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Sometime ago I remember hearing that hair dyes with certain ingredients should be avoided. Could someone tell me what they are?
Probably ammonia--there are ammonia-free products out there. One of the reasons I went from doing it myself to having my gray dyed professionally is that the salons have those better products. (The other reason is that they just do the roots as they grow out, minimizing the repeated application to already dyed hair.)
Certain bleaches and lighteners can especially damage your hair. It is safer to color your hair close to it's natural color, or darker, rather than to try to make it several shades lighter.
I would also add that the demi-permanent colors (those that wash out in 28 shampoos according to the box) are much less harsh than the permanent colors. The difference is that permanent coloring penetrates the hair shaft and 'lifts' the original color before adding in the new color, whereas the demi just softens the shaft enough to deposit new color on top. And as Laura said going darker is much easier on hair than going lighter.
One thing to be aware of is that demi-permanent coloring isn't recommended if you have more than 50% gray, as the gray hair doesn't absorb the color as well as non-gray. Typically demi-permanent coloring over slightly graying hair will result in hair that varies a bit in color, similar to highlighting, whereas permanent coloring will tend to make all your hair nearly the same color.
One last thing to note, you can color just the roots at home, using either permanent or demi-permanent coloring. The easy way is to use a root touch-up kit for permanent coloring. The cheap way is to mix a small quantity of equal parts of the solutions in a plastic bowl and apply with a small (mustache?) brush.
I hope this helps answer your questions.
--Dale
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All hair dyes should be avoided. Putting chemicals etc into the hair is NOT good for it.
Rudy- the only natural hair dye that is good for your hair is Henna because it's all natural...Checkout Mehandi.com---They have the best stuff!! I've been using there henna for over three years now and it has done wonders for my hair...It doesn't lightened your hair it enhances it---If u want to go blonde forget about! It won't work for you...Hope this helps
Thanks everyone for your replies - but I should have been clearer. My natural colour is black, and I want to dye it back to black as I am getting quite grey.