1. If you want a color lighter than your natural hair, you have to bleach it.
After hearing all the dreaded stories about how bad bleach is for your hair, you’ve probably wondered if it’s possible to color your hair purple. Answer: you can’t. Well—you can, but it won’t really show (and no one wants to be that girl who tells people “The color only shows in the sun”). By coloring your hair, you’re putting color on top of your hair, so if you have black hair, for example, purple isn’t going to show.
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2. Bleaching your hair WILL damage it.
If you want to color your hair a vibrant, bright color, you have to bleach your hair. Bleaching removes the pigment from your hair so that you can have blonde hair or add a pigment on top of the blonde hair. By bleaching your hair, it becomes more porous, allowing air, water and other elements to penetrate it. As many people know, water is generally good for hair, but porous hair doesn’t hold on to water; it simply absorbs it and then lets it go (this is why porous hair takes longer to dry). Proper care for bleached hair is extremely important, so be sure to condition it (but don’t over-condition!) enough and use products made specifically for bleached or color-treated hair.
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3. Henna can color your hair, and it’s good for it!
Yes, henna is the same stuff traditionally used to make henna tattoos. Believe it or not, it can be used to color your hair red and make it healthier. Applying henna to your hair can make it stronger and shinier, and it doesn’t have the harmful chemicals that most hair dyes contain. Henna can be a pain in the butt to apply (it’s super messy), so it might help to have a friend do it for you. Purchasing henna isn’t as hard as it seems, either. There are many online shops that sell it, but read reviews to make sure you’re buying the authentic thing. Authentic henna should color your hair red. If it colors your hair any other color, it isn’t henna (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s important to know).
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4. Wait two to three weeks after chemically treating hair.
If you relax, perm or use any other chemicals on your hair, wait at least two weeks before coloring your hair. No matter how healthy your hair may be, it needs a break. Using too many chemicals will weaken and damage it, making it more susceptible to breakage (yikes!). Don’t forget that coloring your hair = chemically treating your hair, so if you plan on re-coloring, you should still wait two weeks to avoid severe damage.