Beauty girls like me had the perfect opportunity to learn something new when most salons closed right after the lockdowns were announced. I believe we are now a master of DIY-ing something. And for us, one of the many things we needed to learn is how to color our own hair. Fine, we’re stuck at home but we can’t be stuck with our roots showing during online meetings.
Personally, I wouldn’t really go for bold colors but if this pandemic taught us is that life is short so do whatever it is that you want to do, even if you don’t normally do it.
So we went online and bought a couple of DIY hair color boxes a couple of times and we never really could get how long we need to leave hair dye on for best results until we tried it over and over again.
Generally, you will need to follow the instructions on the box. They say that you cannot leave it longer than 45 minutes. If you rinse it too early, the ammonia and peroxide might not work in changing the pigment of your hair.
But there are several factors that you can consider to arrive at a more appropriate period of time for you:
Hair Color
Results will heavily be based on your natural hair color. The packaging also has a guide on what to expect when you apply hair dye. If you recently colored your hair, this will also affect the results of your hair dye. If you have gray hair, apply the hair dye for about 45 minutes if you want to fully cover it.
Thickness
Watch out for how fast the color is developing on your hair because you might need to rinse it earlier than the recommended time. Medium hair is the normal thickness – not too coarse, not too thin either. You’ll get the best results when you leave it on for 45 minutes. Thick hair is hardest to treat of course.
Porosity
Hair porosity is the ability of the hair to absorb and retain moisture. To know if your hair is porous or not, take a few strands and put it in a bowl of water. If it sinks easily, your hair has high porosity. It will absorb most of the hair dye. On the other hand, it is more prone to hair damage.
If it’s taking time to sink, then it means it has low porosity. You’ll need to leave your hair dye on longer. Low porosity means your hair isn’t prone to damage, too.
Quality of Hair Dye
Always remember that even if you put these factors together, there is always the quality of your hair dye that you need to consider. We’re not saying that more expensive is faster. Sometimes, if the product dyes your hair too fast, it might be an indication that active ingredients are more potent which means it might potentially burn your scalp.
Look for dyes with good reviews and those that are friendlier to your skin. Most especially if you’re going to need bleaching before you switch hair colors.
