Is there a hair color for women with sensitive scalp?
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Is there a hair color for women with sensitive scalp?
Hair color manufacturers have yet to come up with a permanent hair color for a sensitive scalp.
People who feel that they have a sensitive scalp tend to color their hair with a permanent hair color. It is this type of hair color that can give people with a sensitive scalp a burning sensation. (Hair bleach can also cause a burning scalp).
Chances are that after reading this article you will be able to minimize or totally eliminate the discomfort of a sensitive scalp and continue to use permanent hair color. A sensitive scalp is not normally a symptom of an allergic reaction to hair color unless you have other symptoms such as redness of the scalp, forehead or the face, neck or behind the ears. You can also have swelling of the face and neck or severe itching in which case you should immediately wash off the color.
However allergies from permanent hair color are very rare. (You may have read otherwise). In my experience of coloring hair for more than thirty years, I have encountered two clients with a light allergy to permanent hair color.
If you are concerned that you might be allergic to permanent hair color, you can perform an allergy test. Mix a tiny bit of permanent hair color with a couple of drops of developer (peroxide) and apply it to the inside of your arm and covering it with a band aid. Leave it on for 24 hours. The hair color will leave a dark spot which will disappear after washing it a few times. If you have no reaction, you are not allergic.
You may think that a natural hair color like Henna is the ideal hair color for a sensitive scalp. The problem is that you can’t use Henna for just any hair color you want.
For example, if you want to cover white hair, then only a permanent type of hair color will do the job. Henna, like other types of hair color such as permanent hair color, semi-permanent, demi-permanent and temporary hair color has limitations. A major drawback is that it is not suited for covering white hair. It will turn your white hair into an unnatural kind of bright red or stain it in a gold tone, depending on the shade of Henna you use.
I have several clients who experienced a sensitive scalp when permanent hair color was applied but the discomfort subsided when I made the following changes:
1. I mix permanent hair color with 10 volume peroxide instead of 20 volume for coloring white/gray hair (most hair salons use 20 volume hydrogen peroxide) when using a formula to color white/gray hair.
2. I use a crème color. Permanent hair color also comes as a gel which has a slightly higher pH value and can sometimes cause greater irritation to the scalp than a crème hair color.
3. I tell my clients not to wash their hair for two days before coloring to prevent the scalp from becoming irritated from rubbing it during the shampoo.
4. I do not comb the hair through to the ends. I only apply permanent hair color on the re-growth for the entire processing time.
5. I never distribute the color through the hair by massaging it. I have seen hair stylists massage the hair color into the scalp in order to distribute the color to the ends or combing the color through to the ends. I think this is an absolute no-no. The comb scraping along the scalp or massaging the color into the scalp will inevitably irritate your scalp. (There are exceptions when you need to bring the color through to the ends during the last 10 minutes of the processing time but special care should be taken not to irritate the scalp).
6. I am careful not to massage the scalp when I rinse and shampoo the color off following processing. I gently apply conditioner afterwards.
If you have a sensitive scalp, following these suggestions will help make coloring your hair a painless experience.
Filed under Hair Coloring