HAIR COLOURANTS
The desire to mask the ageing process by hiding grey hair has existed throughout history. The hair colouring products available in the market fall into three main categories—temporary colour rinses, semi-permanent dyes, and permanent hair dyes. The various characteristics of the different hair dyes are given separately in this chapter table. Despite their side effects, permanent oxidative hair colourants are the most versatile and popular.
One commonly used hair dye is henna—a natural colourant. It is a permanent hair dye. Though henna imparts an orange-red colour to the hair, this colour can be altered by adding indigo, logwood and camomile.
A real advantage of henna is that it is a superb conditioner. It gives the hair body and bounces. Moreover, allergic reactions to henna are uncommon—all these advantages have made henna a favourite colourant.
HAIR DYES OFTEN CAUSE REACTIONS
Paraphenylenediamine is a significant component of all synthetic permanent hair dyes. It frequently causes allergic skin rashes, so you must do a ‘patch test’ before using these dyes to check whether your skin is allergic to the hair dye.
For a patch test, prepare a small quantity of the dye. Apply it to the skin and leave it untouched and uncovered for at least 24 hours. If any reaction develops, the product should not be used to dye the hair. If there is no reaction, then utilising the dye at that time is safe. Since sensitivity can develop at any time, you should conduct a patch test every time you want to dye your hair.
Reactions to these dyes appear several hours after use. Although not very common, responses, when they occur, are both painful and unsightly. Itchy swellings and oozing develop on the scalp, neck, forehead, and eyelids. Some people also build breathing difficulty soon after applying the hair dye.
Prolonged use of hair dyes can result in the darkening of the skin of the face and neck. Some doctors think that hair dyes increase the risk of skin cancers, but this isn’t very certain.
Hair dyes also weaken the hair protein and increase the hair’s porosity. This results in the weakening of the hair. This cut hair is more prone to other mechanical and chemical damage. Because of this effect, several permanent hair dyes in the market incorporate conditioners into the shades. This help to reduce the deterioration of the hair caused by hair dyes.
