My hair is damaged, but I have to color the gray!

mebarb

I've posted under the health section because my hair is newly damaged and I don't know what to do. I have coarse, frizzy, type 3b hair that never really had curl definition because I never learned how, but it was pretty. I've been hot iron straightening for about 10 years and highlighting longer than that.

Of course I'm going to stop using all heat, but I just don't want to give up the color! I was blond as a kid and it turned dishwater blond as I got older then dishwater brown. So, most of my friends know me as a dark blonde now with brown going through it - done by a salon always. And now that I am gray, there is no way I would give up coloring that. It is damaged, I know, but can I continue coloring it while I do all the things to fix the damage?

curlypearl

Mebarb, the best thing you can do is do a protein treatment in advance of using color and deep treatment after. Then continue to do protein treatments and deep treatments at least once a week.

Don't do protein right after the color - do it a few days before - because protein will strip the color, but it's necessary when you've colored your hair to do protein in between coloring.

So the regimen should be - protein after poo, and a conditioner, then in a few days use color, with deep conditioner afterward - no protein after coloring for a few days. Then at the next poo, use something like Curl Junkie Beauticurls Strengthening Conditioner which combines protein with conditioner or any other good protein treatment followed by conditioner. There are other good products too, that's just an example. HTH

Factwoman

If you don't want to lift or lighten your natural color but just deposit color then try using a salon quality Demi- permanent coloring like the Redken EQ color gloss line. I use it to cover my grey hair and it doesn't damage it. It washes out in 28 washes but I color once a month due to fast growth.

If you are trying to lighten your natural color with a permanent coloring, try slathering your hair from root to ends with coconut oil the night before you color. Coconut oil is one of the few oils that hair can absorb into the shaft. Sleep with the oil on your hair then in the morning, color your hair over the oil- yes the color comes out perfectly. The permanent color opens the hair shaft and the color and even more coconut oil is drawn into the shaft. It prevents the damage that coloring alone does.

I personally like the demi color because you never have that harsh line of color/ roots, it gradually fades a bit before the next coloring so you don't get the hard line and it doesn't damage the hair like permanent color does. I buy the Redken EQ online since I can't afford to go to the salon each month to have it done.

CurliLocks

I was going to suggest Color by Robert Craig, but it is semi-permanent and won't lift color either. It can, however, turn those grays into nice, natural-looking highlights if you use a very light shade.

PerkyCurlz

CurliLocks wrote: »

I was going to suggest Color by Robert Craig, but it is semi-permanent and won't lift color either. It can, however, turn those grays into nice, natural-looking highlights if you use a very light shade.

This is what I do ... use a lighter brown to turn my greys into nice highlights. BTW, Robert Craig is the ONLY hair color I've used in the past couple of years and I LOVE IT! It's the only color I've used that doesn't demolish my curls for a few days.

And Curlypearl had a great regimen for using protein before coloring.