Want to dye my hair but very scared because of horror stories!

[GirlAfraid23]

Hey everyone,

Well basically I have been dying my hair for years now but always blonde with bleach and never had any problems at all except for maybe a slight itchy scalp once but it came to nothing.

I am now dark and had my hair dyed at the hair salon back in November and had no problems from that.
Now its time for me to dye it again and I'm doing it myself to save money however I keep opening the paper and reading horror story after horror story about people becoming very ill due to hair dye and in some cases ending up dead.

I need to dye it because the roots are coming through and look awful, plus I want to feel better about myself by doing it but I'm unbelievably scared that I will end up in a coma, in pain or in a worst case scenario dead!

I'm doing the allergy test tomorrow (weds) and dying it friday so worked out that should be just under 48 hours in advance....

Any advice please people? I've heard dying your hair darker can result in more allergic reactions than dying it light as I used to!

[Stormsky]

I was going to suggest doing the allergy test on your skin, but your already going to do that... so see how that goes

[purplehippo]

Hi ya
if you do a test before im sure it will be fine,hair dyes arnt as harsh as they used to be so its very unlikely you will have a problem. and if your doing the test beforehand if you do get a problem you can avoid doing it and try a differant brand.
make sure the room is well ventilated ,thats the only thing that bothers me breathing in the smell but if you open a window leave the door open you'l be fine.
itll be worth it when your hair looks nice afterwards:)
takecare
tillyxx

[GirlAfraid23]

I was going to suggest doing the allergy test on your skin, but your already going to do that... so see how that goes

I am doing the patch test, a little inside my elbow as it says on the instruction leaflet and some behind my ear too to be on the safe side.

These horror stories and poor women have been applying the patch test thats what i dont get!

[MargaretHale]

Holland and Barrett do a good range of natural dyes, very skin friendly. Obviously still do a test first, but they don't contain some of the nasties that the main brands do.
Also, lush do a nice range of Henna dyes.
MH x

[swgrl09]

I've been dying my hair at home out of the box since I was 15 ... never had any issues at all except that it smells bad, so make sure you have a window open! Nothing to worry about. If anything has happened, it is extremely rare, and you are doing an allergy test too so you should have no worries! I never even did the allergy test ... just threw it on!

[thebe]

its the PHPs in the dye the darker the dye phps are in it, there ARE php free dyes you can get i think its loreal, also SOME of the semi permenant dyes are php free check labels, i like you are going grey at the roots and im in two minds about dyeing them, gonna look for php free dye
t x

[MandySlade]

Just so you know , most of the PHP free dyes are crap. I'm not telling you they aren't safer, you just may be underwhelmed with the results. Do the allergy test and you'll be fine. I dye my hair dark all the time and I will occasionally obsess about this same thing. Also, do NOT panic if your scalp starts to itch. My scalp ALWAYS itches with hair dye, be it bleach, non PHP, etc. As long as the itching is just an annoyance and not painful, and you aren't getting any red spots or whatnot, don't fret.

[MargaretHale]

The naturetint ones at Holland and Barrett are PHP free, but cover my greys and there are some nice colours...

[mikewales]

Millions of people dye their hair every week without becoming ill or dying. If you are really that worried though go back to the salon and get them to do it as you know you were fine last time