioanl product that your stylist recommends as oposed to a drug store variety. There are many great lines out there for colored hair, my favorites, and I dont know if I am allowed to do this, are L'Oreal Professioanl Color Show and Matrix Color Smart. Another great way to keep you color is to use color depositing shampoos. They acctually deposti a 'stain' on your hair helping to maintain you color. The best brand in my opinion for this is Artec Colorist Collection, althouhg there are other great lines out there.
So there you have it folks. The how and why color works.
See you next week.
Welcome to the inaugural blog of Dee's Hair Q & A. I received a couple questions from some good friends and family. You can read them in the comment box but I will also post them here.
I
have been stressed, tired and run down lately due to school and lots of
work. I know that I am not eating properly and every now and then when
I am brushing or running my fingers through my hair I come across a
wiry curly irregular diametered strand of hair. Is there a vitamin that
I should be taking or something to help make my hair more healthy?
Firstly, does this mean my hair is unhealthy?
Well, Amanda, this does not neccessarily indicate that you hair is unhealthy, or not your hair on it's own. Everything we put into and do to our bodies comes out in our hair and nails. A good indication of how healthy you are is to look at your hair and nails and see how strong or healthy they are. Of course, people who color their hair on a regular basis or do a lot of heat damage to their hair ( with flat irons, blow dryers, etc... ) are going to have less healthy hair, it is the roots of the hair you need to pay a lot of attention to. Usually when there is a change is the texture or density of hair it is directly linked to either a hormone change or vitamin/mineral change. I would assume that you know you are not pregnant and are not going through menopause, so what is left is that you are missing some vital vitamin or mineral in your diet. There is no one, magical vitamin or anything you can take to make your hair feel better. What you need to do it look at what it is you eat and figure out what it is that you are missing in your diet. It could be something very basic, something you think you are getting but not. Hair is made of keratin, which is a protein. Although hair is 'dead' once it comes out of you head, you still need protein in your diet to keep it healthy. My guess would be that you are probably not getting enough high quality protein in your diet. Most people are missing protein when they do not eat well. My biggest suggestion would be just to concentrate on trying to eat healthier and to make sure you are using a high quality shampoo and conditioner.
Is there anyway to make my beard hair less wirey? I have tried using conditioner and it helps a little. Is there anything else?
Heme, USA
Heme, beard hair has been wirey since the day man began growing beards and will be until the day men no longer grow them. Using some conditioner on it will help, but only to an extent. Facial hair is a totally different hair then what is on your head. When the hair on your head is wirey or dry then you can use a moisturizing conditioner to replenishi the moisture, facial hair, however, is wirey because that is how it is. You cant change how nature made things. The best you can do is the conditioner, there is nothing else that is going to make it softer, short of changing your genetic make-up.
Well, that is all I have for this week. Thank you so much for the questions. Join me again next week where I will answer some more hair questions.
