Getting Your Hair Colored With Dermatitis

Ever since I was in high school, I have always admired rainbow-colored manes. I went through a spectrum of colors myself going from red highlights, to brunette, and even as bright as sapphire blue and royal purple. Coloring your hair can be super liberating and fun way to express your personal style. But, when you have eczema and especially when rashes are on your scalp, face, and neck it can be a daunting thing to experiment with because of all of the harsh chemicals and processing needed to be done to the hair to get it to the color that you want.

Here are some of my top tips for safely coloring your hair if you have sensitive skin and active flare-ups. Hope you will try this out and see if coloring your hair is something that you want to try or wait until rashes or more healed and closed up before taking the plunge.

Finding the right hair stylist

One of the first things I would check in with when choosing a hairdresser is if they have worked with clients with sensitive skin before. This is something that you can contact them about ahead of time through email or over the phone just make sure that they are someone who can work with you and be very cognizant of avoiding harsh chemicals and processing as much as possible. To a degree, there will be some irritation no matter what because we need to strip some of the proteins in your hair to get it light enough to show the hair dye as truly as possible. So it's not completely without some level of discomfort, but it can be greatly minimized if your hairdresser is willing to work with you.

Avoid bleaching the roots

Something your hairdresser can do make the bleaching and dyeing process more comfortable is to not put the bleach or dye directly onto the scalp. I have often opted to not having my roots completely bleached out. And colors that are deeper like blue, purple, or green can work well with this, creating a deep ombre effect this if you have dark hair like me.

Using oils to protect the scalp

Another thing that hairdressers can do to make the hair dye process easier it is to possibly put some sort of vegetable oil on your scalp before putting on the bleach to create a protective barrier and prevent the chemicals from potentially irritating any rashes that may be on your scalp, sides of your face, forehead, or neck that might touch the product. Coconut oil is a nice choice as well as olive oil and sunflower oil.

Hypoallergenic hair dye brands

And finally here are some more hypoallergenic hair dye brands that I have had good experiences with. Be sure to check them out and see if you are hairdresser either already carries them or is willing to use them if you provide the hair dye for them. In my experience, they usually more than willing to try a new brand and may even discount you the price from the service for providing the dye.

• Pravana
• Arctic Fox
• Oganic Colour Systems

Hope this article has been informative for you and just know that even if you have eczema, it does not have to hold you back from enjoying rocking all the colors of the rainbow whether you apply them to your face or your hair. Enjoy and have fun!