How Often Should I Dye My Hair?

Coloring your hair is a fun, easy way to experiment with new shades and add some pizzazz to your look. But how often should you do it? Whether you’re unhappy with your current dye job or just ready to try something new, we’ve got you covered! In this article, we’ll answer your questions about hair dyeing frequency and walk you through what can happen if you dye your hair too often.

Here’s How Often You Should Dye Your Hair

How often you should dye your hair depends on your chosen hair dye, whether your goal is to lighten or darken your strands, and how healthy your hair is. Below, we’ll get into how often you should dye your hair based on these factors:

Permanent Dye

Next to full-blown bleach, permanent hair dye is one of the most destructive chemical coloring processes. It requires you to use developer, which contains harsh ingredients that lift your hair’s cuticle so the dye pigments can penetrate your strands. For the best results, try not to color your hair with permanent dye more than once every six to eight weeks. Lightening your hair is significantly more damaging than darkening it, so wait longer if you intend on going lighter.

Demi-Permanent Dye

Similar to permanent dyes, demi-permanent dye is oxidative and requires the use of a potentially damaging developer. However, the developer used with demi-permanent dyes is much gentler than you’d need for a permanent color. As long as your hair is relatively healthy, you can use demi-permanent hair dye as often as once every two to four weeks.

Semi-Permanent Dye

Unlike permanent and demi-permanent dye, semi-permanent dye doesn’t require the use of a developer. It’s deposit only and functions more like a pigmented conditioner than a harsh, chemical dye. For the best results, try not to use semi-permanent dye more than once every two or three days. Even though you don’t have to worry about damage, waiting for a few days allows your color to set.

What Happens When You Dye Your Hair Too Often?

Now that you know how often you should use various types of hair dye, you might be wondering what happens when you ignore the rules. Over-dyeing your hair comes with many risks, which we’ll break down below.

• Dyeing your hair too frequently can cause severe damage and lead to hair loss.

• Layering two or more incompatible brands of dye on top of each other can create a harmful chemical reaction.

• Coloring previously colored hair before the dye has had a chance to settle may lead to unpredictable color results.

• Overly processed hair is much more likely to bleed and create a mess.

Although you may be tempted to color your hair often, it’s often better to wait. Waiting the recommended length of time will ensure your hair comes out looking and feeling its best. It’ll also help you avoid the risks associated with overprocessing your strands. With that said, we hope this article answered all your questions and provided you with the information you were looking for!

Author: Andrea Reyes

Andrea is a mother, wife, writer, and natural hair enthusiast of 15 years. Currently on her natural hair journey, she’s been trying countless products and techniques to understand and embrace her natural hair. She is the creator of NaturallyTextured.com, a new website featuring informative articles that share tips, tricks, and techniques aimed to help others learn to love their hair through proper hair care. She writes with the hope of making hair care easier to understand and implement.