Category: Hair Care

I love trying out frugal hacks and DIY beauty ideas. Not only because I hate spending money, but also because it makes me feel resourceful and empowered. But sometimes I just have to pass on some ideas. And washing my hair with laundry detergent is one of those ideas.

But can you use laundry detergent to wash your hair if you want to? Washing your hair with laundry detergent will clean your hair, but it also can be damaging to hair. It also exposes you to several risks including skin irritation, eye damage, and developing allergies to the ingredients in the detergent. 

So technically, you can, but should you? I’d say no, but if you don’t believe me, read on to understand the full risks of using Tide or any other laundry detergent to wash your hair.

What Happens if You Put Laundry Detergent in your Hair?

If you put laundry detergent in your hair, it will clean your hair. And I mean really clean your hair. 

The detergents in these products are great at grabbing hold of grease and oils so you can rinse then down the drain. 

Despite this, it may not feel as clean to you because unlike shampoos, laundry detergents aren’t designed to create a lot of lather. Lather in shampoos and personal care soaps gives us a feeling that we are getting something cleaner, even if we really aren’t. 

Damage to Your Hair

On top of not feeling as clean as you’d like, your hair will be a dry, tangled mess if you wash it with laundry detergent. This is because shampoo products typically add some ingredients that restore moisture to hair. Without that added moisture, the laundry detergent will leave your hair dry, weak, and vulnerable to damage. 

In addition to this, many ingredients in laundry detergent are outright harmful to hair. Most detergents have enzymes that are designed to break down biological molecules. This helps get rid of food and oil stains, which is great when you are washing clothes. But these will also break down molecules in your hair.

Some laundry detergents also contain bisulfite. This chemical compound is known to disrupt the chemical bonds that hold the proteins in hair together. So putting this in your hair will leave your strands weaker.

There is a reason that you can’t use most laundry detergents on wool, it will break down the structure of it. If it can destroy wool, it can destroy your hair too. 

And there are tons of anecdotal accounts online of just how damaging it can be. Many people report that their hair becomes thin, brittle, or dry. Some people have even reported hair falling out after just one wash with laundry detergent. 

Here’s an example of a worst-case scenario I found on Yahoo! Answers:

I washed my hair with laundry detergent. Joyful Expressions to be exact. I read that it would fade my really dark out. I know it was stupid.. no need to tell me that. But now it falls out. It breaks off, is horribly dry no matter how many treatments of deep conditioning I gave it, and sometimes it falls out from the root. It seems like the more I wash it, the more falls out. What should I use as a natural shampoo? Because it seems like any shampoo makes it fall out now, cause of all the chemicals.

-User on Yahoo! Answers

But that’s just what will happen to your hair. If you are thinking of washing hair with laundry detergent, you should be more concerned with what may happen to your skin or eyes.

Damage to Your Health

Unlike shampoos, most laundry detergents aren’t intended to be exposed to your skin. So when they are formulated, companies aren’t as selective about what chemicals they use. After all, how often do you get laundry detergent on your hands when you are washing a load of laundry in a washing machine? Rarely, if at all. And you probably wash it off immediately.

And how often do you get laundry detergent near your eyes? If you’re like me, pretty much never. So as you can see, chemicals that may irritate skin or eyes can be used in laundry detergents without causing much harm to consumers. And many of these chemicals are used in laundry soaps.

Take Tide laundry soap for example. Safety information for the Original Tide formula states, “Wash hands thoroughly after handling. If on skin, rinse with plenty of water. If skin irritation occurs, get medical advice/attention.” It also states, “for sensitive skin or prolonged use, wear gloves.”

Even Tide Free and Gentle, which is a laundry detergent designed for sensitive skin, has similar warnings. The safety information for this product recommends that gloves be worn in occupational settings that use this product. This indicates that the chemicals in this product are known to cause a problem called sensitization. This means that if you are repeatedly exposed to it, you may develop an allergy or asthma. 

So no matter the reasons, you are risking skin or health problems if you use laundry detergent as a shampoo.

Bar soap may be the one exception. These are typically designed to be exposed to skin often because people use them to hand wash clothing. 

And it’s actually fairly common in some developing countries to use laundry soap for the hair or the body. Preppers and homesteaders sometimes do this as well. And most people don’t seem to have long term problems with this. However, you have to keep in mind that there have been no long term studies on this so there is no way to know for sure.

Many of these soaps are also made outside the U.S. and may not be regulated as well as U.S. products. So you may not know exactly what ingredients are in the products. I had a difficult time finding a third-party reference for the ingredients in Zote bar soap, for example. You have to take the company’s word as far as ingredients go, and I don’t typically trust companies to be fully transparent.

But to get an idea of the potential issues of using bar soap, I looked up the safety information for one of the few laundry bar soaps manufactured in the United States in recent years, the Purex Fels-Naptha Laundry Bar. The safety information for this product states that “repeated or prolonged exposure may cause irritation.” So it seems that even using bar laundry soap to wash hair could have health consequences as well. 

So as you can see, washing your hair with laundry soap is not a good idea.

Laundry Detergent Hair Loss and Damage

If you’ve already used laundry detergent in your hair and now have damaged hair, there still may be some hope for you.

Two ways to address damaged hair from laundry detergent include coconut oil treatments and using a protein filler.

Coconut oil has a high affinity for hair proteins and can penetrate deep inside the hair shaft. In a 2002 study in India, coconut oil was found to reduce protein loss remarkably for both undamaged and damaged hair. 

To get these effects, you need to massage coconut oil into your hair, thoroughly saturating the strands. Then cover your head in a plastic cap, towel, or wrap and leave the oil on overnight. The longer you leave it in, the better. Then gently wash your hair the next day. One treatment can help significantly, but for best results, repeat this daily for several days. 

Another way to repair damaged hair is to use protein fillers. These products can restore hair porosity and repair damaged protein bonds. Although more expensive than coconut oil, they are still pretty affordable at around $10 per treatment. I recommend trying a product like Colorful Products Neutral Protein Filler and following the instructions that come with it. 

If you are experiencing hair loss from washing your hair with laundry detergent, these two treatments may help as well. Repairing protein bonds will strengthen hairs, which will stop them from breaking off when grooming. However, if these fixes don’t stop the hair loss, it’s best to talk to your doctor as you may have developed a health condition or you may need prescription medications to stop further hair loss.

Can Laundry Detergent Remove Hair Dye?

Despite the potential negative effects, you may still be interested in washing your hair with laundry detergent because you’ve heard it can remove hair dye.

Before I go into that, I just want to say that I HIGHLY recommend that you try Color Oops Hair Color Remover to remove your hair dye. It’s fairly safe and really affordable. And it will work better than any homemade option because it’s been designed in a lab to do so.

With that said, can laundry detergent lighten hair? 

In some cases, this may be possible, but the effects are going to be very minimal. First of all, it’s not going to work very well on permanent dye. With permanent dye, the color molecules become larger during the dyeing process and get trapped into the hair.

You have to go through a similar chemical process to break down those color molecules so they can slip out of the hair shaft and rinse down the drain again. Some molecules may still slip out, especially with red dye or if you didn’t dye your hair correctly to begin with.

But most of the time, those molecules are not going to budge, unless you use very specific chemical processes. And it’s very unlikely that laundry detergents will have all the right ingredients to create these chemical processes as they are pretty complex.

But what about semi-permanent and temporary dye? These typically just stain the outside of the hair shaft and are designed to wash out. For these, it’s very likely that laundry detergent can expedite the process, washing out more dye than the typical shampoo.

In fact, many laundry detergents contain bisulfite, a chemical compound known to lighten hair. But even so, this chemical doesn’t lighten hair very much and would likely require multiple washings which will expose you to many other toxic chemicals at the same time. 

Laundry Detergent Hair Stripping

If you know the risks and are still intent on trying laundry detergent on hair to remove hair dye, you probably want to use a soap that contains sodium bisulfite, as this ingredient helps lighten hair. You can find a list of products that contain this chemical on the Consumer Product Information Database here.

If you look at that list, you will notice that there are many dishwashing detergents that also contain bisulfite. And if you look on Youtube, you will also find that many people have had some success removing semi-permanent hair dye with dishwashing soap.

So if you are gung ho on this approach to removing hair dye, I’d really think about trying a dishwashing detergent with bisulfite instead of laundry detergent. This is because dishwashing soaps are designed for handwashing and will generally be more gentle on the skin.

Washing Hair with Dish Soap to Remove Color

If you want to try washing your hair with dish soap to remove color, first keep in mind that you could potentially irritate your skin or eyes with this method. 

If you are okay with that, then start by wetting your hair and then thoroughly saturate the hair with dish soap, massaging the soap into the strands well. 

Many people online recommend leaving the soap in for several minutes to an hour. If you plan to keep it in your hair a while, you can put on a plastic cap or cover your head with a plastic grocery bag. Then cover with a towel.

Next, thoroughly rinse your hair in the shower or sink and wait for your hair to dry to see the results before trying to wash again. You want to assess how well it worked and if it damaged your hair before doing multiple washings.

After you’re done, you should make sure to moisturize really well and use a leave-in conditioner because this process will strip all the moisture from your hair. 

For better results, you may also want to add dandruff shampoo or Vitamin C powder in addition to dish soap. I’ve seen this suggestion from several people online, including this youtuber:

Final Takeaways

Washing your hair with laundry detergent is generally a bad idea. It’s likely to damage your hair. And it is not good for your skin or eyes. If you want to try it out for stripping hair color, it might be okay to use once or twice. But you’re better off trying a dish soap with bisulfite instead. But keep in mind that you will risk damaging your skin, eyes, and hair if you use these products in your hair.

Overall, I’d recommend that you just go to a salon or try a drug store product that is known to remove hair color like Color Oops Hair Color Remover. These two options are safer and more likely to actually work. 

Want to remember this? Pin this to your favorite Pinterest board so you can find it later!

References

Consumer Product Information Database: Purex Fels-Naptha Laundry Bar-05/08/2012

Consumer Product Information Database: SDS For Tide Free and Gentle Liquid Laundry Detergent-10/12/2015

Consumer Product Information Database: SDS For Tide Original Powder Laundry Detergent-10/25/2016

Consumer Product Information Database: Sodium Bisulfite

International Agency for Research on Cancer: Occupational Exposures of Hairdressers and Barbers and Personal Use of Hair Colourants; Some Hair Dyes, Cosmetic Colourants, Industrial Dyestuffs and Aromatic Amines

International Journal of Toxicology: Final report on the safety assessment of sodium sulfite, potassium sulfite, ammonium sulfite, sodium bisulfite, ammonium bisulfite, sodium metabisulfite and potassium metabisulfite

Journal of Cosmetic Science: Effect of Mineral Oil, Sunflower Oil, and Coconut Oil on Prevention of Hair Damage

Randy Schueller: Do Hair Dye Removing Products Like Color Oops Really Work?

In 7th grade, my friends and I made a pact to dye our hair black for the last day of school. I was the only person who followed through. And from then on out, I spent my adolescence with a head of jet-black hair. It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. 

If you’re wondering, “should I dye my hair black?” I have plenty to say on this subject. And I’ve learned from experience that there are many advantages and disadvantages of dying hair black. Let’s break them down so you can decide if dyeing hair black is right for you.

Disadvantages of Dyeing Hair Black

Although there are many reasons to dye your hair black, let’s get the cons out of the way first. If any of these scare the bejesus out of you, then you’ll know that dyeing your hair black may not be the right path forward for you.

Upkeep

Before you dye your hair black, you should know about the upkeep. Hair grows about half an inch every month so the roots of your hair will begin to show pretty regularly. 

Now, if you have dark hair already, this won’t be as problematic. But if your natural hair color is pretty light, you’ll be looking like a skunk on the regular if you don’t touch up your roots as soon as they start growing out. 

So you should expect to be dyeing your roots every 3-6 weeks to keep the look you want. 

On top of this, your hair may fade after a while if you don’t take good care of it. You’ll need to use color-safe hair products like this one, which tend to cost more than non color-safe hair products.

You also may have to resort to shampooing your hair less frequently if your hair fades quickly, which may or may not be your thing.

Eyebrow Mismatching

If your natural hair color is much lighter than black, you’ll have eyebrows that don’t match the hair on top of your head. Maybe you like this look, but if that’s not your thing, this can be a problem.

The mainstream advice is that you should just get your brows dyed or tinted to match your hair. But this isn’t necessarily good advice.

For one, there are still no brow dyes or tints that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. This is despite nearly 100 years of data on these products. None of them have been proven to be safe and many have caused significant injuries including blindness.

So keep that in mind when deciding to dye your eyebrows. If you still want to risk it, then it’s best to see a professional. They will still be using products not deemed safe by the FDA, but they will be using the best techniques and sanitary procedures which will reduce the risks.

If you’re like me and not into risking blindness for beauty, then you can just use make-up to fill in your brows. If you already use make-up on your brows, this won’t be a problem for you anyway.

Here’s a helpful tutorial on how to make your eyebrows darker with makeup to give you an idea of what you’ll need to do:

True Commitment

Black hair can be a major commitment. The lighter your natural hair, the more you are committing to.

Once you’ve dyed your hair black, to get to a lighter color, you will have to use a product that removes permanent hair dye. Black dye doesn’t damage natural hair very much by itself, thankfully. But all products that get rid of black hair dye do damage your hair. And none of these products work perfectly, especially when you’re working with removing black dye.

Basically, you will never get your hair back to your exact natural hair. Which means you’re going to have to let all that hair grow out eventually. 

So you’re going to have a long, slow transition and you may potentially damage your hair a lot, depending on how you approach it. 

During this time, you can just let your natural roots grow out without dyeing them, then cut off the black hair when your hair is long enough to do so. But your hair is going to look terrible for a while if you go this route. This is what I eventually did and I felt ugly AF for about a year.

Another option is to dye your roots while the black hair is growing out. You can use semi-permanent dyes, but be warned that in rare occasions they don’t always wash out. I learned this the hard way when trying to grow out my roots. These dyes can also be hard to match the color of permanent dyes and will start fading as soon as you use them so your roots are still going to be noticeable to some degree

The third option is to use dyeing techniques like highlights or balayage to kinda hide the fact that you’re growing out your roots. As your hair grows out, you will dye the roots less, but the main point is to reduce the starkness of the black hair compared to your roots by blending them into each other softly. 

The main disadvantage of this third method is the cost. You’ll likely need to see a professional to get this done properly and you’ll need to return every month or so until you’ve grown out the black hair. 

Expense

If you plan to DIY your black hair like I did, you probably don’t think of dyeing your black hair as an expensive endeavor. A box of black hair dye is under $10, right? But if you look beyond that first application, you may change your mind regarding the costs.

For example, if that boxed hair dye doesn’t turn out well, you may have to turn to a professional to fix it. They will probably charge you extra because they aren’t just dyeing hair, they are working with store-bought hair dye on top of it and they tend to hate that.

And fixing a bad dye job can result in over-processing your hair which will result in damage. And then you’ll need expensive products to repair hair damage such as protein fillers. 

Then you have to worry about keeping up with the roots. And the color-safe hair products like shampoo and conditioner. To keep your hair from fading, you’ll need to spend extra on your hair products.

And then, of course, if you decide you want to lighten your hair down the road, you’re in for a lot more than $10, as I covered in the previous section.

So the upkeep and products for dyeing and keeping hair black can cost a lot over time. For you, is black hair really worth the life energy you put into making those dollars? 

Makeup

Speaking of expense, new make-up may be another one. You may love how the make-up you’re currently using looks on you now, but you may feel differently once you have black hair.

If you are making a big change in hair color, you need to be ready to adjust your makeup routine to find a look that suits your new hair color. 

Cancer

Pretty much everything we use these days exposes us to things that may increase our cancer risk. And hair dye may be another one of those things. 

For a long time, there wasn’t conclusive evidence that linked hair dye to cancer, but a recent study of 47,000 women found that women who used permanent hair dye in the previous year were 9% more likely to develop breast cancer compared to women who didn’t use hair dye. 

This is just one study and doesn’t prove that hair dye causes cancer, but if you are concerned with your breast cancer risk, you may want to reduce your exposure to items linked to breast cancer, including permanent hair dye. 

Allergic Reactions

When dyeing hair any color, you can have an allergic reaction or other adverse effects. Even if you’ve dyed your hair tons of times with no problems, you can suddenly develop an allergy to an ingredient in these products, so this is something to think about before deciding to dye your hair any color.

However, one hair dye ingredient called p-phenylenediamine or PPD, is more likely to cause allergic reactions. And this ingredient is seen more frequently in black hair dyes than in lighter colors. So if you have sensitive skin, black hair dye may be even more risky for you than a lighter color like blonde. 

Reasons to Dye Your Hair Black

Now that I’ve gotten the doom and gloom out of the way, keep in mind that the advantages of dyeing your hair black may be well worth the disadvantages for you. So you may still want to dye your hair black if:

Your Hair is Already Dark

If your hair is just a few shades from black, it will be an easy transition to and from black hair. You’re less likely to end up with regret after you dye it since it won’t be a shocking change. And if you do hate it, it will be much easier to get back to your natural hair color if you only have to lighten your hair a shade or two. Even more, the dye may fade enough that you can grow out your roots without them being very noticeable.

You Want Your Eyes to Pop

If your natural hair color isn’t doing much for your eyes, dyeing your hair black is one way to make them stand out. No matter your eye color, black hair will complement them and make them look prettier.

You Have the Right Complexion

Any complexion or skin color can pull off black hair — if it’s the right shade. But getting the perfect shade for your complexion will be harder if you have fair skin. It’s just harder to pull of black hair with light skin. It can wash you out or bring out redness in your face. So if you have acne or rosacea, you have to tread carefully when dyeing your hair black. Either see an experienced colorist who can get you a shade of black that will complement your skin or stick with a dark brown instead of a true black.

In contrast, if you have medium or darker skin, you can pull of black hair much better, even if you have redness in your face or other skin problems.  

Your Hair Looks Lackluster

Overall, black hair just looks healthier.

Lighter hair colors tend to look less healthy and thin. When you add black hair dye, this deposits color molecules in the hair shaft, which actually fattens up the strand just a bit. So dyeing hair black can make it look thicker.

In addition, black hair is more lustrous as it reflects like better. So if you want thick, shiny, healthy looking hair, black may be the color for you.

You Want a Subculture Look

If I’m being honest, the main reason I’d recommend dyeing your hair black is if you are going for a very specific look that requires it. Many music subcultures including gothic, emo, and scenester subcultures have an aesthetic that depends on black hair. If you just love that scene or that look, then black hair may be worth all the downsides for you. 

This is the reason I kept black hair for so long. I just felt like it fit my personality and my lifestyle at the time. 

If that’s not your main reason for choosing black hair, I’d stick with dark brown instead. It looks more natural and it’s not going to take as much work to keep up with or get rid of. 

Tips for Dyeing Hair Black

Go Slow

If you’re not sure if you’re ready for black hair, go into it slowly. Start with some low-lights that are two or three shades darker than your current hair and see how you feel about it. Once you’ve tested the waters of black hair and love it, then maybe you are ready to take the plunge. If not, it’s an easy fix to get back to where you are now.

You can also try a temporary hair dye that washes out after a few shampoos such as Manic Panic Temporary Hair Color Styling Gel. I recommend this over semi-permanent dyes because on rare occasions, semi-permanent doesn’t completely wash out. 

See a Professional

Dyeing hair is an art, but also a science. And there are tons of variables that should be considered when choosing how exactly to dye your hair black that takes tons of education and experience to understand. If you are going to make a dramatic change like going black, which is incredibly hard to reverse, it’s best to put the job in the hands of a professional colorist who will know for sure how to get you good results and the perfect shade for your hair and skin type.

Don’t Trust the Color on the Box

If you want to ignore the advice in the last section and dye your hair yourself, remember that you can’t trust the color on the box. Because there are so many variables in hair color, you may not end up with the exact shade you see in the picture. 

Do a Patch Test

Before you use any hair dye, you should always do a patch test. It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve used the product before. You can develop an allergy at any time. So before you cover your whole head with chemicals, read the instructions that come with the dye and do a patch test. 

Final Takeaways

Black hair dye can give you a dramatic look that you love, but there are many things to consider before you take the plunge. 

Dyeing hair any color, but especially black, can require a lot of upkeep and expense. And getting back to your natural color will be a long road. 

However, these downsides may be well worth it if black hair suits your face and the look you are going for. 

Want to remember this? Pin this to your favorite Pinterest board so you can find it later!

References

Journal of Asthma and Allergy: Para-Phenylenediamine Allergy: Current Perspectives on Diagnosis and Management

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences: Permanent Hair Dye and Straighteners May Increase Breast Cancer Risk

U.S. Food and Drug Administration: Eye Cosmetic Safety

U.S. Food and Drug Administration: Hair Dyes

The last time I dyed my hair red, my shower looked like a scene out of the movie Psycho every time I took a shower. I’m talking about blood-colored dye bleeding out of my hair, down my body, and all over the shower. My towels were stained permanently red. It was a nightmare.

But why does my hair color wash out so fast? Hair dye washes out when color molecules don’t fully penetrate into the hair’s cortex or when the color molecules are too small to stay inside the hair’s cortex. This allows water to rinse the color out of hair.

There are several reasons this could happen which I’ll cover in this post. But most importantly, there are tons of things you can do to stop hair color from washing out, which I’ll let you in on as well. 

Does Semi-Permanent Hair Dye Wash Out?

Temporary hair dye usually washes out in one or two shampoos.

Semi permanent hair dye lasts longer, often up to a few months. But it doesn’t adhere to the hair nearly as well as permanent hair color, so it’s not uncommon to see it washing down the drain with each shampoo.

If you want to stop this from happening, skip ahead to my tips for keeping hair dye from washing out. 

Does Permanent Hair Dye Wash Out?

Immediately after you dye your hair, the chemicals used to dye your hair should be rinsed out. During this rinse, you will see color washing down the drain as well. After this initial rinse, most people don’t see color washing down the drain again.

Permanent hair dye uses a chemical process that opens up the hair cuticle so that dye is deposited deep inside the hair strand’s cortex. Once color is deposited deep inside the hair, a chemical reaction occurs that increases the size of the color molecule, making it larger.

This larger molecule is then too big to escape out of the hair’s cortex. At this point, the color is permanently trapped inside your hair and shouldn’t wash out.

But what happens if you don’t wash all the dye out of your hair?

Well, some people find that permanent hair dye bleeds out after the first or second washes. This tends to happen when there is excess dye that is attached to outer layers of the hair strands.

This is usually fine because there is still plenty of color that makes it inside the hair strand that will never wash out. So you simply wash out the extra dye and everything is good from then on out.

On rare occasions, however, the dye never completely penetrates the hair or the molecules never get large enough to stay stuck inside the hair’s cortex.

If this happens to you, you may find your permanent hair color washing out everytime you shower. This will also cause the hair dye to lighten after washing. So permanent hair dye washing out is not common, but it still occurs for many people.

Why is My Permanent Hair Dye Washing Out?

If your permanent hair dye is washing out, it’s likely due to one or more of these factors: the color of the dye, the health of your hair, the products in your hair when you dyed it, or using henna on your hair in the past. 

Color

Most likely, if your permanent hair dye is washing out, it’s because of the color you’ve chosen. Red shades in particular are well known for fading quickly. 

The common belief is that red hair dye fades quickly because red color molecules are larger than other color molecules and don’t penetrate the cortex of the hair as deeply as other colors.

However, according to cosmetic chemist Perry Romanowski, the opposite is actually true. 

It’s not that the red molecules are too big, rather the problem is they are too small! These red polymers tend to be of smaller molecular size and are therefore more easily removed by water, especially when surfactants are involved (i.e., shampoo formulations).

Perry Romanowski

As I’ve explained, during the permanent hair dye process, a chemical reaction occurs that makes color molecules larger so they can’t escape out of the hair’s cortex.

Because of the limited options available for red polymers, this chemical reaction still occurs in red hair dyes, but the resulting molecules are still small enough to slowly escape out of the hair over time, especially if you wash your hair a lot or use the wrong hair-care products.

Hair Damage

If your hair has a lot of damage, it will have problems retaining color molecules. This is likely in people who chemically treat their hair a lot with bleaches, highlights, hair dyes, or perms. It also can happen from using hair dryers, straighteners, and curling irons. 

Hair Products

Some hairstyling products, particularly those that contain dimethicone, can prevent hair dye from penetrating into the hair. So if your hair wasn’t clean when it was dyed this may be the problem. Instead of working properly, a lot of dye is left just coating the hair shaft and then rinses off in the shower.

Henna

If you’ve used henna or another plant-based hair stain on your hair, you are going to have problems using synthetic dyes on it. This is because henna coats the hair shaft, preventing chemicals from getting deep into the hair. If your synthetic hair dye can’t get deep into the hair’s cortex, it’s going to wash out in the shower.

How to Keep Hair Dye from Washing Out

Whether you have manic panic, purple, brown, auburn, red, or black hair dye, here’s some tips to stop it from washing out everytime you shower.

When You Dye Your Hair

The best way to keep hair dye from washing out is to dye it correctly. Here’s some tips so that your next dye job doesn’t leave you with color washing out everytime you shower:

Be Gentle

Hair dye will penetrate and stay in your hair best if your hair is healthy. Therefore, in the weeks before you dye your hair, you should avoid doing anything that will damage your hair. 

Some things you should stay away from include bleaching, highlighting, perming, and chemical straighteners. These chemical processes damage the protein bonds in your hair.

Repair Hair

If your hair is damaged, you can take some steps to repair it before you use hair dye. 

How do you know if your hair is damaged? First of all, it’s likely to be damaged if it tangles or snarls really easily. 

However, you can also check if your hair is damaged by feeling a hair strand. Grab a strand between your fingers and move your fingers up towards your scalp. If the hair strand feels rough, then it’s likely damaged or too porous to retain hair dye well. 

To repair damaged hair, use a protein filler such as Sally Beauty Neutral Protein Filler. You can use this before you dye your hair or just add it to your hair dye. However, if your hair is really damaged, you may want to use it before you dye your hair and add it to your dye as well. 

Get Squeaky Clean

People are often told to dye their hair when it’s dirty, but the main reason for doing this is so that your natural oils will protect the skin on your scalp. It actually doesn’t help with the dyeing process. In fact, products on your hair may inhibit penetration of the hair dye.

So if you are having problems with dye still coming out of hair and you don’t think you’ll have a skin reaction from doing so, you should get your hair as clean as possible before you dye it.

To start with, you should avoid most styling products and heavy conditioners for a day or two before dyeing. Then on the day you dye your hair, wash it really well with a cleansing shampoo and skip conditioners. 

Try a Different Hair Dye Brand or Process

When it’s time to dye your hair, consider a different brand or dyeing process.

Perhaps the brand you used is just not a good one or isn’t the best fit for your hair type.

And if you’ve tried several brands, you may just want to consider a different process entirely, such as Henna, which uses a plant to stain the hair shafts. Just do your research first and understand the consequences. For example, once you use henna on hair, you can’t use chemical dyes on it again.

Use Heat

Heat opens up the hair cuticle, which helps the color penetrate the hair strand better. While wearing your plastic cap and waiting for the hair color to develop, blow dry your head until all the hairs have had time to warm up.

Consult a Professional

If you’re having problems with color fading or washing out, it’s best to just let a professional handle it. Find a reputable salon and have them do the work for you.

Coloring hair is a much more complicated process than the drug store hair dye companies want you to think so sometimes it’s best to just pay up and get it done right.

Wait 72 Hours to Wash

So how long should you wait to wash your hair after highlights or dyeing?Can you rinse your hair the day after coloring? Girl, you need some patience if you want your color to last.

Typically you should wait at least 36-48 hours before washing your hair after getting highlights or dyeing. But if you’ve had problems with dye fading or washing out, you should wait longer.

It can take up to 72 hours for the cuticle layer of your hair to close after dyeing and confine the hair dye inside of the hair. If you wash before this, you’re likely to wash some dye out of your hair.

After You Dye Your Hair

Once you’ve dyed your hair, there isn’t a ton you can do to stop color from washing out. A lot of the advice you’ll find on the internet is aimed at getting you to buy products and has been debunked by scientists like Perry Romanowski.

For example, protecting your hair from UV radiation or using sulfate free shampoos have little effect on color fading, according to research. So be wary of advice that tells you to buy more expensive products.

However, there are a few things you can still do that should help:

Reduce Shampooing

Studies have shown that the main cause of hair dye loss is washing hair. Shampoo and water strip the hair shaft, which will strip color as well. 

To avoid this problem, your best bet is to shampoo your hair less frequently. Washing your hair every other day or just once or twice a week can make a huge difference.

If you are used to washing your hair every day, this may seem like a crazy bad idea because your hair feels dirty after a day. But the truth is that your scalp adjusts to how much you wash it. If you wash less frequently, your scalp will start to produce less oil over time, which will make your hair feel less dirty.

If you just can’t get into the idea of washing your hair less, then rinse your hair in the shower and use a cleansing conditioner instead of shampoo.

Avoid Heat

Heat opens your hair’s cuticles, which makes it easier for hair color to leech out. So to help prevent hair dye from washing out in the shower, you should definitely avoid hot water in the shower. Use lukewarm or cold water on your hair instead.

Another thing to avoid is heat styling such as flat irons and blow dryers. These can contribute to hair color fading as well. 

Use Products for Color-Treated Hair

When you do wash or style your hair, make sure you are using products designed for color-treated hair. These are specially formulated to protect hair color and reduce fading.

Tresemme Color Revitalize shampoo and conditioner are great for color treated hair, especially red shades. L’Oreal Color Radiance is another good option.

Soften Your Water 

An often overlooked cause of hair fading and washing out is hard water. If your hair dye is washing out, you may want to check the pH of your water and see if you have hard water. If so, you can fix this by installing a low-cost hard water filter in your shower like this one.

Final Takeaways

Hair dye shouldn’t be washing out everytime your shower! Unfortunately it still happens, especially with red shades of hair dye.

Why did my red hair dye bleed out every time I showered for months? It was likely due to the small molecules of red hair dye combined with my frazzled over-processed hair, thanks to my previous addiction to dying my hair.

If you have this same problem when you wash dyed hair, the best way to deal with this is to dye it correctly in the first place, wait at least 72 hours to wash your hair initially, and then wash your hair as little as possible from there on out.

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References

Actas Dermo-Sifiliográficas: Hair Cosmetics: Dyes

International Agency for Research on Cancer: General Introduction to the Chemistry of Dyes

International Journal of Trichology: Hair Cosmetics: An Overview

Perry Romanowski: Why Does Red Hair Dye Fade so Much?

Perry Romanowski: 5 Tips for Coloring Your Hair

My hair has always grown so much faster than the hair of my friends. It was nice when I was trying to grow out my hair, but can be annoying when I have a shorter style that I like and have to go to the salon frequently just to maintain it. This frustration led me to finally research why hair grows so fast in some people but not others.

So why does my hair grow so fast?Hair growth rate varies widely among people. DNA largely determines a person’s hair growth rate. However, it is dependent on many factors including the part of the body, ethnicity, gender, age, stress level, and state of health.

I dove deep into the research and found some surprising things that explain a lot about my hair experiences. Read on to learn who is most likely to have the fastest growing hair.

How Fast Does Hair Grow on Average?

Before you learn why your hair is growing so fast, you may want to know exactly what is normal for human hair growth.

Scalp hair grows at a rate of about 0.6–1.4 cm (.03-.56 in) per month in general. However, hair growing as fast as 3.36 cm/month (1.3 in/month) has also been noted in research.

Here is the average growth rate of hairs on different parts of the body, according to data found in a research paper by Pragst F. Balikova, MA.

Part of Body	Average Growth Rate (mm per day)
Scalp, non-bald	0.32–0.46
Scalp, alopecia	0.08–0.15
Beard	0.25–0.29
Underarm	0.29–0.33
Pubic Area	0.3
Eyebrow	0.15–0.16
Thigh	0.13–0.25
Trunk/Arms/Legs	0.27
Forehead	0.03

Body Hair Growth Rate

If you are wondering about why your body or facial hair is growing so fast, the reason is most likely due to hormones.

Hormones affect hair growth in many ways, including the growth rate. If we are talking about body and facial hair, testosterone often increases the rate of growth and estrogen often decreases it.

This is why women with a lot of facial and body hair often have higher levels of testosterone than other women. Not only does testosterone make hair grow in these places, it makes the hair grow faster.

In addition, substances such as minoxidil, cyclosporin, diazoxide, and
chromakalin can increase the growth rate of body and facial hair.

Scalp Hair Growth Rate

If you are wondering why your scalp hair is growing so fast, then the main reason is likely ethnicity or hair thickness. But other factors may be at play too.

Ethnicity

Hair growth rates vary significantly between ethnicities.

In a large study on the diversity of human hair growth, people of African descent tended to have hair that grew the slowest as well as the thinnest hairs.

People of Asian descent had hair that tended to grow the fastest along with the thickest hairs.

And people with European descent fell in the middle.

Here’s a chart from that study showing the diversity in hair growth speeds.

However, as I cover in the next section, this may be more about hair thickness than ethnicity.

Hair Thickness

In a study of Asian and Caucasian subjects with straight and semi-straight hair, thicker hair fibers corresponded to a faster growth rate. Thin hair fibers had slow growth rates. This finding appeared to be unrelated to ethnic origin.

Another study analyzed 59,765 hairs and found that thin hairs grew slower than thick hairs.

This may explain why Asian people tend to have hair that grows the fastest. They also have the thickest hairs.

If you have thick hair, that explains why your hair is growing so fast. However, just because your hair seems thick doesn’t necessarily mean that it is actually is thick.

Especially if you are of European descent, you may just have dense hair. That means you have more hair follicles spaced close together and a lot of hairs, but they aren’t necessarily thick.

You can tell if your hair is thick by pinching an individual hair between your fingers and feeling it. If you feel nothing between your fingers, you don’t have thick hair.

If instead, your hair feels like some heavy sewing thread, you have thick hair.

Gender

One study of young adults found that the hair growth rate of scalp hair was pretty similar between males and females. However, hair tends to grow significantly slower at the nape in men.

In contrast, another study of Caucasian subjects found that women without pattern hair loss had a faster hair growth rate than men without pattern hair loss.

Overall, it seems that women are probably more likely to have fast-growing hair, but there will be exceptions to this rule.

Age

Hair growth speed can slow with age. Researchers have found that people under 25 have the fastest growth rates.

In other studies, the average growth rate in prepubescent, adolescent, adult, and older adults have been reported at 0.41, 0.30, 0.34, and 0.32 mm/day, respectively.

So very young people tend to have faster-growing hair, but once you reach adulthood, it tends to stay at the same rate.

However, aging can make hairs thinner over time. And as we have learned, thin hairs tend to grow slower.

Environmental Factors

Environmental factors may affect the growth rate of hair, but their influence is very minimal compared to genetics. Your sex and ethnicity are far more important.

In brief, different living conditions in people of the same origins appear to have a very low influence upon their inherent hair growth parameters. 

-Diversity in human hair growth, diameter, colour and shape. An in vivo study on young adults from 24 different ethnic groups observed in the five continents

Stress

Stress is one environmental factor that may impact hair growth rate by causing hair growth inhibition.

In fact, according to Erling Thom, a Dermatology researcher, many stress-related substances can stop hair growth.

Studies have demostrated that certain stress-mediating substances such as substance P, adrenocorticotropic hormone, prolactin, and cortisol actually inhibit the growth of hair.

-Erling Thom

In addition, severe illness may interfere with hair growth.

The good news about having hair that is growing fast is that you are more likely to be a healthy person!

Final Takeaways

If you have fast-growing hair, the main reason is your DNA and hair thickness. Several other things, like environmental factors, age, stress, and medications may have an impact, but your DNA mostly calls the shots in this department.

Related Questions

Why does my hair grow so fast after waxing?

The most likely reason is that the hairs are breaking and not being pulled out by the root. So instead of taking a week or more to show back up, they are growing back in a few days, just like you shaved.

To ensure this doesn’t happen, make sure you aren’t waiting too long to wax. Longer hairs are more likely to break.

Want to remember this? Pin this to your favorite Pinterest board so you can find it later!

References

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry: Hair Analysis Panel Discussion: Exploring the State of the Science

Clinica Chimica Acta: State of the Art in Hair Analysis for Detection of Drug and Alcohol Abuse

European Journal of Dermatology: Diversity in human hair growth, diameter, color and shape. An in vivo study on young adults from 24 different ethnic groups in the five continents

International Journal of Cosmetic Science: Relationships Between Hair Growth Rate and Morphological Parameters of Human Straight Hair: a Same Law Above Ethnical Origins?

The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism: Effects of Sex Steroid Deprivation/Administration on Hair Growth and Skin Sebum Production in Transsexual Males and Females

Journal of Drugs in Dermatology: Stress and the Hair Growth Cycle: Cortisol-Induced Hair Growth Disruption

Skin Research and Technology: Gender Differences in Scalp Hair Growth Rates are Maintained but Reduced in Pattern Hair Loss Compared to Controls

As a little girl, I was envious AF of Shirley Temple’s curly hair. I dreamed of suddenly growing some gorgeous locks like hers. Since I heard that my mother’s friend developed curly hair as an adult, this seemed like a realistic goal. Unfortunately, that glory day never came for me.

But why does hair become curly with age for some people? Your hair may become curly with age if you inherited both straight and curly hair genes from your parents. Some of these genes can be inactive at birth but then become turned on by hormones, aging, or other factors including medication, nutrition, stress, illness, or pollution.

Science is a long way off from fully understanding what exactly causes hair to be curly and what factors can turn hair from straight to curly with age.

However, there is still a lot we do know. And with that information, you can make some educated guesses about why your hair has suddenly become curly.

What Determines Curly Hair?

Curly hair is largely determined by the hair follicle shape. An asymmetrical hair follicle will produce curly hair in all ethnicities.

Hair follicles are first formed in the first trimester of pregnancy. The shape is determined by your DNA. This shape is thought to be mostly fixed for life, however, genes can be turned on and off by your environment and experiences.

Just as your skin sheds and new skin grows, the hair follicles are going through a similar rebirth all the time. If any of the many genes associated with hair follicle shape is turned on or off, the hair follicle shape can change slightly or on rare occasions, a lot.

We don’t fully understand everything that triggers these hair-related genes to be turned on or off, but scientists do know some things that may help you make sense of your hair changes.

Hormones

Genes can turn on and off for lots of different reasons. These factors are not even completely understood by scientists! But we do know that hormones can turn genes on and off.

–Trisha Chong, Stanford University

Hormones can have huge effects on the body, including the hair. People often see changes in their hair texture when they go through puberty, and hormones are probably one reason for this.

Women going through pregnancy often notice changes to both their skin and hair. Pregnancy hormones play a role in these changes, so may possibly play a role in straight hair suddenly turning curly.

Keep in mind that women’s bodies produce pregnancy hormones each menstrual cycle as well as when using some forms of birth control. So even if you aren’t pregnant, pregnancy hormones could play a role in changes to your body.

Another cause of changing hormones is menopause. However, it’s more likely to see thinning hair than straight hair becoming curly during this phase of life.

Aging

Aging affects the hair follicles, but it is rarely a cause of curly hair. However, aging does make hair strands finer. This means gravity isn’t pulling each hair down as much. Lighter hair will make wavy or curly hairs become more apparent.

This is something I’ve noticed myself as I’ve aged. My hair was always a little wavy, but it was crazy thick when I was a child and adolescent. So I would have some waves if I kept my hair short, but if I grew it out very much, there were no waves to be found.

When I hit my 30’s, I noticed that my hair was becoming slightly lighter and my waves were obvious even when my hair was long.

The same thing could happen with people who have thick hairs but curl producing hair follicles, especially women who have had long hair their whole lives. As they age, the curls will become more curly and noticeable.

Changes in Nutrition

Factors such as genetic variation, weathering, diet or cosmetic treatments affect the constitution of the hair and underlie the variations in hair characteristics across hair ethnic groups, such as diameter, ellipticity and curliness.

-Human Hair and the Impact of Cosmetic Procedures: A Review on Cleansing and Shape-Modulating Cosmetics

Although there have been no direct links made between what you eat and hair becoming curly, nutrition has an impact on other aspects of hair including texture and strength. So if you changed your diet significantly before the onset of curly hair, that may be the cause.

Just as aging makes hair thinner, so can a poor diet. And thinner hair can be more wavy and curly than thicker hair.

In addition, copper has been linked to curly hair in some studies. Have you been eating a lot of high copper foods like lobsters, oysters, or liver?

Or perhaps you started a multivitamin high in this mineral? That may have something to do with your change in hair texture.

Medications

Medications for seizures and bipolar disorder, on rare occasions, can cause curly hair. The reason for this is still unknown, but some researchers have speculated that it has to do with how metals are processed in the body. Changes in the concentration of metals like copper are seen in the hairs of these patients.

Sometimes hair becomes straight again after they stop using these medications, but there have been reports of patients continuing to have curly hair even after discontinuing their medication.

Some medications used to treat cancer, called epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors, can also affect hair texture. This can result in hair becoming straight or curly.

And just as hormones may impact hair texture, any medications that affect hormones, such as glucocorticoids or thyroxine, could also potentially make hair become wavy or curly.

Illness and Stress

Both illness and stress can take a toll on the body. Hormone levels are often altered by illness or stress. This is why people who are chronically ill or under a lot of stress often have thinning hair or hair loss.

These changes in your body could possibly affect gene expression, which could change your hair texture.

In addition, some specific illnesses, like hyperthyroidism, are linked to changes in hair texture.

Pollution

Pollution has been linked to hair loss in some studies. It’s common in some areas of the world for people to experience hair loss when moving from rural areas to highly industrialized cities with lax pollution standards, like in China.

There are no studies linking curly hair to pollution. However, pollution can affect our hormone levels. And as we have learned, hormones may have an effect on hair texture. So it’s something to think about if your hair changes started after you moved to a more polluted environment.

Climate

Did you move to a different climate? Things like temperature and sun exposure can affect hormone levels, so that maybe what’s going on.

Or it could be the new climate directly affecting your hair.

Just as curly hairs typically curl the most when wet, humidity in the air brings out waves or curls in hair.

So if you lived in a desert your whole life and suddenly moved to a humid area like the Southern US, for example, you’d likely notice that your hair is more wavy or curly.

Whose Hair Is Most Likely to Become Curly With Age

We know from genetic studies that people with African ethnicity are most likely to hair curly hair at birth. So of course, their hair isn’t going to suddenly become curly. However, it could become more curly with age.

In contrast, most people with East Asian ethnicity are likely to have very straight hair. Genetically, it’s unlikely that they have any genes that will suddenly make their hair wavy or curly.

People with Western Asian or European DNA, however, are the most likely to have a mix of genes that would create straight hair that becomes curly with age.

Of course, if your ethnicity is some mixture of African, Asian, and European, it’s also more likely that you have a mixture of genes that could mean your hair will change as you age.

Final Takeaways

Unfortunately for little girls born without curly hair, like me, it’s rare for hair texture to change significantly with age. Yet, it still happens in rare occasions for some people.

We still don’t know that much about hair texture and genetics. But anything that can change gene expression may have an effect on your hair, no matter what age you are. If your hair has suddenly changed from straight to curly, it’s likely due to hormones or changes in your environment. It’s most likely a permanent change, but not always.

So make the most with what the good Lord gave you and enjoy those curls while you got them. And if you hate your new glorious curls, just remember, I’m envious of you! I guess we usually want what we don’t have! That’s why there are also great hair straighteners in the world, like this one. 😉

Related Questions:

Can hair change from curly to straight?

Yep! Just as straight hair sometimes becomes curly, curly hair can sometimes become straight. However, this tends to be a rare occurrence as hair follicle shape and hair texture is mostly fixed by birth.

How to change hair follicle shape naturally?

There is no known way to do this, unfortunately. I looked and looked. But you can bet there is a billion-dollar cosmetics industry trying to figure it out, so maybe we will know one day!

What’s the best hair removal method for busy women with lots of responsibilities?

I personally have found epilation to be the best hair removal method for my busy life. The results last as long as waxing, but it’s much cheapers and easier to do at home. I used to have to shave every day, but now hair removal takes a fraction of that time.

To learn more about epilation, check out the Epilator FAQ and Beginner’s Guide.

Want to remember this? Pin this to your favorite Pinterest board so you can find it later!

References:

Cosmetics: Human Hair and the Impact of Cosmetic Procedures: A Review on Cleansing and Shape-Modulating Cosmetics

Clinical Psychopharmacology and Neuroscience: Curly Hair Induced by Valproate in Bipolar Disorder

Epilepsia: Valproic Acid–induced Hair‐texture Changes in a White Woman

Experimental Dermatology: The Biology and Genetics of Curly Hair

JAMA Dermatology: Hair and Nail Changes during Long-Term Therapy with Ibrutinib for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology: Hair Disorders in Patients with Cancer

Standford Medicine: Other Traits

Trends in Genetics: The Secret Life of a Hair Follicle

U.S. National Library of Medicine: Aging Changes in Hair and Nails

U.S. National Library of Medicine: Is Hair Texture Determined by Genetics?