Peroxide In Permanent Boxed Hair Dye

Well, okay, AutumnLeaves, I guess I'll accept "lots of hair" as something good about your hair. You also asked me a really good question about when and how the damage that I talk about my hair having, actually occurred. Did it occur when I dyed it brown, or when I dyed it back to blonde a year later? Well, the answer is both.

When I started my long hair journey, my hair was about 2 inches or so shorter than it is right now. I had just stopped using heat products on my hair, but my hair was already somewhat damaged from using them. If I knew then what I know now, I would have concentrated on a growing/trimming plan that would have had me gaining length, while getting rid of damage.

However, back then, I just wanted length, and I didn't even want a trim.  I wanted every bit of growth I had to show.  After a year, I was at about waist length, and my ends were pathetically thin from breakage, but not as bad as some hair I've seen.  Nevertheless, I wouldn't allow my hair to get into that state with the knowledge that I have today.

I really did have to learn my lesson about quality over quantity.

I got a very quick lesson when I got a bee in my bonnet about dyeing my hair medium brown. I don't to this day know why I just had to do it, but I really wanted to see what it felt like to have brown hair. For some reason,  put aside my age and the resulting changing skin tone, and the fact that my roots were almost snow white. If I had really thought about all of that I wouldn't have dyed it, but sometimes a gal just has to try something new, and an army can't stop her (me).

The medium brown hair dye did damage my hair. Worse was the fact that I had to dye it a second time, because the colour didn't take evenly throughout my hair. So I dyed with medium brown over all of my hair not once but twice. Remembering that the last several inches of my hair had already been dyed blonde to cover my grey, and had been regularly heat-styled, you will realize that my hair was already fragile, and in no condition to use a full head dye even once, never mind twice.

I know that when we think about peroxide in permanent box dye that we purchase in the drugstore or grocery store, we often think of the peroxide being only in blonde colours.  We know that ammonia is in all permanent drugstore dyes, however, often we forget that peroxide is in all such dye whether light blonde or jet black.

Don't forget that regular permanent box dye only will lighten hair by about 2 shades.  If your hair is naturally black, you will be able to go to medium brown with box dye, if dark blonde naturally, you could go to light blonde from dark blonde. In my case I'm adding colour to hair that predominantly has none.  To do that, peroxide and ammonia are also necessary.

Peroxide does lighten hair, but it also opens the cuticle of the hair shaft so that the dye can be deposited.  Hence, the permanence of the dye.

So yes, even black permanent dye does contain peroxide.  That's why people who have greys will not get any sort of lasting coverage from products that do not contain peroxide and/or ammonia.

There I was, almost at waist length, a year into my long hair journey. After dyeing twice with the medium brown, my hair felt like straw, almost as though it had been bleached.  It wouldn't have been so bad if my hair was already in tip-top condition, but as I said before, it had already been previously dyed and heat treated.

I cut 6 inches off my hair at that time. I definitely cut out the worst of the damage, and that's when I started my plan of growing but cutting off 1/2 inch quarterly.

It didn't take me long though, to realize that I was fooling myself by thinking that the brown hair looked anything like natural on me, and I had to touch up my roots so often that it wasn't even funny.

However, I knew that if I lightened it back to blonde, I would inflict severe damage on my hair. That kept me dying it brown for close to another year. My hair was looking good though with my new trimming plan and the new hair care that I had discovered.

There I was though, two years into my long hair journey, closer to waist than to BSL, and I knew that I absolutely had to get rid of the brown.  It was not flattering to my face, it required constant touch-ups, and most importantly, it just wasn't me.

I did the best I could do with honey lightening, over the course of a couple of months, but there was only so much I could do to lighten my hair. When it was finally light enough that I was comfortable with trying to dye it blonde again, I could not achieve the blonde I wanted right away. There was too much orange in my hair, causing a brassiness. I can't believe I did it and still had any hair left, but I had to lighten my hair two more times in order to get my old blonde shade back.

Needless to say, my hair was damaged yet again, only much worse than before.  Now I had breakage as well.  I had to cut off another six inches, and then again 3 years into my long hair journey; a year ago, I cut off yet another six inches. With all of the trims I've had in between, I've just about cut off as much hair as I've grown in the past four years.

All of that major dyeing took place before I learned that coconut oil could help to lessen peroxide damage.  For almost two years, I have been using coconut oil on the length of my hair before touching up my roots, and I am convinced that it does help reduce damage. However, I must say that just because it seems to work for me does not mean it will work for anyone else who reads this, but I will add that if you're going to colour your hair anyway, a pre-oiling with coconut oil certainly can't hurt, unless you're allergic to coconut oil.

As I've said before, there will be no more six inch chops in my future. I'm only trimming off about a quarter of my growth every three months, which still gives me six inches of growth per year.

So that's the full story on my damage, and a reminder that all permanent box dyes have peroxide.

Well, my hair did indeed enjoy the deep treatment yesterday, and I hope to be back tomorrow with my progress report for August.

Love to all.

Monday, Monday

I'm still feeling pretty good these days about my hair.  I did notice that the very tips of my ends had a stripped feeling on Saturday, and I'm not entirely sure why.  My roots were due for a touch-up yesterday, so I oiled my hair with even more coconut oil than I usually do before colouring and bunned the oiled hair for the morning and early part of the afternoon before beginning my touch-up at around 4 PM.

I can't believe how quickly the weeks fly by.  It seems that I was just posting about touching up my roots, but it had been 4 weeks, which is about how long I can go with my current growth rate.

My husband and my son were out of town for the afternoon until early evening, so it was a good time to do a root touch-up without the family having to breathe in the scent of hair dye.  It also gave me a chance to do a post-colour deep protein conditioning with Joico K-Pak.  I don't use K-Pak often, but when I do, my hair seems to be happy.  

After I rinsed that out, I put a bit of conditioner on my ends, and followed that with some jojoba oil. My hair feels great again. 

I confess that I will be delighted when I am finally rid of the  few inches of damaged hair that is still there.  Fortunately, the damage is not so visible to the eye, but I really can feel it, especially when my hair is wet.

Growing long hair really is a longterm project, isn't it?

I don't think too often about just how longterm a project it is, or it would be overwhelming.  I have so many goals, that it could years before I get to where I want to be in terms of both maximum length and maximum health. There may be other goals that I want to achieve along the way as well that I have not even thought of as yet.

So many women my age have opted to grow out their natural colour. While I know that doing that would give me the healthiest possible hair, I just don't imagine doing that any time soon, as I've mentioned before.

I don't feel like a slave to hair colour as some people do, in the sense that it's not much of an inconvenience for me.I have gotten so quick at doing the application that It's done in no time at all. Yesterday, I did indulge in that deep treatment, so I spent more time on my hair than I usually would, but that was enjoyable, and I felt so much better afterwards. It was sort of like a spa day.

I trimmed my bangs last week.  I've mentioned before that I have to trim every 2 weeks or so; sometimes more often, because I like to keep my bangs at brow level.  

However, last week, I really felt the need to get the hair out of my eyes, so I purposely cut my hair about 1/4 inch too short.  It's funny how much difference that quarter of an inch makes.  My bangs really do have that "too short" look.  It's not so bad that I wouldn't go out in public this way, but it does make me smile when I look in the mirror.

I think it was a combination of heat and headaches that made me decide to trim them shorter than usual.  I just needed to feel that I would not have hair in my eyes for a while.  However, they will be looking normal again in less than 2 weeks. Then I'll be at that fine line between just the right length and "Eek! Get them out of my eyes!"

Today, I'm just wearing my hair up in a simple cinnamon bun, which is often my go-to style on a hot day.  And it is another hot and humid day. As so often occurs when it's hot and humid, there are thunderstorms in the forecast, although it's bright and sunny right now.

Well, that's enough of my rambling for one day.

Love to all. 'Til tomorrow.

To Dye Or Not To Dye?

It's pretty much agreed upon by everyone that colouring hair is damaging, and that to attain extreme hair lengths, it's best to stick with one's natural colour.


However many of us, for whatever reason, choose to dye our hair.  For many in their teens and twenties, it's to experiment with colour.  For those of us who are older it may be to cover the silvers.  That is the case for me.  I use L'Oreal's Preference hair colour in Medium Blonde.  It's not to ashy and not too golden--just right for me.

While I know many beautiful women with salt and pepper or silver hair, it's just not a look that I'm comfortable with.  I feel as though I'd disappear if my hair was its natural colour, which is now predominantly white.


I may or may not be correct in that assessment, but I am not prepared to give up my blonde locks.  Whether or not that may change in the future, I don't know.


I do know that by the very fact that I'm colouring my hair, I am limiting its ultimate length. While my real final goal is tailbone length hair, I may have to accept that I won't be able to grow healthy looking hair beyond waist length. I guess I won't know until I get there.


There are some things that I've learned that have helped keep my coloured hair in better shape than it's been in the past.


There has been research done that shows that the application of anti-oxidants before colouring may help to reduce peroxide damage. Ktani, a member of the Long Hair Community, found that coconut oil has these properties. I was one of her first guinea pigs, and I've been coconut oiling my hair before colouring for over a year and a half now. While the evidence thus far is merely anecdotal, I've been very pleased with the results.


I apply coconut oil all over the length of my hair, right up to the roots before a touch-up.  I leave it on for a minimum of 15 minutes and sometimes as long as several hours before I apply the dye to my roots.





I make sure that I rinse very, very thoroughly, and I use a lot of colour safe conditioner afterwards.


Additionally, I try to go as long as possible between touch-ups; I go about 6 weeks.


With regular deep moisture treatments in between colourings, and my regular small trims, I'm managing to keep my hair looking and feeling relatively healthy, and I'm happy to say, split-end free thus far.


So while I would never recommend that anyone dye their hair, I know that many will anyway, so I thought I'd share some of the tips that I've learned.  While they may work for me, they may not work for everyone.  And remember; dying your hair is a commitment.  It does require upkeep, and should you decide to go natural, depending on the colour you use, there will be demarcation during grow-out.  Not everyone is comfortable with this idea.


However, for me, it's a small commitment of time and energy, and it keeps me feeling happy.  Feeling happy with my hair is all that I really want from my hair anyway.