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I don't understand it. How come on this board people write messages in disbelief about people dying hair, saying that it causes damage? I say this because it appears as if many many many women do it also and their long hair often looks healthy and they never seem to worry? Is this therefore some sort of guy thing where long hair on a guy can't be dyed successfully, but only on women?
Hello.
Women get damaged hair from dying, too. The chemicals affect everyone's hair differently, and there are some who seem to get no damage. But those are usually women who have hair just below the shoulders or shorter. And a lot of times women are trying to keep a specific length and style, so damage gets cut out. Many women I know with long hair would never risk damaging it.
I know a young woman who has below waist length hair, but it's incredibly damaged due to dye.
I have my hair dyed. I highly suggest you get it done professionally. The cost is definately worth it. (I color to hide my greys!)
As with most things, there's no black and white here. Changing the color of your hair involves treating it with chemicals. To make your hair darker, you add dye or pigment. This alone is not damaging unless the pigment is abrasive. However, sometimes to make the dye "stick" another chemical is used to make the dye bond to the hair. This chemical could be damaging.
To change the hair color to a lighter shade or to change it to pink or some other color that requires the hair to first be lightened, you cannot simply add color. You must get rid of the existing color. Your natural hair color is formed by pigments located at the center of the hair shaft. In order to remove/chemically alter this pigment, the chemical must penetrate the entire hair shaft. Bleaches are thus inherently damaging.
They've come a long way in recent years in making bleaches that aren't so damaging, but they always do some damage. After all, the whole point is to damage the existing pigment.
As to your point on women not getting damaged hair from coloring it, you must simply not be paying attention. Some women pay through the nose to correct this sort of problem. If normal measures don't work, there are extensions that give the appearance that the hair went back to the original condition.
Victor has it covered with his post, it's excellent.
Many years ago I dyed my hair ash blond with Nice and Easy. Not only did it turn orange in no time, but it really made my hair feel different. L'Oreal Preference blue-black was the best I could find in a store, but it still made my hair feel different. I can't vouch for professional hair coloring, but my memories of the different texture (more straw-like) from dying makes me shy away from it.