We all love to colour our hair. It is one of the easiest and quickest ways to change our appearance. However, with the average person getting hair growth of approximately half an inch every month, you soon start to see the regrowth come through, prompting the desire for a touch up.
Or perhaps you’re not sold on the colour you chose originally – we’ve been there. If a colour wasn’t what you expected, the temptation to change it immediately is super strong. We feel you.
But is it okay to colour your hair again straight away? And is there any limit to the times you can colour your hair in a single year?
The answer is: yes, you are limited in the amount of times you can colour your hair in a year. Too frequent dyeing and the use of lower quality hair dyes can result in brittle hair that’s susceptible to breakage if it’s over coloured.
So how many times a year can you safely colour your hair?
It’s different for each individual.
Dyeing your hair is a chemical process. In essence, it removes the outer layer of your hair and exposes the hair shaft. This results in a loss of shine and lustre that also causes split ends and breakage.
Because dyeing makes your hair less smooth, it will become drier than before you had it coloured. If you also factor in heat styling and hair brushing, you’re looking at hair that’s extremely vulnerable to damage.
That’s why we recommend waiting six to eight weeks before you redye your hair a permanent colour. Any earlier is likely to result in significant damage.
How can you help prevent damage to your hair caused by colouring?
In between hair dyes, you should purchase deep conditioning treatments that can be applied at home. These will go a long way to helping rejuvenate and remoisturise your hair before you put it through the ringer again.
Also, try not to use any heat styling products on coloured hair. Hair straighteners cause enough damage to healthy hair, let alone hair that has been coloured. Keep their usage to a bare minimum.
It’s a good idea to get regular haircuts in between colours. Having regular trims removes any split ends so the hair won’t continue to split further up the hair shaft. Regular cuts will also make your hair look thicker because it removes the thinner portion of your hair.
And what’s not to love about that?
Final tips.
Drink plenty of water and eat Omega 3 fatty acids to help to restore shine and lustre. And make sure you cover your coloured hair when you’re out in the sun – sporting some snazzy, on-trend headwear stops the dreaded UV rays from damaging already vulnerable locks.
So, there you have it. Due to the potentially damaging nature of common hair dye ingredients and chemicals, it really is best that your limit your hair colouring ways to no more than eight to twelve times a year if you want your hair to stay happy, shiny and healthy.