Family Encyclopedia >> Beauty & Style

Coloring in questions #1

It is often thought that coloring damages the hair. It's true ?

"Impossible to give a valid answer for coloring in general, because there are different types (tone on tone, permanent, etc.) which use various techniques, more or less sensitizing for the hair fiber", explains the colorist Rodolphe. Vegetable formulations and tone on tone have a surface action on the fiber and do not weaken it (the only risk would be to be allergic to it). Oxidation (permanent) colorings, which open the scales of the hair, are only sensitizing if they are misused:if they are applied all over the hair to cover the roots, if you redo your hair color every week, if you choose a product that is too powerful (an oxidation formula, when you want a tone-on-tone result)… Frédéric Mennetrier, colorist and L'Oréal Professionnel expert, adds that:"Colored hair is often more beautiful and more stronger than the natural ones, because the formulas contain care active ingredients (cationic polymers and ceramides) which counter the oxidative action of hair color and the sun. The only thing that sensitizes to death is discoloration (which is not coloring), because it pushes oxidation to the extreme.

Why can't we artificially pigment the hair with capsules, like for the skin?

The skin is alive but the hair is not. So what ? The capsules can only give a visible result on the bulb (the living part), not on the lengths. And again, the skin would have to be overloaded with beta-carotene (which would perhaps happen if we consumed between five and eight kilos of carrots a day!) for the bulb to adopt an orange color. In short, the only way to change the color of your hair is by acting from the outside, with coloring.

Thank you to Frédéric Mennetrier, colorist at Atelier Blanc and L’Oréal Professionnel expert, to Rodolphe Lombard, colorist at the Couleur par Rodolphe salon and to David Merveille, Schwarzkopf hairdresser consultant.