A couple of months ago, after much, much, much consideration, I finally dyed my hair. I’d wanted to since I was about 4 months natural and collected a whole bunch of boxes for when I finally decided to do the deed but fear always set in and I never did it. So when I finally did, I was relieved that my hair didn’t fall out as I rinsed it off. But I did do something a little bit uncharacteristic; I hadn’t done much research. At least, not as thorough as I usually do when I do something drastic to my hair. It’s been a few months now and I’ve been treating my hair pretty much the same as I had before I dyed it, which could be fine but I do know that coloured hair usually needs some special attention. After about a week of colouring it, Fro was feeling drier than usual and I noticed more knots up in there. Maybe that’s also because my hair’s getting longer but I know that just changing my shampoo and conditioner might not do much in terms of caring for my now coloured fro. And after having a terrible week of abandoning my hair last month, I realised I should do some reading. Here are some key points I found on my current go to hair site Black Girl with Long Hair as well as from Naturally Curly.
- Colouring your hair permanently causes the cuticle layer of your hair strand to become more porous. If your hair is already naturally porous, it’ll worsen by dyeing it which means your hair will retain little moisture and feel dry (me, case in point).
- Try and use a sulfate free shampoo and conditioner, or even better, look for ones that are specifically for coloured hair. This will help you retain the colour and also help in dryness.
- Because coloured hair is weaker than uncoloured hair, more care needs to be taken when handling it in terms of detangling, manipulation and styling.
Want to colour your hair but not sure what on earth to do afterwards? Read:
BGLH: The Natural’s Guide to Bleaching and Hair Colour: Part One
BGLH: Caring for Bleached/Permanently Dyed Natural Hair
Naturally Curly: Dyeing African American Hair
And of course, if you have any of your own tips, please share!
hi, I got mine at The Good Stuff store at Cavendish Square, Cpt. Am sure most organic store carry them though or Indian beauty shops. Would Aisha consider distributing henna and vatika oil from her website……pretty please;)
Lol, not sure I can commit to that!
girl, do NOT go for the henna now! It will alter your curl pattern because u have chemically treated. Henna should be used on virgin hair. Trust. I have a list of do's and don'ts for colouring natural hair on my blog if u wanna check that out. http://ndithandiwe.com/post/41194359975/colouring-natural-hair-the-dos-and-donts
where can i find henna?
I can only guess in Indian beauty supply stores. I got my packs from Tanzania but maybe Welzi can enlighten us?
Hello, Love your blog;) I've started using henna for the red tint but eventually I would like it to be more than just a tint so I henna monthly which has done wonders for my hair! my kinks have loosened and my hair is so strong but soft at the same time. I use the henna gloss method but want to change to cocnut milk+vatika oil mix………will let you know how it goes;) love your hair colour and have a good weekend;)
Hi Welzi, thanks for that comment! I've been meaning to try henna for ages but along with so many other things I want to try with my hair, just haven't done it :S I'm interested in keeping my hair coloured but I don't want to keep dyeing it and I have a couple packs of henna just chilling there so it's on my list of to-do's 🙂