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Demi-permanent hair color is a myth!!!!!!
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A year ago, I switched from permanent hair color to demi-permanent hair color, in the hopes of making my transition to returning to my natural hair color easier. I have been very careful to use the demi permanent as directed, and specifically to only color my roots. So many websites describe demi-permanent hair color (10 volume peroxide) as not leaving a root-line or as unable to lift hair color.But it's just not true! My natural hair color is light brown-dark blonde, and I have a very distinct root-line from the demi-permanent color. No, it's not as distinct as if I had used permanent color, but it is still quite noticeable. I just wanted to warn others that using demi-permanent color as an intermediate step for letting natural hair color grow out really doesn't work. I wish I had just "bit the bulllet"a year ago and let it grow out. By the way, if anyone does know of a good way to transition back to natural hair color, I'd love to know! fluff
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What color is the demi-permanent dye you have been using?
When in the same situation as yours, I used a permanent dye that matched my natural color. I dyed my lightened hair to a darker brown so that it would match the natural color of my roots. After my hair grew out enough so that I could finally cut off all of the hair that had been lightened, I stopped the coloring. There was no root line because the hair was dyed to my natural color.
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Hi,
I used demi-permanent in a color that matches my natural color, too. But maybe the issues is that demi-permanent wears off and then you just see the "lift" from the peroxide. I guess if a person could get a perfect match in permanent like you did, that might be a better solution. Thanks for your answer! fluff
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Hi fluff,
To get a perfect match in a permanent color, you could go to a good salon colorist who will custom -mix the color for you. I'm frugal and usually hair color at home, but I once did get a salon coloring for that reason.
I hope you can find your perfect hair color. -
PART 1 OF MY COMMENT
I'm growing out my dyed hair too. I feel your pain. Here's a LOT of info about how I'm doing it.
This is an extra long post because it actually takes me longer to write a brief post, and because I spend way too much time thinking about my hair. Really. I'm an educated professional, I care about many things, but I spend about 10% of my brain power on my hair problems. Combine vanity, advancing age, grey hair, curly frizzy hair, long hair that I won't cut short because my sweetie loves it and because it's part of my identity, and fragrance allergy, and you get a pathetic preoccupation. This summer my goal is to get it all down to a repetitive routine and then to stop thinking about it.
To put my remarks in context, here's a description of my hair: Medium brown, with some blondish highlights in the summer. More and more grey coming in. Very curly and very prone to frizz. Thick density but fine hairs, except for the new grey hairs which are stronger and wiry. It gets damaged very easily, like a lot of curly hair. I'm white with a medium toned complextion and a yellowish tint to my skin. (In case the skin matters, I don't know.) So...if you have straight, strong hair that doesn't damage easily, or bright red or blond hair, this post might not be as relevant.
I use temporary dye. I think it's also called "semi-permanent" but the important point is that it has no ammonia and no peroxide. I'm growing out the hair that has been dyed with peroxide. Even though I used only demi-permanent, it damaged my hair. I use Clairol Beautiful Collection and Sally Beauty's Ion brand. Just make sure you get the kind with no peroxide or ammonia. By the way, don't be fooled by Clairol's new "Beautiful Collection Advanced Gray Solutions". Just use the regular Beautiful Collection if you don't want ammonia or peroxide or damage. Their Advanced Gray Solutions doesn't contain ammonia or peroxide, but it has some other kind of chemistry that is similar to using 10% peroxide. It damaged my hair the way demi-permanents do, and the hair color was permanently altered. (For people who don' t mind using some peroxide, Advanced Grey Solutions is really great--it's an easy one-step process that makes intense, shiny color that lasts several weeks.)
[For more about Advanced Gray Solutions, put it into the search box on this site, and then read the post "Is there a better way to dye my gray hair?" That's gray with an "a", not "grey". I left a very long description of how it worked for me. For more about how to dye your hair, look up the forum post "Why do I "need" to get my hair dyed at a Salon?", and read my very long post about how I do it.]
I use dark brown on the new growth, and light brown on the damaged part because it absorbs so much more dye. Light brown comes out dark on the damaged areas. Sometimes I just cover the damaged part with blond dye to prevent any of the dark brown dye from touching it.
Products I use:
Clairol Beautiful Collection temporary (semi-permanent) hair dye-no ammonia, no peroxide
Sally Beauty's Ion brand temporary (semi-permanent) hair dye-no ammonia, no peroxide
Revlon Roux Fanci-ful temporary hair color mouse, gel, and liquid (just lasts till the next shampoo)
Clairol Uncolor to remove temporary hair dye when the color buildup looks bad
PART 2-SEE NEXT COMMENT -
PART 2 OF MY COMMENT
The reason I'm growing out the dye is that dyeing with any amount of peroxide or ammonia just damages my hair. I'm tired of having rough, dry hair when my natural hair is really strong and shiny. It's just grey. I don't want to go grey yet. So I'm growing out the part that is damaged, and using temporary dye to cover the grey. Temporary dye makes my hair look really shiny and healthy and it doesn't damage the hair. I'm not totally sure that all of it will be removable, but based on how fast it washes out, I think I will be able to remove it all with Clairol UnColor if I decide to go all natural grey. I use UnColor every month or two to get the old dye out, to get rid of the reddish tint that builds up with repeated dying.
The only problem with my approach is that to keep my hair looking good, I have to re-dye it every 2 weeks. The dye I use is easy to use--just squeeze it onto the hair and wait 40 minutes--but still, I'm lazy so sometimes the grey top part shows and I'm sure it doesn't look so good. An easy antidote to this is to use Roux Fanciful color mousse, color gel, or color liquid. They are basically good styling lotions with some hold that add a very natural color. The only potential problem is that if you sweat a lot or get caught in the rain, the color will run. The color lasts until the next shampoo. A trick could be to use a scarf to cover the top part of your hair, and use Roux on the lengths.
Roux Fanci-Ful is available at Sally Beauty and at Walgreen's, and maybe other drugstores. You have to look in the hair dye section and look carefully to find them. In the drugstore they come in a bright pink bottle. At Sally's the packaging is different, mostly grey-blue.
Lately I'm thinking I might dye the new growth once with a little peroxide just to blend the damage. A weird idea. But I have a pretty clear line where it looks like I have two completely different heads of hair. The top 3 inches are smooth, shiny, and have lots of lighter hairs (the grey with some brown dye on top). The bottom 8 inches are rougher, curlier, darker, and more monotone. If I can get into the habit of really dyeing it every two weeks, it would look OK. Also I'm thinking of ways to shampoo less often, so the dye will last for longer. The problem is that my curly hair just doesn't look good except for on the day that I wash it. If anyone has any suggestions for styling curly hair without washing it, please let me know!
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Hi Professorauntie,
Thank you so much for your post! Your description of your hair makes you sound like my lost twin! I really appreciate your extensive description of what you use, what works and what doesn't. Yesterday, I decided to take care of part of the problem by doing something drastic--I had my shoulder length hair cut to above chin length! Ordinarly, I would really regret doing it, but the bottom half of my hair was so rough and damaged that I knew it was the best thing to do. So now I have about 4 inches of hair left to work with. I'm also on the fence about whether or not to let it go entirely natural--I'm about 40% gray. I think that your solution of using semi-permanent is a good one. And I appreciate knowing that you need to do it every 2 weeks or so--otherwise, I would be wondering if I was using it too often. By the way, I tried the Advanced Gray, too, and it altered my hair permanently. As you said, not a bad product, but definitely not semipermanent.
Again, thank you so much for taking the time to write! fluff -
Hi Fluff,
You're welcome! I'm glad it was helpful. I'm on vacation now, that's why I have time to write so much! It's nice to find someone else with the same set of hair problems! Most of my friends really don't want to listen to me go on and on about it.
That was brave to cut your hair. It will make the whole process a lot easier, and it's nice to have a head of healthy hair.
I'm thinking about testing Clairol UnColor on some of my newer hair. Usually I just put UnColor on the older hair to get the reddish tones out. But since I now have about 3 inches that have never been dyed with peroxide or ammonia, I could find out if UnColor brings the hair back to its original color, and get a preview of being grey and see how I like it. If it works, I'll post the results here.
By the way, the only place I've found to buy UnColor is on Folica.com. At Sally, they told me I needed a cosmetician license to buy it! -
Hi Professor Auntie,
I wanted to let you know that I have used both UnColor and Color Oops when I've made mistakes with demi-permanent hair color (mainly having it go on too dark). I found that the Color Oops worked much better than the UnColor for removing the hair color.
Again, thanks for writing and enjoy the rest of your vacation! fluff -
My only comment is that I am also hair-obsessed. Have been since age 11, when puberty accentuated the wave in my hair, I got my first graduated haircut (no longer blunt cut), and realized to keep that 70's salon farrah fawcett look I had to blow my wavy hair dry (up until then I'd just air dried). I'm better about it now than at age 11 (having figured out along with the hair industry what cutting techniques work with my wavy hair texture), but I still spend too much money on haircuts and to some degree on products. I figure it's better to be wasting brain power on my hair than to be obsessed with food and dieting. As far as hair dye, I really don't have any advice; I'm only slightly grey now (not as much as 50%), but FWIW, in the past, I had the best luck with clairol brand demi-permanent color (prefer clairol to say l'oreal in terms of results).
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I have been using a demi-permanent hair color for several years now. L'Oreal was the first brand I tried. I liked it and stuck with it. Wouldn't you know that L'Oreal would quit making the color I had used for so long. They did replace it with another demi-permanent color that is supposed to work much better. My hair is blonde and wavy/curly. I have never tried to go back to my natural color so I am no help there, but I may have some avenues you can pursue for how to get second day wavy/curly hair. For more years than I care to admit I washed my hair daily and dried it straight. The results looked fine but I had really dry ends and an oily scalp. Then I read about the Curly Girl method...or CG. I picked up Curly Girl The Handbook by Lorraine Massey, I read a lot on the http://www.naturallycurly.com/ site and I experimented....a lot. I still clean my scalp every day, but I only use shampoo every third day. If you conditioner wash (described on the site and in the book) most days and use shampoo only every third or fourth day it helps with the frizz. Curly hair tends to be drier than straight hair so not using shampoo so much seems to help. I don't use shampoos containing sulfates anymore because they seem to contribute greatly to drying my hair out. Because I don't use sulfates I also don't use conditioners or styling products with silicones in them. If I did continue to use the silicone products in my hair they would build up over time. My scalp calmed down a lot after I began doing this and, while still a bit on the oily side, is closer to normal than it has ever been. You can do second day hair by doing what is referred to on naturallycurly.com as a pineapple. You basically bend over and put all your hair into a ponytail on top of your head. You sort of look like a pineapple when you do this, hence the name. The next morning take your hair down, spritz it with water and scrunch to reform the waves and curls nicely. This may not help you at all but it did work for me. (sorry for this being so long!!)
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I don't know if anyone is still reading this, but thanks, lindygirl1960, for the "pineapple" suggestion. I tried it and my hair looked pretty good in the morning. Fluff, for hair color removal, I think Color Oops is for demi-permanent and permanent (oxidative dyes--with peroxide), and UnColor is for temporary and semi-permanent (direct dyes--without peroxide). And Saraf, I agree, it's better to have a hair obsession than a weight/dieting obsession!
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You are welcome! :-)
My only issue with doing a 'pineapple' too often is breakage. I use a scunci (fabric covered type hair elastic) to put mine up with instead of just a covered elastic. I have also discovered that I can bend over, gather all my hair together, twist into a rope of hair and then secure to the top of my head with a 'no slip jaw clip' I found at target. In the morning I take it down, spritz with water, and scrunch. It works well for those mornings when I have to be out the door super early. -
@ fluff - I just found this article on getting back to your natural color. I remembered this thread. Hope you get this and hope it helps!
http://www.allure.com/howtos/2007/09/get_back_your_natural_color -
Demi Permanent Color lines have a different alkalizing agent... (don't quote me but i think that it is MONOETHYLTHALAMINE?) which is not ammonia - which would cause the outside layer of the hair to open, thus causing a permanent change. But "Demi" Permanent or not, these formulations still need to "stick" for the sake of making a difference AT your level or DARKER. They can't lift your shade and that's why they are not called permanent. They are, however, able to adhere quite strongly around the outside of a strand of hair, and so if you are picking one that's too dark for your needs, it can EASILY leave a residue. Careful though, adding heat can cause a lift because HEAT is also an alkalizing agent. When used properly, Demi=Permanent colors can actually make your hair feel BETTER much like resurfacing a bad road. Makes a smoother appearance due to filling in the "gaps" left behind by previous ammonia damage. Choose a level and a half lighter than you think if your hair is pourous or if you just want to "blend" that line out. Without the ammonia present, you will ONLY risk not seeing a difference, instead of another color that you'll need to grow out:) Plus, if there are any grey hairs present, it will only alter the appearence of any hair that is lighter than it, and it will not change the appearence of your darker natural hair. Perfecto!
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Most of the semi permanent colors DO have peroxide though. As I have learned through trial and error some brands will lighten roots and some will not. My hairdresser doesn't know exactly why the brand I use works the way it does on my hair, just that it does. I tried switching brands because the one I had found I liked is getting harder and harder to find and that experiment was a miserable failure.
For now it is back to the first brand, the one that works for my hair. Not so sure what I will do when/if I cannot find it anymore! -
I'm a professional cosmetologist that also works for a haircolor company as an educator. Here is a lot of misconception out there regarding Demi-permanent haircolor. Technically speaking Demi isn't able to go all the way into the cited of the hair just under the cuticle (and the outer layers of the cortex) because it is not as alkaline as permeant haircolor... This says nothing about wether it uses ammonia or not- most(not all) Demi formulations require 2x the amount of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as permanent. This is because the H2O2 is the acid component and the haircolor (all oxidative) is the alkaline component. More H2O2 = lower pH therefore rendering the ammonia less active. The H2O2 is necessary to add the oxygen into the haircolor so it will develop inside the hair. (technically the haircolor will develop anywhere it is so we try to get it into the hair within the first 20 mins after mixing).
Usually Demi is mixed with less than 10vol hydrogen peroxide developer (not 10%). 10 volume is only 3%. When I mix my Demi I use 5vol peroxide(1.5%) and I use 2 parts H2O2 to 1 part color... This gives a softer deposit to the natural hair with little to no lift of the natural pigment.
Using a Demi to ease into natural haircolor is a great way to do it---unless you have been dying you hair more than 3 shades darker... Then, I would recommend some color removal(which ALWAYS produces warm tones) and then balance that unwanted color with a Demi in a green base that is about 2 shades lighter than you desire. This is all a tricky situation and I advise a professional. Keep in mind that een with a pro it could take months before it is correct. Of course the obvious option is to just let it grow out. Hope this helps? -
If you are using a shade that is LIGHTER than your natural color (In the Demi-Color) you are going to get a slight lifting of the natural hair color no matter what brand you use. Using an acid color like REDKEN Shades EQ will MINIMIZE lifting if you use a shade that is the same shade level or darker as the natural hair color.
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Also, using a low pH No-Ammonia (Demi) color with a LOW VOLUME (5 Vol. 1.5% Peroxide) developer will minimize or eliminate lifting.
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