Hair colour gone wrong

BEAUTY

I have always been passionate about my hair, so you can imagine my elation when it grew in leaps and bounds during my first pregnancy. Pregnancy hormones are good for hair growth, I discovered.

I patiently waited and accumulated undergrowth, saving the retouch for after labour. It would be one of the many gifts to myself after giving birth.

 Two weeks after I had my baby, I went to my usual hairdresser for the much anticipated retouch and he convinced me to colour it. Despite my hesitation, I gave in, after all this was a celebratory hair session. The colour was burgundy and it turned out perfectly!

I was elated.

However, my excitement was short-lived when the morning after, I awoke to a damp pillow dyed with my hair colour. The days that followed were a nightmare.

My hair broke and shed at every opportunity. I was like a furred animal, shedding burgundy strands all over the house. If I sneezed, the strands fell, they were all over the sink, in my bed sheets and on the baby's face when he breastfed.

I called the hairdresser and complained. He was quick to apologise and offered to redo the colour, claiming he had used a wrong method to apply it. So back to the salon I went and had the colour reapplied.

The next day, the shedding was worse.

So the hairstylist asked me to wait for new undergrowth to appear and all would be well.

On the third visit to the salon, I was told in secrecy that the hairstylist had been using fake hair colour on my hair and he knew it. Disappointed doesn't even begin to describe how I felt.

 Three horrible weeks after that celebratory hairdo, I cut off all my hair. It didn't have a fighting chance and I was done spending money on it!

Thankfully, the natural hair movement was on, so I started my gamble with it. And three years later, I have no regrets.

According to Ashraf Katongole, a hairdresser at Ashilyz Kats Salon, the process of colouring hair is stressful on the hair strands.

"It requires bleaching of the hair using peroxide, which weakens the hair. The selected colour is then applied on the hair in phases until the desired shade is achieved," he explains.

"Coloured hair is prone to dryness and can be brittle, so it requires frequent moisturising and conditioning."

Katongole says that with natural hair, the situation is worse.

"Natural hair loses moisture fast and so if it is coloured, the moisturising efforts need to be doubled. Frequent spraying of the hair during the day with a mixture of water and oil is helpful.

"It can be any oil, such as olive oil, coconut or black castor oil. This will keep the hair hydrated and soft," says Katongole.

Deryk Sekamatte, a makeup artist and hairstylist, says that fake hair colour is common on the market.

"Some hairdressers use printing toner in trying to cut corners. Fake colour bleeds into cloth collars, pillowcases and skin. It also breaks hair and is commonly done cheaply though some bold hairdressers charge highly for it," he says.

If you desire hair colour, opt for temporary natural colours such as henna, which is more user-friendly and naturally strengthens hair. Nowadays, there is even a dying colour shampoo that can be used during the process of deep conditioning or retouch.

 However, should your hair be grossly damaged by hair colour, the best alternative is to cut it off and start afresh.