Almost every woman dyed her hair at least once in her life because we love to change so much! Ammonia-based dyes are best suited for radical changes. Ammonia-free dyes are suitable either for calmly tinting your color or for filling bleached hair. They are considered more economical. But if you want a bright and lasting color, you can’t do without preliminary clarification anyway. The question arises: how harmful is ammonia in dye?
Why add ammonia to hair dye
The main purpose of ammonia in hair dyes is to cause swelling of curls, which enhances the effect of using the composition.
- The components of the coloring matter penetrate deep into the hair and therefore linger in it for a long time.
- The color will be uniform and stable, you will not have to update it in a few days.
- Due to the presence of ammonium hydroxide, the paint lays evenly, and gray hair is easily painted over.
- No composition without ammonia is capable of giving a similar effect.
- If you decide to radically change the color of your hair, becoming a blonde from a brown-haired woman, natural herbal preparations are no help for you.
The key advantage of ammonia in dyes is its small molecule size and high volatility. Due to these qualities, the substance is easily washed out, evaporates from curls and does not leave an unpleasant odor for a long time.
- Ammonia-free coloring compounds are used mainly in professional care.
- The use of such drugs has certain difficulties and therefore is available only to experienced hairdressers.
- Most dyes in the mass media segment contain ammonium hydroxide, and replacing the 100% ammonia mixture with harmless analogs is not yet possible.
Hair dye without ammonia: pros and cons
The main advantage of ammonia-free formulations is harmlessness to the body.
Vapors of a chemical substance in high concentration negatively affect human health, can cause reflex breath-holding and burns of the mucous membranes. Natural compounds do not have a detrimental effect on either the hairdresser or the client.
- Ammonium hydroxide negatively affects the structure of the hair.
- It disrupts the normal functioning of the sebaceous glands and gives them a painful appearance.
- Hair dye without ammonia leaves the hair thick and healthy. Vitamins and minerals that make up its composition, additionally nourish the hair.
- If you care about the health of your curls, natural compounds will suit you.
But be prepared for difficulties: only a professional can achieve a uniform color and lasting effect.
Such funds will not color gray hair and will not make you blonde, only ammonia will radically help change the image
It is possible that after applying the product without ammonium hydroxide, you will be unsatisfied with the result.
- The hue will be far from ideal, the color will lie unevenly.
- In this case, manufacturers of natural dyes came up with special washes.
- Do not believe the promises of advertising that the new tone will last up to six weeks.
Natural remedies do not penetrate deep into the hair, and therefore the color changes after each shampoo.
Health effects of ammonia
HAir dye with ammonia irritates the mucous membranes of the nose, eyes, and mouth (if inhaled by mouth). In high concentration, they cause a gag reflex, suffocation, pain in the eyes, burns to the cornea. In contact with skin, blisters and redness appear. Cosmetics with ammonia have a high degree of allergenicity and must be tested before use. There is a known case when a woman with an allergy to ammonia did not test and fell into a coma.
When we dye our hair with ammonia, we not only inhale this substance. It still penetrates the body through the pores of the skin. It also affects the sebaceous glands of the head, disrupting their work. Regular hair coloring for many years gradually disrupts the liver - there is such a study. Therefore, manufacturers are constantly improving the composition of dyes, trying to reduce the concentration of ammonia and are looking for a replacement.
What are the health risks of ammonia?
As the England National Health Agency report shows, in addition to damaging the structure of the wires, ammonia-based products can damage the health of both the person undergoing treatment and the professional performing the procedure.
Exposure to ammonia may cause skin and eye irritation.
In addition, steam released from ammonia procedures may irritate the airway causing coughing, shortness of breath and burning airways.
In the case of chronic exposure, there are still some reports of possible pulmonary impairment.
This possibility has been raised in some scientific articles, such as this case report from Sweden and this other American article.
Even with limited data on the effects of ammonia on pregnancy, pregnant women should not be treated with ammonia throughout pregnancy for the possibility of fetal malformation.
Why is ammonia still used in hair dyes?
Despite the harm of ammonia, the advantages of ammonia dyes are many, which in some cases makes them indispensable. Such dyes:
- The most persistent
- They give the brightest and most saturated colors, allowing you to get almost any conceivable hair color
- Ammonia is completely harmless to the environment, does not destroy the ozone layer
- Ammonia is easily washed out after staining, and unwashed residues will quickly evaporate without leaving a strong persistent odor.
Is there a color without ammonia?
With technological advancement, the beauty market now has several options for you to choose a new color. Among them is ammonia-free coloring, which offers many health benefits hair and scalp.
This type of dye has a softer smell than the others and also ensures a smoother change in capillary pH, thus avoiding sensitization of the strand structure.
Ammonia-free hair dye: is this the way out?
We learned that ammonia negatively affects the structure of hair, can be a strong allergen, irritates the respiratory tract and poisons the body. But what about dyes without ammonia? How effective are they? In fact, ammonium in their composition is simply replaced with other substances.
There are hair dyes made with natural substances. These dye will not harm your health and the environment.
What conclusion can be made? Hair dyeing is basically a useless process. In addition to destroying the structure of the hair, it supplies toxic chemicals to the body. The best solution is to try to minimize the harm. That is, use the highest quality dyeing products.