How Do Hair Coloring Products Work?

Today, over 75% of American women color their hair but few people understand how the hair coloring process actually works, and what exactly is happening to the hair during this process. Hair color purchased at the drugstore and hair coloring treatments at the salon often use chemical agents and compounds to ‘lift’ your natural color out of the hair before adding the new shade. This lifting process can be especially damaging to the hair and may even damage your health.

Here’s a close look at how conventional hair coloring products work, and some tips on reducing the damaging effects of the hair dye process:

Traditional Hair Coloring Process

The traditional hair coloring process – the process used by most professional hair salons - is as follows:

Step 1: Lifting of the color. Most salons use a combination of hydrogen peroxide and ammonia to initiate the hair color-forming process. Hydrogen peroxide is an oxidizing agent that breaks down the natural color of your hair.

Step 2: Opening the cuticle. Ammonia is an alkaline that allows for lightening, and works by opening up the cuticle so that the hair color can be deposited right into the hair. Different levels of ammonia are used depending on your hair type and natural color. When ammonia is mixed with hydrogen peroxide, the alkalinity of the hair allows the color to penetrate into the hair shaft.

Step 3: Application of color. The color is added to the hair shaft so that the color can sink into the hair. This is left on for several minutes before the hair is shampooed, conditioned and dried.

When you are coloring your hair at home, the hair coloring solution that you mix together may include varying strengths of ammonia to deposit the color into the cortex of the hair. If you have exceptionally dark hair, you may not be able to achieve any noticeable difference without undergoing the lifting process at the hair salon.

Alternative Options to Traditional Hair Color

All of the current hair dyes on the market can be problematic, but if you want to avoid the damaging effects of traditional hair color, natural hair dyes may be a better option for you. Natural hair color is free of carcinogenic compounds such as resorcinol, coal tar and oxidizing ingredients that can be harmful to your hair, and your health. Chemical-laden hair color has been linked to allergies, extensive hair damage, and some studies suggest that ingredients in traditional hair coloring products may even cause certain types of cancer.

Advanced Cosmetic Technologies has created a line of natural hair dyes that can color your hair without the usual negative effects. This proprietary dye has received a patent for its unique coloring process, and results are comparable to even the highest quality synthetic dyes. This hair color is quick and easy to apply, and does not contain PPD, resorcinol, aminophenol and other artificial ingredients. Plus, natural hair dye effectively conditions the hair because the pH of the hair is maintained below the isoelectric point of hair, eliminating the need for ammonia and hydrogen peroxide entirely.

Click here http://www.actnaturals.com/product-info.html to learn more about the benefits of the Advanced Cosmetic Technologies hair color line.