We’ve all seen a Brad Mondo video right? The at home perms and bleach and box dye fails. We love it. We think it’s hilarious watching these girls try to do their hair at home.
Living in the post quarantine world we’ve had a lot of clients turn to the box in a pinch. And that’s okay, a girls gotta go what a girls gotta do. These were desperate times, but we wouldn’t be doing our job if we didn’t explain to you what happens to your hair when you use most box dyes.
A box of color is made to live on the shelf for an extended period of time. Some have metallic salts in them, to preserve them. When you try to add lighter for a highlight or balayage service that lightener when combined with the metallic salts could potentially cause a chemical reaction that could severely damage, potentially burn your scalp or melt your hair.
Hair color is a science. A lot of thought goes into creating your personalized hair color when you are in the chair. Shades, tones and what strength developer. With a box you don’t get to choose any of that. Box dyes are one size fits all. These companies do not know you or your hair. Whether you have fine, medium or thick hair, you are putting an item that causes broad spectrum of lift as well as unpredictable results with color, or patchiness due to application.
Did you know applying box color is the equivalent to perming your hair? The amount of ammonia in the product is ungodly. Our hairs natural pH is 4.5-5.5. That’s acidic, but when you apply something that high in ammonia you are actually causing real damage.
Because box dyes are so affordable, they offer lower quality dyes. Cheap products equal cheap ingredients which are harder to remove from your hair. When you apply dye on top of dye, with unknown developer strength, you are creating a buildup of color. This dries your ends out and causes damage to your hair. Think of it as layering multiple layers of wallpaper on a wall over years and then trying to take them down. It takes days to remove them to get a clean canvas.
Before any hair service you must remove these artificial pigments from the hair first because color will not lift color. Putting a lighter color dye over your previously colored dark hair will not do anything. Dark or red pigments take even longer to break up. If your goal is blonde, we can get you there but it’s going to take several sessions. Go in too aggressive and you run the risk of damaging your ends and no amount of Olaplex in lightner is enough to save them. It’s not a race, it’s a marathon.
We are always open with our clients. We welcome the opportunity to have a consultation and speak to you directly about your hair history, goals and come up with a plan to get you there.
We care about the integrity and health of your hair. If we don’t think your hair can handle something, we will let you know. We are in the business of beautifying hair, not damaging it. Patience and time are going to get you to your Pinterest dreams.