Keratin Treatment Or Dye Hair First?
What came first: the chicken or the egg? Many people still argue about this issue. However, women still argue about what should be performed first: is it hair dyeing or keratin hair straightening? Let’s explain everything in this article!
Well, we can understand both ladies who say that performing keratin treatment before hair dyeing will protect hair and those who claim that after hair dyeing, keratin helps to seal hair cuticles and prolong the hair color vividness. First, let’s find out what hair dyes do to our hair
How Does Hair Dye Work?
There are four categories of hair dyes:
- ammonia
- with ammonia derivatives
- ammonia-free
- direct dyes.
Ammonia is needed in order to make the hair lighter or to get permanent coloring. To do this, ammonia must penetrate the hair, partially disrupting its cuticular layer and oxidizing the natural pigment. In fact, we need to “clear” the hair before filling its voids with artificial pigments. If everything is professionally done with dyes with a small amount of ammonia, then the damage to the hair will be very insignificant.
Permanent hair dyes are the most popular among women around the world. In such dyes, there is always hydrogen peroxide in addition to ammonia or its substitute. Ammonia helps to open the hair cuticle, and the oxidizing agent partially washes off the natural pigment and shows the color of the dye. With the help of such a dye, you can change the hair color by several tones, completely dye over gray hair or even lighten your hair.
However, it’s not always rainbows and butterflies. Permanent dyes damage the protective hair layer more than others: the cuticle is opened, but there is no natural mechanism to close it back. What’s more, the oxidizing agent, together with the pigment, washes away nutrients from the hair. Therefore, if you choose such a dye, then you need to provide special hair care. For example, keratin hair treatment.
How Does Hair Dyeing Work After A Keratin Treatment?
If you decide to perform a keratin treatment right before hair dyeing, the coloring pigments just won’t stick to your hair properly, as it will be super sleek. In the first 48 hours after keratin straightening, you shouldn’t do anything to your hair at all, since the process of fixing the keratin layer continues. Dyeing your hair right after keratin isn’t a great idea. A little patience - and luxurious locks will be with you for 2-6 months!
So how many days should you wait? As a result of keratin straightening, the hair cuticles close, they stick together tightly. For hair dyeing, it’s important that hair cuticles are open. Without this, the coloring pigment and related components won’t penetrate the hair. Hair dying can be performed after 2-3 weeks after the keratin treatment, depending on the frequency of hair washing.
The keratin layer will start washing off, so the process of opening the hair cuticles will slowly start. The more time has passed since keratin treatment, the better. Highlighting is recommended to be performed no earlier than after 3 weeks after keratin treatment.
Despite the fact that keratin protects your hair from the damage and lots of negative effects, it won’t let the hair dye smoothly and evenly cover your hair. No keratin should be done before hair dyeing or right after it!
