By Trinity White
With school coming to an end, it has left many individuals bored, so bored to the point they act out of impulsive decisions. One, for example, is changing their appearance, precisely their hairstyle, whether the change is subtle or completely bold. Today, I'm specifically talking about hair coloring, however, before anyone picks up their hair dye, let me give you some guidance that you may have not known!
These are tips I did not know before I enrolled in my Cosmetology class, but are effective for the greater good. First, your hair is composed of three layers: the medulla, cortex, and cuticle. The cuticle is the protective outer layer. That's the cuticle being pushed up. The cortex is the middle layer and holds all the melanin (pigment) of your hair. And, finally, the medulla is the core of the hair strand, but doesn't serve much of a purpose.
Before you color your hair, you should be aware of the level of porosity your hair has. If you have low porosity, your cuticle is tight and it's harder for your hair to absorb moisture, which is definitely not a bad thing. And vice versa for high porosity. There's also average porosity hair which absorbs moisture at a normal rate. Knowing your porosity will allow you to determine how long you should let your hair process the dye. Low requires more time, high requires less, and average requires a normal amount of time. If you leave high porosity hair in dye or any solution, it can break off. If you don't know your porosity type, you can check by sliding your thumb and forefinger up your hair strand, if it glides easily, you have low porosity. If it's rough, you have average, and if it's dry or breaks, you have high porosity.
Another tip is when you apply hair color to your hair, always start in the mid section of the hair, then the ends and then the roots last. This is because the ends are more delicate than the mid-strand and the roots will process the dye the fastest, since the scalp is radiating heat. The heat speeds up the dyeing process. and this doesn't only go for hair coloring, but also chemical treatments for hair, but not all.
The last tip is if you are applying dye to hair that has been previously dyed, do not overlap the new dye over the already dyed hair. It could cause breakage and/or a line of demarcation which is the visible line dividing dyed hair from new growth. I hope you found these tips helpful for safely and efficiently dyeing your hair!