coloring newly relaxed hair

[constellation]

i just got my hair relaxed a little over a week ago. it's in great condition, except that me being 16 and all, the whole natural color w/ a few highlights thing is incredibly boring. i'm hoping to dye it a blue-green and was wondering if i should do anything special to the hair, or wait a little while longer after the relaxer or anything? if not, i'm just going to go for it.. thanks in advance, you guys have been so much help. <3

 

[jazzyfunknastee]

Take from a dye-crazy person: wait and condition, condition, condition! The usual time frame for relaxers and dyes is two weeks but since you're dying it blue-green which will probably need a stronger chemical I would push it longer while slapping on both protein and moisturizing conditioners. I usually go for moisturizing ones because I noticed that if my hair is drier in some places than other, the hair will grab the dye more there and I'll end up with really bright spots of color.

Has anybody heard of the rule "Never relax a color but always color a relaxer"? I cannot remember for the life of me where I read that but I do remember back in high school I threw a relaxer over freshly dyed hair and the cream turned the same color as the dye.

 

[constellation]

i guess i'll wait until next saturday to do it, that will be more than two weeks.

i was thinking of mixing the color with a little conditioner. will that just weaken the color without helping my hair, or will it make the color more gentle?

 

[LondonDiva]

Constellation I take it from the colour you are going to use that it's not permanent, and a semi perm colour.

Does your product contain alcohol or peroxide? These can dry and damage the hair shaft. There are a FEW semi perm colours on the market that contain neither ammonia, peroxide or alcohol. This maybe the way to go in order to ensure you don't damage/dry out your hair.

 

[Robin41]

Constellation, putting permanent color on my relaxed hair was probably the biggest mistake I've made (except for trying to do my own touch-ups). It was only highlighted and I didn't like it at all - the color hair was overly dry, hard and breaking like crazy. Thank God it's finally almost all grown out.

I don't know what type of hair you have, but I would suggest using a semi-permanent color on relaxed hair.

If you must have blue-green hair, can you just put in a chunk of color or limited highlights so you're not damaging your whole head of hair?

 

[constellation]

hm... i think i'll just do the top most layer of hair. i can't walk around with this brown, it's so boring. i look like a news reporter /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[Guest]

I'm sorry to hear that Robin. Did you use the kind that comes in the box?

My hair is relaxed and it has a permanent color which I loooove! My natural hair color is black and brown, and it definitely had to be lifted in order to achieve this color. I've had no breakage whatsoever. The key to keeping it healthy is MOISTURE! Whether it's grease, or whatever you use (I'm a grease person /images/graemlins/grin.gif), but keep it moisturized! That is a must. Also, keep it well conditioned. And go to a stylist who has experience in doing permanent color!