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If your hair is already
coloured and you are thinking about a change, it is important
to know a few facts before you go any further. The same goes for
those of you that have been directed to this section if you are
playing with colour in your hair for the first time. Not to put
you off, far from it, you are getting advice here from a colour
addict. There are limits to what is possible though, and it is
important to know the facts to avoid you and your hair parting
company after you have become a victim of the "chemical haircut"!
What is often not known is that your
hair has a limit to how many times it can have a chemical process
repeated over the top of another chemical process (this includes
bleach, colour/tint, perm, highlights and lowlights in any combination).
If your hair is short then it is cut away before you have the
opportunity to have too many chemical processes. But if your hair
is longer you have to think more deeply about the possibility
of damage. To put the record straight, your hair is not damaged
by peroxide or bleach, it is however damaged by the over use
of these products on the same piece of hair or too strong a
mix of these products when used by the inexperienced. As always
at VirtualHairCare we recommend a
professional
consultation
before any colour change.
Depending on what your hair is like
now and what you want to change it to different points need to
be considered:
- You want to be darker than
you are now: How to darken hair color: this can be relatively easy on your hair condition
as you can use a semi-permanent colour to do the job. These
are conditioner based so good for your hair. Although easy on
hair condition, there are any number of pitfalls if you try
this yourself. You will need to find a hairdresser to do the
job, as you may find your old colour will effect the result
of the new colour: Just to scare you:
- If your old colour is red then
the new colour may still look red no matter what colour you
intended it to be.
- If you are a blonde looking to
go red you can end up with pink instead if care is not taken.
- If you are a blonde looking to
go brown you could end up a little green!
Check out
picking
a Colour to Suit You and
read on in case you change your mind later.
- You want to be lighter than
you are now: O.K, things here can get a little tricky, but
let's start with the easy cures:
- If you have a non-permanent
colour that has been recently done, shampoo your hair over
and over with and appropriate product.
Your hair won't feel that great at first but that's only because
of the number of shampoos. Give it a week and the condition
will return to what it was before, and your hair should be
lighter.
- If the colour you have right
now is less than 8 weeks old (and that means all the applications
that maybe beneath it) then a hairdresser can use a special
non-damaging colour reducer to remove the colour. These often
have to be followed up a week after first application to even
out the colour but are well worth the time as your hair will
not suffer condition wise. Get quotes and a consultation before
from your hairdresser as this can start to get a little pricey.
- If your "too dark a colour"
is over 8 weeks old or there are many color applications underneath
this one you are now in the market for a second mortgage and
a day in the salon with a colour specialist. Maybe this is
exaggerating a bit but you will need to have a one-on-one
consultation as no amount of internet advice can provide you
with a solution. The solution may be as simple as having some
highlights applied to give the effect of a lighter look or
you may need to have the whole head of colour removed and
a new base colour created. Be prepared to have any already
damaged hair cut away as you are getting a chemical treatment
over a chemical treatment which can mean damage to your hair.
The trick at the end of the day is to get it right in the
first place, negating the need for this process.
- You have highlights and are
thinking of an all-over colour: even if you have so many
highlights that you think you may as well have an all over colour
the effect is very different. In the case of someone with blonde
highlights it can end up looking a lot more gold than you are
used to. Also the re-growth on a solid colour is a lot more
noticeable than that experienced from highlights. If the colour
you want to change to is darker than the highlights you can
experience the same problems as mentioned in the section about
going darker. The only difference is that this time you may
get green stands rather than an all over green hue! Now that
we have put you off there are some real advantages in that it
takes a lot less time to do and solid colour as opposed to highlights
will make your hair look thicker. A consultation with your hairdresser
to discuss your particular needs, will help you make up your
mind as to whether this is the way to go.
- You have an all over colour
and would like highlights: these two forms of colouring
often work really well together to give texture to the hair.
Damage is caused when overlapping the colours, so it is advisable
to only have the highlights done every second or third time
you do the rest of the colour to give the hair a break. The
all-over colour will blend the re-growth sufficiently for your
colour to look fresh. See
types
of colouring
if you don't understand some of this.
If you spend large amounts of time
swimming or in the sun I would regard this as a chemical process
on your hair and allow for it when adding colour to your look
or changing colour. See
sun
and chlorine protection for
more information.
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