My Hair Won’t Take Color- Why and What to do about it
“My hair won’t take color.” – “My hair won’t hold color.”
Sadly, too common a phrase we hear. But it’s okay! This is why your hair won’t hold dye and what you can do about it.
The difference between ‘Hair Dye’ and ‘Hair Color’
First of all let’s clarify- ‘dye’ is for Easter eggs and frosting on a cake, ‘color’ is for hair. Hair dye is found in a box at the grocery store, it stains the hair with metallic dye.
Professional hair color is an ammonia based semi, demi, or permanent artificial color molecules that penetrate the hair shaft and binds themselves to the original pigment within the hair shaft.
Bleach is not color because bleach lifts both artificial and original pigment molecules out of the hair. Both color and dye only deposit into the hair, not take out of it.
How to fix my hair that won’t hold color
There are a number of things you can avoid to help heal your hair and prevent further damage or issues with taking color.
We will go into the details of some of these issues further on in this article.
- Chemical treatments like perms, brazilian blowouts, and bleaches can make it more difficult for your hair to take color because these treatments have made it become over-processed. But sometimes hair takes color better if it’s a little damaged.
- Product buildup. Generic shampoos and conditioners, and styling products will leave residue on the hair strand, making it difficult for color to penetrate the cuticle.
- The products you are using to wash and style your hair might be washing out the color too quickly. Washing your hair less often will make color last longer on your hair.
- Damage from hot tools. Overuse of curling irons and flat irons opens the cuticle over and over again and causes cracks and damage to the hair strands making it difficult for the color to stay inside the hair strand.
- Hot water lifts the cuticle and cold water closes it. If color has already been applied it is best to wash it in cool or cold water to prevent the cuticle from lifting and allowing the color to be washed out or fade quickly.
- City water and pool water. If given the option to have filtered water in your home to wash your hair with is significantly better for your hair because of the chemicals, including chlorine, used to treat city water. Pool water contains high volumes of chlorine, which builds up on the hair and can block the cuticle from lifting, which makes taking color more difficult for the hair.
- Over-washing your hair will definitely make color fade more quickly. Again, by using cool water you will be able to maintain the color for longer and by washing less often it will stay in the hair for a longer period of time.
Is it Okay to Wash Your Hair Once per Week?
What Causes Hair to Not Hold Color?
Understanding the rule ‘color doesn’t lift color’ is also important when talking about hair that has trouble with holding color.
The example I like to use when explaining why ‘color doesn’t lift color’ is this… if you have a red crayon and make a big red circle on paper, then you take a pink crayon and color on top of that circle will you see the pink? Probably not.
Why? Because the red is darker than the pink. The color on top doesn’t lift the other to become a lighter shade. You would have to lighten the red before you could see the pink you put on top of it.
It’s the same for hair.
Reason 1-
- Your natural hair is too dark
By understanding the concept above, if you are trying to put a lighter shade of color or dye on your hair but your natural hair is darker than your desired level, ‘color doesn’t lift color’ so you might have to lighten your hair before trying to color it again.
Reason 2-
- Get a haircut
When was the last time you got a trim? If your answer is ‘I don’t remember.’ Or ‘Only X months ago.’ It’s time to go back in.
Your hair is affected by regular wear and tear just like anything else exposed to the wind, rain, water, constant touching, or brushing, or being tying back. Getting split ends doesn’t mean it’s chemical damage due to color or bleach but just regular life.
It’s important to get a trim every 3 months (12 weeks) to keep the split ends off. Once hair is split and the cuticle is damaged (the outer shell is cracked or missing due to wear and tear or chemical damage) there is nothing you can do about it.
There is no ‘fixing’ or ‘repairing’ split ends. You can only prevent further breakage and cut off what is already broken. You want to cut off the broken ends because if they are left, the hair will only be more susceptible to the breakage working its way further up the hair strand.
Keeping your hair free from breakage will help it take and hold color because if the cuticle is intact, then it is holding the color inside the strand and not allowing it to fade or wash right out of the strand.
Does Breakage Stop Hair Growth?
Reason 3-
- Too much product buildup
Imagine a colorful piece of paper on the inside of a window. Can you change the color of that piece of paper from the outside? No, why? Because the window glass is in the way, of course!
If the hair has too much product buildup, usually silicones and waxes used as filler ingredients in generic shampoo and conditioner, or styling products like pomade or gel, they leave a coating on the outside of the hair strand making it difficult to penetrate the strand with the color or dye you are using. Just like the window illustration, if the outside is too thick and hard to get through, you won’t be able to change the color on the other side.
This could be way to fix your hair that won’t take dye.
How do you remove buildup before coloring? Clarify!
Clarifying your hair before applying color or hair dye is a good idea because it will remove any buildup that you have sitting on the outside of your hair strands and then will allow color to penetrate the shaft.
What are the benefits of clarifying your hair before coloring it?
- Removing buildup that might be blocking the color from soaking into the hair will allow the hair to take the artificial pigment
- Product buildup dries out the hair and leaves the hair’s pH unbalanced, clarifying eliminates this issue
- The color will stay longer because the cuticle is able to close, locking in the color molecules that have penetrated the shaft
🛑 DO NOT use clarifying shampoo AFTER applying color. Clarifying shampoo is used to remove what is on and in the hair, it will lighten or remove the color you just worked hard to apply.
🛑 DO NOT use clarifying shampoo as a regular shampoo, it will remove all of the good oils and dry out the scalp if over-used.
Other Issues You Might Be Having…
White Hair Won’t Hold Color
White hair has no natural pigment left in the strand. Artificial color pigment clings to natural pigment inside the hair shaft. There are special permanent colors designed for white and gray hair to add artificial pigment molecules into the hair strand to assimilate natural pigment molecules and then the artificial gray coverage color can cling to that color and will stay.
Virgin Hair Won’t Hold Color
Sometimes virgin hair has a cuticle that is so healthy that it just doesn’t want to lift, this means that color applied will temporarily stain the outside of the hair strand but soon wash off.
You might need a stronger developer and use a little bit of heat- sometimes even using foil when coloring virgin hair will help because it retains the heat from the scalp and that will encourage the cuticle to lift.
My Roots Won’t Take Color
Roots are virgin hair. It has just grown and has never been touched by color before, like the above, it might need a little bit of heat to encourage the cuticle to lift and allow the color in.
Hair Won’t Take Color After Bleach
Bleach is harsh on hair. It is a very strong chemical that cracks and breaks the cuticle. The more times bleach is used on the hair the more broken the cuticle becomes and the more difficult it is to get color to stick because the broken cuticle just allows the color to rinse out.
If this is your issue, the best thing to do at this point is to get a trim, and use some highly moisturizing masks to prevent further dryness and damage to the hair strands.
Allow your hair to grow, to regain moisture, and then try again. It may take a while, or the damage may not be as bad as you think once a mask restores some of the moisture and coats the cuticle a little bit.
How to Apply Color Properly
What you need-
👉 Color Bowl with the correct amount of color and developer
👉 A Clean Color Brush
👉 Gloves (to prevent staining your hands and fingernails)
👉 A Timer
Start by sectioning the hair into four quadrants. You can do this by combing a part from the forehead, inbetween the eyebrows, to the middle of the back of the neck. And section again from the top of the head, starting from that first parting, from ear to ear. You now have four sections, the front two, and the back two.
Once the color is ready to be applied and has been prepared by following the directions that it came with, start with the front two parting sections, one side at a time. Start by applying the color to small sections, about a half inch each.
Make sure there is enough color on the brush when you paint it smoothly and evenly onto the hair. When in doubt, work the color into the hair with your hands. Check to be sure that each section is evenly saturated. If there are any parts that aren’t as wet with color, once rinsed and dried it will look patchy.
Apply with the color brush at the roots, top and bottom of the section and then apply to the rest of the hair all the way down to the ends. Repeat this until you reach the bottom of the quarter, then do it all over again with the next quarter parting section of the hair until the entire head has been applied.
Set the timer to the recommended amount of time. You don’t want to over process your hair, causing more damage. Leaving the color on your hair for longer than the recommended amount of time can make the hair darker than your desired color level.
Keep the gloves to use when rinsing too or else the color will tint your hands and fingernails.
Frequently Asked Questions related to- My Hair Won’t Take Color
Can I dye just the ends of my hair?
Yes, however, if you do not use a lightly feathering technique you might end up with harsh horizontal lines where you can see where the brush applied the color.
You can avoid this by holding your brush vertically and lightly brushing upwards to create a balayage affect to blend into the color that is higher up. This is a feathering technique.
How to fix my hair that won’t take dye
Clarifying shampoo and a trim will definitely help with this issue. Also, use a tiny bit of heat before applying the color, like the warm (not hot!) setting of your blow dryer. And wash the color out with cold water instead of hot.
Heat lifts the cuticle, if the cuticle is lifted when the color is applied the color will go inside the strand. If washed with cold water the cuticle will remain closed and it is less likely that the color will be washed out of the hair strand.
Can I dye my hair again if it doesn’t take?
Give your hair a day or two to rest before trying again.
Does Bleached Hair Take Color Faster?
Bleached hair does not allow color to penetrate easier, faster, or for longer. It does however have more of a broken or cracked cuticle which might allow color to seep in easier, but it will rinse out faster too.
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