Sarah says: I am dying my dishwater blond hair red very soon. My regular salon uses Schwarzkopf hair dye products. I am looking into going to a “natural” salon, but they use Redken hair dye, which doesn’t sound natural to me. I assume Aveda might be the most natural, but they are also often faux-natural. What is the safest/gentlest/least chemical ridden permanent hair dye?
The Left Brain responds:
Sarah, the sad truth is that there is no such thing as a “chemical free” permanent hair dye. All the oxidation type dyes (the truly permanent ones) use the same basic technology. There are natural color alternatives like henna that can stain hair, but your color choices are limited and those kinds of products only work on the surface of the hair so they’re not really long lasting.