If you colour your hair frequently, you should be aware that the chemicals in synthetic, ammonia-laden, and bleach-containing dyes can cause significant damage to your hair. As a result, switching to herbal and natural hair colour is frequently a good idea. These are gentle on the hair and provide a break from synthetic colours while still giving you that coloured hair look.
What to look for in natural and gentle dyes
Natural dyes lack the saturated, intense pigmentation of synthetic hair colours. So getting an intense colour look in one go is difficult, especially if you don’t leave it on for the recommended amount of time.
They also don’t leave hair feeling as artificially silky and smooth in that silicone-like way that many synthetic boxed dyes do right away. However, in the long run, they are much gentler and cause little to no damage and breakage.
Natural hair dyes fade more quickly and require more frequent reapplication than synthetic hair dyes.
Indus valley organic hair dye, so no ammonia or hydrogen peroxide is used. Because it’s an organic based cream, it doesn’t have the chemical-like stench that many boxed dyes have, making it ideal for those with sensitive noses. The colour may not last as long as most other colours, but it still lasts for two to three weeks and is gentle on the hair.
What’s the best part? It comes in the form of a cream that can be applied like a conditioner, so no mixing is required. Furthermore, any leftover product can always be used later.
Let’s talk about this chemical and why it’s such a big deal when it comes to safely colouring your hair.
Ammonia is an alkaline gas that is colourless. It is naturally produced by the human body and the environment.
This chemical is used in the production of fertilisers, cleaning products, water purifiers, and hair dye.
How Does Ammonia Work on Hair?
While hair colour and its effects on your hair may appear magical, they are not. The colouring of one’s hair is a scientific process.
Let’s start with pH levels to understand how ammonia in hair dye works. Because ammonia is alkaline, it can cause the pH of the hair to rise during the colouring process. The strands swell and the cuticles that protect them are lifted as a result.
This opens a channel for dye pigments to enter the hair cortex.
Ammonia in Hair Dye: What Are the Consequences?
Ammonia dyes effectively colour the hair. That’s why manufacturers have been using it for so long.
Though the amount of ammonia in hair dye is too small to cause harm, it can still harm your hair and your health.
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Hair Dyes with and without Ammonia
Because of the potentially harmful effects of ammonia in hair dye, many hair colour manufacturers have created dye formulas that do not contain that ingredient. Most products now have “ammonia-free” written on the label. But are they truly any safer? Are they also effective at colouring your hair? Ammonia is a gas that is alkaline, whereas ethanolamine is a liquid that is alkaline.
This means that ammonia evaporates on its own as fumes, whereas ethanolamine must be washed away or properly removed after dyeing to stop swelling the hair. If ethanolamine is not properly removed from the hair, the strands become porous, brittle, and difficult to moisturise.
Some brands sell ethanolamine-removing shampoo, and ironically, some of these shampoos use ammonia to remove ethanolamine. Oleic acid is the best way to counteract the negative effects of ethanolamine.
