Can dying your hair cause hair loss? – nicehair.org

Can dying your hair cause hair loss?

If I use a just for men hair color every 6 to 8 weeks, will this damage my hair? A hair doctor has advised me it will not. Thank you. Thanks for your question. Hair dye can damage your hair, but in most cases it will not cause hair loss. Dying your hair causes protein […]

Post a reply
Last updated: Dec 31, 2019

If I use a just for men hair color every 6 to 8 weeks, will this damage my hair? A hair doctor has advised me it will not. Thank you.

Thanks for your question. Hair dye can damage your hair, but in most cases it will not cause hair loss. Dying your hair causes protein loss from the hair in tiny amounts, which can make the hair appear thinner, especially if you lighten your hair color. However it rarely causes hair loss.

UPDATE: PLEASE READ CAREFULLY

I received this comment on this article from someone who has had first hand experience of hair loss caused by hair die. Everybody please read this.

I am so frustrated with all the many “hair loss experts” saying absolutely not or an emphatic “NO” when asked if hair color is related to hair loss. After 4 excruciating years of losing my hair, a team of doctors – an internist, an endocrinologist, a dermatologist, teamed with a chemist and a seasoned Cosmotology instructor from a reputable Hair school it was determined that YES INDEED, it was the hair color making my hair fall out. More specifically, the volumizer in the hair color product was THE ONE & ONLY CULPRIT to my hair loss. The chemical travelled up through the hair shaft, under the surface, killing the hair follicle beneath the scalp. Because I was hard pressed to find any mention of hair color being the culprit, I continued to color my hair. I also continued to have vials of blood drawn on a regular basis because all the “hair loss experts” said “it’s definetely not the hair color, it’s your thyroid…” or “…it’s stress” , “must be an auto-immune defeciancy”, “…it’s hormonal” or just my bad luck. Had ONE of the so-called professionals been somewhat open minded and considered “hey, it might be hair color”, I might have been spared a couple of the four years of misery I experienced. I wish I could get the word out that hair loss can be caused by a number of factors, one of which IS HAIR COLOR so cease everything until you are certain what is making your hair fall out!

Rebecca

Thank you so much Rebecca for sharing this with us. Although your case is a rare one it is something that is well worth reading and carefully thinking about. This is great advice. I hope everyone reads this and pays careful attention to it. If you are suffering from hair loss and you use hair dye, cease using the hair dye to see if your hair loss improves. It’s a simple step but may save your hair.

How does hair dye damage your hair?

Does hair color cause hair loss

Hair dyes use chemicals to bond the colourants to the hair (both internally and externally) and this means the hair must be penetrated by the chemicals. Dying your hair darker is far less damaging than dying it lighter, but will most likely cause some very mild damage, unless you go to a really good hairdresser.

If you are dying your hair darker to cover grey you really don’t need to worry about this. The damage will not be noticeable. In fact the only damage that you would notice would be as a result of combing your hair while it has the dye in, as this might increase protein loss.

As far as hair loss is concerned, colouring your hair does not cause hair loss because the visible hair is already dead. Any hair that you can see (above the skins surface) is dead and is not growing. The only part of the hair that is alive and growing is beneath the skins surface. This is the most important part with regard to hair loss and hair growth.

If the hair bulb is affected by some chemical or hormone in the blood, hair loss can result. And if the hair bulb is not being adequately fed via the bloodstream, hair growth will stop. However dying your hair only affects the hair above the surface of the skin. If you want to increase your hair growth you need to influence the part of the hair that is beneath the skin — and that is how we stop hair loss and promote hair growth.

Join the Conversation

26 Comments

  1. I accidentally thin my hair. Now my hair is not growing back thick what should i do.

    1. Hi Dharrshni,
      If your hair seems brittle, thin and unhealthy one of the best things you can do is feed it as much as possible day and night, by directly massaging nutrients for hair growth into the scalp and by increasing blood circulation to the scalp.
      You can achieve this using my 2 minute a day hair growth technique. Read this article to learn more.
      All the best,
      Chris

    2. I was dying my hair and had a lot of hair loss. I was having to use drain cleaner every weak also had to clean the strainer over the drain after every shower. I quit dying my hair and only clean the strainer once a week just to keep it clean and there’s not much hair. I have not had a clogged drain either. So yes hair dye caused my hair loss.

  2. I want to dye my hair but my dad says that in hair colors there are unnatural there are chemicals that could damage my hair and that it won’t grow out again or will grow back really weirdly. I don’t really believe him because i have been researching a bit on the internet but all of the information is for natural hair colors and not unnatural ones like blue, green, yellow, red, pink etc. I just wanted to make sure so that i don’t damage my hair permanently.

    1. Hi Mimet,
      Dying your hair cannot damage it permanently because the hair that you colour is already dead. All the hair that you can see is dead. Only the developing hair below the skins surface is alive and growing.
      Dying can cause the hair to become more vulnerable to damage and split ends. I would recommend checking out this post on how to protect your hair from damage and split ends:

      10 Products that Prevent Split Ends and Protect your Hair from Damage

      All the best,
      Chris

  3. I’ve died my hair about 6 times and my hair is very dry and falls out does that meen I have a lot of hair loss because I died it to much?

    1. Hi Dinah,
      The key is to intensely nourish your hair. I’ve sent you an email with advice on how to do this 🙂
      All the best,
      Chris

  4. I dyed my hair dark brown 2 month ago, I’m still shedding hair quite bad, it’s the folicles coming out and not breakage. It happened 8 years ago when dying as well, something about chemicals effects my scalp I guess. I can remember it taking quite some for the shedding process to stabilise. I’m gonna read your ebook, is there any other suggestions on top of the information given in there?
    Cheers
    Tony

      1. Same happened to me…. Did your hair stop shedding….. Did it grow back? Did you do anything for it…..

  5. Can masturbation cause hair loss? I heard that the loss of protein resulting from masturbating 2 or mor times a day can cause hair loss.

  6. I am so frustrated with all the many “hair loss experts” saying absolutely not or an emphatic “NO” when asked if hair color is related to hair loss. After 4 excruciating years of losing my hair, a team of doctors – an internist, an endocrinologist, a dermatologist, teamed with a chemist and a seasoned Cosmotology instructor from a reputable Hair school it was determined that YES INDEED, it was the hair color making my hair fall out. More specifically, the volumizer in the hair color product was THE ONE & ONLY CULPRIT to my hair loss. The chemical travelled up through the hair shaft, under the surface, killing the hair follicle beneath the scalp. Because I was hard pressed to find any mention of hair color being the culprit, I continued to color my hair. I also continued to have vials of blood drawn on a regular basis because all the “hair loss experts” said “it’s definetely not the hair color, it’s your thyroid…” or “…it’s stress” , “must be an auto-immune defeciancy”, “…it’s hormonal” or just my bad luck. Had ONE of the so-called professionals been somewhat open minded and considered “hey, it might be hair color”, I might have been spared a couple of the four years of misery I experienced. I wish I could get the word out that hair loss can be caused by a number of factors, one of which IS HAIR COLOR so cease everything until you are certain what is making your hair fall out!

    1. I think this is happening to me to. I have only dyed my hair once but it continues to fall out. How much did you lose? Did it grow back?

    2. what is the brand of dye that caused your hair to fall out. Maybe it’s the same brand I am using.

  7. Dye causes hair loss, no question.
    I dyed my thick and curly hair for twenty years. It fell out, it in the shower drain, on the bathroom floor, on my pillow. It wasn’t that noticeable because my hair is so curly. I finally bit the bullet and let the gray come in. Yes, I look a little older, but my thick, luxuriant hair is back. It is remarkable the different in the thickness of my hair since I stopped coloring it. It no longer clogs up the drain, gets on the pillow or the bathroom floor. A profound and noticeable change. The billion dollar hair industry wants to keep this a secret!
    Go gray! It’s no so bad.

    1. Hi Terry,
      I’ll be posting a series of articles about organic hair dyes soon. Hopefully you will find this of some us.
      All the best,
      Chris

    2. Terry I totally agree with you I have been dying my hair since I noticed the grey, about 5 yrs now. After having thick naturally curly hair my hair now is so thin I cannot stand it. When I curl it its flat in 1 hour. I use to hold a curl for 2 days. The handfuls of hair I get when showering is amazing you would think I was going thru chemo or something.
      I think its time to bite the bullet and let the hair coloring company get their money from some other fool.
      thanks for your post.

      1. I am happy to hear some people saying that they lost a lot of hair because of hair coloring . this is exactly what happened to me . I started losing a lot of hair in bath sink I was so depressed so from now on I will not color with the just for men that I was using . thank you for all your help you gals and guys out there .

  8. I dyed my hair 2 months ago and it has been falling severely for 1 mon ..became brittle and very thin
    if there is any treatment that could help?cutting the edges ..is it beneficial?

  9. I’ve dyed my hair over the years a lot of different colors to my whole head ad I dyed my hair a demi hair color and I fell my hair thinking from the back of my head and what tips could you give me to help me out I’m a little freaked out.

  10. I’ve dyed my hair a lot of hair colors but recently I dyed my hair a semi permanent color and I feel like the bottom if my head is thinning a lot and my scalp. I just want some advise to help with this I’m freaking out

    1. I DYED MY HAIR A WEEK AGO . EVEN AFTER A STAND TEST, MY HAIR IS THINNING SO TERRIBLY MY SCALP IS SHOWING. iT’S AWFUL. EMPHATICALLY YES! I CAN CAUSE FALL OUT. ALL MY LONG BEAUTIFUL HAIR ,,,, RUINED!

  11. I have lost hair after dying it dark. I didn’t have trouble with blonde highlights. But my head was really itchy and I have bald patches at my temples where the dye was brushed on and at the nape of my neck where it was brushed. It had been shedding so much for the last 4 months. Did anyone else have bald spots? Or just shedding? I totally feel like it’s the hair dye.

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *