How does temporary hair color work

Over the years, I've done everything from permanently dyeing my hair pink by accident to burning my scalp by using an extra-strong developer. If something goes awry, it may take more time and money to undo your mistakes than if you had just waited to see your regular hairstylist. Avoid box dye: According to salon owner and stylist Kenzie Veurink , the box kits you buy at the drugstore aren't on par with the dyes that professional hairstylists use.

Drugstore box kits are heavy on chemicals and may not play well with the products your salon uses. Use a direct dye: For home coloring, opt for a "direct dye," which is a semipermanent dye that doesn't use a developer.

During the process of coloring hair with a permanent dye, your stylist opens up the cuticle of your hair shaft, deposits pigments, and seals the cuticle. Temporary dyes don't open up the cuticle of your hair, so they slide off after a wash or two. Direct dyes fall somewhere in the middle. They partially open up the cuticle, so the color sticks around for longer than a temporary one would, but since the dye doesn't fully penetrate your hair shaft, it won't last as long as permanent dyes.

The color will fade gradually with regular washes, and if you had light hair before you colored it, some staining might occur. Head here for more information on different types of hair dyes and how they all work.

First, make sure to complete a strand test. Don't skip this step! Shampoo your hair, but don't condition it. Let it dry fully. If the strand test result is satisfactory, then protect your bathroom with old towels, wear gloves, and protect the skin near your hairline with petroleum jelly. Apply the dye to dry hair.

Fully saturate your hair, and work the dye in until it gets frothy. Make sure to soak every strand. Cover your head using a shower cap and let the color sit for as long as the instructions advise. You can use heat from a hairdryer or wrap your plastic-covered noggin in an insulating layer to make the color more intense. When you're done processing, rinse your head in water that's as cold as you can stand—hot water will make the color fade faster. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Overcome with cabin fever? Craving a change just to feel something? Let one newly peachy-haired Vogue editor attest: Temporary hair color can help. What's more: A wash of more vivid or fantasy color will not only remix your look, but make you feel like a wayward year-old all over again. That sense of freedom has ushered in the desire to be colorful while the rest of the world is murky. Whether you're looking for a subtle tweak or, as Cornwall puts it, are in "one-day fantasy seeker" mode, here's an expert's guide to at-home temporary color.

Generally speaking, there are two primary categories: Temporary hair color, which comes in many forms, from gels to conditioning masks, and semi-permanent hair dyes. If you want to take a more low-risk approach, consider henna hair dyes or softer, pre-diluted tones and color kits.

You can also spike your conditioner. As a rule of thumb, typically the lighter your hair, the brighter and more vivid a color will be, i. It's difficult to get consistent results using natural colorants, and some people are allergic to the ingredients. Temporary or semi-permanent hair colors may deposit acidic dyes onto the outside of the hair shaft or may consist of small pigment molecules that can slip inside the hair shaft, using a small amount of peroxide or none at all.

In some cases, a collection of several colorant molecules enters the hair to form a larger complex inside the hair shaft. Shampooing will eventually dislodge temporary hair color.

These products don't contain ammonia, meaning the hair shaft isn't opened up during processing and the hair's natural color is retained once the product washes out. Bleach is used to lighten people's hair.

The bleach reacts with the melanin in the hair, removing the color through an irreversible chemical reaction. The bleach oxidizes the melanin molecule. The melanin is still present, but the oxidized molecule is colorless. However, bleached hair tends to have a pale yellow tint. The yellow color is the natural color of keratin, the structural protein in hair.

Also, bleach reacts more readily with the dark eumelanin pigment than with the phaeomelanin, so some gold or red residual color may remain after lightening. Hydrogen peroxide is one of the most common lightening agents. The peroxide is used in an alkaline solution, which opens the hair shaft to allow the peroxide to react with the melanin. The outer layer of the hair shaft, its cuticle, must be opened before permanent color can be deposited into the hair.

Once the cuticle is open, the dye reacts with the inner portion of the hair, the cortex, to deposit or remove the color. Most permanent hair coloring products use a two-step process usually occurring simultaneously which first removes the original color of the hair and then deposits a new color. It's essentially the same process as lightening except a colorant is then bonded to the hair shaft.

Ammonia is the alkaline chemical that opens the cuticle and allows the hair color to penetrate the cortex of the hair. It also acts as a catalyst when the permanent hair color comes together with the peroxide. Peroxide is used as the developer or oxidizing agent. The developer removes pre-existing color.