Why is it that when you dye your hair you get more white hairs?

When my mom started dying her hair, she didn't have a lot of white hairs. Flash forward a couple years later, and most of her head is covered in white. Why is that? I'm sure that if she hadn't started to dye her hair as often, she would probably still have more white hairs, but not as much. Some of my friends who are 15 even have white hairs, because they seem to dye their hair a lot... so I dunno, can you explain this to me?

Why is it that when you dye your hair you get more white hairs?

Yea, that happened to my Dad too. He had like 15% grey (white) hair and after using the dye for a few months, it was difficult to spot a single black hair on his scalp. Now, he is in his mid-forties with almost no black hair.

My mom, on other hand, who never applied any kind of dye still has natural black hair: all of them!

The experts say it all depends on the type and quality of the dye. Natural dyes like henna or high quality and branded dyes do less damage than the low-quality dyes prepared from "bleaching type" ingredients.

The answerer above me, gvloh (a professional chemist), explained it from the viewpoint of a chemist... now, let me also add the biological viewpoint here and try to be more thorough in my approach:

The base of peoples' hair is shaped spherically and is called hair bulb. A layer within this "bulb" keeps producing new cells and is responsible for "hair growth".

Now, in this bulb, there are a few cells called "melanocytes" that keep producing a pigment called "melanin" which is black in colour i.e. it absorbs all the light that falls on it. This pigment is transferred to the medulla (central part in a cross-section of hair) and cortex (middle part of the cross-section) of the hair.

As we grow older, the gap between cells of the central part of the hair (medulla) starts increasing and the firmness goes away; And also, the melanin production decreases. Thus, resulting in white hair (the hair is actually colorless).

When we use a dye to color our hair, it can work in the either of the following ways:

1- Temporary dye that doesn't mess with you.

This type of dye doesn't go all the way down to the bulb to change the pigment of your hair. Instead, it just "paints" your hair from the outer side (cortex) and can be easily washed off.

2- Temporary dye that tries to play with you a little.

This type of dye takes more than 20 times of shampooing before getting completely lost. It penetrates your hair and joins the dark pigment (melanin) in there to make it even darker. It doesn't have ammonia (a bleaching agent) so, doesn't kill the melanin and hence, cannot make your hair any lighter.

3- Permanent dye that messes with your hair and completely screws it up!

This type, one should better get done by a good professional hair expert. This type of dye reaches deep down your hair's roots and penetrates into it to sit there permanently. It has ammonia and peroxide that remove the melanin and completely alter the base color of your hair. This type of dye shows up differently on different people and one should get a "strand test" done before going for it.

The varied effects are resultant of the fact that the dye reaches to the bulb part of hair and combines with the natural base pigment to create a new hybrid color! After a period of few months, when the hair grow and the dye dies out, the pigment is permanently damaged and most of the hair turn gray due to lack of pigmentation.

I hope this helped.

Why is it that when you dye your hair you get more white hairs?

You're welcome. The pleasure was all mine... Thanks to gvloh too... he did steer us in the right direction. Report It

Why is it that when you dye your hair you get more white hairs?

Good job Batman! Also thanks to you and Moon O for the nice comments. It is certainly nice to know you both. Take Care. Report It

Why is it that when you dye your hair you get more white hairs?

The reason why you may get more white hairs in your head after you start dying your hair is because the chemicals in the dye mess with the original color of your hair,which turns it white. The companies know about this, They do it so you will keep buying the product and using it on your hair.

Why is it that when you dye your hair you get more white hairs?

let me tell you she should not dye her hair in the first place.

Why is it that when you dye your hair you get more white hairs?

Interesting question.

Hair dye is "fixed" by using small quanities of a peroxide / halogen solution (among other chemicals in the mix). After the color is added, the solution is ''washed" using bicarbonate and carbon bed resin. The carbon is supposed to filter out the halogen but unfortunately, not all of the halogen is filtered. If the manufacturer uses Chlorine, you'll see some white hairs from the 'bleaching' process.

She can get around this process through time but if she chooses to dye her hair, she should choose a dye made by a reputable company. They can guarantee the chemical composition of the mix.

One other point to make here. Heredity also plays a part. You didn't mention how much time had passed between when your mother started dying her hair and now. In this time period, she was probably destined to have white hair anyway.

Also, I'd like to praise Batman's explanation. It's both supportive of my explanation and goes into more detail. I 'd like to add that the chemical known as Melanin is not very stable and also not made in large quantities by our bodies. If it comes into contact with an organic base, acid or solvent such as ammonia, bleach, vinegar, or "Drano" (NaOH), it will degrade. Commonly found in our skin and hair follicles as Batman says it will eventually replenish the supply but if we continue to expose it to the chemicals that caused the problem in the first place, we'll lose our ability to make melanin in the affected cells. This would probably 'kill' the cells as they'd lose their ability to function.

Good question!